NOTES OF 27/9/2011
There are different kinds of poetry:

• Lyrical poetry: poetry that speaks about intimate, inner, private personal problems, emotions, thoughts.
• Narrative poetry: poetry that narrates stories.
• Reflective poetry: poetry that makes the reader reflect, think.
• Argumentative poetry: poetry that discusses a problem and provide argumentations.

There are a lot of different reasons to write poetry. Poets also employ a lot of time to write their works.
Beside existing many kinds of poetry, there exist different forms of poetry, for example:

• Poems in free verse (liberi da convenzioni specifiche)
• The Sonnet
• The Ode

The language of poetry is complex because it requires serious analysis of words, sound, word order and much more.
Titles are important because they create an expectation in the reader (I will read the poem if my expectations are satisfied).
A run-on-line compels the reader to read to the next line in order to understand the meaning.

L'aggettivo sostantivato si costruisce premettendo l'articolo determinativo all'aggettivo; non ha il plurale.

QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS ABOUT THE POEM "VAGABONDS" BY L. HUGHES

1. What is the title of the poem?
2. What do you expect to read about?
3. Is the poem a description?
4. What sort of description do you expect? Vagabonds' feelings and emotions.
5. What does vagabond mean? People they move around but they don't know where to go (to go implies a destination; to wander = vagabondare)
6. The poem starts with s declaration.
7. Who is the speaking voice?
8. The poet uses enjambments (run-on-line).
9. Why do you think the poet uses so many of these adjectives? It embodies a category of people, not a single person. He is focusing his attention on specific groups of people, not individuals.
10. At line 3 there is another run-on-line.
11. What is the difference between nowhere to eat and nothing to eat? "Nowhere" hints at they are homeless. Using this choice the poet makes it so that the reader has the idea of privation sticking in mind. He uses therefore an anaphoric construction (nowhere, no place) reinforced by the alliterative sound "no". The idea of privation, of the lack of the home, is given not only by words but also with syntax and sound.
12. There are two infinitives in the poem ("to eat" and "to sleep"). To stop and to eat create an idea of distance, of a remote dimension from their everyday reality (reinforced by the assonance of the sound).
13. The poem ends with the reiteration of the abstract adjective (tearless), where the suffix "less" highlights a sense of lack again.
14. The use of modal verb cannot underlines the impossibility for the vagabonds to have what is the minimal for human survival.

VOCABULARY
- Conjecture: congettura
- To care about sth: preoccuparsi di qcs
- To take care of sb/sth: prendersi cura di qcn/qcs
- To compel: costringere
- To hint at: alludere