Latin Words
Multas
Numerous, many
These represent the emotional distance between Carson and her brother.
a) Photos
b) Postcards
c) Torn pages
b) Postcards
Carson's brother left home in this year to avoid jail time.
1978
“I wanted to fill my elegy with light of all kinds. But death makes us stingy.”
Per
Through, across
The recurring darkness/night imagery in Nox symbolizes:
a) Romantic love
b) Emotional mourning
c) Religious salvation
b) Emotional mourning
Carson's brother died in this European city.
Copenhagen
“Love cannot alter it. Words cannot add to it.”
Powerlessness
Advenio
to come, to arrive
The dictionary entries symbolize Carson's attempt to find meaning through this process.
a) Definition
b) Translation
c) Explanation
b) Translation
Carson compares the work of mourning and recovering the past to the work of this Greek historian.
Herodotus
“He would send postcards from places like Copenhagen or India, but there was never a return address.”
Absence / Distance
Vectus
to carry, to convey
Carson's fragmented structure symbolizes this difficulty after death.
a) Reconstructing memories
b) Explaining death
c) Moving on from her memories
a) Reconstructing memories.
One reason Carson's brother became difficult to understand was because he used these while traveling.
False names / Fake passports
“A brother who becomes mysterious through time is like a word that can no longer be translated exactly.”
Translation / Misunderstanding
Aequora
Smooth level or surface
The silences and missing details symbolize the impossibility of fully understanding this.
a) Another person's life or memory
b) The absence of a person
c) A person's mindset
a) Another person's life or memory.
This ancient Roman poet's elegy for his brother becomes a central part of Nox.
Catullus
“History and elegy are alike because both try to collect what remains after something has disappeared.”
Memory / History