Answer to Question 1
- The crucifixion of Christ between the two thieves, while mocked by a jeering crowd: it is through Christs suffering and death that the suit is grantedi.e., the soul is redeemed.
Answer to Question 2A number of the poems lines1, 2, 4, 7, 11, 13, and 17might be scanned as approximating to iambic pentameter. Since Nyes rhythms are frequently so relaxed as to admit more than the usual number of unstressed syllables, this pattern could be described as subtle. Other linesnotably 3, 8, and 9while shorter than pentameters, also have a pronounced iambic beat.
The poem also contains a fair amount of rime, some instances of which are obvious and others significantly less so. Consider
: all small (line 3) /
falls (7) /
fall (11) /
small (11);
today (2) /
layers (5) /
way (6);
kneel (2) /
peeling (4) /
revealed (
/
meal (12);
How (12) /
now (15);
eat (12) /
meat (13); and
tears (10, 11) /
career (16) /
disappear (18).
Answer to Question 3The poem is greater than the sum of its two side-by-side parts. Each of the columns, one in Spanish and one in English, makes a simple statement that might be fairly described as a greeting-card sentiment or bumper sticker slogan. Bringing these two texts together, however, suggests the possibility of levels of meaning having to do with language, history, politics, and international relations. Is the us of the poem two lovers, two friends, two nations? Is Alarcn making a political statement about the relationship between the United States and Mexico, or should the poem be read, rather, as an intimate communication by the speaker to his or her beloved?
Rice lines
Male killer whale depicted in St Mary's in Greifswald, Germany, 1545
Andromeda as depicted in Urania's Mirror, set of constellation cards published in London c.1825
Imaginary Thoracic Lines, Posterior View
The male physique depicted in popular action figures in the 1970s
If you were recording the volume of liquid in the pipet depicted, what volume wo