Quiz · Symbols in Nineteenth Century Poetry

Question 1What is this talk mainly about regarding poetry?

The meaning of symbols in nineteenth century poems. The religion and education of nineteenth century poets. How to write modern poems about the sea. Why old poems feel flat and confusing to everyone.

Question 2According to the speaker, what could the sea represent in poems of that age?

Only freedom and escape from daily life. The slow end of a marriage or a life. Freedom and escape, or in darker poems danger and death. Love, beauty, and sometimes death.

Question 3Why do modern readers sometimes miss the quiet symbols in these poems?

Because the poems are written in a foreign language. Because they no longer share the same culture, religion, and education. Because the symbols are too modern to understand. Because they read the poems too quickly aloud.