Pluto

Question 1

A brand new planet
Had been given a name -

Answer 1

The event was clearly important to the narrator. The new planet is a metaphor for the man’s youth and growing awareness.

Question 2

This Home I’m in,
it has the same soap suddenly;

Answer 2

The “same soap suddenly” with its rhythmic sibilance is a parallel to the discovery of the planet. The make of soap has no doubt always been the same but, like the planet, the old man becomes suddenly aware of its existance. In the final stanza he identifies the smell, again like a new discovery.

Question 4

An hourglass weeping the future into the past

Answer 4

The “hourglass weeping” is an example of synaesthesia, in which different senses merge. The condensed, related ideas of passing time and grief are deftly conveyed.