These lines are so wonderful. They show how animals are ignorant of human suffering. The "torturer's horse" presumably just helped his master kill someone, and now he's scratching his "innocent behind."

Icarus was a figure in Greek mythology. His father made him wings out of wax and feathers. When Icarus took flight, he was so excited to be in the air that he flew too close to the sun, which melted his wings of wax. Icarus fell to his death.

The repetition of this line sounds like bells chiming.

The verb warble makes me think of the sound birds make. I like how Douglas anthropomorphizes the bells.

Barrett Browning does a good job illustrating how such hard work has prematurely aged the children.

Barrett Browning is arguing that it is natural for young animals to play innocently. By contrast, the children are working very hard.

Plath attempted suicide many times throughout her life.

This beginning has always reminded me of a nursery rhyme. But the subject quickly turns very dark.

Class struggle certainly hasn't gone away. How would you define the "new classes" of the 21st century?

This is quite a bold statement. Do you think that ALL of history can be understood in terms of class struggles. Do you think class is more important than other factors such as race or gender? Or does it all just come down to economics?

This is, perhaps, one of the most famous first lines in British literature. Marx opens his manifesto as though it were a fairy tale, with a ghost at the center, rather than an economic treatise.

Do you think that Jung is ignoring the real differences among cultures? I wonder if it's fair to say that no matter where you are born, you will carry the same archetypes in your unconscious.

Archetypes are mythological forms that reappear throughout history. I think we can see some of these archetypes in the poems we're reading this week. For example, Shelley's Ozymandias includes the archetype of the traveler and Owen depicts the archetype of the wounded soldier, returned home. Other archetypes include the mother, the father, the trickster, the helper...etc.

Can we inherit unconscious ideas?

This is a sentiment I've heard echoed by former soldiers: society does not seem to recognize their sacrifice.

Does this mean that he was too young to register for the army, but they needed men so they believed his lie?

Unlike other poems we have read, this pronoun lets us known that this poem is not about the author.

This is ironic, because, as John explains, there is very little left of Ozymandias.

Picasso's paintings really do look like mixed up faces. Check out one example here.

Singapore was a British colony until 1963, when it merged with Malaysia. This didn't work out so well, so in 1965, Singapore became an independent country.

Does it matter that Singapore was still a British colony when Hong wrote this poem? How does that help you understand its western references?

Who does this "I" refer to? Do you think it is the poet? Why or why not?

What a great title! This seems to suggest that Hong has many personas. How does that help us understand this poem?

Why do you think this poet is telling us that he doesn't like poetry? Does he dislike a certain kind of poetry?

I like how Tagore repeats these words ("let me"). It makes it sound like a song with a refrain or a prayer.

Why do you think Tagore starts off with an alternate reality in which he hasn't met his wife?

Why is Shire repeating lines?

Why do you think Shire ends the poem the same way that she began it?

You can watch Warsan Shire read this poem on youtube.

I love this first line because it is so cinematic. It's almost like watching a scene from a movie backwards.

I've always wondered why Rossetti uses quotation marks here when she doesn't in the rest of the poem. Do you think she is marking these lines as different from all the others?

Your entry does not need to be in the form of a poem. A short paragraph would be fine too.

This is one of the definitions from the OED:

a. To lower in character or quality; to debase.

1652 T. Froysell Gale of Opportunity Ep. Ded. sig. A3 At this news the proud Ruffler is sodainly dismounted, and his courage degraded. 1755 Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Degrade..to reduce from a higher to a lower state, with respect to qualities. 1762 O. Goldsmith Citizen of World II. 213 How low avarice can degrade human nature. 1784 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations (ed. 3) II. iv. viii. 500 English wool cannot be even so mixed with Spanish wool as to enter into the composition without spoiling and degrading, in some degree, the fabric of the cloth. 1857 C. Kingsley Two Years Ago III. vii. 201 So will an unhealthy craving degrade a man. 1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) V. 41 This custom has been the ruin of the poets, and has degraded the theatre.

I often wonder this myself!

This is actually really interesting. Blake spells "blossom" with a "long s" which looks like an F. This is what older printers used to do, but by Blake's time it was becoming outdated. Why do you think he used the long s?

Here is a link to the Wikipedia page for the long s.

Click here to watch Adichie's talk.

I think this story is so funny! American Psycho is about a pretty deranged killer. It was originally a book and then a movie. Warning: there's lots of blood.

I can only imagine what other stereotypes people would come up with if they based their view of America on only one movie or even one person!