Poem Questions

Order Description choose one of the followin" rel="nofollow">ing poet to answer the questions Anne Bradstreet Phillis Wheatley Walt Whitman Emily Dickin" rel="nofollow">inson Edwin" rel="nofollow">in Arlin" rel="nofollow">ington Robin" rel="nofollow">inson Paul Laurence Dunbar Robert Frost William Carlos Williams Marianne Moore T.S. Eliot Claude McKay E.E. Cummin" rel="nofollow">ings Langston Hughes W.H. Auden Thank you! Readin" rel="nofollow">ing Your Poem 1. What is this poem about, generally? What situation is bein" rel="nofollow">ing described? 2. Who is the speaker of the poem? To whom is it addressed? (I’m not lookin" rel="nofollow">ing for a name, but somethin" rel="nofollow">ing like “a father to his son,” “a woman to God,” etc.) How does identifyin" rel="nofollow">ing the speaker contribute to your understandin" rel="nofollow">ing of the poem? How closely can you identify with the author of the poem? 3. What attitude toward the subject of the poem does the speaker convey? How does the tone of the poem help you understand this attitude? For example, is it serious, reverent, irreverent, playful, sorrowful, ironic? 4. Describe the structure or form of the poem. How many stanzas, lin" rel="nofollow">ines per stanzas, syllables per lin" rel="nofollow">ine. Why this structure and not another type? How does the structure contribute to or rein" rel="nofollow">inforce the theme(s) of the poem? 5. Take the first stanza and discuss the sound effects. Describe the meter. Which sounds are repeated? Lookin" rel="nofollow">ing at the poem overall, what effect do these sounds have on you? Do you notice any alliteration, assonance, consonance, euphony, cacophony or other strikin" rel="nofollow">ing sound effects? 6. Chart the rhyme scheme (by markin" rel="nofollow">ing “ABAB” etc) of the first few stanzas. What effect does this have? 7. Discuss the diction. What is the level of formality? For example, does the poet write in" rel="nofollow">in slang? Ordin" rel="nofollow">inary, conversational English? Formal, high-level English? 8. Which words stand out most to you and why? What synonyms might the author have chosen but did not? What are their connotations? For example, a poet might choose the word “trudge.” You could discuss how the connotations of that word are very different from a word like “march.” “Trudge” implies a slow, heavy, tired kin" rel="nofollow">ind of walkin" rel="nofollow">ing. 9. Circle all the poem’s images. Is there a pattern of images? What associations are connected with these images? (For example, there might be a pattern of plants in" rel="nofollow">in bloom, which is associated with new life.) 10. Put a square around all the examples of figurative language, meanin" rel="nofollow">ing similes, metaphors, personification. In the margin" rel="nofollow">ins next to these examples, jot down the nature of the comparisons (e.g., “rose is compared to abstract idea of beauty). 11. Circle and put an asterisk next to any symbol. Jot down in" rel="nofollow">in the margin" rel="nofollow">ins the associations of this symbol. 12. What other observations can you make about this poem? Write down the THREE or FOUR techniques you thin" rel="nofollow">ink are most important. 13. Based on the notes above, how does everythin" rel="nofollow">ing work together to create an overall in" rel="nofollow">interpretation of the poem? Do not say thin" rel="nofollow">ings like, “imagery helps to make the reader feel like they are there.” That is true, but it goes without sayin" rel="nofollow">ing. Instead, consider how the imagery contributes to the THEME of the poem. For example, “the imagery of new life in" rel="nofollow">in sprin" rel="nofollow">ing contrasts with the sorrow the speaker feels at her lover’s death.”