The Poets
Who wrote "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"
William Wordsworth
What is the name of the speaker's dead lover in "The Raven"?
Lenore
"A host of, of golden daffodils; / Beside the lake, beneath the trees, / Fluttering and dancing in the breeze."
...is an example of what literary device?
Personification
What is scansion?
"Scansion is the process of marking the stresses in a poem, and working out the metre from the distribution of stresses." (poetryarchive.org, 2019)
In the poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", why does the speaker use the simile of a cloud? What does this simile tell you about the speaker? How does this connect to the rest of the poem?
possible answer:
"the cloud drifts weightlessly across the sky, and thus it can never know the “vales and hills” over which it floats (2). Nothing more than a passive observer, the wayward cloud alluded to by the poet is alienated from its surroundings and is in many ways detached from the environment in which it exists." (Bookrags, 2019)
Robert Frost was invited to read his poetry at what event?
President John F. Kennedy's inauguration
What type of flower is the speaker so moved by in "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"?
Daffodils
"While I nodded, nearly napping..."
is an example of what literary device?
Alliteration
What is the basic unit of measurement in poetic metre called?
a foot (i.e. one foot, two feet)
How does ambiguity play a key role in "The Road Not Taken"? Use specific example from the text to explain your answer.
Possible answer:
This ambiguity in "The Road Not Taken" can be divided "...into two schools of thought. The first is that Frost has a regret for the choice that he has made and he is relating the hardships of that choice to the reader. The alternative is that he is simply trying to make a statement about life and harbors no regret towards the choice that he has made."
The word "difference" has both negative and neutral connotations.
When did Edgar Allan Poe die? (day & year)
October 7th, 1849
What season is it in "The Road Not Taken"? How do we know?
Autumn / Fall...yellow leaves, changing colours
"Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door -"
is an example of what literary device?
Allusion
Scan the following line:
"Hail to thee, blithe spirit!"
What is the metre?
trochaic trimeter ( /u /u /u/ )
In "The Raven", what is the connection between the raven and the bust of palace? What do they both symbolize? What is the deeper meaning of the raven being perched on the bust of Pallas?
Possible answer:
"This bust of Pallas Athene, the Greek goddess of wisdom, is symbolically subjugated by the raven, a symbol of death, who dominates it with the "mien of lord or lady." ... Thus, the symbolic perching of the raven upon the bust of Pallas is central to the speaker's mental unraveling." (enotes, 2019)
Where was Shakespeare born?
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England
In "Sonnet 29", what does the word "fortune" mean? And what does "in disgrace with fortune mean"?
fortune = fate..."in disgrace with fortune" = bad luck
"Like to the lark at break of day arising"
is an example of what literary device?
Simile
Scan the following lines:
"the way a crow
shook down on me"
What is the metre?
iambic dimeter
In "Sonnet 29", why does the speaker compare themselves to a 'lark'? How does this connect with the overall theme of the poem?
Possible answer:
The lark is "...a happy bird at the start of a new day leaving behind the drudgery of the land and the limitations of gravity to enjoy all the freshness and opportunity a new day has to offer." (enotes, 2019) The speaker too leaves his own negative thinking behind and by the end of the poem has a new outlook on their situation. The poem is also a kind of bird song.
How old was Edgar Allan Poe when he died?
40 years old
In "The Raven", what object sits above the chamber door?
A bust of Pallas
"I took the one less travelled by / And that has made all the difference."
...is an example of what literary device? Explain why?
ambiguity
Scan this line:
"If music be the food of love, play on;"
What is the metre?
iambic pentameter ( u/ u/ u/ u/ u/)
Poe's "The Raven" is a much darker poem than the others we have studied. Referring to both the content and form of the poem discuss two ways Poe is able achieve this darker atmosphere.
Possible answer:
trochaic lines add a sense of harshness to the rhythm
the recurring refrain emphasizes finality and hopeless
personification - the bird speaks - scary!