Poetic Studies Lesson 3 Part A: Identical Speakers

Lesson Three A: Identical Speakers

Materials needed: With Rough Gods

Read the following information and the poems and Dramatis Personae (Glossary) entries referenced within and answer the following questions:

Most of the poems in With Rough Gods are from easily identifiable and unique speakers. However, in "Otus & Ephialtes" (8), "Deucalion & Pyrrha" (55), "Baucis & Philemon" (58), and "Pyramus & Thisbe" (59) not only is it difficult to identify the speaker from the poem but the Dramatis Personae (Glossary) entries for each character are nearly identical.

1: Why do the poems have named characters if their speakers are ambiguous?

2: Does the order of the speaker influence your experience of the poem?

3: Could the poems have different speakers all together?

4: What effects are produced by the speakers' functionally identical Dramatis Personae (glossary) entries?