Essay Questions

Explain the end of the poem "The Crow’s first Lesson’’.

The poem is a conversation between God and a Crow. God tries to teach the Crow the meaning of the word "Love’’ but the Crow is unable to learn it and what is more produces a series of creatures that are detrimental to the society and the earth. The last element produced by the Crow is described in a gruesome way. The narrator talks how first the man came and then from the mouth of the Crow came a vulva that wrapped around the man’s neck. The vulva tightened more and more until the man was no longer able to breath. The vulva is used here as a symbol but what the narrator wanted to transit is how the most devastating element created by the Crow was the diversity that existed between men and women. Because of this, men and women are incapable of living in harmony near one another and are constantly fighting. Thus, the end of the poem wanted to highlight just devastating and how much this adversity can affect the two sides.

How is God presented in the poems?

In most of the poems in the collection, the only two characters that appear constantly are God and the Crow. The only character who is consistent is the crow while God is presented in different instances. The reader can distinguish three ways in which God is presented. First of all, he is described as being absent and as having given his power to the Crow. The poem ‘’ Crow Alights’’ presents God in such a manner while also portrays the Crow as having power over everything and everyone. Second, God is presented as a force willing to create and who wants to create something good but who is disappointed because his creation does not turn out the way he wanted it. God is presented in this way in the poem "Crow’s first Lesson’’. Lastly, God is presented as a creature that does not have much power, as someone who is rather disappointing. He is presented in this manner in the poem "Crow Communes’’.

What is the meaning of the word "communes’’?

The word appears in the title of one of the poems and thus it is important to understand its meaning and also the way it is represented in the poem. The word "communes’’ makes reference to a practice that appears in the Bible. It is first mentioned in the Last Supper, when Jesus and his disciples ate together for the last time. Then, Jesus gave his disciples bread to eat and wine to drink and told them the two represented his body and blood. Nowadays, Christians continue to commune in church, eating bread and drinking wine to symbolize their union with Jesus and God. In the poem "Crow Communes’’, the Crow takes communion as well. While in the case of the Christians the act is a symbolic one, here is presented as a literal one, with the Crow eating a piece of flesh from God. The act here also achieved the opposite of what communion was supposed to do because the Crow grows farther away from God as a result.