Analyzing and Interpreting Literature / Unit 3 AIL 0227 short lesson, about 20 seconds
"Curious" Means Discriminating
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The idea
Sonnet thirty-eight asks whether his slight Muse can "please these curious days". Curious means fastidious or hard to satisfy, describing an exacting readership. The modern sense of inquisitive would make the line a compliment to the age's interest rather than a worry about its standards.
In practice
Curious days are demanding days.
Where people slip
Inquisitive softens the poet's anxiety.
Your place on the trail
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