The Cleanliness Of The Middle Class Poem Summary

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1. Did this poem make you laugh? Why or why not?
ANS Yes, because the poet try to stress that the louse shouldn’t walk toward the middle class lady head but toward the beggar or ragged boy instead, but the poet also presents another contrast idea by the louse. For this insect, no matter how elite middle class is or how beautiful she is both doesn’t matter to the louse, it doesn’t care about the social class but just want a delicious dish.
2. (A) What is the louse doing? (B) What does the speaker command it to do instead? (C) What social assumptions about cleanliness does the speaker’s command reflect?
ANS (A) The louse is crawling toward Jenny head. (B) The speaker commands the louse to stop before he lost it from his sight into her hair.
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3. What do you imagine to be the social class of the speaker and Jenny Why?
ANS (A) The speaker is middle class because he is sitting in the church which expected to have only middle class or upper class inside. (B) Jenny is upper class or genteel poverty, seeing the way she shows her off by those elegant dress and accessories.
4. (A) What impression of Jenny does the speaker create? (B) How do the references to her clothing and the contrast between her and some poor body contribute to this impression
ANS (A) Jenny impressed the speaker with her elegant dress and confident gesture she made. (B) Jenny appears in the luxurious gauze and lace dress with many beautiful accessories on her body while some poor body have only tattled shirt or stained trouser.
5. What does the speaker say he would like to do in lines
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The connotation of climbing, in this poem, is growing or living together a long time and get through many obstacles, which can refer to the spouse. They are living together and had passed both good and bad day together.
6. What is the attitude of the speaker to her ‘jo’ and towards this stage of life together?
ANS She dotes on him as always, as the reader can see when she mentions him as ‘My Jo’ which shows that he is her joy and she also willing to live with him until the death do they part.
7. Do you consider ‘John Anderson, My Jo’ to be a sad poem or a happy one? Explain. Briefly write your emotional response to the couple’s relationship and to their approach to aging.
ANS I consider ‘John Anderson, My Jo’ to be a happy poem because it shows how she devotes herself to her beloved, no matter how he changed, no matter how long they had been together.
I think this poem shows how unconditional loves works. I’m totally impress with her carefulness and her stable feeling for her spouse, she love the way he is because she had seen his every changing since they were young until now and still feels the same as when their hair both not white as

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