For discussion, I would like to draw specific attention to point of view. Throughout The Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded, changes in point of view drive both the content and the formulaic structure of the poems, so please be thinking of poems you feel make especially interesting use of point of view. Additionally, I would like to touch on the recurring nature and weather imagery that appears in several of the poems, and what this imagery accomplishes in terms of point of view and characterization of the work’s various speakers.
Just as a starting point, a couple of the poems I found particularly intriguing in terms of point of view would be “Without a Mind” and “Going to Water.”