Inventory for Robert Lowell's "Reading Myself," p. 19 week 4

-From Contemporary American Poetry:

• The text contrasts fake "wax flowers" with real Mount "Parnassus" of Greece in lines 5-6.
• There is another contrast following Parnassus as the text begins a long detail of a bee's nest in line 7. This shift is emphasized further by the "..." which follows Parnassus.
• The word "just" is repeated in line 1, discussing deserved "pride."
• The words "matches," "boil," and "fire" in line 2-3 are used in reference to the speaker's "blood" and "tricks" in terms of writing.
• Line 8 focuses on circular, repetitious patterns in regards to the honeybee's work.
• The speaker claims he is "finished with wax flowers," but later refers to "wax and honey of a mausoleum." Therefore, there is a contradiction.
• The final line repeats "open" in reference to a "book" and a "coffin" along with a "..." to split the terms. This reflects the relationship between the bee's hive which "proves its maker is alive" and houses its "corpse."
• "Lives embalmed" is an oxymoronic phrase that parallels life and death.
•  There is a contrast between "sweet-tooth bear" and the word "desecrate."
• The poem moves from a first-person point of view, to a third-person point of view (describing the bees), back to first person in reference to the speaker's coffin. This reflects the circular language in line 8.