1. Discuss the poet's use of the moon as a symbol of romantic love. Does he break new artistic ground here? Specify and explain.

2. Discuss the importance of universality to "great" poetry. Is there a line between "universal" and "banal"? Does this poem cross it? Defend your position.

3. Diagram the scansion of the poem, line by line. Did the author have a specific scheme of accented and unaccented syllables? Discuss the lack of uniformity in number of syllables per line. Was this the author's intention? If so, what was his purpose?

4. Observe the scansion of line three: - - / - - - - - /- - - - - / -. (There; I've given you part of the answer to question three!) Can a pattern be discerned? Compare and contrast it with other unusual scansions in the poetry of any age.

"As I sit and stare at the shimmering moon,"

Does anyone actually stare at the moon out of wistfulness, or only for the fun of finding shapes in it? Also, does the moon shimmer? ("Shimmer," I believe, is made up of "shine" and "glimmer," and implies an unstable liquid or metallic effect. A reflection of the moon, in a pond or on the blade of a sword, might shimmer, but the moon looked at directly has a dull and steady glow.)

"I also sit here and hope to see you soon."

We already know the speaker is sitting, so "also sit here and" is superfluous. And in what sense is "see" used here? "Catch sight of"? "Spend time with"? Or is it used in the more modern sense, as a euphemism for "have regular sexual intercourse with"? (As in "I'm not seeing anyone right now.")

"Then I realized I won't be able to see you tomorrow,"

This fact only just dawned on the poet? Remarkable! And what's this "I won't be able to"? Which of them is unavailable, the poet or the beloved? If the former, the credibility of the poem is destroyed: If you want to see someone badly enough, you'll find the time somehow. The excuse, "Oh, gosh darn, I just remembered I have that meeting tomorrow afternoon, and there just won't be the time to see you otherwise," isn't going to cut it. If the latter, he must have known, BEFORE he sat down to stare at the shimmering moon, that he wouldn't have a date the next day. It's mysteries like this that make poetry so fascinating: If the author isn't on hand to explain, scholars can debate these fine points til kingdom come.

"so I would sit here and cry in sorrow."

"I would," in this context, can only mean, "I wish to." It can't mean, "It is my habit to," and it doesn't mean, "I shall," or "I am fixing to." But why is it necessary for the poet to specify that he is crying "in sorrow"? We wouldn't assume that he's crying for joy-unless, of course, he's joyful at having just thought of an excuse for avoiding his ladylove on the morrow. We can only regret the paucity of biographical material on Arthur Anonymous. Was he often ambivalent in affairs of the heart? Alas, his trail grows colder every day.

"Now I only uphold a dream which I hope come true"

"Uphold" is an interesting word choice. "Dream" is an acceptable synonym for "objective" or "wish," but "uphold" implies a degree of effort, or of striving against an opposing force-and if the objective be sincerely desired, or the wish keenly felt, little effort should be required to keep it in one's bosom. Again, we see the poet's ambivalence and inner conflict.

As for "which I hope come true," it's hard to determine whether the author merely mis-conjugated "to come"-in other words, meant to write "comes"-or whether the intention was to use the verb in the rather pretty but largely obsolete subjunctive mood, as in "if he come."

"and that one dream is to be with you."

The word "one" seems to have no place here except to change the meter of the line from an anapest-anapest-iamb pattern to iamb-iamb-anapest-iamb. In other words, it serves approximately the same function as a "titty bum." Poets of modest talent sometimes introduce nonsense syllables into a line in order to make it scan to their satisfaction, but here the poet has used such a complex and original scansion throughout that it's hard to see how any but the most exacting reader would miss that syllable.

A poet of Arthur Anonymous' stature could hardly be accused of carelessly inserting a superfluous syllable into a poem-into the climactic line, at that. An explanation must exist-as must exist the scholar who will one day unearth it.

- Josephus Rex Imperator