What are examples of figurative language in the poem "Equipment" by Edgar A. Guest?

In this poem, the word "equipment" is itself a metaphor, a form of figurative language. When Guest says, "With this equipment they all began," referring to "the greatest of men," he means that everyone, even those who go on to achieve great success, start with the same potential. Therefore, equipment is a metaphor for the potential to achieve that equality among all people. Similarly, when Guest writes that the person he is addressing has "Two arms, two hands, two legs, two eyes / And a brain to use," these body parts are also metaphorical. They stand for the way in which everyone has the same potential in life because people all start with the same tools. 

In the second stanza, when Guest writes, "They take their food from a common plate, / And similar knives and forks they use, / With similar laces they tie their shoes," he is also referring to the sameness of people's potential. The "common plate" is a metaphor for the commonality of people's experiences, as are "similar knives and forks" and "similar laces." In other words, not only do people start with the same equipment, they also face similar situations as they go through life. 

Later, Guest writes that people are their own worst enemies and get in the way of their success. He says, "You are the handicap you must face." In this line, "handicap" is a metaphor for the ways in which people put obstacles in their own paths. 

How does Wordsworth use imagery to bring out the main idea in the poem "The Solitary Reaper"?

It's often argued that the main idea of William Wordsworth's "The Solitary Reaper" is the representation/examination of how even the most ordinary people, things, or occurrences can access a more significant reality. This idea can be clearly seen within the poem, as the narrator uses precise and carefully constructed imagery to transform a simple event (the observation of a young woman singing in a field) into a representation of an important, endless source of meaning. Wordsworth creates this effect by connecting the image of the singing woman to images of exotic locales. Consider, for instance, the following lines from the second stanza:

No Nightingale did ever chaunt 

More welcome notes to weary bands 

Of travellers in some shady haunt, 

Among Arabian sands... (9-12)

In these lines, Wordsworth whisks us away from the highlands and takes us to the Middle East, using the image of the distant "Arabian sands" to expand the reality represented by the solitary reaper. Suddenly, she's not just a normal woman singing while she works; rather, she is connected to a vast source of significance and meaning. All in all, Wordsworth uses vibrant imagery to signify that even someone as common as a field worker has access to a deeper and more meaningful reality. 

What is the main difference between Neoclassicism and the Romantic period when it comes to poetry?

This is an oversimplification, but the main difference between Neoclassicism and Romanticism is that the former emphasized structure, objectivity, and restraint, while the latter emphasized imagination, subjectivity, and emotion.

Neoclassical poets such as Alexander Pope admired the Classical Age and therefore tried to emulate the features of that age. In Pope's An Essay on Criticism, he writes about the benefits of ordering and restraining creativity. When the inspiration hits, Pope argues the proper poet (or critic) will utilize control rather than let his or her imagination run wild:

Tis more to guide than spur the Muse's Steed;
Restrain his Fury, than provoke his Speed;
The winged Courser, like a gen'rous Horse,
Shows most true Mettle when you check his Course.

Romantic poets such as William Wordsworth emphasized the individual, subjective experience. Wordsworth was more concerned with imagination and emotion. In the preface to Lyrical Ballads, he famously wrote:

For all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: and though this be true, Poems to which any value can be attached were never produced on any variety of subjects but by a man who, being possessed of more than usual organic sensibility, has also thought long and deeply.

Although it is not always the case, Neoclassical poetry tends to be rooted in Classical forms and themes of structure and restraint. Romantic poetry tends to focus on the emotional and imaginative experience of the individual. Another way to say this is that the Neoclassical poet might say "this is how poetry should be" while the Romantic poet might say "this is what poetry means to me."

According to Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs, and Steel, what role did the East-West axis play in the differences between societies?

The answer to this question is given in Chapter 10 of Guns, Germs, and Steel.  The length of a landmass’s east-west axis helps to determine how well domesticated plants and animals can spread across it.  This, in turn, determines how easy it is for civilization to spread on that landmass.  Places where civilization spread more easily became the “haves” of the world.

Diamond argues throughout the book that areas that have had agriculture the longest are the areas that became the “haves” of the world.  The length of the east-west axis helped determine which areas got agriculture.  Agriculture only arose independently in a very few places.  On p. 177, Diamond says that this only happened in “no more than nine areas of the globe, perhaps as few as five.”  If agriculture only arose in a few places, that means most places got agriculture by having it diffuse to them from places where it arose.

This is where the east-west axis comes in.  Plants and animals can spread more easily along an east-west axis than a north-south one.  Places on an east-west axis will typically have similar climates (allowing, of course, for things like elevation differences).  When places have similar climates, plants and animals that flourish in one can also flourish in the other.  If agriculture developed in a given place, the plants and animals that were domesticated there could spread much more easily in an east-west direction than in a north-south direction.  For this reason, agriculture spread across landmasses that have long east-west axes much more rapidly than it did across landmasses that were long from north to south.  This helped create a difference between societies in places like Eurasia (long east-west axis) and the Americas (short from east to west, long from north to south).  The places with long east-west axes got agriculture more easily once it arose, thus becoming civilized earlier and having a head start in terms of developing technology.

Who are the antagonists and protagonists in "The Adventure of the Speckled Band"?

Sherlock Holmes is usually considered the protagonist in any of his stories. Helen Stoner comes to him for help because she fears her life is in danger. The prime suspect is her stepfather Dr. Grimesby Roylott. The author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, has Dr. Roylott put in an appearance at 221B Baker Street shortly after Helen leaves. This meeting between Holmes and Roylott is necessary to establish that Dr. Roylott is Holmes' opponent, or the antagonist. The violent and half-mad Roylott establishes the conflict during his short appearance at Holmes' residence.

“I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here.” He stepped swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with his huge brown hands.

Dr. Roylott does not appear in the story again until after he has been bitten by his own poisonous snake and is found sitting dead in his room. But his existence as a threat has been established, and it hovers like a black cloud over Stoke Moran. He seems fully capable of killing Holmes and Watson if he found them snooping around inside his house. No doubt he would have a number of guns to choose from on a country estate. When his body is discovered it shows that Holmes has been victorious in their conflict. In the very last paragraph of the story he accepts responsibility for Roylott's death.

"Some of the blows of my cane came home and roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to weigh very heavily upon my conscience.”

There is only one protagonist and one antagonist. Dr. Watson accompanies Holmes because he is the narrator and has to observe everything from the first appearance of Helen Stoner at 221B Baker Street. But Holmes is the protagonist and Roylott the antagonist. Helen Stoner might be called "the bone of contention" or "the MacGuffin." 

What is the significance of the title of Fences by August Wilson?

To start answering this question, think about the way fences function as symbols in this play. First, why do different members of Troy's family want to build a fence? As Bono says in Act II, "Some people build fences to keep people out...and other people build fences to keep people in. Rose wants to hold on to you all." Rose, Troy's wife, wants to build a fence to keep her family safe and protected, much as she sees Jesus as a fence and protector. Troy, on the other hand, wants to build a fence to keep death out after Alberta, the mother of his baby, dies in childbirth. 

As much as fences can offer protection, fences can also keep people out. Think about the larger meaning of fences in Troy's life. He has been kept out of playing baseball in the white leagues because he is African-American. He won't let his son, Cory, play football because he is afraid of racism, and, as a result, Cory decides to leave home. The fences, or ways that Troy has been left out of parts of American life because of racism, cause there to be fences, or divisions, in his own family. In considering the answer to this question, think about the ways in which fences keep people in but also keep people out. 

Is Morris an untrustworthy person in W. W. Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw"?

You could make a case that W. W. Jacobs characterizes Sergeant-Major Morris as an untrustworthy person in the short story "The Monkey's Paw."

Jacobs' description of Morris's physical looks serves as one clue that Morris might not be the most trustworthy person. Specifically, he is described as being "beady of eye," which means he has small eyes that seem to "gleam with malice, avarice, or lechery" (Random House Dictionary). Beady eyes is often a description authors reserve for characters who might be worthy of suspicion.

In addition, Morris has clearly come to realize that what the monkey's paw can do is evil, yet he still brings it with him to the home of Mr. White. At first, when asked about the paw, Morris says it's not worth talking about but continues to talk about it regardless and even pulls it out of his pocket to show his hosts. Morris throws the paw in the fire and says, as he watches Mr. White retrieve it, "If you keep it, don't blame me for what happens." If he truly believed the paw should be destroyed, perhaps he would have destroyed it in private to ensure his actions were not interfered with.