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Anonymous Posted 14 years ago

English Poetry

Hi Teachers,
I'm having trouble analyzing this poem, could you please help me with this?
What is this poem about?

The City of Yes and the City of No

I am like a train
rushing for many years now
between the city of Yes
and the city of No.
My nerves are strained
like wires
between the city of No
and the city of Yes.

Everything is deadly,
everyone frightened, in the city of No.
It’s like a study furnished with dejection.
In it every object is frowning, withholding something,
and every portrait looks out suspiciously,
Every morning its parquet floors are polished with bile,
its sofas are made of falsehood, its walls of misfortune.
You’ll get lots of good advice in it -- like hell you will!--
not a bunch of flowers, or even a greeting.
Typewriters are chattering a carbon copy answer:
"No--no-no…No-no-no. No-no--no."
And when the lights go out altogether,
the ghosts in it begin their gloomy ballet.
You’ll get a ticket to leave –- like hell you will!--
to leave the black town of No.

But in the town of Yes--
life’s like the song of a thrush.
This town’s without walls--
just like a nest.
The sky is asking you to take any star
you like in your hand.
Lips ask for yours, without any shame,
softly murmuring:
"Ah--all that nonsense!"
And in no one is there even a trace of suspicion,
and lowing herds are offering their milk,
and daisies, teasing, are asking to be picked,
and wherever you want to be, you are instantly there,
Taking any train, or plane, or ship that you like.
And water, faintly murmuring, whispers through the years:
"Yes-yes-yes. Yes-yes-yes. Yes-yes-yes."
To tell the truth, the snag is it’s a bit boring at times,
to be given so much, almost without any effort,
in that shining multicolored city of Yes.

Better let me be tossed around--
To the end of my days,
between the city of Yes
and the city of No!
Let my nerves be strained
like wires
between the city of No
And the city of Yes!

1963
by Yevgeny Yevtushenko
From "Bratsky Station and other new poems" 1966
Translated by Tina Tupikina-Glaessner, Geoffrey Dutton,
and Igor Mezhakoff-Koriakin
  

Top answer

Anonymous What is this poem about? What does the title of the poem tell you?

  • Anonymous What is this poem about?
  • What does the title of the poem tell you?
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5 Answers
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AnonymousWhat is this poem about?
What does the title of the poem tell you?
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Contrasting nature about something
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It's not that complicated, really. The title talks about two named cities.

Can you describe these two cities in your own words?
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umm...maybe!
But what would be the answer if the question says in which city an individual can act independently?
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AnonymousBut what would be the answer if the question says in which city an individual can act independently?
Well, suppose in one house the parents tell the kids "No" - you can't do that!" No matter what the kids asked.
In another house, the parents tell the kids "Yes, of course you can do that." No matter what the kids asked.

In which house w

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