When I read the passage between paragraph 17 and paragraph 18, I have some problems.
First, I can’t understand the meaning of ‘work our triumph into’ which is in the first sentence in paragraph 17. So I look it up in dictionary. ‘Work …into…’ means ‘manage to include something in a piece of writing, speech, or activity’. ‘Triumph’ means ‘a very great success, achievement or victory, or a feeling of great satisfaction or pleasure caused by this.’ The first sentence means if we have got some triumphs, we must tell others the good news, let them know our accomplishments. There is a big difference between us and the mother. The mother doesn’t tell her good friends about the good news.
??????? In paragraph 17, the author tells us a story. When his poems were published at the first time, he was showing off. He not only worked his triumph into every conversation for months and months, but also called almost every human being he had ever known to proclaim the glad tidings both local and long distance. Here ‘proclaim’ means ‘to announce something publicly or officially’. ‘Tidings’ means ‘news, information, or notification’. The author was(is) showing off in many different ways, even he wanted(wants) to let a stranger know he was(is) a successful poet. The stranger just wanted to ask the time or directions, but he tried his best to detain HIM long enough to enlighten him with the news. In my opinion, he wanted to let the people all of the world know his accomplishment. But I think his action was(is) not wrong, in the ordinary way, people need to show off, and no one’s completely immune. The author worked hard and achieved a high accomplishment. He was showing off in order to improve his fame.
In paragraph 18, it only has a(one) sentence. The author wants to say that it is fortunate for everyone, because he calms down at last, and from now on people can’t be told about the news. His show off is temporary. ??
