Some critics have suggested that Langston Hughes is referring to Jacob's ladder from the Old Testament of the Bible when he mentions a "crystal stair." When a poet refers to a person
place, thing, or idea of historical, cultural, or literary significance, it is called this. *
(1 Point)

Is it a simile, metaphor
Onomatopoeia
Allusion

I’m to tired

what can i you with?

in the section of speech is not

in this passage of moby-*ick, melville is developing the theme of obsession. the first part of the passage "sacrifice in the line of duty is noble" the author talks about nobles as a good character and also about sacrifice. if there is a duty and also a good cause it is good to fight for it and even if you die it would be admirable in our society. nobody can judge a person who sacrifices for doing what is correct.

in the second line "vengeance can become obsessive" is the perfect example of what happened to captain ahab. hunting and killing the white whale has taken over his life, he lost track of his own life in order to obtain his vengeance and that is not a good idea. vengeance is bad and it lead the character to suffer and pain even when they get vengeance, they feel empty they don't have a purpose anymore, their life lost the reason of existence.

in the third line the author talks about "commitment to a cause is admirable" this idea is similar to the first one, it talks about be the compromise to a good cause, it needs to be correct so it would be admirable. if you are committed to a bad cause as vengeance it is not admirable.

and finally in the fourth line "heartache is an unavoidable part of life" the author talks about death, we can't escape from death, it's our final destination in life and it's the end of everything. so we can obtain vengeance but if we die in the process it would be a shame.

when connie willis was 12 years old, her mother died. in january of 2003, willis was interviewed for locus magazine. she recognized that death is a major issue in her writing, specially because the vacuous and appalling things that people tend to say in order to support you when someone you loved dies. what really saved willis was reading. books, literature, are not false. poetry tells the truth (as dickinson said: "tell al the truth but tell it slant"). it's not a escape from reality, but a nigromantic experience where whe can talk to people that exist no more. that's the definition that connie willis gives in her novel "passage": «(literature) it's the people who went before us, tapping out messages from the past, from beyond the grave, trying to tell us about life and death! ». enrique vila-matas has figured out the esence of literary experience when he said in a lecture that he intends to have his revenge against life (and death), because to write (and to read) is a form of living and a way to remember. i like in that sense the idea of not leting anything human to get lost. i feel fiction and poetry as the shapes of an ancient anger. like in the poem from dylan thomas: «do not go gentle into that good night / rage, rage against the dying of the light».

but there is another aspect that i have learned from connie willis's quote. in his famous work "danubio", the italian writer claudio magris describes literature as house removals. some messages reach us, other messages get lost in the labyrinth. those messages which are our inheritance teach us how to live and how to die, how to love and how to hate, how to laugh and how to cry. i think that tales really shape us if we listen to them. maybe through the stories we read we learn how to emphatize with others, knowing that the bells tolls for every each of us.