The author is morning over his lost love, when he hears a knocking on the door. He tries to talk himself out his crazy and terrifyng thoughts of what could be on the other side of his door, however, he opens it to find a raven. The raven takes it upon himself to fly inside his home and perch upon a statue. As this may seem strange and frighening, the raven is actually symbolic for it means the messengers of the gods, amens of fate, and friends of the world beyond. Given the circumstances and the author's mental state, and as he is mourning over the loss of his beloved, perhaps this could be a sign or a symbol of the women herself, coming to visit the author.

This line "Out of the cradle endlessly rocking," is also the title of this poem. The author is reffering to a memory of his childhood, when he would leave his bed at night and wonder alone on the shore, in search of the mystery of life and death. He is an adult now, yet he still finds himself on the shore, in the waves, asking the world, the sea, the same mysterious questions.

Here, the author seems to be referring to the sun. Nature is recognized and appreciated in this piece, for its best aspects are mentioned thorughout. The author describes the sea, the birds. the moon, and the sun. The sun and the moon follow his theme of death and rebirth- for when the sun goes down, the moon comes out,, and the cycle will repeat again day after day. "Siinging all the time, minding no time," hw writes, meaning the sun does not have a limit- it is always there, and will always be there- in forever's time.

The sea seems to be whispering the word "death, death death..." to the boy. As this word might usually send a message of darkness, or terror to a reader, this word in this poem means more than its expected meaning. As it does mean "death," which symolizes the loss or termination of somethng, here, it also symbolizes the rebirth- the renewal of life. As one thing ends, another begins.

At this time, it was expected that women do not "challenge attnetion." They must stand by a man's decision- and make no opinions or objections of their own.

It is interesting how strong minded people seem to be stereotyped and imagined like this- they are characterizing Fanny Fern to be strong minded and demonstrated, and they have imagined her to be a bigger boned, dark haired, ferocious looking woman. Had she been described as a gentle, sweet talking woma, she might have been imagined to be thin, blonde, or faired skin perhaps.

The term "milk-and-water" usually refers to someone that can be described as weak, or wishy-washy.

This sentence is striking to read in the present day. Now a days, women prefer to be independent of a man a lot of times, and also perhaps find it offensive otherwise. However, Fern shows through this thought that she is admiring the men who "allow" their women to go wonder in public places unacquainted and to come in contact with other men.

This entire piece explains her bitterness towards the lack of independence women have at this time. She creates many scenarios and writes of them, comparing womens' independence from mens'. The last couple words of the piece though are most important, as they completely show her feelings and the message behind the entire work. ""Free!" Humph," she says, demonstrating how clear it is that she feels that she has no freedom at all.

Thoreau says that a man is not to destory or harm anything, no matter the circumstances. However, if he engages himself in doing so, it is now his duty to wash his hands of this action, and forget about it.

He says here that a real man in the eyes of the country is a man who is strong in his beliefs and in his word. He says a man "has a back bone in which you cannot pass your hand through," again demonstrating that a man like this will stand his ground through his own beliefs.

While reading, I came to this sentence, then stopped reading. Now adays, very sad and horrible things happen in the world. A lot of these things that happen, are caused by mischievient people who have figured out ways to work around and harm a system that they are unhappy with. The smarter, or more intelligent people become, the more opinions are formed and the more people find ways to express them. Therefore, when he says "Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe," he is saying that the intelligece of people sometimes is what causes some of the horrific things that happen in our world.

These few sentences that Douglass says before he starts his speech speaks a lot about his character. He is essentially saying, that he is aware he has little experience and has not had much preparation for what he is about to do, but stll he will speak from his heart and his true thoughts to those who are patient and generous enough to listen to him. As a reader, I appreciated reading this- becuase if I were to have been a person listening to Douglass say this, I would have been more interested and more inclined to listen to his speech, with much greatfulness and respect.