"The Twelve Dancing Princesses” makes a number of seemingly obscure allusions: “The Night of the Long Knives,” “Long John Nebel,” “Mickey Finn,” “Andy Gump,” “Roseland.” How do these allusions contribute to the poem.
Mickey Finn refers to a drug being slipped into a drink which is what the princesses were doing to all the soldiers who were trying to figure out what the princesses were up too.
The night of the Long Knives was when nazis did a numerous about of murders, but in Sexton's poem she talkes about how a man is enjoying his night and calls it "The Night of the Long Knives" because during that time, naztis enjoyed and took pride in what they did.
Long John Nebel was a very popular radio talk show host. In the poem Sexton describes a person who has trouble sleeping, listening to Nebel and enjoying himself.
i can see how all these three allusions relate to the poem and the story in how some people do what they do, no matter how bizarre it is, because they enjoy it.
i don't understand the other allusions at all. Is there something i just don't understand?
Good work, Kathleen! Long John Nebel was a late-night radio host in New York; you wouldn't hear his show unless you were awake in the middle of the night . . .
ReplyDeleteRoseland was a ballroom/dance hall in New York. Andy Gump was a cartoon strip featured in the New York Times about a man with no chin (he's a caricature/exaggeration). In each case, Sexton is making allusions to things from the 20th century. Why? In most of the cases, she is making allusions to things from New York City. Why?