Essay Questions

What could be the cause of the grief experienced by the character in the poem "Angle’’?

The grief may be caused in this context by the passing of the narrator. The narrator calls the unnamed person to him but he puts some conditions in place. The first stanza uses other images such as wings and the image of clouds to transmit the idea that maybe the narrator has passed away and he is mourned by those he left behind. Thus, the grief may be caused in this instance by the narrator’s passing.

Who is Baptiste, the man with whom the narrator talks with in the poem "At the cedars’’?

In the poem mentioned above, the narrator describes a tragic event, an accident during which he and the rest of the men he worked with were thrown into water. A man who was on the side tried to help them but he got injured in the process and became incapacitated. Two girls saw what was happening and they tried to save the men in the water but unfortunately they died when they boat sunk. The end of the poem reveals how maybe the two girls were Baptiste’s daughters. The poem ends with the narrator claiming that Baptiste had two daughters but they were called by God, hinting thus that they died. The poem could be a way for the narrator to transmit the tragedy that happened.

What is a wigwam and what could it symbolize?

A wigwam is the name given to a traditional Native American building, used for housing. The small home was made out of wood, mud and hay and thus it was something simple that could be built in a short period of time. The name appears in the poem ‘’The half-breed girl’’ where the narrator mentions how the girl moved from her home in the city into a wigwam. This may symbolize the fact that the girl returned to her natural state, abandoning the city and trying to live a life closer to nature. Thus, the building is used to symbolize a return to nature.