150 min. R.O.W.
In "The Whipping" I noticed something funny. A point of view is never really set. In the majority of the stanzas, its from a 3rd person prospective, but in the 4th and 5th stanzas, it seems to be from the boys point of view. And then at the end of the 5th stanza it switches back to 3rd person.
This could be so that you feel a bit of empathy for the boy; you can feel his pain. But it never goes to the mother's point of view. It's either the boy's or 3rd person, which could back up the idea that you are supposed to empathize with the boy, or have some sort of emotional connection with him.
In "The Whipping" I noticed something funny. A point of view is never really set. In the majority of the stanzas, its from a 3rd person prospective, but in the 4th and 5th stanzas, it seems to be from the boys point of view. And then at the end of the 5th stanza it switches back to 3rd person.
This could be so that you feel a bit of empathy for the boy; you can feel his pain. But it never goes to the mother's point of view. It's either the boy's or 3rd person, which could back up the idea that you are supposed to empathize with the boy, or have some sort of emotional connection with him.
Matthew, this shift is a good thing to notice. Could there be another explanation for it? Though you are noticing something interesting, it's not enough for a full analysis by a long shot. You should be analyzing every technique in the poem and coming to an overall interpretation.
ReplyDeleteYou may just want to take as a rule of thumb that when I ask for two paragraphs (or any number of paragraphs), I'm expecting about double to triple the length that you seem to interpret that to mean.