1,089 Answered Questions for the topic literature

Literature Poetry Meter

07/06/19

Significance of rising/falling meter?
If I am analyzing a poem and I realize that it has rising meter, what does that say about the poem. Like do happy tone poems have rising meters whereas sad poems have falling meter?
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07/05/19

Why does Macbeth move to and fortify Dunsinane?
The witches tell Macbeth that he will be defeated only if Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane. This should give Macbeth a very good reason to *avoid* Dunsinsane, so that his enemies never focus on it.... more
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07/05/19

The Last of The Mohicans, literary device question. "Thievish race."?
I am reading the book, The Last of The Mohicans, and I was wondering what literary device was being used, when Hawkeye is given the quote "A Huron!” repeated the sturdy scout, once more shaking his... more
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07/04/19

Is there symbolism in Vronsky going bald in Anna Karenina?
As I am reading Anna Karinina I notice how as the story continues Vronsky is going bald. As characters meet him it is noted how he tries to hid his increasing baldness. For instance when Dolly... more
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07/03/19

Is there a difference in cytoplasmic pH between prokaryotes and eukaryotes?
The cytosolic pH in human cells is [around 7.4, but fluctuates as the cell is replicating](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2114443/). Prokaryotes and eukaryotes are vastly different in... more
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07/03/19

Is Macbeth or Lady Macbeth the real villain in Shakespeare's play?
In Shakespeare's play *Macbeth*, it is Macbeth himself, the eponymous antihero, who meets the witches upon the heath and first conceives the idea to murder his king. It is he who kills Duncan,... more
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07/01/19

What caused the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues?
As I understand it, the scholarship has so far not compellingly answered a significant question of the text of *Romeo and Juliet*; namely, why the Capulets and the Montagues are at war. I am... more
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07/01/19

Do the poisons in "Ode on Melancholy" have deeper meaning?
In "Ode on Melancholy", Keats uses the images of three poisons in the first stanza: Wolf's bane, nightshade, and yew-berries. Are these poisons simply meant to connote death/suicide, or might they... more
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06/29/19

What is the symbolism of Eustace's arm ring?
In *The Voyage of the Dawn Treader*, Eustace put a cursed arm ring on, which resulted in him becoming a dragon. Does the arm-ring itself have any special symbolism (e.g. he was entrapped by his... more
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Literature Hamlet The Odyssey Homer

06/29/19

Is there any significance in Shakespeare's use of the name "Laertes" (name of the father of Odysseus) in Hamlet?
Is there any significance in Shakespeare's use of "Laertes" (name of the father of Odysseus) in Hamlet? Do we associate the name with The Odyssey more strongly than Shakespeare, to whom it was... more
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06/29/19

Is there any connection between Paris of Troy and Paris of Verona?
I just noticed that a character in Shakespeare's *Romeo and Juliet* has the same name as a character in Homer's *Iliad*: **Paris.** In both stories, Paris is one of two men who wish to be with the... more
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06/29/19

What does this sentence about a cliché bouncing back like a boomerang mean?
What does this sentence mean in chapter 01 of *Peel My Love Like an Onion* by Ana Castillo? > But you must be really in love for the cliché to bounce back like a boomerang smack dab between the... more
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Literature

06/29/19

Why did the stars throw down their spears In Blake's "The Tyger"?
William Blake's poem “[The Tyger](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/43687)” from _Songs of Experience_ contains one couplet whose meaning has always puzzled me, lines... more
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Literature Meaning Alexander Pope

06/29/19

What did Pope intend to say by "Whatever is, is right"?
Source: *[The Well-Educated... more
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06/29/19

Why does Portia say this in The Merchant of Venice?
In Act III Scene 2 of *The Merchant of Venice* by William Shakespeare, > Portia : One half of me is yours, the other half yours. Mine own, I would say; but if mine then yours. Roughly... more
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06/29/19

Was this character's death symbolic in Bridge to Terabithia?
As a child, reading *Bridge to Terabithia*, I was horrified when >! Leslie died As an older reader now, I wonder whether her death was necessary to the development of Jessie. Was her death for... more
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06/29/19

Is it possible to use present and past in one sentence?
> In *On The Road* Jack admits to Justin W. Brierly that he loves Neal Cassady because he reminds him of his brother, Gerard, who dies when Jack was five years old. Is this grammatical? The... more
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06/29/19

What is the significance of the "suffocation scene" at Tchermashnya in Brothers Karamazov?
I'm re-reading *The Brothers Karamazov* and was struck again by a strange scene whose meaning isn't immediately clear to me. In "Lyagavy", Part 3, Book 8, Chapter 2 of *The Brothers Karamazov*,... more
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06/29/19

Meaning of lines explaining Hrothgar's ruling in Heorot?
I'm reading Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf and when the poet talks about Heorot Hall (lines 71 through 73) he says > it would be his throne-room and there he would dispense > his... more
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06/28/19

In Early Modern English, how did 'see' semantically shift to mean 'note/record'?
John McWhorter [PhD Linguistics (Stanford)](https://americanstudies.columbia.edu/people/john-h-mcwhorter). [*Words on the Move*... more
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06/28/19

What is it called when a person carelessly speaks a hard truth without realizing it?
There is a term used to describe this event... it is not “irony” nor is it “foreshadowing.” it is specific to the dialogue that is spoken in the story... when a person carelessly and UNKNOWINGLY... more
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06/25/19

Who is the author of this contradictory poem starting "The night was dark and stormy"?
Does anyone know the name of or the author of the poem below? My grandfather used to say it all of the time and I would like to read it at his funeral. It's very silly and goes something like... more
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06/25/19

Could the War of the Worlds be considered a proto Cosmic Horror story?
After reading the War of the Worlds, I have noticed that H.G. Wells has presented several themes that would not be alien to something that Lovecraft would compose. There's a deep... more
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06/25/19

Is a “blue bird” the same as a “bluebird”？
Is “blue bird” in the following quotation from *Lady Chatterley’s Lover* referring to an actual bluebird? > The lush, dark green of hyacinths was a sea, with buds rising like pale corn, while... more
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06/25/19

What does "Burning" symbolize in "Burning the Old Year"?
In *Burning the Old Year* by Naomi Shihab Nye, Nye refers to "notes", "lists", and "letters" as things that can be burned. From reading this poem, I interpret the theme to be the short time for... more
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