Why do you think: a) The poem starts and finishes with a question? b) The main character asks the question in the last

a) The poem does not suggest an answer, it rather puts a question and also asks the reader for personal response.

b) This question can make the reader think about him/ herself.

c) This, as well as, irregular rhythm and absence of rhyme makes the poem “rip out in rags”. It seems to be a typical device used by the poet to make the poem very emotional but lacking harmony.

d) He/she probably imagines himself talking to the children who “would cry in the morning”. This is the thief’s philosophy, his own moral standards, which are outside society’s values and beliefs. His/her life is tough, so he/she wants children to see “real” world which is an equivalent to his own, full of loneliness, suffering.

e) He/she sighs seeing a ghost, echo of the snowman’s image, outsider, a person rejected by society. What he sees is sad.