QUESTIONS FOR 1/28.
Rossetti's "Up-Hill":
- What is an allegory? If Rossetti's poem is an allegory, what is it an allegory of?
- How do the poem's structure and tone provide us with an invitation to read the poem as an allegory?
Blake's "A Poison Tree":
- What does the "poison tree" become a metaphor for or symbol of?
- What significance does the apple in a garden have?
- How does irony work in this poem?
Robinson's "Miniver Cheevy":
- What does the phrase "child of scorn" (1) mean? How does that phrase
influence the line "Miniver scorned the gold he sought" (25)?
- What are
some of the allusions in this poem? How are they used (in other words what
effect do they have)?
- What does "born too late" mean? What really is
Miniver's "fate"?
Yeats' "Leda and the Swan":
- What is the myth about Leda and the swan? What is the allusion to
in lines 10 & 11?
- What do you think the speaker is asking in lines 5-8?
What is the nature of those questions? What does the final question ask
(13-14)?
- Consider the language and imagery of this poem. What are
the effects of "beating" (1), "caressed" (2), "dark webs" (3), "vague fingers"
(5), etc?
RETURN TO SYLLABUS