Poppies in July

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Across
  1. 3. The contrast between the vivid external world and the speaker’s empty inner state. [3–5]
  2. 5. The narcotic substance symbolized by poppies that can dull pain. [9-10]
  3. 7. The psychological state suggested by the poem’s tone and imagery. [11–15]
  4. 8. The color imagery connecting the flowers to blood and violence. [6–8]
  5. 10. The final desired state where sensation stops (“dulling and stilling”). [14]
  6. 12. The comparison that describes the flowers as “little hell flames.” [1–2]
  7. 15. “Little bloody skirts” gives the flowers a feminine visual shape. [8]
Down
  1. 1. The act the speaker wishes she could do to feel something real. [11-12]
  2. 2. The violent red imagery that links flowers with blood and injury. [6–8]
  3. 4. The speaker’s inability to feel emotional or physical sensation despite intense imagery. [1–4]
  4. 6. The flower symbolizing both beauty and narcotic escape. [1]
  5. 9. The repetition emphasizing emotional emptiness at the end of the poem. [15]
  6. 11. The transformation of poppies from natural flowers into symbols of drugs and death. [9–10]
  7. 13. The reference to “capsules” suggests the use of drugs for emotional ______. [10]
  8. 14. The contradiction where flames exist but “nothing burns.” [4]