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Definitions
Fog
Life
Aunt Leaf
The Highwayman
100
What is a simile?
A figure of speech that uses like or as to make a direct comparison between two unlike ideas/things.
100
The author compares the fog to what?
A cat
100
What is life compared to?
A pocket watch
100
When the author refers to the speaker's family as "kind, but solid as wood and rarely wandered," what is she trying to say?
They were not adventurous, did not leave home, were deeply rooted.
100
Why does Bess decide to kill herself?
To warn the Highwayman that the soldiers are there to kill him.
200
What is a metaphor?
A figure of speech where something is described as though it were something else.
200
What is the entire action of the poem?
The fog comes in, sits for a moment, and then moves on
200
Who decides when it is time for life to end?
The old man swinging the watch for the infant's amusement.
200
Why did the speaker invent Aunt Leaf?
He needed a friend, and since his family was so different than him, he needed someone to go on adventures with
200
What type of poem is "The Highwayman" an example of?
A narrative poem.
300
What is personification?
A type of figurative language where a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics.
300
When the author describes the fog coming in on "little cat feet," what is he really saying?
The fog comes in quietly and slowly
300
When the author says that life is but a toy "ticking for a little while to amuse a fascinated infant," what is she really saying?
That the purpose of life is for someone else's amusement.
300
The second stanza reveals how Aunt Leaf makes the speaker feel: Dear aunt, I'd call into the leaves, and she'd rise up, like an old log in a pool, and whisper in a language only that two of us knew the word that means follow, What does this stanza reveal about why the speaker enjoys time with Aunt Leaf?
She was very excited to see him, she lead the adventures, and she made him feel special
300
The author utilizes repetition in this poem for many different reasons. What is the purpose of repetition in the following lines? "Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horse hoofs ringing clear; Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear"
To build suspense. By interspersing Bess' thoughts with the repetition of the horse hooves, it builds suspense.
400
What is figurative language?
Writing or speech that is not meant to be taken literally.
400
When the author says that the fog "sits looking over harbor and city", what type of figurative language is this an example of?
Personification
400
When the speaker says, "Life is but a toy," what type of figurative language is this an example of?
A metaphor.
400
What clues does the poem give that this is not the first time the speaker has spent time with Aunt Leaf?
There are multiple names given to her, the speaker mentions various animals they've pretended to be (foxes, snakes, fish), and there's reference to what happens at the end of the day (she waits for him until morning)
400
Compare and contrast Tim the ostler and the Highwayman. You will need to give specific examples from the poem.
The Highwayman is very nicely dressed and his is rich (leather pants without a wrinkle, velvet jacket, lace shirt, shiny weapons, thigh high boots) while Tim is very unkempt and dirty and poor (his eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like moldy hay, his face was white and peaked). They are opposites.
500
Please give me an example of a simile and an example of a metaphor. You must make these up and not pull from the poems.
Answers may vary, but a simile will use "like" or "as" and a metaphor will typically use "is"
500
Why is the action of the fog kept so simple in this poem?
To emphasize the connection between the fog and a cat.
500
When will the old man let the watch (life) run down?
When he gets bored.
500
When the speaker describes Aunt Leaf as an "old twist of feathers and birch bark" when comparing her to his/her family, and mentions that she walks in circles "wide as rain," what is the speaker really saying?
She is never still, she is always wandering, her travels are endless.
500
At the end of the poem, the author chooses to write the last two stanzas in italics. Why does he do this?
To differentiate that the last two stanzas are an afterward.