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.

by Emily Dickinson

My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun -
In Corners - till a Day
The Owner passed - identified -
And carried Me away –
And now We roam in Sovreign Woods -
And now We hunt the Doe -
And every time I speak for Him
The Mountains straight reply –
And do I smile, such cordial light
Opon the Valley glow -
It is as a Vesuvian face
Had let it’s pleasure through –
And when at Night - Our good Day done -
I guard My Master’s Head -
’Tis better than the Eider Duck’s
Deep Pillow - to have shared –
To foe of His - I’m deadly foe -
None stir the second time -
On whom I lay a Yellow Eye -
Or an emphatic Thumb –
Though I than He - may longer live
He longer must - than I -
For I have but the power to kill,
Without - the power to die –


Thesis: Dickenson uses personification, metaphors, and imagery to portray the intricacy of life and death.

After first reading/hearing this poem what do you think the narrator is trying to portray?

Does the mood or tone of the poem change throughout the stanzas?

How can separate lines as well as the whole poem be considered a metaphor?

Are there any other ways to perceive this poem other than the literal way?

What do you think Dickenson is trying to make the reader think about life and death?

Is there any stanza that you feel has the most emotion or meaning behind it? Why?

Online Poetry Discussion

Thanks, Amy, for starting us off.

Here are Amy's thoughts on Rhonda's presentation. Please, please add comments. I'll post Jacquelyn's poem in a separate presentation.

Amy said: Here are my thoughts on the questions Rhonda presented:

1. I think that the poet may have compared the ending of a sidewalk to the beginning of a street, because when you're younger and walking on the sidewalk, it's safe. You're protected and are walking a direction that's set out for you. When you grow older, and into adolescence, you walk on the road, or drive on the road, whatever. This is more dangerous, and there's more possibilities for what could come towards you. It's bigger and scarier, and you're no longer under the protection of the 'sidewalk'.

2. Like everyone else suggested, I think that he repeated himself to get the point across.

3. I believe that you can always be a 'kid', but you reach a point (usually around the beginning of adolescence) where it is something that is no longer accepted and respected. It's difficult when you're a teenager, because you're too young to be a real adult, but too old to be able to do nothing and make a fuss about situations and still be respected. However, I think that a good dose of being a 'kid' every once in a while is healthy. Like, say, jumping on the bed occasionally. (:

4. I think that whereas the beginning of the poem is talking about the sidewalk ending as adulthood starts, I think that in this stanza, it's talking more about the sidewalk of life ending. It's foreshadowing the remainder of our lives, which are for the most part dark and smokey and cement-like (because being an adult isn't easy), but there's little bursts of childhood here and there (like the flower he mentions).

5. This poem kind of leaves me with a negative feeling about growing up, and leaving the safety behind. However, the fact that it talks about how we just keep walking, and walking together, makes me feel a little hopeful.