38 Matching Annotations
  1. Apr 2017
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    1. All her excitement had seeped away, leaving behind a terrible sadness, an emptiness that felt violent, as if she’d been gouged.

      Just as her excitement/adrenaline disperses after stealing something, she feels the same after being with Alex.

    2. miniaturist beaver: a heap of objects that was illegible yet clearly not random. To Sasha’s eye, it almost shook under its load of embarrassments

      Perhaps for the first time, Sasha is realizing how her pile may look to another person. While it is comforting/normal to her, to Alex it is strange and even embarrasses her.

    3. winter is almost over; children grow so fast; kids hate scarves; it’s too late, they’re out the door; I’m embarrassed to return it; I could easily not have seen it fall—in fact, I didn’t, I’m just noticing it now.

      She is attempting to justify her actions as she literally steals from a child. She feels guilt but has found ways to comfort herself and avoid it.

    4. “Everything’s there, I swear,” she said. “I didn’t even open it. It’s this problem I have, but I’m getting help. I just—please don’t tell. I’m hanging on by a thread.”

      Sasha is showing desperation as she admits to her problem, this is the first step to recovery.

    5. Sasha wished feverishly that she’d left the wallet there, as if this were an impulse she’d barely resisted.

      Sasha is regretting her decision as she had with the plumber.

    6. he was new to New York.

      Sasha associates New York to harsh, cold people constantly. She may have had bad experiences after moving to the city that makes her feel this way.

    7. Xanax

      Sasha has anxiety

    8. Coz’s protection and her own

      Doesn't like feeling vulnurable.

    9. Sasha’s nose began to prickle; she shut her eyes and pushed hard on both temples. Opening her eyes, she saw the plumber’s tool belt lying on the floor at her feet.

      Whenever she is feeling bad, she turns to stealing for relief.

    10. most put her in her twenties.

      She looks younger than she is. This could be forshadowing her immaturity.

    11. not even Coz knew her real age

      She doesn't like admitting stuff about herself. She has a hard time being honest with others/share personal details about herself.

    12. clear proof that he’d been on the verge of aborting their date

      She seems to think she understands people and their actions well. Constantly trying to be one step ahead is a way of being defensive.

    13. Sasha never took anything from stores—their cold, inert goods didn’t tempt her. Only from people.

      This could reflect her feelings towards people in general. Why does she want to make others feel bad/take something away from them? What happened to her? Why is she lashing out?

    14. He was trying to get Sasha to use that word, which was harder to avoid in the case of a wallet than with a lot of the things she’d lifted over the past year,

      Has a hard time being honest with herself/others

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    1. The bell had fallen because of Bannadonna acting in violence and "slewing" the worker. Since a piece of the worker's body flew into the bell, it created the destructive defect in the project.

  4. Mar 2017
    1. of having his ribs kicked in by three policemcn at an anti-war rally, or waking himself up with laughter.

      There is a them of Anders laughting in a peculiar situation.

    2. The domed ceiling had been decorated with mythological figures whose fleshy, toga-draped ugliness Anders had taken in at a glance many years earlier and afterward declined to notice. Now he had no choice but to scrutinize the painter’s work. It was even worse than he remembered, and all of it executed with the utmost gravity.

      This passage shows Ander's lack of fear. He is in a threatening situation, however he is able to notice the bank's ceiling art after a robber pushed his face upward with a pistol.

    3. She looked at him with drowning eyes.

      crying

    4. stupid conversation put him in a murderous temper. He was never in the best of tempers anyway

      This line immediately makes me aware of the short temper that Anders has. This makes him suspicious.

  5. Feb 2017
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    1. passed by

      This may be literal, however it reminds me of "passed on" as though someone may have died. This could be an early foreshadowing to the last line: "They have eaten me alive."

    1. There is an end-rhyme pattern throughout the poem. Many of the last word of each line rhymes.

    1. biologically

      The use of this word makes the speaker sound superficial. The denotation of the word refers to the body and the physical parts of a person. It is what can be found on the outside. The speaker is showing how people use each other lustfully, physically but instead call it love.

    2. I will protest you with my favorite vow. I would indeed that love were longer-lived, And vows were not so brittle as they are,

      The repeated word, "vow" shows that the word carries significance. As the speaker says "I would indeed that love were longer-lived" it shows that the speaker does not have faith in love. It may be a result of past relationships. The speaker's bitterness makes the poem very pessimistic.

    3. by and by

      I thought this repetition meant it was an important part of the poem, however, after reading the annotations I see that it means "as time goes on."

    4. loveliest lie I will protest you with my favorite vow. I would indeed that love were longer-lived

      This part of the poem seems to be mocking love as they refer to it as a "loveliest lie." This mocking tone makes the speaker seem very superficial with no desire for deep connections.

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    1. we lie down screaming as rain punches through

      There is a lot of personification in this poem. The plants, presumably Parsley, is screaming while rain "punches" through.

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    1. Now I scan the sky for snow, and the cool cheek it offers me, and its body, thinned into petals, and the still caves where it sleeps.

      This last stanza makes me think of how the snow represents love and how it is now a "cold cheek" which implies that it turned on her. Its body "thinned into petals" which makes me think of something withering away to nothing. Also, "thinned" can reflect on how one becomes very thin when they are sad. The speaker seems to be very sad, especially in this last stanza because she is referring to love as snow and it now sleeps in a "still cave."

    2. on the risen loaves of snow. You can follow the broken hearts their hooves punch in its crust.

      This part is the first line that makes me think of something besides a literal snowy day. When the speaker says "broken hearts" and "punch" it was the first time it occurred to me that the whole poem is a metaphor of the way the speaker is feeling. Perhaps a love interest that went cold.

    1. handkerchief waving goodbye.

      According to OED, a handkerchief is small square of cotton, silk, or other material carried on the person and used for wiping the nose, hands, etc. This is a strong word because it represents wiping tears of sadness or happiness. A handkerchief is also very delicate so the speaker could be implying that their child is fragile which is also why they used this simile

    2. A theme in this poem is riding a bike. Although the title explains that a daughter is leaving home, she is not literally leaving on a bike. However, the speaker is describing the way it makes them feel seeing her leave through the description of teaching [their daughter] riding their bike. The excitement yet fear a [parent] feels when their child rides a bike for the first time is similar to the fear but excitement when they see their child accomplish riding a bike for the first time.

    3. This poem's tone is a high-stress tone. I expected it to be more sad from the title, "To a Daughter Leaving Home", however, lines such as "pumping, pumping for your life, screaming with laughter, the hair flapping." It creates the tone that she is speeding away to the rhythm of "pumping, pumping," which also sounds like a fast heartbeat, like anxiety.

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    1. They are viewed by dry, bird-wristed, blue-rinsed crones

      This line contrasts the first stanza in every way. After the first stanza describes young boys and girls that came to spring break with intentions to party, this line alone creates the opposite image. Dry, bird-wristed, blue-rinsed crones implies that there are people there that are dry and old. "Bird-wristed" is implying natives to the land, probably those who live where the young are partying. "Blue-rinsed crones" is speaking about withered, conservative women. This second stanza is describing the opposite description of old, withered women in contrast to the young women on the beach. This is revealing the two perspectives of the same place.

    2. The first stanza describes superficiality. The vocabulary used to describe this includes "themselves, thrust, pelvis, butt, bust, laying plots to score, abs and pecs, animality of sex, and weak pretenses to ignore." It implies the sexual aspect of vacationing, particularly on spring break. Using this language in particular is showing the reader the lustful desires and even creates a tone of immaturity with girls with heart shaped shades and boys with abs, pecs, beery and laying plots to score.

    1. Word Lists

      I was able to watch a teacher I have worked with for an EDU course use tools like "Word Lists" to evaluate their students. When a student had trouble with some words, the teacher would review the words and teach them the proper way to interpret them and the ways to pronounce them. This gave the students the ability to continue learning and engage in reading harder books instead of remaining stuck which happens frequently. As teachers it is important to constantly evaluate your students and make sure they are progressing instead of struggling or even remaining at one level of reading.

    2. One of the most profound and personal connections that young children make to print involves their names. The presence of students’ names in several locations around the elementary classroom (on classroom management charts, reading group lists, classroom job boards, etc.) is of great importance as an instructional tool for new readers.

      I not remember learning my name as one of the first words to read and write. This gave me the motivation to begin learning literacy skills because it was a way to begin learning about who I was and where my name came from. This is a great way to begin teaching kids about where they come from and what their names mean while teaching simple reading and writing skills.

  10. Jan 2017
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    1. I’m older now, and now, and now. 

      Is this line italicized for emphasis? Or is the speaker actually changing from an older man to the voice of the little boy?

    1. Spirit of irony, my caustic author of the past, of memory,—

      According to OED, 'caustic' is the ability "to burn or corrode organic tissue by chemical action" which presents a powerful use of diction in this stanza. Boland is expressing the irony of her lack of memory of the past.