问答题
Read the following poem and write a short essay based on the following questions in about 100 words:(8 points)Thoughts in a Zooby Countee Cullen(1903 ~ 1946)They in their cruel traps, and we in ours, Survey each other"s rage, and pass the hours Commiserating each the other"s woe,To mitigate his own pain"s fiery glow.Man could but little proffer in exchangeSave that his cages have a larger range.That lion with his lordly, untamed heartHas in some man his human counterpart.Some lofty soul in dreams and visions wrapped,But in the stifling flesh securely trapped.Gaunt eagle whose raw pinions stain the barsThat prison you, so men cry for the stats!Some delve down like the mole far underground,(Their nature is to burrow, not to bound).Some, like the snake, with changeless slothful eye,Stir not, but sleep and smoulder where they lie.Who is most wretched, these caged ones, or we.Caught in a vastness beyond our sight to sec?Questions:A)What does the first line "They in their cruel traps, and we in ours" imply about the theme of this poem? How is the theme developed in this poem?B)The poem is marked with vivid imagery. Please comment on the animal images and tell the symbolic meanings they each convey.C)What kind of reaction to life does this poem display? How universal is the poet"s emotional experience?D)Considering the fact that the poet is regarded as "perhaps the most representative voice of the Harlem Renaissance," how does the poem specifically relate to African Americans" experience in the United States?
【正确答案】正确答案：The first line implies that this poem laments about human beings as well as animals being all trapped in someway. To develop this theme, the poem makes a series of comparisons between trapped human beings and animals in cage. The animal images in the poem include lion, eagle, mole and snake. The lion and eagle image represents the noble men with high ambition and hopes. But they are confined by their own physical limitation, as it is their "stifling flesh" that "securely trap" their lofty dreams and visions. The mole and snake image represents the men who are impassive to the misery of life, but in the end they will be bound in this "smoulder" forever. These two kinds of animal images are also two kinds of reaction to life, the positive one and the impassive one. Considering the poet is regarded as " perhaps the most representative voice of the Harlem Renaissance" , we can regard the bound of "stifling flesh" as the colored identity that traps African Americans. But no matter their reactions are positive or impassive, it is hard for them to escape from the bound, because there is always a cage beyond the sight. Therefore we can find that this poem is not only about the limited life of the black, it also laments universally about the trapped woe of all human beings.