“irony” by amy lowell
an arid daylight shines along the beach
dried to a grey monotony of tone,
and stranded jelly-fish melt soft upon
the sun-baked pebbles, far beyond their reach
sparkles a wet, reviving sea. here bleach
the skeletons of fishes, every bone
polished and stark, like traceries of stone,
the joints and knuckles hardened each to each.
and they are dead while waiting for the sea,
the moon-pursuing sea, to come again.
their hearts are blown away on the hot breeze.
only the shells and stones can wait to be
washed bright. for living things, who suffer pain,
may not endure till time can bring them ease.

1.) the voice in this poem is best described as
a.) descriptive and measured (i think it is a)
b.) unconventional and eccentric
c.) lyric and rustic
d.) blunt and harsh
e.) casual and intimate

2.) what is the main irony of this poem?
a.) the melancholy tone of the speaker
b.) the understatement "may not endure till time can bring them ease" (is it b? )
c.) the contrast between the dead creatures and the "reviving" sea
d.) the imagery of skeletons and decomposition
e.) the juxtaposition of the words arid and daylight

Line 61-81: explain what opposing view king is addressing in this counter argument line 82-87: what is the effect of king mentioning his nobel prize?

Which type of story uses animals as characters in order to illustrate a general truth about human nature?

Read this paragraph from chapter 5 of the prince. there are, for example, the spartans and the romans. the spartans held athens and thebes, establishing there an oligarchy: nevertheless they lost them. the romans, in order to hold capua, carthage, and numantia, dismantled them, and did not lose them. they wished to hold greece as the spartans held it, making it free and permitting its laws, and did not succeed. so to hold it they were compelled to dismantle many cities in the country, for in truth there is no safe way to retain them otherwise than by ruining them. and he who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom and does not destroy it, may expect to be destroyed by it, for in rebellion it has always the watchword of liberty and its ancient privileges as a rallying point, which neither time nor benefits will ever cause it to forget. and whatever you may do or provide against, they never forget that name or their privileges unless they are disunited or dispersed, but at every chance they immediately rally to them, as pisa after the hundred years she had been held in bondage by the florentines. what idea is stressed in the passage? the desire for liberty the establishment of an oligarchy the dismantling of an acquired state the tendency toward rebellion