Essay Questions

What does the narrator suggest the mothers do in the poem "Ave Maria’’?

In the poem, the narrator urges the mother to let their children experiment the world. The way in which the narrator wants the children to experiment the world is through the silver screen, or the TV and the movies they can see at the cinema. This offers the children cheap experiences, such as their first sexual experience for the price of "a quarter’’. They can also learn about other countries in the same way and so their experiences will be enriched. The narrator urges the mothers to let their children do as they want and in this way the children will not grow up to hate their parents. Instead, they will grow up old and alone, sitting in front of a TV with no one else around them.

Who could be Augustus in the poem with the same name?

The name and also the fact that the poem talks about a King may mean that the Augusts mentioned in the poem is Augusts, the first ruler of the Roman Empire after Cesar was killed. It is believed he was the first democratic ruler but in reality he behaves like a King for more than 40 years. Augusts was not a skilled ruler and so he surrounded himself with people who could help him. Those people affected the way Augusts ruled and this is also implied in the poem when the narrator mentions the screams and the voices pushing daggers into the ruler’s heart.

Who was Lana Turner and what is the collapse mentioned in the poem "Poem (Lana Turner has Collapsed!)"?

Lana Turner was an actress and pin-up model who became extremely famous during the Second World War. Lana Turner was for a long time one of the highest paying actress and she was famous also because of her very public private life. The collapse of Lana Turner started in 1958 when she started to date the mobster Johnny Stompanato. The two dated one and off and Johnny was extremely violent towards Lana Turner. In 1957, Johnny went to London to visit Lana and during that time he became violent once more. The Scotland Yard was called to deport Johnny after he came to the set where Lana was working and threatened her with a gun. When Lana returned home, Johnny came to her house and threatened to kill Lana, her daughter and Lana’s mother. Lana’s daughter, Cheryl, thinking Johnny will kill everyone went to her mother’s bedroom and stabbed Johnny in the stomach, killing him. From that point on, while Lana found financial success, her life was affected by the scandal surrounding her and her daughter and she was always seen as a controversial person.