Q1:

Seeing as this unit is going by lightning fast, and in a week or so, you will be asked to write an analysis on a poem, I figure we might as well get some practice. So, read this poem, and write a one paragraph analysis.

What is the message, and how does the author’s language and use of poetic devices help convey it?

(You do not have to respond to a classmate, but it is in your best interest to read their ideas, as they are bound to be bright, and insightful!)

Spring in War-Time

BY SARA TEASDALE (Links to an external site.)

The faint, far scent of bud and leaf—

Oh, how can spring take heart to come

To a world in grief,

Deep grief?

The sun turns north, the days grow long,

Later the evening star grows bright—

How can the daylight linger on

For men to fight,

Still fight?

The grass is waking in the ground,

Soon it will rise and blow in waves—

How can it have the heart to sway

Over the graves,

New graves?

Under the boughs where lovers walked

The apple-blooms will shed their breath—

But what of all the lovers now

Parted by Death,

Grey Death?

Q2：

Read The Realist (Links to an external site.) poems several times (there are only 3), and answer these questions:

1. Paraphrase both Stephen Crane poems, one sentence each.
2. What’s the commentary/message of Mark Twain’s “Genius”? What kind of person do you think Twain is talking about? In what ways does this align with ideals of a realist?
3. Thematically, what are the general differences between the Romantic poems and the Realist poems? Which of the two movements display more poetic devices, Romantic or Realist? Use specific examples and words as evidence (look at the romantic poems for comparison). Explain why you think this may be the case.

Q3：

Watch this WW1 documentary to 8:45:Shell Shock in WWI (Links to an external site.)

Read the WW1 packet (Links to an external site.) several times, and answer these questions:

Breakfast

1) What is the impact of the author’s emotionless, blasé tone? What is it saying about the war, its effect on soldiers?”

Break of Dawn

2) Consider the lines:

“What do you see in our eyes

At the shrieking iron and flame

Hurled through still heavens?

What quaver—what heart aghast?”

What romantic poem is this reminiscent of? How are the tones of the two poems similar?

Dulce Et Decorum Est

3) What is the difference in delivery between Breakfast and Dulce? How are each powerful in their own right?

Sonnet 9: On Returning to the Front After Leave

4) What is the message of the poem? How could this poem be seen as treason?

Owl

5) What does the owl represent, or embody, in “The Owl?” What emotions is the narrator experiencing, and what images/phrases/words depict this?