A Dream About Final Exams in Wislawa Szymborsk's Poem Brueghel’s Two Monkeys

The use of simile in the last stanza ‘matchstick hands as pale as the violet stems they lived among’ is used to compare a frog to violet flowers, which are very delicate and easily broken. The innocence of childhood is painted through this visual technique as the narrator only sees the frogs being very delicate, but to the readers the simile also creates a vivid image of the condition of the ‘Frogs’/ the French. The use of first person helps to create a reminiscent tone about the narrator’s experiences, and further helps to stress the ideas of childhood innocence and the influence of war on children because the poem is written from a child’s perspective. The use of enjambment generates a conversational and personal tone, emphasizing to the readers the reality of the themes discussed throughout the poem. The use of symbolism of frogs as pets and also representing the French highlights the idea that adults saw ‘Frogs’ as insignificant or unworthy to speak about, whereas the children could not understand this adult thought, and they placed exemplary regard to the wellbeing of the

In addition, the poem contains a satirical, biblical allusion. Brautigan writes, "where mammals and computers/ live together in mutally/ programming harmony." These lines draw a sharp comparison to the famous passage Isaiah 11.6, "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them." This passage refers to peace on earth, the very subject of Brautigan's poem. The reader could conclude that the dangerous beasts made gentle are symbolic of the violent ways of man at its end. Also, the "kid" refers to the new technology of computers, who watch over us in loving grace.

A shift in focus from the students to himself creates an interesting structure in the poem. Collins began discussing his disinterest of his students and their laughable yet pathetic lifestyle. Then toward the end, the author shifts to speak about himself. He expresses the impact of being a long time teacher and the loneliness that comes along with it. Collins creates the detailed image of his colonial house, the deflated car, and vines growing on the porch swing, revealing his depression and sense of being trapped. Therefore, the author connects how past students have driven him to insanity and caused him to create a false reality in his head.

Szymborska’s poem, “Brueghel’s Two Monkeys,” starts in an odd way. The reader is thrust straight into the scene of an exam, which at first seems all too familiar. However, Szymborska surprises the reader when the voice says what she dreams about as she takes the final exam, “two monkeys, chained to the floor.” This is a very odd image and one that is not easily identifiable to the reader initially. The poem contains two meanings, first in the context of the 1956 workers' riots and student demonstrations that led to the crisis and compromise of October where Poland was taken over by Stalin. These events provide a context for the reading of the poem as a

Now that you have read the poem and considered the meanings of the lines, answer the following questions in a Word doc or in your assignment window:

Throughout the poem, a young boy's curiosity takes control of a relationship with his father, as it reveals his regretful combative past. The boy asks questions repeatedly from many different aspects including, “why we dropped the bomb on those two towns in Japan” “where is Saipan” “Where is Okinawa” “where is the pacific” (Fairchild 5-16). The questions stand as the absences of order and by all means, progress, no answers mean no progress. As the questions continue the speaker describes the father and says “the palm of his hand slowly tapping the arm of a lawn chair,” (Fairchild 7-8). The slow tapping equivalent the slow buildup of anger and fear. Following, the speaker's description of the father’s face as his son continues mindlessly is “wooden” as his eyes freeze “like rabbits in headlights” (Fairchild 6-7). So small and helpless

The fact that enjambment is used throughout the poem such as in the lines, “like a colour slide or press an ear against its hive” portrays a lack of structure and therefore emphasizes the initial enjoyment one feels when reading a poem before the chore of analyzing it begins. This is also emphasized through the fact that the poem is a free verse poem.

During the book, McKnight seeks to show the reader as to how involved God is in their lives, whether they are aware of it or not. What this means is every single individual person that has ever lived or will ever live, will have a dream. This dream can be a range of things, but each dream has a similar goal, one that we are unaware of. The main goal of every person’s dream is to reach their dream; the meaning behind this is that their dream is what God has planned for them to do. If a person devotes their one life to their dream, everything else in life falls into place. [1]

Ta-Nehisi Coates discusses the topic of white America often throughout his book, Between the World and Me, as well as the struggles he has as a black American. The dream he portrays in his book consists of maintaining a well-paying job and eventually striving to become a wealthy, upper class citizen. Little do people know that the dream is not obtainable by everyone, Coates asserts that the American dream revolves around being white. Often times, blacks will begin to “act white” in order to achieve this American dream or achieve happiness in White America. Black people leave their natural physical appearance and language form in order to achieve this idea of “being white”. Personally, I find this to be bothersome. Still to this day we are

Another of these key notes is found in the poem in the beginning of the second section of the book. The poem says, “and sometimes fail to walk the air”. I feel like this line points to our ability to truly “walk the air” yet we do not always utilize the ability’s we have and or leverage them to the best of our ability. This poem over all is a reminder that we are beautiful, colorful, imaginative people who need to make the best of the surroundings we find ourselves in, though they are not what we long for in our core

The poem begins with two lines which are repeated throughout the poem which convey what the narrator is thinking, they represent the voice in

Here is the interpretation and analysis of the poem based on the sections that respect the grammar and meaning of its sentences:

Because the poem is long, it won’t be quoted extensively here, but it is attached at the end of the paper for ease of reference. Instead, the paper will analyze the poetic elements in the work, stanza by stanza. First, because the poem is being read on-line, it’s not possible to say for certain that each stanza is a particular number of lines long. Each of several versions looks different on the screen; that is, there is no pattern to the number of lines in each stanza. However, the stanzas are more like paragraphs in a letter than

In the poems “Traveling Through the Dark” and “Woodchucks” man must make a decision about nature in the most inconvenient ways. In “Traveling Through the Dark” the narrator is faced with, literally, a life or death situation, whereas in “Woodchucks” the narrator is faced under the Darwinian belief about killing. Both poems reveal the interpersonal relationship between man and animal as well as the moral dilemma that man faces with nature. However, through the use of narration, vivid imagery, and personification, the poets show one speaker’s sympathetic attitude towards the animals while the other speaker has an adversarial attitude toward them.

I jolted awake in fear. I had a dream. A weird dream. A vivid dream. It was full of people shouting and bright flashes of light. It was confusing yet clear, like some part of me understood it. I didn’t know it would be important then but now I know. How? Well, it happened like this…