A proem is a short introduction, in verse, to the matter and meaning of the rest of the poem. Some published editions of the poem do not make a division between The Proem and The Dream. The Proem is lines 1 through 290, and The Dream is lines 291 through 1334, the end of the poem. ... Not even the famous Biblical interpreter of dreams, Joseph, who read dreams for Pharaoh (see  Genesis, Book 41), nor Macrobius, the late Roman author who wrote a famous (in Chaucer's day) commentary on  Cicero's  Dream of Scipio, would have the skill to read the fantastic dream the narrator had that ...

• Word Count: 5753
• Approx Pages: 23
• Grade Level: High School

With poems, deep symbolism often hides the authors true feelings. ... One of Ovid's most famous poems, Daedalus and Icarus, may have not only became popular because of its plot, but it may have became popular because of the symbolism behind the conspiracy. ... In the poem, Daedalus devises a plan to help his son, whose name is Icarus, and himself escape from Crete. ... When Augustus read Ovid's poem, he was highly offended. He was so upset that he ordered Ovid and his poems to be banished from Rome. ...

• Word Count: 603
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

In Ovid's collection of poems Amores, he also writes of his erotic adventures with his mistress, among other women. ... In this poem, Ovid is at the circus watching the horse races, sitting next to a girl that becomes the fixation of his physical desires. Ovid begins the poem with the confession, "You watch the races, I watch you" (line 7). ... Ovid concludes the poem by telling the audience that he received a smile from the woman of his admiration. ... Donne concludes the poem in saying, "To teach thee I am naked first; why then/What need more covering than a man" ...

• Word Count: 2685
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: Undergraduate