Question
The speaker of a poem by this author bitterly asks, “What later purge from this deep toxin cures? / What kindness now could the old salve renew?” For 10 points each:
[10m] Name this poet who wrote “the waste remains and kills” in “Missing Dates,” which helped repopularize the villanelle. A book by this critic opens with several interpretations of Shakespeare’s image of “bare-ruined choirs.”
ANSWER: William Empson (The book is Seven Types of Ambiguity.)
[10e] Empson’s villanelles were parodied by his friend Dylan Thomas in a poem addressed to this woman. A 15-line sonnet titled for this woman predicts “the burning roof and tower / And Agamemnon dead.”
ANSWER: Leda [accept “Request to Leda”; accept “Leda and the Swan”] (“Leda and the Swan” is by W. B. Yeats.)
[10h] Before parodying Empson’s use of the word “chemic” in “Request to Leda,” Thomas used it in a poem about this period’s wind. Thomas marked his “thirtieth year to heaven” with a “place poem” titled for this time period.
ANSWER: October [accept “Especially when the October Wind” or “Poem in October”; reject answers like “fall” or “autumn”]
<AK, British Literature>
Data
Summary
| Tournament | Edition | Exact Match? | Heard | PPB | Easy % | Medium % | Hard % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 Chicago Open | 07/28/2024 | Y | 10 | 14.00 | 70% | 60% | 10% |