Read the excerpt below and answer the question. Read this excerpt from Aunt Imogen."

They went together into the old room

That looked across the fields; and Imogen

Gazed out with a girl's gladness in her eyes, 40

Happy to know that she was back once more

Where there were those who knew her, and at last

Had gloriously got away again

From cabs and clattered asphalt for a while;

Imogen says in lines 41-42 that she is happy to be back with "those who knew her." Use evidence from

the poem to explain whether people really know Imogen and what it means in the poem to know

someone or know oneself. Your response should be at least one hundred words.

Answer and Explanation:

From reading the poem, we can see that people know a version of Aunt Imogen, the younger version of her, full of dreams and plans. However, the lack of coexistence and the loss of contact between the family, meant that they did not follow the changes that Aunt Imogen went through, which turned her into someone else, who no one knows anymore, just herself. Aunt Imogen's family knew her as someone happy and excited and they believe she remains that way, but inside herself, Aunt Imogen knows how sad, frustrated and lonely she feels. Only she knows this thought and only she knows herself completely.

In this case, the poem reinforces the idea that knowing someone does not mean knowing that person for real, as we do not have access to the deepest and most personal thoughts that transform a person completely. We only really know ourselves, because we can't get away from what we think.

We can see this in the lines:

"Was there for only one month in the year,/ While she, the mother,—she was always there;/ And that was what made all the difference./ She knew it must be so, for Jane had once/ Expounded it to her so learnedly/ That she had looked away from the child’s eyes / And thought; and she had thought of many things."