Brittany's Poem and Handout

The Road Not Taken

by Robert Lee Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.


Thesis: Frost uses metaphors, 1st person point of view and imagery to explain how taking 'the path less travelled by' has made all the difference in his life.


1. Why does the poet describes the woods as "yellow" in the first line? Is it symbolic of the time of year of of the significance of the colour yellow or something else?

2. Do you think it is better to take the road that is less traveled, or the road that many have traveled?

3. Is it possible that the two roads are, were, or can be, somewhat similar?

4. What do you believe that the narrator means when he says "I shall be telling this with a sigh"? Is is out of relief, regret, or something else?

5. Have there been times when you have traveled down one road and have wished that you had taken the other?

Amy's Poem and Handout

Poetry Seminar
Amy Hurst



The Children Are Laughing

It is Monday and the children are laughing
The children are laughing; they believe they are princes
They wear no shoes; they believe they are princes
And their filthy kingdom heaves up behind them.

The filthy city heaves up behind them
They are older than I am, their feet are shoeless
They have lived a thousand years; the children are laughing
The children are laughing and their death is upon them

I have cried in the city (the children are laughing)
I have worn many colors (the children are laughing)
They are older than I am, their death is upon them
I will wear no shoes when the princes are dying.

-Gwendolyn MacEwen


Thesis: MacEwan's use of imagery, first person point of view, and repetition serves as a clear demonstration into the reaction she thinks that children have to life's dire circumstances.

Questions:

1. Who do you think MacEwan is talking about when she says, 'the children'?

2. She says, "They are older than I am, their feet are shoeless. They have lived a thousand years; the children are laughing." Why do you think she still refers to them as children if they have 'lived a thousand years'?

3. Why do you think the poem mentions Monday, but no other day?

4. Do you think that children today act older than they actually are? In what ways?

5. How do you think "The children are laughing and their death is upon them" applies to our lives? Do you think it's an accurate representation of our youth?

6. What do you think she means in the final line when she says, "I will wear no shoes when the princes are dying"?

ISU Choices

I thought that the best way of "saving" an ISU author would be to make your choice public--here!

You may still wish to run some possibilities by me, which is fine. Once your mind is made up, however, leave your author and book choice in the comment section below.

A Dream Within A Dream + Handout

A Dream Within A Dream
by Edgar Allen Poe


Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow--
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand--
Through my fingers too the deep,
While I weep--while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?



Thesis: Poe uses mood shifting, repetition and imagery to reflect on his anguish toward the memory of moments that have slipped away during his life.



1) What do you think Poe means by, "all that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream?"
2) To what could you compare the golden sand? What could this be a metaphor for?
3) Why do you think the speaker considers moments in life to be dreams within a dream?
4) If moments are dreams in a dream, what dreams are they all in?
5) Does Poe take on an optimistic perspective or a pessimistic one?

Tanya's Poem + Handout

“Porphyria’s Lover”

Robert Browning



The rain set early in tonight,
The sullen wind was soon awake,
It tore the elm-tops down for spite,
and did its worst to vex the lake:
I listened with heart fit to break.
When glided in Porphyria; straight
She shut the cold out and the storm,
And kneeled and made the cheerless grate
Blaze up, and all the cottage warm;
Which done, she rose, and from her form
Withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl,
And laid her soiled gloves by, untied
Her hat and let the damp hair fall,
And, last, she sat down by my side
And called me. When no voice replied,
She put my arm about her waist,
And made her smooth white shoulder bare,
And all her yellow hair displaced,
And, stooping, made my cheek lie there,
And spread, o’er all, her yellow hair,
Murmuring how she loved me—she
Too weak, for all her heart’s endeavor,
To set its struggling passion free
From pride, and vainer ties dissever,
And give herself to me forever.
But passion sometimes would prevail,
Nor could tonight’s gay feast restrain
A sudden thought of one so pale
For love of her, and all in vain:
So, she was come through wind and rain.
Be sure I looked up at her eyes
Happy and proud; at last I knew
Porphyria worshiped me: surprise
Made my heart swell, and still it grew
While I debated what to do.
That moment she was mine, mine, fair,
Perfectly pure and good: I found
A thing to do, and all her hair
In one long yellow string I wound
Three times her little throat around,
And strangled her. No pain felt she;
I am quite sure she felt no pain.
As a shut bud that holds a bee,
I warily oped her lids: again
Laughed the blue eyes without a stain.
And I untightened next the tress
About her neck; her cheek once more
Blushed bright beneath my burning kiss:
I propped her head up as before
Only, this time my shoulder bore
Her head, which droops upon it still:
The smiling rosy little head,
So glad it has its utmost will,
That all it scorned at once is fled,
And I, its love, am gained instead!
Porphyria’s love: she guessed not how
Her darling one wish would be heard.
And thus we sit together now,
And all night long we have not stirred,
And yet God has not said a word!



Thesis: Browning’s dramatic monologue uses pathetic fallacy, foreshadowing, imagery and a shifting tone to portray the reasoning of an infatuated madman.




1. By definition, Porphyria is a disorder characterized by mental disturbances, hallucinations and pains. Why do you think Browning named the narrator’s lover after this disorder?

2. At what point in the poem did you begin to distrust the speaker? Were there clues that foreshadowed the speaker’s intentions prior to this point?

3. How does the tone of the poem change from when Porphyria first arrives at the speaker’s house to after her death? Why does this change occur?

4. What is the significance of the last line in respect to the rest of the poem?

5. Do you think the narrator had good intentions in killing Porphyria? Why or why not?

Trella's Handout

The Lady's Yes

by: Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"Yes," I answered you last night;
"No," this morning, Sir, I say.
Colours seen by candlelight,
Will not look the same by day.

When the viols played their best,
Lamps above, and laughs below--
Love me sounded like a jest,
Fit for Yes or fit for No.

Call me false, or call me free--
Vow, whatever light may shine,
No man on your face shall see
Any grief for change on mine.

Yet the sin is on us both--
Time to dance is not to woo--
Wooer light makes fickle troth--
Scorn of me recoils on you.

Learn to win a lady's faith
Nobly, as the thing is high;
Bravely, as for life and death--
With a loyal gravity.

Lead her from the festive boards,
Point her to the starry skies,
Guard her, by your truthful words,
Pure from courtship's flatteries.

By your truth she shall be true--
Ever true, as wives of yore--
And her Yes, once said to you,
SHALL be Yes for evermore

Browning uses didactic elements, structured stanzas, and a variable tone as a way to show how a woman should act within society during the late 1800's.

1. How did Browning continually use “Yes”, and “No” to show the speaker's intentions?
2. The tone changes between the third and fourth stanzas, how does this show the speakers feelings?
3. What kind of relationship is going on between the speaker and the person being spoken to? What point of view might each person take on the situation?
4. How does Browning use structured stanzas to enhance the poem?
5. Do you feel as if you can relate to this poem, even though it refers to courting in the 1800's?


*didactic elements (meant to teach)

Omer's Poem and Handout

The Summer Day

By: Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean--
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down--
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?

Thesis: Oliver’s use of imagery, description, and questions to demonstrate how even the most insignificant things can be full of detail and should not be overlooked.

1. Do you think the poem has a religious tone to it? Why or why not?
2. Why do you think Oliver uses so much description on the grasshopper?
3. What words in the poem make it easy to visualize what is being said?
4. What do you think the speaker means when he or she says “I don’t know exactly what a prayer is?” Do you think this contradicts when he or she states that they know “how to be idle and blessed?”
5. Comment on the final two lines in regards to the rest of the poem.