Poetic Studies Lesson 3 Part B: Ambiguous Speakers

Lesson Three B: Ambiguous 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 "Apollo & Dionysus" (15), "Agamemnon & Menelaus" (44), "Aeneas & Creusa" (48), and "Odysseus & Penelope" (50) the speaker is intentionally ambiguous, though each character is unique.

5: For each poem, what effects and meanings are changed by viewing the poem as read by one character or another?

6: For each poem, which speaker do you feel is most likely speaking? Justify your answer.