THE COLD WITHIN
1. Where is the poem set? How have the people come together?
2. Who are the people referred to in the poem? Why do they need lops?
3. Explain the theme of the poem:
4. What does the first person hold back and why?
3. What character traits would you associate with the first one' and
Why?
6. Which stick did the second person possess? What was his sin?
7. What is meant by 'tattered clothes? what does this expression symbolise
the 'third one' gives his coat a hitch?
od for whom? Is he justified in his attitude
o. What prejudice the black man has and for whom? is he justified in
towards the person?
9. What game is the poet referring to white mentioning the last
was the sin of the last man?
10. What 'proof of human sin' is being referred to here? Explain
II. What do the fire and the logs symbolise?
12. What message is the poet trying to convey in the poem? How
carrying out his task?
mentioning the last man of the group? What
in the poem? How does he succeed in
Answers
Answer:
1. The poem is set in western part of Cincinnati, Ohio- a place where the blacks were simply hated and ignored in the times the poet refers to. The six persons in a group were all caught in an extreme cold weather, sitting near a dying fire. They seemed to have brought together by happenstance, an event which seems to be pre- arranged and not accidental.
2. The people referred to are six indifferent people, who are trapped together by chance in biting cold. They needs logs to keep the fire burning which was keeping the six humans warm from the cold weather.
3. The theme of the poem is: (a) the lack of warmth within born out of selfishness, arrogance (b) hatred for others which is not short of sin (c) how unequal distribution of wealth can lead to inevitable doom.
4. The first person, a woman, was not ready to renounce her wood to keep the burning because she had notice that one of them was a black. Thus, she acted out her sin of racism.
5. The first person can be said to holding a racist attitude as she does want to benefit the black man. The next man can be said to be a bigot who one seeing that one of the men in the group does not belong to his religion, prevents himself from using his log to renew the fire.