It seems they want to be desensitized to everything, as if they feel too much. Instead of the lobotomy and becoming desensitized to everything around them, they were given these treatments that maybe hurt more than helped.

I wonder if this is a reference to a boiling pederasty inside somebody? If so, it seems to go along with Allen Ginsbergs defense of NAMBLA, and him saying that the attacks on NAMBLA are like witch hunts for profit. It seems he doesn't think it is a real crime, and perhaps is putting it on par with the other revolutions stirring within this poem. For instance investigating the FBI, and protesting against capitalism right before this.

This reminded me a lot of the movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou. That movie is a comparative mythology of The Odyssey that takes places in the south, with a sheriff as the antagonist. So the fact that this biblical poem was written with the devil turning into a sheriff was really interesting for me.

This kind of weird quest reminded me of greek mythology too, especially the big bloodhound that appeared when Slim first got to 'hell'. Reminiscent of Cerberus and the underworld.

Hughes' poem, The Weary Blues, seemed like a self expression of the blues singer; someone who was singing their souls. Unlike in that poem, it seems to Brown that Ma Rainey sings and other people feel their souls being expressed through her voice.

I found this whole section read pretty in sync with Prove it on me. The beat of the song, and the pauses in her singing matched really well with the line breaks that Brown uses in this whole first section.

Within the last few stanza’s of his poem, Elliot shows us an image of his speaker sitting and fishing by the river once more, as he did in lines 189-197, and behind the fisherman we see the waste land. Throughout the poem Elliot repeatedly portrays the river as a sign of life and activity in London. Consequently, the destruction of the river becomes the destruction of the city (“London Bridge is falling down falling down falling down falling down”). What was once “the sounds of horns and motors” (line 197) behind him, has now become “the arid plain”. These stanza’s are extremely reminiscent of the speakers, and the rivers finality. Earlier Elliot asked the river to “run softly till I end my song,/Sweet Thames, run softly, for I speak not loud or long” (lines 183-184). He has finally come to the end of his song and is preparing for the end (“Shall I at least set my lands in order?”). Though it is ambiguous if it is just the rivers end, or his own as well.

“Poi s’ascose nel foco che gli affina/Quando film uti chelidon” can be translated as “Then he hid himself in the refining fire/when will I become like a swallow”. Then he hid himself in the refining fire is from Dante’s inferno, and could mean that Eliot feels as if he is burning in hell, and longs to be free. Birds are often symbols of freedom, and some European swallows are known for their ability to migrate long distances. Eliot could feel tied down to London, and long for the ability to escape it, and this dry, fiery land.

I got the impression from the poem that Eliot blamed all of the people of London for what he perceived as the destruction of the Thames. This was extremely evident to me with the inclusion of “Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata.” These three mean giving, compassion, and self control. In line 401, Elliot writes “Datta: what have we given?” I think the lack of these three elements within the citizens of London lead to it becoming the waste land, and repeated here at the end becomes a lesson and a warning for the reader. Finally, ending the piece with “Shantih, shantih, shantih” or “the peace which passeth understanding” is a sign of Eliot’s own peace now that he is done.

Why is Dog capitalized? Also, is he saying that the dog is going to dig up the dead mans body?

Is T.S. Eliot acknowledging the reader here?

Is there any real significance to these cards in tarot readings?

Did this stanza happen before the previous one? "The lady of the rocks" and "shadow under this red rock" and "the drowned Phoenician Sailor" and then later on "fear death by water" and earlier "your hair wet...I was neither Living nor dead."

Is this stony rubbish supposed to be Earth? Is he maybe saying that we cannot understand deeper meanings because we only see whats on the surface 'where the sun beats'? Are dead people buried underground more knowledgeable because they know the roots that clutch?

This means: I'm not Russian at all, I come from Lithuania, a true German.

Is there some historical meaning behind this? Lithuania borders Russia, so it doesn't seem to make sense. Why add this in at all?

These lines, and the following 13 lines after remind me of a mantra someone would tell themselves. It seems like something someone would repeat if they wanted to be happy, but they're on the brink of craziness or something.

I think the shape of the poem really sticks out in these 13 lines. This is where I first realized how much the shape of the poem kind of reminds me of breathing. Except for the few really long lines. The poem as a whole tends to have smaller lines that lead to bigger lines, then back to small.

This line stuck out to me because what is a reasonable berry? She uses a lot of repetition, and plays around with a lot of words in different sections, and this line seemed even more random to me. She does not reuse any of these words or play around with them, just sticks this line in here randomly.

It seems to me that he at first is saying he is one of the "rich young men with fine eyes", which makes sense considering Williams' background in medicine, but then it seems as if he is saying he is an Elsie, a degraded prisoner "destined to hunger until we eat filth"

This reminds me of tainting "pure" white blood.

At this time American Indians were forced into boarding schools to "civilize" them. I wonder if this could be a reference to these schools where a part Indian child might be "reared by the state", and "rescued by an agent" working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Williams starts to show some sympathy for these "slatterns" here, when he describes them as having no emotion except for a numbed terror that they cannot express. These women are so used to their terror that they are numb to it, and cannot express it. Is the terror a fear of poverty and hunger? Is their only hope a marriage?

Is Williams saying that city women had no culture, or traditions because they are not from these traditional American hometowns?

Are the examples: "mountain folk from Kentucky, or the ribbed north end of Jersey" synecdoches for a "real American boy"?

Why is the narrator so intent on being in the dark? Why is he traveling in the evening, wanting to stay in the dark/deep woods, and looking forward to sleep (darkness)?

Are the supernatural elements included in the poem related to the promise he has to keep?

How long is he watching for when he has miles more to go and it is already evening?

Is he saying that no one who has taken either path has had a bad experience? Or no one who has taken either road is bad themselves? Does a decision with no bad in it exist?

Is he saying that the grassy path he took didn't actually 'want wear', and had actually been worn the same amount as the other path?

Did he take the easy path? The path that had grass instead of dense undergrowth he couldn't see past?

It's an odd choice of words because it seems like his influence was for more forward thinking, and that the village would prefer to be at more of a cultural and educational stand still. So him being out of the way makes me think they won't have any change, and won't move in any direction.

This implies that he knows what is "good" because he has read "Ruins", "Analogy", etc.

I like that he says this and then explains it in the next few lines. It implies that they are not actually good people, and are choosing their own good.

This part seemed a little out of place for me. Is he saying that he cannot write about love? The roses are vanished, and love is a rose. Then in his list he does not mention anything of romance around him.

I read this as Masters referring to Homer and Whitman as masters of poetry. While his poems "waken" in a full breeze, they have a "roaring" of a storm to create their poems.

I think he is saying that the seeds are syllables or words, and that the breeze "ticks" them together and creates the poem, or the symphony.

This is probably exactly what she looks like from outside of the house, a woman who wants to escape from her barred windows.

You can tell she doesn't sleep by her knowing exactly how the paper looks at all times of the day.

Does this mean she doesn't get any of these things?

While writing she takes her mind off of the wallpaper, but then it keeps coming back. It is interwoven in her life.

It seems he doesn't want her around anybody. She was allowed to speak to her brother in the beginning, a person who shares all of John's views about her. Also, John's sister. She is only allowed to be around people that she thinks are making her worse.

Basically what he is doing to her.

He didn't do what he had planned, and then told her to ignore it. If it is a stressor for someone who has a mental illness, you would think it would be best to relieve them of it.

Interesting, since earlier she stated that he has a nervous condition.

It's interesting that she is staying in a nursery, and cannot be around her baby.

I love this. It seems like her own sassy way of saying she is not the only one with mental conditions.

I agree with IzzyLyons, the house does seem to be very secluded like herself. The walls and gates and locks that keep it away from others, as well as houses to separate her.

The quotation marks around work are very interesting. She could be commenting on the fact that what she is allowed to do, is in her mind not real work, but more like busywork.

This is an argument I still hear in todays society. After centuries of social injustices and racial discrimination, minorities living in poor or "bad" neighborhoods are blamed for the violence and crime rates, and are berated for not taking advantage of what they can and following the "American dream". While others argue that racism has oppressed these people and has purposely forced them into these neighborhoods, and 'handicapped' them.

Du Bois is describing the difficulty in trying to be an educated man in America. He must appeal to white people, and accept their ideas of art and beauty, but he cannot accept his own people's art and beauty if he is to "succeed". The necessity to accept black culture and white culture for black people is a double standard.

In my own education, I cannot recall ever learning about African history after the rise of Egypt, and some biblical references and before colonization. I'm not sure if any one else has had this experience.

W.E.B. Du Bois is noting how it is not self-consciousness when you are not judging yourself, but being attentive of others judging you.

Referring to Catholicism? His interest in the Virgin seems odd since the Virgin Mary is very prominent in Catholicism, yet in Christianity she plays less of a role.

Also reminiscent of God's power coupled with His gentleness, and the praying.

This section also reminds me of Jesus. First of all the baby against the frame, reminds me of a baby Jesus being held against the Virgin Mary maybe? Then further the dynamo being a symbol of ultimate energy but was "not so human as some." In Christianity, Jesus is the symbol of God's ultimate energy in human form.

At this point, I'm still not quite sure the relation between the Virgin and the Dynamo.

Searched for a translation and got:

"You who alone once ruled the nature of things."

I'm not sure I understand what he means. How can you make an equation between a discovery and economy of force??

Interesting, seeing that earlier Langley "threw out of the field every exhibit that did not reveal a new application of force." Now, the power is too much for him?

This paragraph is Adams' introduction to his religious views on the dynamo. I believe he associates the dynamo with the Cross because of the 'infinite' feeling of the dynamo. The power that it exudes, to him is a symbol of power, and of force that equals the power of the Christian God. God has infinite power in Christianity, and the cross is a symbol of God/Jesus, while the dynamo, in his mind, also holds infinite power.

Is the lion the working, or middle/lower class people who became strong out of all of this? I'm not sure I understand the five arms and all my hands reference.

The lion is growing not only from the business and factories, but also from the workers

I was actually confused by a lot of this stanza.

The gray hills and stumps he mentions remind me of the environment being torn down or tainted for industrial purposes. It's interesting how he points out what is happening to females at this time and not the males. Bones' need to sharpen is interesting.

The first stanza seems to place the reader in an industrial setting, and it also express Levine's feelings about the time period. The 'acids of rage' show his anger. I do wonder about the 'candor of tar' though. I'm not quite sure what he means.