As you answer each item, cite important telling details drawn from the poem to

support your answers. (POEM IS AT THE NEXT PAGE)

DEADLINE: 1:00 PM FEBRUARY 10,2023 (FRIDAY)

1. One ancestor of the speaker promptly introduced in this poem is the Rav. As
a person, what are the Rav’s physical features or qualities? Additionally, what
internal quality distinguishes the Rav’s character? Support your answer by
citing telling details drawn from the poem.

Rav as an ancestor, has the quality of enthusiasm in learning words and how
things work. Rav is an enquiring representation of curiosity and eagerness. “To learn
the language of birds”, means a sign of great wisdom. He’s seeking the interest that
he knew he would understand the deepest meaning of it. As such, it’s his heart that
asks the question, not his furious mind.

2. A second ancestor whom the persona mentions is Angel Jones of Mould.

Again, what are the physical features or qualities of Angel Jones? Moreover,
what internal qualities set his character apart?

Angel Jones of Mould is another ancestor that depicts a quality of experience,

patience, growth, and determination. “… poems direct as what the birds said, hard
as a floor, sound as a bench, mysterious as the silence when the tailor would pause
with his needle in the air…” – means that wisdom roars even in deepest seas
teaching what is right and gainful. This ancestor teaches to learn from the past.
Stitch the mistakes. And deliver a mount improvement as the future came to pass.

3. With close attention to details, establish the poem’s dramatic situation.

The poem conveys that works have different manifestations in expressing them.
One meaning is different from the other. Experience teaches us to learn wisdom and
read the unreadable ways to find enthusiasm and fervour. The imagery denotes a
description of youth, prayer, expression, and communication. Such a dramatic pull of
countenance, word by word. Connection between ancestry is the bottom line
between figurative denotation.

4. Who is the speaker in “Illustrious Ancestors''? What are this persona’s

physical qualities? Additionally, what internal quality distinguishes his or her
sensibility? What poetic telling details bear you out on your observations?

Denise Levertov's work is a good example of Levertovian poetry because she

always uses a main theme. The definition of a trope is the use of figurative language
to create an artistic effect. This shifts the meaning of the text from literal to figurative.
When it comes to describing the persona of the poem, Levertov makes use of the
image of birds in this particular instance. This is demonstrated when the persona
remarks that "in his youth, [he needs] to learn the language of birds" and that his
prayers are "sewn into coats and britches," which ultimately gives off the idea that
this is the persona itself saying that in some way, they are all concerned with words,
but that they just had a different manifestation in expressing them.

5. Levertov’s short poem proceeds through some 18 lines. Look more closely at
the persona’s utterance in lines 13-14, concentrating on “some line still taut
between me and them”. Literally, what is the persona saying? Figuratively,
what is the persona suggesting?

Levertov creates a "line" that begins with the ancestors, transforms into a line of
poetry, and finally becomes a line of thread. She sees poetry as a natural speech or
thing through the birds; as a created item like carpentry or clothing through the tailor;
and as a mystery that can also "stop" for a moment like a tailor does while he is
working through the Rav. The line represents the flow of succession between the
Rav and the Jones of Mould. There’s a connection between mediocre ancestry.

6. Cite one dominant image in the poem. Trace how this image transforms into a
metaphor. What does the poem gain because of this transformation from
image to metaphor?

The way the poem is written and spoken adds to the lesson it teaches: people
with mixed backgrounds have a unique sense of who they are. The use of language
that is neither too formal nor too casual, accentuated by the use of the first-person
point of view, exudes a warm tone of acceptance of the fact that the persona found
himself moulded according to what his families were, no matter how dissimilar they
are to each other.

7. How does the poem's title serve as an example of verbal irony?

Illustrious ancestors is an example of verbal irony since the body of the poem
denotes experience and on the mark of connection or in the process of doing
with. Illustrious means “being respected”. Respected Ancestors – but, in the
poem, respect is gained if there’s a “line” or connection between the ancestry
(past). Which is a bout of irony. The poem is difficult to be comprehended at first
but once, the figurative languages are analysed, Levertov wrote a poem with
radical meaning to the readers.