Line 680:  Lolita

 

Major hurricanes are given feminine names in America.  The feminine gender is suggested not so much by the sex of furies and harridans as by a general professional application.  Thus any machine is a she to its fond user, and any fire (even a “pale” one!) is she to the fireman, as water is she to the passionate plumber.  Why our poet chose to give his 1958 hurricane a little-used Spanish name (sometimes given to parrots) instead of Linda or Lois, is not clear.

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