Essay Questions

Summarize Peter Porter’s ideological argument in “A Walking Bass.”

Peter Porter undercuts the integrity of autobiographies when he claims, “The world as sideshow, Planet Circumstance, is coupled to our dreams, but walking as in autobiography, everything seems static.” Peter Porter’s pronouncement deduces that owing to the restricted impartiality in autobiographies, most of the autobiographical accounts are embroidered by fictional creations. The autobiographies take up plots that are comparable to novels to charm readers.

Describe the main binaries in “Isaiah’s Knee.”

Resurrection versus Renaissance: Peter Porter asserts, “Rome is Resurrection, not Renaissance.” This binary means that Rome has revived the Old Testament ideologies through the art that depicts the Old Testament personas such as Isaiah.

Catholics versus Protestants: Peter Porter elucidates, “They told me as a boy/that Catholics left the Prophets to the Protestants.” This means unlike Catholics, the Protestant’s creeds are molded by the explications of the authoritative ‘Old Testament prophets.’