Questions

1. Characterize the speaker in this poem. What is his attitude toward Buffalo Bill (aka William Cody)? Is the poem meant to admire or disparage him? Explain your answer by referring to specific words and images in the text.

   Question

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   Questions: - Characterize the speaker in this poem. What is his attitude toward Buffalo Bill (aka William Cody)? Is the poem meant to admire or disparage him? Explain your answer by referring to specific words and images in the text.
2. What is the difference between “Buffalo Bill is dead” and “Buffalo Bill’s defunct” (ll. 1–2)? How does the word “defunct” work in collaboration with (or opposition to) the lines that follow—about riding a stallion and shooting clay pigeons?

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Questions: - What is the difference between “Buffalo Bill is dead” and “Buffalo Bill’s defunct” (ll. 1–2)? How does the word “defunct” work in collaboration with (or opposition to) the lines that follow—about riding a stallion and shooting clay pigeons?
3. What is the effect of the isolated single-word line “Jesus” (l. 7)? How can it be read in several different ways?

   Question

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   Questions: - What is the effect of the isolated single-word line “Jesus” (l. 7)? How can it be read in several different ways?
4. Literary critic David Ray comments that “though the poem appears to be a simple elegy, it must be placed in the context of Cummings’s obstinate attitude of hatred toward an American culture that invites children (and even men) to create an unworthy gallery of heroes… .[H]e has long attacked our society’s worst indulgences in materialism, hypocrisy…and the following of false heroes and tawdry ideals.” Taking into account how you would characterize the tone of this poem, support, challenge, or qualify Ray’s interpretation.

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Questions: - Literary critic David Ray comments that “though the poem appears to be a simple elegy, it must be placed in the context of Cummings’s obstinate attitude of hatred toward an American culture that invites children (and even men) to create an unworthy gallery of heroes… .[H]e has long attacked our society’s worst indulgences in materialism, hypocrisy…and the following of false heroes and tawdry ideals.” Taking into account how you would characterize the tone of this poem, support, challenge, or qualify Ray’s interpretation.