Read the excerpt below from “The Lake of the Dismal Swamp” by Thomas Moore and complete the instruction that follows. “They made her a grave, too cold and dampFor a soul so warm and true;And she’s gone to the Lake of the Dismal Swamp,Where, all night long, by a fire-fly lamp,She paddles her white canoe. “And her fire-fly lamp I soon shall see,And her paddle I soon shall hear;Long and loving our life shall be,And I’ll hide the maid in a cypress tree,When the footstep of death is near.” Identify the rhyme scheme and metrical pattern of this poem.
Read the poems below and answer the question that follows. “Listening to Her Practice: My Middle Daughter, on the Edge of Adolescence, Learns to Play the Saxophone”by Barbara Cooker For Rebecca Her hair, that halo of red gold curls,has thickened, coarsened,lost its baby fineness,and the sweet smell of childhoodthat clung to her clotheshas just about vanished.Now she’s getting moody,moaning about her hair,clothes that aren’t the right brands,boys that tease.She clicks over the saxophone keyswith gritty fingernails polished in pink pearl,grass stains on the kneesof her sister’s old designer jeans.She’s gone from sounding like the smoke detectorthrough Old MacDonald and Jingle Bells.Soon she’ll master these keys,turn notes into liquid gold,wail that reedy brass.Soon, she’ll be a woman.She’s gonna learn to play the blues. Source: Cooker, Barbara. “Listening to Her Practice: My Middle Daughter, on the Edge of Adolescence, Learns to Play the Saxophe.” Ordinary Life. New York: ByLine Press, 2000. El Camino College. Web. 6 May 2011. “Hanging Fire”by Audre Lorde I am fourteenand my skin has betrayed methe boy I cannot live withoutstill sucks his thumbin secrethow come my knees arealways so ashywhat if I diebefore the morning comesand momma’s in the bedroomwith the door closed. I have to learn how to dancein time for the next partymy room is too small for mesuppose I die before graduationthey will sing sad melodiesbut finallytell the truth about meThere is nothing I want to doand too muchthat has to be doneand momma’s in the bedroomwith the door closed. Nobody even stops to thinkabout my side of itI should have been on Math Teammy marks were better than hiswhy do I have to bethe one wearing bracesI have nothing to wear tomorrowwill I live long enoughto grow upand momma’s in the bedroomwith the door closed. Source: Lorde, Audre. “Hanging Fire.” The Black Unicorn: Poems. New York: Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, 1978. El Camino College. Web. 06 June 2011. Which statement is the most accurate comparison of the two poems?
Which of the following techniques is a specific type of figurative language? I. conceit II. personification III. metonymy
What is conflict?
Which statement illustrates the use of metaphor?
What is the definition of “ballad”?
Define imagery, give an example from your reading or of your own creation, and explain why imagery is used.
Responses may vary but should include some or all of the following information: Imagery is made of words that trigger sensory memories. An image is a mental picture or memory of something seen, heard, tasted, smelled, or touched. Poets use imagery to intensify emotion and create vivid word pictures that enhance a reader’s understanding and appreciation of the poem. One example is a haiku by Issa: The snow is meltingand the village is floodedwith children.
Which poetic technique does Crapsey use when she speaks directly to the dead in her poem “To the Dead in the Graveyard Underneath My Window”?
Read the poem below and answer the question that follows.
Responses may vary but should include some or all of the following information: Millay uses words with strongly negative connotations in this bitter poem about humanity’s inhumanity. The first word of the poem is “detestable,” and the powerful negative imagery continues throughout the poem. She uses the word “breed” which generally applies to animals, not humans, reinforcing our bestiality. A few of the other negative word choices include “encroach,” “bombing,” “bewildered,” and “distracted.” Perhaps the strongest imagery is found in the lines, “Convert again into putrescent matter drawing flies/The hopeful bodies of the young.” She ends with the name of our species, Homo sapiens, but splits the term ironically pointing out that we are called sapiens while her poem makes the point of showing that while we may be human (Homo), we are not wise (sapiens)at all.
Define the ballad form and explain the difference between a literary ballad and a folk ballad.
Responses may vary but should include some or all of the following information: A ballad is a narrative poem that uses rhyme and meter. It may use a repeated line, called a refrain, and generally involves a tragic tale from an actual or imagined event. It has all the characteristics of any narrative: plot, characters, setting, and theme. The plot will have rising action, climax, and falling action, but it is not generally fully developed. A ballad also includes characters who also are seldom fully developed. Dialogue may be used. Ballads use rhyme and meter, but there is no set pattern for either. A folk ballad is one that has been passed down orally for generations, and because of that, the author is unknown. A literary ballad mimics the style of the folk ballad, but the author is known and the ballad may commemorate an event. Literary ballads tend to be more complex in their techniques and messages.
Read the excerpt below from Sonnet X by John Donne and answer the question that follows.
Responses may vary but should include some or all of the following information: Donne is using both personification and apostrophe in these lines. He is using apostrophe when he speaks to Death as though it were a person who could hear and respond to him. He also personifies Death as if it were a person who could feel proud or be “mighty” and “dreadful.”
Read the excerpt below from the poem “Ulalume” by Edgar Allan Poe and answer the question that follows.
Responses may vary but should include some or all of the following information: This poem is packed with literary devices and imagery. Poe starts out with a strong, dismal image of ashen skies and dry leaves “withering and sere.” Consonance can be seen in the phrase “haunted woodland” with the repetition of the “d” sound. Alliteration is everywhere. One example is “my most immemorial year” with the repetition of the “m” sounds. Assonance is heard in the phrase, “lonesome October” and the repeated long “o” sound. Poe loves musical devices and uses them well in this poem to create a somber, mysterious mood. He also uses repetition of lines with minor but significant changes that emphasize the somber tone of the poem.
Read the excerpt below from the short story “The Bet” by Anton P. Chekhov and complete the instruction that follows.
Responses may vary but should include some or all of the following information: Chekhov frequently wrote about the disillusionments of life and life’s meaninglessness in his works. This particular short story discusses how one young man—the lawyer—realizes after many years that all his efforts to win a bet were for nothing. He didn’t even care about winning the reward at the end.
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