John Updike
Updike played himself in an episode of this popular cartoon show
What is The Simpsons?
"And her heart was learning to lie down forever."
What is personification/metaphor
This is the amount of syllables generally used in the first half of the poem
What is twelve?
The narrator often said this when encouraging his pet
What is "good dog"?
Updike grew up in this state
What is Pennsylvania?
"As the children were noisily fed and sent to school, she crawled beneath the youngest's bed"
Juxtaposition
After the first half, the poem's structure is best described as this kind of verse.
What is free verse?
The dog ironically died in this location
What is a car?
Updike attended these two prestigious colleges
What is Oxford and Harvard?
"Nevertheless she sank and, stiffening, disappeared."
Alliteration
The poem has this many verses
What is five?
The dog used these disposable household items for potty training
What are newspapers?
After college, Updike wrote for this magazine
What is the New Yorker?
"She must have been kicked unseen or brushed by a car."
Assonance
These lines represent this type of poetic transition
"Back home, we found that in the night her frame
Drawing near to dissolution, had endured the shame"
What is a volta?
The dog's autopsy revealed a rupture in this vital organ
What is a liver?