AAFTER US In this poem, the poet uses a surplus of imagery to allow the reader to fully see what she is trying to get us to picture. In the first line, she talks about how rain, which can be destructive or helpful, is seeping into a room where books and other material things reside. In the lines to follow, she writes about how everything that flourished under the sun, turned away to try and find the light that they so desperately need. This shows the destructive side to rain because it paints the picture of a dark day with rain falling and silencing all activities that happen during the day. In the second paragraph, the poet writes about a portrait, which has sketches of boats and barns and this creates the image of a perfect utopia where everything is peaceful and nothing has disturbed it. The paragraph that follows this peaceful picture, is where the foreboding and evil rain begins to make its appearance again. She writes about how everything that was ever thought of or invented or t...
II, CLAUDIUS Novel opens with Claudius (or Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus) introducing himself and describing his personal motivation for writing this autobiography. According to Claudius, the existence of the text was prophesied by the Sibyl at Cumae, who declared that Claudius would “speak clear” in nineteen hundred years by writing an accurate account of his life. With that in mind, Claudius assures the readers that his narrative is a factual account of all of the importance occurrences in his life, particularly the events leading to his ascension as emperor. Claudius’ autobiography is fated to tell the true story of his life to future generations, and, in the same way, his position as emperor is also pre-ordained. Claudius begins the description of his life with the account of his grandmother, Livia, and her marriages, first to his grandfather and then to Augustus. An extremely ambitious and manipulative woman, Livia attempts to convince Claudius' grandfather to seiz...