Monday, March 31, 2008

When In Rome Question 1

Who are the two speakers? What is the situation? Why are the second speaker's words enclosed in parentheses?

The two speakers are a couple or possibly married. The situation is that the guy is away in Rome and I believe he is going to be there for a while because in the poem he says, "Hope i lives till I get home I'm tired of eatin' what they eats in Rome. . ." I think the second speaker's words are enclosed in parentheses because its just showing his thoughts.

Dulce et Decorum Est Question 2

List the elements of the poem that seem not beautiful and therefore "unpoetic." Are there any elements of beauty in the poem?

I think the only elements in this poem that were not beautiful were the description of how the poor man died. The descriptive words of the way the man died painted a picture in my mind of the way the soldier struggled to live. In the end nothing could save him from the incurable gas that killed him in a tragic way. The sad thing is that no one could help him without putting themselves in horrible danger. To me, dying in anyway, and to whomever it may happen, is the opposite of beauty. I believe the beauty of this poem relates to the saying, "Things are not always what they seem." I say this because going to war is an extremely dangerous matter and seeing all those dead people wouldn't have you feeling glory or full of zest.