Poem Summary (In the Metro)

In the Metro is about falling in love but tied down to a spouse and family. A man falls in love with a woman who passes by but “[they’ll] never meet again”(1). Only by looking at “her [go] her way”(4) does he feel sad. She is whisked away in the crowd of people “just as a river”(8). The man who is “crucified to family duties”(9) is helpless as she leaves because he already has a family to return to. He cannot do anything for falling in love with the woman in the metro because he is married to another woman.

Poem Summary (Swans)

The Wild Swans at Coole

“The Wild Swans at Coole” presents a middle aged man visiting a certain lake during twilight to watch the swans. Having Ben the “nineteenth autum”(7) to be visiting, he watched “nine and fifty”(6) swans play with the surface of the lake. He “looked upon those brilliant creatures”(13) while being heartbroken with a sore heart. The swans continue to innocently “wander where they will”(23) with their lovers by their side. The adult immerses himself in these “mysterious, beautiful”(26) birds. Lastly, the man wonders if when he “awake[s] some day”(29) if those birds will have flown away.

Rebel Still Frame Analysis

At the Abandoned Mansion

The frame, from Rebel without a Cause, where Jim, Judy, and Plato are standing on the stairs in the abandoned mansion, suggests that Plato has a desperate yearning for parental figures in his life. Plato is portrayed as a young teenager that had mental instability. This could most likely be caused by the fact that Plato. Jim is shown to be looking up at Judy and Judy looking back at Jim, but Plato is standing below them and watching them. Plato is expressed to be third wheeling next to Jim and Judy because of where he is positioned.

There had been an absence of parental figures in his life due to certain unknown reasons, yet here Plato is looking up at Jim and Judy pretending to be a couple. Plato’s relationship to Jim is like father to son by the fact that Plato relys and wants to be with Jim constantly. Jim and Judy are conversing and pretending to be buying the house. Plato is looking up at the couple happily because of the absence of parents he had before he came across Jim and Judy.  Also, Plato views them as parents or guardian figures because he asks Jim if could enter the house. Plato says, “Let me in.” It could be interpreted as Plato asking to let him into their, Jim’s and Judy’s, life. He wanted to be apart of something he never had before. His yearning for parental figures grew when he was with Jim and Judy because of their relationship. Seen in the frame, Plato lit three candles and after entering the house. The candelabra Plato holds symbolizes the trio of misfits that created an new, unlikely family.

Even though Jim, Judy, and Plato are portrayed as a family consisting of misfits, Plato is third wheeling in the situation. Judy and Jim and looking at each other, which blocks out Plato from interfering with the newly created relationship they created together. Plato is yearning to be part of what they have, but the two of them share something else that he cannot take part in. He is close, but at an arm’s length distance away. Plato’s role within their make believe family is the child. Jim and Judy pretend to act as their parents. They believe that their parents despise children. Plato, in the misfit family, is suggested as the child of the trio. This makes Plato immediately a third wheel because of how Jim and Judy portray their parents, including their parents’ believed dislike of children. Judy has her back to the camera and she is only looking at Jim in the frame. It gives a bit of distance between her and Plato because they haven’t bonded as strongly as Jim and Plato have. This also might explain the idea that Plato is third wheeling next to JIm and Judy.