Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Rocek
... not sure
that "snags" works--using Maryann's definition, it makes "the standing dead" redundant
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Martin, I know this is minor, but here I disagree slightly. The phrase "the standing dead" was the reminder that I needed in order to recall that technical meaning of "snag." Now that we've seen how many people were unaware of the "standing dead tree" definition, I think the poet included it in full knowledge that many readers would need to have the meaning made overt. For them, it's a clue rather than a redundancy.