Questions tagged [meaning]
Questions regarding the meaning of certain terms or phrases used in a work of literature. If your question concerns the symbolic significance of something whose surface meaning is clear, use the [symbolism] tag instead. Please add specific tags as well: for the author (if known), the language (if not English), and either the work itself (if long) or the [poetry] or [short-stories] tags for short works.
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Was Teresa the manager or not in "Dead End Girl"?
The prologue of Dead End Girl, narrates the experience of Teresa Riley finding a body in the oil dumpster at the Burger King she works at. At one point in the narration we find the following statement:...
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Meaning of "with no why to how it keeps its mystery"
What is the meaning of the following quote from Rumi? I was reading his The Book of Love: Poems of Ecstasy and Longing and came across this quote:
Love is an open secret, the most obvious thing in ...
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Meaning of "Her face, a revolving door, swings open and shut, open and shut"
First her ears hear; they open. Then her eyes can see; they open. Her face, a revolving door, swings open and shut, open and shut. She no longer sleeps at night; it’s too hard to breathe after four ...
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What does Smash Mouth mean when he writes "fed to the rules" in All-Star?
So the first two lines of the pre-chorus of All-Star by Smash Mouth the song goes:
Well, the years start coming and they don't stop coming
Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running
What does ...
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What's the significance of these odds in horse racing in "The Just Men of Cordova"?
In chapter 12 of The Just Men of Cordova (1917) by Edgar Wallace, the author is describing the situation of the odds of two horses, Timboilino, the owner of which is Isaac, and Nemesis, the owner of ...
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What does it mean when Faulkner says: “The will of man to prevail“?
I am reading Faulkner in the University (edited by Frederick L. Gwynn and Joseph L. Blotner. University of Virginia Press, 1995) and some parts are ambiguous for me. What does he mean when he says “...
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What is the reference to Kennedy in "Tomorrow Wendy" by Concrete Blonde meant for?
From the song "Tomorrow Wendy" by Concrete Blonde (link to full lyrics):
Underneath the chilly gray November sky
We can make believe that Kennedy is still alive
And we're shooting for the moon
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"...the gallant vessel on its course and wrecked it—thus!"
How do I understand explicitly the meaning of this last sentence from the fourth letter of Frankenstein? Why would the ship be "wrecked" when it was not? Also, how do I account for the usage ...
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What does "wisdom that is so often loudly preached" mean in the Parable of the King and the Maiden?
In the first paragraph of "The Parable of the King and the Maiden":
Suppose there was a king who loved a humble maiden and whose heart was unaffected by the wisdom that is so often loudly preached.
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How does Dee Raain use the Mirrors to highlight negative human traits in the poem "Mirror of Truth"?
The poem "Mirror of Truth" by Dee Raain is as follows:
What is seen in the mirror is nothing more than a person with lies and hate.
With sadness and traits
Of discrimination and disgrace.
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Ending of Joyce Carol Oates story "Lady with a pet dog"
This is a rewritten Chekhov story.
This is the epiphany moment for Anna, when she accepts their love, but the ending is still quite ambiguous.
Their love beginning again, in spite of them? “How can ...
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Meaning of "This is you" in Andrew's Brain by E. L. Doctorow
In Andrew's Brain by E. L. Doctorow:
Another morning. I am down on the beach as the osprey hovers pulsingly
over the sea, and the sanderlings tiptoe along the ocean’s foamy edge
while the shadowing ...
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Meaning of “City Lites”
I'm reading The Sellout by Paul Beatty.
One of the sections is titled: "City Lites"
The first thing that comes to my mind is Charlie Chaplin's famous movie. But what else can be understood ...
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What does "I ween that you are better where you are" in "The Heart of the Raven" mean?
The chorus of the song "The Heart of the Raven" by the German band MONO INC. goes like this:
But here in the raven's heart
Your heart is beating on
I ween that you are better where you are
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Meaning of "trembling fantasies"
Athena woke at six o’clock in the morning. Philip was not there, nor had he
been. The room was full of heavy, dark pieces of furniture. The impression
that her presence made on the room was so slight ...
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What does "it" mean in this passage of David Hume's “A Treatise of Human Nature”?
From David Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature, Book 3, Part 2, Section 7:
It has been observed, in treating of the passions, that men are mightily governed by the imagination, and proportion their ...
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