European American
Literature: Poetry
Things To Consider:
- Imagery
- Rhyme vs. Slant Rhyme
- Metaphor
- Tone
- Theme
- Sleeping, Waking, and Stopping
- Reading Poetry Site
Links:
Emily Dickinson
Complete Poems |
Robert Frost
On-Line "Stopping by Woods"
and Other Poems |
** Homework Questions **
Lyric Poetry in the Long 19th. Century:
574-75:
- Why, according to the editors, did a new focus on nature
emerge during this time?
575:
- Describe the significance of the lyric during this period.
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
667:
- What characteristics are associated with Dickinson's
poetry?
"I heard a Fly buzz-when I died"
671:
- Explain the simile in the first stanza.
- Explain the final stanza.
"Because I could not stop for Death"
673:
- What is the Speaker's View Toward Death?
- Explain: "We passed the Setting Sun-- // Or
rather--He passed Us" (12-13).
Robert Frost (1874-1963)
"Design"
123:
- What poetic form is employed in this poem? Be as specific
as possible.
- Explain the message of the poem.
"The Road Not Taken"
128:
- Explain the message of the poem.
Other Discussion Questions:
Lyric Poetry in the Long 19th. Century:
574:
- What did Romanticism involve?
576:
- How did the ideas associated with Romanticism become
re-envisioned after the mid-19th. century?
576-77:
- What did the Symbolist movement involve?
577:
- What did the avant-garde movement involve?
Emily Dickinson:
668:
- Describe Dickinson's use of meter and rhyme.
"I heard a Fly buzz-when I died"
- What king is referenced in the second stanza?
"Because I could not stop for Death"
- Describe the Tone of this Poem.
- Describe the Rhyme Scheme of this poem.
- Why is Death described as "kindly" (2) and as
demonstrating "civility" (8)?
- What are the "Fields of Gazing Grain" (11)? Why are
they described this way?
- What "House" does she describe in the 5th stanza?
- How does this poem compare with Keats's "Ode to a
Nightingale" or Kafka's "Metaphorphosis"?
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