1,119 Answered Questions for the topic literature

Literature English Poem

03/21/19

How do I find the meter and the number of syllables in my poem?
Here is my poem1 Two paths I can run on,2 One is short and sweet3 The other is long and hard.4 Sorry I could not take both,5 Looking as far as I could down one path6 My heart raced like a cheetah7... more
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Literature English Syntax

03/21/19

How does syntax contribute to tone?
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Literature English Syntax

03/21/19

What does syntax mean in poetry?
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Literature English

03/19/19

What does Marquez reveal about the war when Colonel Gerineldo Marquez stands up to Aureliano, who then orders his execution?
This is a question about the novel 100 Years of Solitude.
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03/19/19

What does "in the Ring" mean in Because I could not stop for Death?
3rd stanza: > We passed the School, where Children strove > At Recess – **in the Ring** – > We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain – > We passed the Setting Sun – I've heard of... more
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03/19/19

How does scansion work in Arabic poetry?
I was reading about Arabic poetry on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_poetry), and specifically the description of scansion: > The rhymed poetry falls within fifteen different... more
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03/19/19

What is meant by "came to practice" in John Manningham's description of Twelfth Night?
In the earliest mention of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night"; John Manningham's Diary: > A good practice in it [was] to make the Steward believe his Lady . . . in love with him, by counterfeiting... more
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Literature

03/19/19

Is Dorothea's nickname metaphorical in "Middlemarch"?
In Middlemarch by George Eliot Dorothea Brook's nickname is Dodo. Or actually to be exact her sister, Celia Brook's nickname for her is Dodo. **Is this an allusion to Dorothea's almost extinct... more
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03/19/19

What are "smoking-room stories"?
I recently started reading C.S. Lewis's book *That Hideous Strength*, the third in his Space Trilogy (and I'm devouring it - what a story!) The following passage, from when Mark first meets Miss... more
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03/18/19

Do traditional Japanese haikus always describe a moment?
I am currently reading *The Heart of Haiku* by Jane Hirshfield. In it, there are many examples of haikus by Bashō. In them, they always appear to give reference to a time, either explicitly or... more
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03/18/19

In the Sonnet 29 by Shakespeare, does the speaker pity himself over lack of skill as an artist or contentment?
Here is the "Sonnet 29" by Shakespeare. > When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, I all alone beweep my > outcast state, And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, And >... more
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03/18/19

Why is Rousseau saying that "[...] Russia was civilized too soon"?
In [*The Social Contract*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Contract), Jean-Jacques Rousseau says > [...] Russia will never be really civilized, because it was civilized too soon What... more
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Literature English Short Stories

03/18/19

What do you make of Harrison Bergeron himself? Does he represent the American dream to “be all you can be”?
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Literature English Syntax

03/18/19

Is repetition a syntax?
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Literature English Syntax

03/18/19

What is the effect of syntax?
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03/18/19

What is the study of syntax?
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Literature

03/16/19

In Alexander Pope's "Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot," why is 'beer' used in ''a parson much bemus'd in beer"?
In 1735, Alexander Pope wrote *Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot.* There is a line "a parson much bemus'd in beer." What has **beer** to do with it? I came across this in... more
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03/16/19

In the poem "North" by Seamus Heaney, what is meant by the Aurora Borealis line and the word "nubbed"?
I'm taking notes and learning about the poem "North" by Seamus Heaney, and would like help with the literary analysis of some lines. What is meant by: >Expect aurora Borealis in the long... more
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Literature English Syntax

03/15/19

What is complex syntax?
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Literature English Syntax

03/14/19

Is Syntax a literary device?
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Literature William Shakespeare

03/14/19

Shakespeare and Iambic pentameter?
My question is, 'Is Iambic pentameter just an illusion?' When I learned Shakespeare in school, my teacher emphasized on the thing called 'iambic pentameter'. That goes like 'du Dum du Dum......'... more
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Literature Grammar Writing Meaning

03/14/19

What is this strange sentence by Walt Whitman?
> The future is no more uncertain than the present. —Walt Whitman This is supposed to mean "The future is certain, just like the present." But it means the opposite... I learnt in school that no... more
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Literature The Great Gatsby

03/14/19

How would you characterize Nick Carraway?
Is Nick Carraway an outsider, or is he one of them.
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Literature John Dryden

03/13/19

John Dryden's critical essays foreshadow the satire of which eighteenth-century writer?
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03/13/19

What does the phrase "the silent imputation of parsimony" mean in The Gift of the Magi by O.Henry?
What does the phrase "the silent imputation of parsimony" mean? It appears in the first paragraph of "The Gift of the Magi," which I've quoted below. > One dollar and eighty-seven cents.That... more
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