Essay Questions

What is cubism and what is its significance to the poetry?

Cubism is mentioned in the poem "Elegy with Surrealist Proverbs as Refrain’’ in which the narrator mentions various people who, throughout their life, wrote various pieces in favor of cubism. Cubism is an art movement which first appeared in the 20th century and which has Pablo Picasso as its representative. Cubism broke from the traditional way of painting and sculpting and disregarded the norms and rules painters and sculptures followed until then. Cubism wanted to revitalize art and make it more appropriate for the modern age, an idea criticized by many. Cubist art and artists were harshly criticized by the established classic painting community in Paris and were seen as being hard to understand and without any form of logic.

What is the main idea transmitted through the poem "Insomnia’’?

The poem tells the story of a lonely man who lives in a big house, filled to the brim with things the man had accumulated during prime. The house starts speaking to the man during the night, reprimanding him about the way he wasted his life focusing on things which do not matter at all. The poem is a meditative poem on the way through which humanity in general chose to ignore their families and focus instead on material things which they think will make them happy. The poem transmits the idea that this happens rarely and more than often, those people reach the end of their lives wondering why they wasted their youth on something they do not care about anymore.

How is marriage described in "Marriage of Many Years’’?

The poem is composed of two stanzas and in the second stanza the narrator described marriage from his point of view. The title suggests that the narrator was married a long time and the language used in the poem suggests a happy marriage. The act of getting married is compared with performing an ancient ritual which binds two souls and make them behave as one. People get married near a fire while a sorcerer binds the two people together. This may be an allusion made to the religious aspect of marriage which for many something sacred. The narrator claims that after two people are married, a new tribe is formed consisting of the two people joined. This shows how each union is unique and how no two marriages are alike.