Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs Discussion Topic Part 2

[bluel0bster]

Well, perhaps Oswald is an older gentleman, since in the latest poem we read:

'old Lily...'

And if she was his wife, maybe so...

It's poetry. An intrinsic aspect of poetry is subjective language. Think of the colloquialism, "Good old days." "Old" in this context doesn't necessarily mean a long, long time ago, it just refers to a previous, distinctly separate time. "Old" can also refer to "of or pertaining to the latter part of the life or term of existence of a person or thing" (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/old?s=t).

Also, consider saying that a child is "5 years old." Does that mean the child is an old man? Of course not, it just refers a specified length of time.

"Old," like many common words in the English language, are surprisingly homonymic. It can mean a lot of different things. Dictionary.com has 28 definitions for the word. The one I think makes most sense here is, "former; having been so formerly." As in, "A dinner for his old students." Again, this doesn't mean the students are advanced in age, it just refers to a state that is previous, and now complete; they are no longer his students.

In my mind, saying Lily is "old" means she belongs to a previous time, something that is no longer in existence. In other words, she has passed away (which is something that has already been pretty much confirmed). This doesn't necessarily imply either Lily or Oswald are advanced in age. Gotta think outside the box on these things, especially when it comes to poetry.