Jacob Faulkner Assignment 1

"They sit in the bright cafe discussing Hemingway, and how this war will change them." The poem's first sentence. It is referring to World War II, and how the war is affecting the average 1940's Americans, like the author's parents. This refers to the text by leading the topic of the parents conversations, including many famous authors of the time, and how the war is coming over them like a hawk. This ties back to the painting the poem is about, giving the feel of alone and depression, as if the shadow as hanging over them right there. While the poem itself has a happy tone, it seems almost artificial, because while the parents are having a good time, laughing and having fun, they also know how terrible the state the country was in, them including.