MB UNIUD

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Exercise 1

1)      The crowed flowing over London Bridge are people who are going to work in the city.

2)      Eliot alludes to Dante’s Inferno. That allusion established a comparison between the crowed flowing over London Bridge and people in the hell, who is trying to see God.

3)      The speaker had met the person at Mylae.

4)      The dog should be kept far from the corpse.

Exercise 2

In the first part the presence of "rock" is made tangible through the frequent repetition of the word and the absence of water. All the other desert images derive from the central one - "the sandy road", "sweat (which is) dry", "feet in the sand", "carious teeth that cannot spit", "dry sterile thunder without rain", "mudcracked houses". The monotonous rhythm and the compact layout suit the quality of the barren rocky landscape.
In the second part the presence of water is created though the repetition of the word and seems to take several shapes - those of "a pool", "a spring", "the sound of water", "sound of water over a rock", "(the song of) the hermit thrush", "in the pine trees". ‘Water has a more melodious sound than ‘rock' and suits the pleasant aspects of the imaginary landscape. The lively rhythm seems to echo the flowing water. The layout can suggest a water-fall.
The juxtaposition of the two sets of images is effective. Desert images suggest spiritual bareness, solitude, absence of life and therefore death. Instead, water images with their Biblical connotation (e.g. baptism, purification) and rural connotation (e.g. fertility, freshness of green vegetation) convey the concept of what gives life and joy.

Analysis

The extract is taken from the last section, which is “What the Thunder Said”. It derives its name from an Indian myth in which the Lord of the Creation speaks through the thunder.
The extract is organised into two stanzas which are not regular, one is longer than the other. Also some lines are longer than others.
The speaker is going through a landscape more desolate than ever. As a matter of fact there is no water but only rock. All around there are only mountains, rocks, sand and a road.
In the first part the presence of "rock" is made tangible through the frequent repetition of the word and the absence of water. All the other desert images derive from the central one.
The landscape is sterile and desolate, where life cannot exist. There are only rocks, sand and mountains, which are “dead imagines” of nature. There is also the opposition of water, as a matter of fact there everything is dry, also storms have not rain. But if there were water we should stop and drink. This means the speaking voice starts imagining a possible alternative to the desolate and sterile land he faces. The narrator imagines water; he is trying so hard to find life and water, that he is able to heard it, but “there is no water”. The landscape is the same of sterility and desolation, but in the second there’s kind of chance of change: the imagined water, its sound.
The water has the power to change the sterile landscape. As a matter of fact the word “dry” is the opposite of “water”, which can bring life to a place, where there’s not.
The presence of water is created though the repetition of the word and seems to take several shapes. The rhythm and the layout contribute to underline the opposition between “water” and “rock”, and so between the two different landscapes. As a matter of fact the lively rhythm seems to echo the flowing water. In addiction, the layout can suggest a water-fall.
The juxtaposition of the two opposite images is effective. Desert images suggest solitude, absence of life and therefore death. Instead, water images convey the concept of what gives life and joy. The most representative difference in sound is created by the opposition of the words “rock” and “water”. The first one is an hard-sounded term. The second is sweeter.