Summary The poet now argues that the young man needs to have a child in order to maintain a balance in nature, for as the youth grows old and wanes, his child’s “fresh blood” will act as a balance to his own old age. The young man is irresponsible not […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 11Summary and Analysis The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber
Summary It is noon. Francis Macomber is on an African safari; Macomber is thirty-five years old, a trim, fit man who holds a number of big-game fishing records. However, at the moment, he has just demonstrated that he is a coward. However, members of the safari are acting as though […]
Read more Summary and Analysis The Short Happy Life of Francis MacomberSummary and Analysis Jing-mei Woo: Two Kinds
To Jing-mei’s mother, America is the Land of Opportunity. She has high hopes that her daughter will be a great success as a prodigy. She’s not precisely sure where her daughter’s talents lie, but she is sure that her daughter possesses great ability — it is simply a matter of […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Jing-mei Woo: Two KindsSummary and Analysis Sonnet 10
Summary Sonnet 10 repeats and extends the argument of Sonnet 9, with the added suggestion that the youth really loves no one. Clearly, the poet does not seriously believe the young man to be incapable of affection, for then there would be no point in the poet’s trying to maintain […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 10Summary and Analysis Big Two-Hearted River: Part II
Summary Hemingway recounts in precise detail Nick’s rituals of preparation for fishing before he wades into the river. He successfully catches two trout and begins to gather sufficient courage so that in the days ahead, he can easily fish across the river, in the dark swamp, a symbol of Nick’s […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Big Two-Hearted River: Part IISummary and Analysis Rose Hsu Jordan: Half and Half
Rose’s mother used to carry a Bible. When she lost her faith, she used the Bible to steady the short leg of the kitchen table. The Bible has remained under the table leg for twenty years. Tonight, Rose has come to tell her mother that she and her husband, Ted, […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Rose Hsu Jordan: Half and HalfSummary and Analysis Sonnet 9
Summary The poet imagines that the young man objects to the bliss of marriage on the grounds that he might die young anyway or that he might die and leave a bereaved widow and an orphaned child. To these arguments, the poet replies that should the young man marry, have […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 9Summary and Analysis Big Two-Hearted River: Part I
Summary Emotionally wounded and disillusioned by World War I, Nick Adams returns to his home and leaves for the north Michigan woods on a camping trip. He leaves by himself, hoping that the routine of selecting a good place to camp, setting up a tent, fixing meals, and preparing for […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Big Two-Hearted River: Part ISummary and Analysis Lena St. Clair: The Voice from the Wall
When she was a child, Lena St. Clair often wondered about a beggar whom her grandfather had sentenced to die in the worst possible way. She imagines all sorts of gruesome torture. Appalled by her interest in violence, her mother said that the way he died didn’t matter. Lena thinks […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Lena St. Clair: The Voice from the WallSummary and Analysis Sonnet 8
Summary In this sonnet, the poet compares a single musical note to the young man and a chord made up of many notes to a family. The marriage of sounds in a chord symbolizes the union of father, mother, and child. The first twelve lines elaborate a comparison between music […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Sonnet 8