Newest Questions
7,304 questions
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Did Esteban kill Justo or not?
I've just read Juan Rulfo's short story "At daybreak", part of the collection The Burning Plain and Other Stories (whose Spanish original is available online with George D. Schade's English ...
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4
votes
0
answers
17
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What is the significance of the 'one word' in Gabriela Mistral's poem Una palabra
In Gabriela Mistral's poem Una palabra (literally "one word"), the speaker says (in the first stanza, from the translation in Mapping a different star: five poems by Gabriela Mistral),
I ...
- 51.1k
5
votes
1
answer
79
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What were the works of Tagore that Mistral commented on?
Mistral's first published collection, Desolación, contains a number of prose works in addition to her poetry. In one of them, "Commentarios a poemas de Rabindranath Tagore", Mistral wrote ...
- 18.9k
2
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33
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Poem About Missshapen Tree
Looking for a poem about a tree that has grown in adverse conditions, but is more interesting because it has more character. Thought it was written by a famous American poet but my searches don't ...
10
votes
1
answer
728
views
How does the first stanza of Robert Burns's "For a' that and a' that" translate into modern English?
I want to like this poem, but I guess I'm too dense to make sense of the first stanza, mainly because (I suppose) of Burns's dialect:
Is there, for honest poverty,
That hangs his head, and a’ that?
...
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4
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1
answer
215
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Who was Blanca Subercaseaux, to whom Gabriela Mistral dedicated the poem Encargo a Blanca?
Many of Gabriela Mistral's poems are dedicated to specific persons. These are often authors who can be looked up on the Spanish Wikipedia, such as Emma Godoy, Max Daireaux, Francis de Miomandre, José ...
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2
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31
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Why are "La Tambora" and "La Serpentina" left untranslated in this English version of Rulfo's "We're very poor"?
I've been reading George D. Schade's English translation of Juan Rulfo's The Burning Plain and Other Stories, which is freely available to borrow from the Internet Archive. In the story "We're ...
- 76.7k
3
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1
answer
226
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Who is Veronica in Gabriela Mistral's poem La huella?
The first stanza in Gabriela Mistral's poem La huella ("The footprint") mentions or appears to address a certain Veronica. The translation of that stanza follows below:
Of the fugitive man
...
- 51.1k
5
votes
1
answer
237
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What's the background behind "They gave us the land"?
In Juan Rulfo's short story "They gave us the land" (part of the collection The Burning Plain and Other Stories, of which the Spanish original is available online and George D. Schade's ...
- 76.7k
3
votes
1
answer
85
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What is the status of Rulfo's La Cordillera?
In George D. Schade's introduction to his English translation of Juan Rulfo's The Burning Plain and Other Stories, he says (bold emphasis mine):
Born in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, in 1918, Rulfo ...
- 76.7k
1
vote
0
answers
24
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What is the fall of Europe in Gabriela Mistral's poem Caída de Europa?
Gabriela Mistral's poem Caída de Europa was published in the 1954 collection Lagar (Winepress). (The poem is dedicated to Roger Caillois, who published a bilingual edition of a selection of Mistral's ...
- 51.1k
3
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0
answers
34
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What is the single word in Gabriela Mistral's La que camina?
The second stanza in Gabriela Mistral's poem La que camina introduces a "single word" that is somehow vital to the woman described in the poem. The poem's second and third stanzas can be ...
- 51.1k
2
votes
1
answer
218
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What's the title of this sci-fi story about a sentient planet?
It's an early short sci-fi story. 1950 to 1960's maybe.
3 people are on an unusual planet that seems sentient. A young man, a young woman, and a little older man say 30 years old.
The young woman has ...
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3
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0
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13
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Why does Nessim steal Balthazar's key in Justine?
A significant event in Lawrence Durrell's Justine is Balthazar's losing the key used to wind up the watch he has inherited from his father. The unnamed narrator comes upon him searching for the key in ...
- 31.4k
7
votes
1
answer
498
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What is the "strife" that makes a city strong in "Oedipus"?
In Oedipus Tyrannus, after Jocasta reveals to Oedipus that Laius was killed where "three roads meet", Oedipus begins to freak out, beginning to realize that it was indeed him who killed the ...
- 27.2k
4
votes
0
answers
25
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What is the purpose of the "Workpoints" appended to Durrell's Justine?
At the end of Lawrence Durrell's Justine (1957, rev. 1962) is a brief appendix called "Workpoints." They appear to be either Durrell's jottings about his characters and settings, or outtakes ...
- 31.4k
6
votes
1
answer
41
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Narrator's name in Durrell's Justine
The back cover of my copy of Lawrence Durrell's 1957–1962 The Alexandria Quartet refers to the narrator as L. G. Darley ("L. G. Darley attempts to reconcile himself with [sic] the end of his ...
- 31.4k
3
votes
0
answers
45
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Meaning of "on the dreary littorals of Alexandria, with her sex broken" in Durrell's Justine
I'm unable to figure out the meaning of this sentence in Lawrence Durrell's Justine:
I found Melissa, washed up like a half-drowned bird, on the dreary littorals of Alexandria, with her sex broken.......
- 31.4k
4
votes
0
answers
31
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Social commentary in "In the Graveyard" by Chekhov
Within "In the Graveyard" (1884) by Chekhov, the narrator and his friends meet an actor in a graveyard. They initially mistake him to be a clerk, and are promptly corrected.
"No, an ...
- 41
3
votes
1
answer
56
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Short Story about a car breaking down in the desert, darts, and maybe cannibals
I read an English textbook many years ago (late 80s, early 90s I think). In that book, I read a short story and can only vaguely remember a very few details.
There was a family driving down a road ...
- 133
1
vote
2
answers
68
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Looking for a young-adult book about kids that get stuck in a cave
As near as I can remember, I read this book in 7th or 8th grade, so figure it would be written toward 10-15 year olds. I'm looking for a book where 2-4 (can't remember exactly) kids decide to explore ...
Chad Robinson
6
votes
2
answers
1k
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What does the word "well" mean in the last line of Shakespeare's Sonnet 73?
Shakespeare's Sonnet 73, "That time of year thou mayst in me behold", spends its first 12 lines comparing different types of the passage of time (such as seasons and days) to human mortality,...
- 27.2k
6
votes
1
answer
1k
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A book I read around 25 years ago including a salt sea that blinds people, "gods" including two called Ari and Paty
I know it's a long shot, but I'm trying to find a book I read about 25 years ago, checked out from a public library in California. Here is was I can remember of it:
Book details: Likely a YA fantasy ...
1
vote
1
answer
39
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Why did the Maharaja reject the British durai's offer?
In the tale The Tiger King by Kalki see a particular paragraph in the III part of the story which reads:
At another time he was in danger of losing his throne. A high-ranking British officer visited ...
6
votes
1
answer
629
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What is Horatio’s role in Hamlet?
I’m struggling to make sense of his character—beyond his rationality serving to highlight all the disorder. I know of what he provides to the play: belief, a confidant for Hamlet, etc.
But I keep ...
- 61
3
votes
1
answer
40
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Is there any link between the various supernatural phenomena described in M. R. James' The Residence at Whitminster?
Major spoilers follow for the short story The Residence at Whitminster from M. R. James' collection A Thin Ghost and Others.
This story lists various peculiar goings-on. In order, they are:
Lord Saul ...
- 23.6k
1
vote
0
answers
34
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Questions about Alfred Noyes' Midnight Express #4: Is Mortimer's death suicide or murder?
I have this(these) question(s) regarding Alfred Noyes' "Midnight Express"
Because I have about ten questions regarding this, I will post each individually.
I don't want to give any exerpt ...
- 213
0
votes
1
answer
79
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Book that ends with someone knocking on the door
The only detail I remember of the book/story was that it ended with someone/something banging/scratching on the front door, but the characters never find out what it is. In the context I heard of it, ...
- 111
2
votes
3
answers
344
views
Who is "he" in a sentence from Daudet's The Last Lesson?
In this line from "The Last Lesson" by Alphonse Daudet:
But he had the courage to hear every lesson to the very last.
Who is "he" here, Franz or M. Hamel? Initially I thought it ...
3
votes
1
answer
114
views
Questions about Alfred Noyes' Midnight Express #3: What is Mortimer's "escape"?
I have this(these) question(s) regarding Alfred Noyes' "Midnight Express"
Because I have about ten questions regarding this, I will post each individually.
I don't want to give any exerpt ...
- 213
1
vote
1
answer
67
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Why was Stephen Spender's visit no longer a mystery?
The end of the excerpt "Poets and Pancakes" by Asokamitran says:
The reaction to Stephen Spender at Gemini Studios was no longer a mystery. The boss of the Gemini Studios may not have much ...
3
votes
1
answer
369
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Meaning of "got behind with his chrysanthemums" in "The Enemy" by Pearl S. Buck
Here is a paragraph from the story "The Enemy" by Pearl S. Buck:
“You say the man escaped?” the General asked faintly. He had been operated upon a week before, an emergency operation to ...
6
votes
1
answer
178
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What is the "Royal Air" in Dickinson's poem 788 (Publication – is the Auction)?
The third stanza of Dickinson's poem 788 (Publication – is the Auction) goes like this:
Thought belong to Him who gave it –
Then – to Him Who bear
It's Corporeal illustration – sell
The Royal Air –
...
- 27.2k
4
votes
1
answer
1k
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Why does Odysseus laugh at Zeus' sign before killing the suitors?
When Odysseus strings his bow, that none of the suitors beforehand have been able to string, he then plucks it like a harp, sounding a note. After that, Zeus gets involved, sending a thunderclap as a ...
- 27.2k
4
votes
1
answer
72
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What are "Platt Skeet" and "Whoof, whoof"?
In Agatha Christie's The Man in the Brown Suit (freely/legally available to read online), one excerpt from Eustace Pedler's diaries describes his experience at the the Legislative Assembly of South ...
- 76.7k
3
votes
0
answers
35
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Questions about Alfred Noyes' Midnight Express #2: who was (were) the doppelgänger(s)?
I have this(these) question(s) regarding Alfred Noyes' "Midnight Express"
Because I have about ten questions regarding this, I will post each individually.
I am not giving any exerpt because ...
- 213
1
vote
1
answer
58
views
Meaning of "reeds" in "Fat City" by Leonard Gardner
Here is an excerpt from chapter 6 of the novel Fat City by Leonard Gardner.
Later in the night it began to rain. To Ernie the first patters were
like small sounds from Faye’s mouth. Her lips had been ...
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2
votes
0
answers
44
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Intention of Conrad in Under Western Eyes
Razumov, the hero/anti-hero in Conrad's 1911 Under Western Eyes is a middle-low class young college student in czarist Russia that by chance and to his sorrow turns out to be involved in a terrorist ...
- 193
7
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1
answer
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Who is the "Sea-queen" mentioned in "Oedipus", and why is she referenced?
Towards the beginning of Oedipus Tyrannus, the chorus calls out to various gods, including Apollo, Artemis, and Athena, asking them to drive away the plague from Thebes. As part of this, there are ...
- 27.2k
2
votes
1
answer
676
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A Title "That in Aleppo Was"
I remember a title, not a book or a story, but a title of some piece of literature I read or heard about decades ago. The title was something like "That in Aleppo Was".
And so I am asking ...
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1
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0
answers
64
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André Gide and the classicist and romantic authors
André Gide in a short text compares classicism and romantism. In this passage, he speaks about their relation to emotion and speech. He asserts that classicists, in contrary to romantics, manage to ...
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4
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1
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160
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Who are Catalina and Teresa in Gabriela Mistral's poem Vieja?
The last two lines in Gabriela Mistral's poem Vieja are as follows:
las viejas que pudieron no morir:
Clara de Asís, Catalina y Teresa.
Translation:
the old women who could not die:
Clara/Clare of ...
- 51.1k
3
votes
1
answer
228
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What style/Form is the Stranger's Poem in, from The Magnus Archives?
In season 5 of the Magnus Archives, Jon, the Archivist, reads a long poem inspired by viewing the phenomenon known as The Stranger.
An excerpt of the text is as follows, taken from Snarp:
Your face ...
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1
answer
162
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Why does Telemachus hang the women instead of following Odysseus' instructions?
In The Odyssey, after Odysseus has slain the suitors, he tells Telemachus to have the disloyal women help to clean up the mess, and then to cut them to pieces:
“These dead must be disposed of first ...
- 27.2k
1
vote
2
answers
52
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Who or what are the Pelayos in Gabriela Mistral's poem Ronda de los metales?
In Gabriela Mistral's poem Ronda de los metales, one of the stanzas goes as follows (emphasis mine):
El cobre es arrebato,
la plata es maternal,
los hierros son Pelayos,
el oro Abderrahmán.
...
- 51.1k
3
votes
1
answer
215
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What does "spiked with coughing death" mean in "The Odyssey"?
In The Odyssey, when Penelope becomes convinced that Odysseus is not going to return, she devises a test for the suitors: to use Odysseus' bow to shoot an arrow through twelve axes. When she goes to ...
- 27.2k
3
votes
1
answer
101
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Questions about Alfred Noyes' Midnight Express #1: Why did Mortimer forget what he read in the battered old book?
I have this(these) question(s) regarding Alfred Noyes' "Midnight Express"
Because I have about ten questions regarding this, I will post each individually.
I don't want to give any exerpt ...
- 213
3
votes
1
answer
48
views
Is Gabriela Mistral referring to a specific historical use of asbestos in South America?
The first stanza of the second part of Gabriela Mistral's poem Dos himnos contains the following lines (emphasis mine):
¡Cordillera de los Andes,
Madre yacente y Madre que anda,
que de niños nos ...
- 51.1k
14
votes
1
answer
3k
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Meaning of "I love my love with an S—" in Richard Burton's "Arabian Nights"
The following poem occurs in a footnote by Richard Burton in his Arabian Nights translation, at the beginning of the Tale of Aziz and Azizah, in night 112. Burton elaborates on the "fond ...
- 143
2
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0
answers
34
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Gabriela Mistral's La flor del aire
Gabriela Mistral's poem La flor del aire is the second in a group titled "Historias de loca" ("Madwoman's stories"); it comes right after La muerte-niña. The speaker of the poem ...
- 51.1k