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    How do poems illuminate the past for us?

    0  Views: 774 Answers: 2 Posted: 11 years ago

    2 Answers

    Sometimes they illuminate the past, by offering insight into the typical usage of certain words during the era the poem was wrote. I say this, as the common usage of words evolve as time goes on, and the meaning of words change over time.

    It also gives one perspective of the era 


    in which the poet/poetess lived. It may 


    help to give a "feeling" for the time in 


    which the poem was composed. 


    Here's an example, from one of my 


    favourite poems...


    http://www.potw.org/archive/potw85.html



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