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How does the moon function as a symbol in poems LIV-LVIII?
The moon functions as a symbol of both distance and possibility. In some ways, these poems convey a bit of hopelessness about life on Earth ("balconies /dusted with ash" [LIV]; the question of giving the sea back to the moon [LVI]). While the moon is far from the speaker's experience, he wonders about it deeply, and he imagines that enterprising animals and some of the most beautiful aspects of Earth could stay connected to the moon.
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How have the poems changed over the course of the collection?
Students might observe that at the beginning, it was rare for one question to connect to the next, never mind one...
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