Essay Questions

What is the purpose behind the line "Which is you must never lend any money to anybody unless they don't need it’’ in the poem "Bankers are just like anybody else, except richer’’?

In this poem, the narrator talks about the world of banking and how the people who work there are the most despicable beings on this earth. He claims that the banks refuse to give you money when a person really needs it and choose instead to give it to people who want to splurge on unnecessary things and commit different excesses. When it comes to the poor who really need the money, the bank sends them to their family and friends, refusing to help them mostly because the banks know they will not profit as much from them. This poem is thus used to highlight the hypocrisy the banks manifest, refusing to help the poor and instead making the rich even richer.

What is the main idea transmitted in the poem "Biological Reflection’’?

The poem is an extremely short one, consisting of only two lines. The narrator mentions in the first line a woman who has her cheeks covered in "paint’’, presumably a reference made to make up and other techniques used to women to make themselves more attractive. The narrator admits that a woman who is "painted’’ has more chances at attracting his attention in comparison with someone who is not dolled up. Thus, this poem transmits the idea that men are attracted first and foremost by the exterior and they do not care if a woman did something to make herself look more beautiful, as long as she entertains them and captures their attention.

Explain the meaning of the poem "Crossing the border’’.

As the title suggests, the poem deals with the moment when an era dies and another one begins. The period described as beginning is senescence, or rather the moment when a period feels they are deteriorating and the "middle ages’’, or the prime of someone’s life. This period is described as being the one when a person’s number of friends is lower than the number of family members still living. Thus, this poem transmits the idea that at the end of one’s life, all we have left is our family as the friends we once had slowly ceased to exist.