I. The Flight
1. What stage of the hero/mystical/psychological journey does this represent?
2. Why start at Woodlawn?
3. What do toads represent?
4. What is the response of Nature? Why?
5. What is he asking the snail, worm, and bird to do?
6. Why does he fish in an old wound?
7. Why does nothing happen yet?
8. What does the fly represent? Why?
9. What is the voice? Why doe he want to hear it?
10. On page 51, st. 2 What is he asking? Where does this fit into the hero journey?
11. How would you characterize the answers in st. 3?
12. What do the three elms and the water represent?
13. In st. 5, what does the rubbish represent?
14. What does he see in st 6 (51)? What is it going and why?
15. Why are these creatures underground/underwater?
II. The Pit
16. What stage of the Hero Journey does this represent?
17. How is this a "fantastic" place?
18. Why is the mole an appropriate animal?
19. Why Mother Mildew? Why fish nerves?
III. The Gibber
20. What is gibberish? What does this part of the poem represent of the hero/psych/spiritual journey?
21. Why the wood's mouth? Why the cave's door?
22. What is the significance of his having "heard before" some sound?
23. Why "dogs of the groin"?
24. Why are the sun, moon, weeds, snakes, cows, briars against him?
Are they against him?
25. Why does he have to die? In what special context must he die?
26. p. 53 st. 1, Why the shift in line length?
27. Why the emphasis on Father Fear?
30. In St. 2-4 who is the guide?
31. In st. 5, where is the poet entering? (What is the storm's heart?)
32. Why do his veins run nowhere?
33. What losses does he feel at this point?
34. What are his worries? He resolves them through the chant "Money money money/Water water water". How are chants healing? How is water healing? Why is money a negative?
35. p. 53, last stanza, what do the images add up to?
36. p. 54, first stanza, what do these images add up to?
IV. The Return
37. How does this part recall the first part?
38. What stage of the hero journey does this represent?
39. What does the greenhouse represent?
40. What do the Snow and Air and Steam represent?
41. Do we ever see Papa? Why?
42. "Ordnung" is German for "order." Why is that significant?
43. What do the images at the bottom of the page add up to?
V. "It was beginning winter"
44. What stage of the hero journey does this represent?
45. What kind of time is "beginning winter"?
46. What do the iamges in stanzas 1 and 2 add up to?
47. What do light and field symbolize?
48. Why does the light stay?
49. What is the "lively understandable spirit"
50. Why does he ask himself to wait and to be still?