Exploring the Text

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  1. What is the actual scene or setting being described in this poem? Who is the speaker?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - What is the actual scene or setting being described in this poem? Who is the speaker?
  2. What is the effect in the opening line of juxtaposing two events that are, at least on the surface, of such different magnitude?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - What is the effect in the opening line of juxtaposing two events that are, at least on the surface, of such different magnitude?
  3. What is meant by line 5: “The Eyes around—had wrung them dry —”? What is the antecedent of “them”?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - What is meant by line 5: “The Eyes around—had wrung them dry —”? What is the antecedent of “them”?
  4. Who is “the King” (l. 7)? What are at least two possibilities? Provide plausible support for each.

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - Who is “the King” (l. 7)? What are at least two possibilities? Provide plausible support for each.
  5. Look up the definition of “interposed” (par. 12) to explore multiple meanings. What do various meanings add to your understanding of the poem?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - Look up the definition of “interposed” (par. 12) to explore multiple meanings. What do various meanings add to your understanding of the poem?
  6. The fourth stanza has puzzled readers and critics alike. How do you interpret that stanza, and how does your interpretation affect your reading of the poem as a whole?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - The fourth stanza has puzzled readers and critics alike. How do you interpret that stanza, and how does your interpretation affect your reading of the poem as a whole?
  7. What do you make of the choice to use a fly in this poem? Is Dickinson simply using the fly as typical of a small, minor living creature, one we casually swat away without thinking? Since flies feed on dead flesh (maggots consume corpses), does it serve as a reminder that life ends in decay? Does the fly represent Satan’s lieutenant Beelzebub, known also as the Lord of the Flies? Is the fly a symbol of death? Or is there another view? Explain how your understanding of the fly guides your interpretation of the poem.

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - What do you make of the choice to use a fly in this poem? Is Dickinson simply using the fly as typical of a small, minor living creature, one we casually swat away without thinking? Since flies feed on dead flesh (maggots consume corpses), does it serve as a reminder that life ends in decay? Does the fly represent Satan’s lieutenant Beelzebub, known also as the Lord of the Flies? Is the fly a symbol of death? Or is there another view? Explain how your understanding of the fly guides your interpretation of the poem.