Theme
In Robert Frost’s "The Road Not Taken," the speaker chooses one path over another. What is a central theme of this poem?
What is:
Choice and consequences; decisions shape life.
Name the type of rhyme when the final sounds of two words match exactly (for example: "cat" and "hat").
What is:
End Rhyme
Is the following an example of hyperbole, simile, or personification?
"I've told you a million times."
What is:
Hyperbole
In a poem, the word "barren" most nearly means:
(A) full of life
(B) empty or lifeless
(C) noisy
(D) colorful.
What is:
B. empty or lifeless
A poem describes a speaker who keeps returning to the image of a locked door to show their sense of loss. What theme is most directly suggested by this repeated image?
What is:
Loss, grief, or separation
Read the first stanza of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18:
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
What is the rhyme scheme label for the first four lines?
What is:
The rhyme scheme of the first four lines is ABAB.
Read this short excerpt: "The ocean roared its ancient anger; salt stung my throat." Identify one image that appeals to taste or touch and name the figurative device used to describe the ocean.
What is:
Taste/touch image: "salt stung my throat" appeals to taste and touch; ocean described with personification ("roared its ancient anger").
Explain how the meaning of the word "stern" might change when used to describe a teacher versus a wind in a poem. Provide one-sentence explanations for each meaning.
What is:
(Different answers can apply)
Teacher: "stern" = strict or serious; Wind: "stern" (rare) could be interpreted as harsh or forceful
Read this excerpt from Langston Hughes’s "Dreams"
"Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly."
What theme is suggested by the extended bird image?
What is:
Dreams as hope/aspiration and necessity for life — theme: hope or the importance of dreams.
How does meter (regular stressed and unstressed syllable patterns) affect the sound and mood of a poem? Provide a brief explanation.
What is:
Meter sets a predictable beat that can create tension, calm, or urgency; consistent meter can make a poem feel formal while irregular meter can feel conversational or tense.
In Shel Silverstein’s "Where the Sidewalk Ends," the line "I'll be the one to steer the ship" most closely shows which device: metaphor, simile, or idiom?
What is:
Metaphor (steering a ship stands for guiding life or choices).
The poem uses the word "reconcile" in this line: "She tried to reconcile the memory and the present."
Based on context, what does "reconcile" most likely mean?
(A) to argue with
(B) to bring into agreement
(C) to ignore
(D) to destroy
Explain your choice in one short sentence.
What is:
(B) to bring into agreement — because the speaker is trying to make memory and present fit together.
Explain how stanza breaks and line breaks can contribute to the development of a poem's theme. Give one specific example (e.g., a pause before a revealing line).
What is:
Stanza and line breaks create pauses or emphasis; a break before a revealing line can highlight a turning point in theme.
What is the rhyme scheme in Walt Whitman's O Captain! My Captain!
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
What is:
AABB
Read this stanza from Langston Hughes’s "Harlem (A Dream Deferred)":
"What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?"
Identify the figurative device used in the comparison "like a raisin in the sun" and explain in one sentence how that device helps convey the poem’s meaning about postponed dreams.
What is:
The device in "like a raisin in the sun" is a simile.
This simile compares a postponed dream to a raisin drying in the sun, suggesting that delaying a dream causes it to shrivel, lose vitality, and become diminished or wasted, which helps convey the poem’s warning about the harmful effects of deferred hopes.
A poet uses the word "temper" in the line:
"He tempered his voice with a quiet smile."
Based on context, does "temper" here mean:
(A) to make angry, (B) to moderate or soften, (C) to heat metal, or (D) to destroy? Explain why.
What is:
(B) to moderate or soften — context shows voice being softened.
Read the following progression: middle stanzas of a poem use images from William Wordsworth’s "I wandered lonely as a cloud" (clouds, isolation, short lines), and the final stanza returns to sunlight and long lines. Write a short analysis (2–3 sentences) explaining how these structural and image choices together build a theme of renewal or reconnection.
What is:
Short lines and cloud imagery emphasize isolation; longer lines and sunlight suggest openness and reconnection, moving the poem from solitude to renewal.
What is the rhyme scheme in Emily Dickinson's poem, I am Nobody. Who Are You?
I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you - Nobody - too?
Then there's a pair of us!
Dont tell! they'd banish us - you know!
How dreary - to be - Somebody!
How public - like a Frog -
To tell your name - the livelong June -
To an admiring Bog!
What is:
AABC
Combine personification and hyperbole:
Analyze the following line adapted in the style of Robert Frost —
"The angry wind stole the town's last sleep and hammered every shutter till dawn."
Explain in 2–3 sentences how the combined devices affect the reader’s sense of urgency and threat.
What is:
Personification gives the wind intentional, humanlike behavior; hyperbole ("hammered every shutter") exaggerates intensity, producing urgency and a sense of immediate threat.
From Emily Dickinson’s short poem "I heard a Fly buzz — when I died —" (first lines):
"I heard a Fly buzz
when I died
The Stillness in the Room"
Question: In this context, does "Stillness" most nearly mean (A) noise, (B) complete calm, (C) confusion, or (D) movement?
Choose the best answer and explain in one short sentence.
What is:
(B) complete calm. Explanation: "Stillness in the Room" indicates a quiet pause surrounding death, so "Stillness" means calm.