THE ROMANTIC AMERICAN MASTERS STUDENT PACKET

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1 THE ROMANTIC AMERICAN MASTERS STUDENT PACKET Check when done! Assignment Points possible Points earned 1 from Song of Myself (Evidence of Active Reading & Annotations) 20 2 from Song of Myself 12 3 Emily Dickinson Poetry (8 poems) (Evidence of Active Reading & Annotations w/soapstone) 40 4 The Soul Selects Her Own Society 5 If You Were Coming in the Fall 7 Tell all the Truth 7 Apparently with no Surprise 8 Success is Counted Sweetest 5 9 Because I Could not stop for Death I heard a Fly Buzz when I Died Much Madness is Divinest Sense Emily Dickinson Group Poetry Analysis 20 TOTAL 144 1

2 from SONG OF MYSELF by Walt Whitman (pp ) DIRECTIONS: Read the poem and show evidence of active reading by highlighting important and relevant ideas and making annotations in the margin. From 33 1 I understand the large hearts of heroes, The courage of present times and all times, How the skipper saw the crowded and rudderless wreck of the steamship, and Death chasing it up and down the storm, How he knuckled tight and gave not back an inch, and was faithful of days and faithful of nights, 2 And chalk'd in large letters on a board, Be of good cheer, we will not desert you; How he follow'd with them and tack'd with them three days and would not give it up, How he saved the drifting company at last, How the lank loose-gown'd women look'd when boated from the side of their prepared graves, How the silent old-faced infants and the lifted sick, and the sharp-lipp'd unshaved men; All this I swallow, it tastes good, I like it well, it becomes mine, I am the man, I suffer'd, I was there. 3 The disdain and calmness of martyrs, The mother of old, condemn'd for a witch, burnt with dry wood, her children gazing on, The hounded slave that flags in the race, leans by the fence, blowing, cover'd with sweat, The twinges that sting like needles his legs and neck, the murderous buckshot and the bullets, All these I feel or am. 4 I am the hounded slave, I wince at the bite of the dogs, Hell and despair are upon me, crack and again crack the marksmen, I clutch the rails of the fence, my gore dribs, thinn'd with the ooze of my skin, I fall on the weeds and stones, The riders spur their unwilling horses, haul close, Taunt my dizzy ears and beat me violently over the head with whip-stocks. 5 Agonies are one of my changes of garments, I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person, My hurts turn livid upon me as I lean on a cane and observe. I am the mash'd fireman with breast-bone broken, Tumbling walls buried me in their debris, Heat and smoke I inspired, I heard the yelling shouts of my comrades, I heard the distant click of their picks and shovels, They have clear'd the beams away, they tenderly lift me forth. 2

3 7 I lie in the night air in my red shirt, the pervading hush is for my sake, Painless after all I lie exhausted but not so unhappy, White and beautiful are the faces around me, the heads are bared of their fire-caps, The kneeling crowd fades with the light of the torches. 8 Distant and dead resuscitate, They show as the dial or move as the hands of me, I am the clock myself. 9 I am an old artillerist, I tell of my fort's bombardment, I am there again. 10 Again the long roll of the drummers, Again the attacking cannon, mortars, Again to my listening ears the cannon responsive. 11 I take part, I see and hear the whole, The cries, curses, roar, the plaudits for well-aim'd shots, The ambulanza slowly passing trailing its red drip, Workmen searching after damages, making indispensable repairs, The fall of grenades through the rent roof, the fan-shaped explosion, The whizz of limbs, heads, stone, wood, iron, high in the air. 12 Again gurgles the mouth of my dying general, he furiously waves with his hand, He gasps through the clot Mind not me--mind--the entrenchments. From 52 1 The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me, he complains of my gab and my loitering. 2 I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world. 3 The last scud of day holds back for me, It flings my likeness after the rest and true as any on the shadow'd wilds, It coaxes me to the vapor and the dusk. 4 I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun, I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags. 5 I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles. You will hardly know who I am or what I mean, But I shall be good health to you nevertheless, And filter and fibre your blood. 7 Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged, Missing me one place search another, I stop somewhere waiting for you. 3

4 from SONG OF MYSELF by Walt Whitman (pp ) DIRECTIONS: Answer all comprehension questions on a separate sheet of paper. Make sure you indicate the title of the story at the top and answer in complete sentences. I. COMPREHENSION, Number The speaker in number 33 observes and participates in several American scenes. Identify the scenes, and describe the emotions they evoke in the speaker. 2. One of Whitman s most famous lines is found in number 33. At what moments does the speaker restate the point that I am the man, I suffer d, I was there? What is the effect of these restatements? 3. To see how Whitman uses various poetic devices in his poems, fill out a chart like the following one. Quote lines from the poem that illustrates his use of these devices. (5 points) Poetic Device Alliteration Quotations Assonance Imagery Onomatopoeia Parallel structure 4. How would you describe the speaker s tone in this song? In other words, how does he feel about the heroes he describes? 5. Based on the scenes in this section of Song of Myself, how do you think Whitman defines heroism?. If you were to add a contemporary hero (or heroes) to this poem, whom would you choose? Why? II. COMPREHENSION, Number How does Whitman show his connection to the natural world in this section of Song of Myself? For example, what qualities does he say he shares with the spotted hawk? 8. What might Whitman mean by line 10: If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles? 9. As Whitman departs (lines 7-8), what happens to him, and what does he become? Explain in your own words his final bequest (line 9). 10. How can Whitman be good health to the reader (line 12)? 11. What verb tense does Whitman use in this poem and in other parts of Song of Myself? How would the effect of the poem have been different if the speaker had used a different verb tense? 12. The first line of Song of Myself is I celebrate myself, and sing myself (see page 370), and the last line is I stop somewhere waiting for you. Taking into account all that you have learned of the poet s character and the range of his poetry, tell what you think the last words of number 52 reveal about Whitman s purpose in writing Song of Myself. 4

5 EMILY DICKINSON POETRY by Emily Dickinson (pp ) DIRECTIONS: Read the poems and show evidence of active reading by highlighting important and relevant ideas and making annotations in the margin. BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH p. 347 Because I could not stop for Death He kindly stopped for me The carriage held but just Ourselves And Immortality. We slowly drove He knew no haste 5 And I had put away My labor and my leisure too, For His Civility We passed the School, where Children strove At Recess in the Ring 10 We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain, We passed the Setting Sun. Or rather He passed Us The Dews drew quivering and chill For only Gossamer, my Gown 15 My Tippet only Tulle We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground The Roof was scarcely visible The Cornice in the Ground 20 Since then tis Centuries and yet Feels shorter than the Day I first surmised the Horses Heads Were toward Eternity THE SOUL SELECTS HER OWN SOCIETY p. 337 The Soul selects her own Society Then shuts the Door On her divine Majority Present no more Unmoved, she notes the Chariots pausing 5 At her low Gate Unmoved an Emperor be kneeling Upon her Mat I ve known her from an ample nation Choose one 10 Then close the valves of her attention Like stone TELL ALL THE TRUTH BUT TELL IT SLANT p. 342 Tell all the Truth but tell it slant Success in Circuit lies Too bright for our infirm Delight The Truth's superb surprise As Lightening to the Children eased With explanation kind The Truth must dazzle gradually Or every man be blind APPARENTLY WITH NO SURPRISE p. 344 Apparently with no surprise To any happy Flower The frost beheads it at its play In accidental power The blonde Assassin passes on 5 The Sun proceeds unmoved To measure off another Day For an Approving God IF YOU WERE COMING IN THE FALL p. 338 If you were coming in the Fall, I d brush the Summer by With half a smile, and half a spurn, As Housewives do, a Fly. If I could see you in a year, 5 I d wind the months in balls And put them each in separate Drawers, For fear the numbers fuse If only Centuries, delayed, I d count them on my Hand, 10 Subtracting, till my fingers dropped Into Van Diemen s land. If certain, when this life was out That yours and mine, should be I d toss it yonder, like a Rind, 15 And taste Eternity But, now, uncertain of the length Of this, that is between, It goads me, like the Goblin Bee That will not state it s sting. 20 MUCH MADNESS IS DIVINEST SENSE p. 350 Much madness is divinest Sense To a discerning Eye Much Sense the starkest Madness T is the Majority In this, as All, prevail 5 Assent and you are sane Demur you re straightway dangerous And handled with a Chain 5

6 NAME: DATE: PERIOD: SCORE: I HEARD A FLY BUZZ WHEN I DIED p. 349 I heard a Fly Buzz when I died The Stillness in the Room Was like the Stillness in the Air Between the Heaves of Storm The Eyes around had wrung them dry 5 And breaths were gathering firm For that last Onset when the King Be witnessed in the Room I willed my Keepsakes Signed away What portion of me be 10 Assignable and then it was There interposed a Fly With Blue uncertain stumbling Buzz Between the light and me And then the windows failed and then 15 I could not see to see SUCCESS IS COUNTED SWEETEST p. 345 Success is counted sweetest By those who ne er succeed. To comprehend a nectar Requires sorest need. Not one of all the purple Host 5 Who took the Flag today Can tell the definition, So clear of Victory As he defeated dying On whose forbidden ear 10 The distant strains of triumph Burst agonized and clear! EMILY DICKINSON GROUP ACTIVITY DIRECTIONS: In your assigned group read the assigned Emily Dickinson poem again. Answer the specific literary response and analysis questions as a group and record individually for credit. Then, as a group, demonstrate your understanding of the poem and of the literary terms provided below by providing an analysis and explanation or (in some cases) an example of each term below from the poem to demonstrate the use of the specific device/technique in your assigned poem. Label each item you have been asked to identify: Literary Response Questions, Theme/Meaning, Tone, Symbol, Literary Devices (two minimum), and Imagery (demonstrated with artistic representation of poem). Include group member names, date and period. Title the assignment with the group poem title and include the author s name Emily Dickinson. POETRY ANALYSIS: You will turn in one set of your typed analysis for your assigned poem only based on the following: IMAGERY: Type your group poem and create an artistic representation of your poem on the same document. THEME/MEANING: What is the recurring theme or motif in this poem and what does it mean or symbolize? TONE: What is the primary tone of the poem? What clues did you use to determine the tone? SYMBOL: Provide at least one description of a symbol used in the poem and explain its signifiance LITERARY DEVICES: Identify and describe a minimum of two devices used in the poem. For example: metaphor, simile, personification, alliteration, etc.

7 NAME: DATE: PERIOD: SCORE: EMILY DICKINSON POETRY LITERARY RESPONSE & ANALYSIS DIRECTIONS: Answer all comprehension questions on a separate sheet of paper. Make sure you indicate the title of the story at the top and answer in complete sentences. THE SOUL SELECTS HER OWN SOCIETY p Dickinson uses personification in this poem. What does the soul do in the last stanza? 2. Majority has at least two meanings: the greater part of something and having reached full legal age. An older, obsolete meaning of majority is superiority. What do you think majority means in this poem? What kind of person does the adjective divine suggest? 3. Do you think the phrase Valves of her attention is derived from organic things (valves of the heart) or mechanical ones (valves of a faucet)? What do you picture happening here? 4. Dickinson gave very few of her poems titles. (The titles in the text are the first lines of the poems). Her early editors called this poem Exclusion. In what ways does this title apply? In what ways is it a limiting title? 5. An example of slant rhyme in this poem occurs in the third stanza, where Dickinson rhymes stone with one. Why is it important that the word stone be emphasized? To hear the difference, imagine that Dickinson had ended her poem with the words And be done. Find another example of slant rhyme in this poem.. Do you think the soul selects her own society in the strict way that is described in the poem? Do you think that most people make choices the way the speaker in this poem does? Explain. IF YOU WERE COMING IN THE FALL p How would you describe the speaker s situation? How does she feel about it? 2. What two things are being compared in the simile in the first stanza? 3. In the second stanza, what domestic articles are the months compared to? Why does the speaker put them in separate drawers? 4. Van Dieman s Land, besides being the old name of Tasmania, also refers to those places on the globe farthest away from the United States. Given this information, how would you paraphrase the third stanza? 5. How would you describe the speaker s tone in the first four stanzas? How does the tone change in the fifth stanza, where her exaggerations disappear? What goads, or pushes, her against her will?. In folklore a goblin is a tormenting creature. What might Dickinson be suggesting when she says that the bee is a goblin and will not state its sting? 7. Do you think the hopes expressed in this poem are fairly common, or are they rare or odd? Explain. TELL ALL THE TRUTH BUT TELL IT SLANT p How would you define the word slant as it is used in this poem? How is telling something slant different from lying? 2. Explain the meaning of circuit in the context of the poem. What is Too bright for our infirm Delight (line 3)? 3. Lines 5 and provide an example to illustrate the poet s point about truth. As is typical of Dickinson s style, she omits several words in these lines. How would you rephrase the lines to make a full sentence? 4. According to the last two lines, why must the truth be told slant? How would you define dazzle and blind here? 5. What metaphor is implied in line 7? What is Truth being compared to?. Do you agree with the poet s message? In what way can this lyric be seen as a reference to the way poetry works? APPARENTLY WITH NO SURPRISE p What is the blonde Assassin? 2. How are the flower, the frost, and the sun personified in this poem? What kind of person does each seem to be compared to? 3. A pun is a play on words, based on the multiple meanings of a single word or on words that sound alike but mean different things. What pun do you find in line and how would you explain it? 4. According to the speaker, how does God feel about the flower s beheading? How do you think the speaker feels? 5. What word would you use to describe the tone of this poem: optimistic, pessimistic, awed, defiant? Be sure to find details in the poem to support your response.. What do you think is the theme of this poem? Do you find the theme shocking, reassuring, or something else? Explain. ENOCHS JUNIOR CURRICULUM 2013 CCS RL 2, 3, 5,, 9 7

8 NAME: DATE: PERIOD: SCORE: SUCCESS IS COUNTED SWEETEST p According to the speaker, who is likely to count success as sweetest? Do you think the poet is accurate in describing the feelings of people who fail? 2. Purple is a color associated with blood shed in battle (the Purple Heart medal is given to soldiers wounded or killed in action). It is also a color associated with royalty and nobility. What do you think is the purple Host in line 5? 3. Whose ear is mentioned in line 10? Why is the ear forbidden? 4. Describe the image you see in the last stanza. How could this image be extended to refer to other situations in life? Explain. 5. Have you ever been like the soldier in the last stanza in agony because someone else is proclaimed winner? What other circumstances in life (other than a wartime battle) could this situation be applied to? BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH p How many passengers are in Death s carriage? Who are they? 2. How is Death personified? What are his human characteristics? 3. What three things do the riders pass in the third stanza? 4. What is significant about the sun passing the carriage in the fourth stanza? How does the temperature now change? 5. What has the speaker surmised, or guessed, in the last stanza?. How would you paraphrase the first two lines in a way that emphasizes their irony? What word in line 2 tells you that the tone is ironic? 7. In the second stanza, civility means politeness; good manners. How does this kind of behavior on the part of both Death and the speaker extend the irony of the first stanza? 8. The fifth stanza is a riddle in itself. What is the house that is nearly buried? 9. Do you think the concluding stanza introduces a tone of terror, because the speaker has suddenly realized she will ride on forever, conscious of being dead? Or is the poem really an expression of trust and even triumph? Explain your response. I HEARD A FLY BUZZ WHEN I DIED p How would you paraphrase the first stanza that is, how would you rephrase it in your own words? 2. According to the second and third stanzas, how have the speaker and those around her prepared for death? 3. Whom are the dying person and those around her expecting to find in the room? What appears instead, and why is this ironic? 4. In line 4, Dickinson uses the word heaves to refer to the behavior of storms. Why is heaves an appropriate word to describe what is happening in this poem? 5. How does the poet use pauses and specific words in lines to make the appearance of the fly dramatic and lively?. In the third stanza, what portion of the speaker is assignable? What portion, by implication, is not assignable? 7. What does the phrase the Windows failed (line 15) mean? 8. What tone do you hear in this poem? Why might Dickinson insert the fly into this deathbed scene? MUCH MADNESS IS DIVINEST SENSE p What is the meaning of the two paradoxes, or apparent contradictions, in the first three lines? 2. The word assent means agree to. The word demur means hesitate; object. What does the Majority say about those who assent and those who demur? In what situations in life might someone be considered dangerous because he or she is demurred? 3. What do you think is the poem s theme? (Consider what the speaker thinks about the individual s proper relationship to society.) 4. Dickinson like to use dashes a mark of punctuation her first editors removed. How do dashes help emphasize certain ideas in this poem? 5. What would you say is Dickinson s tone in this poem? What similarities do you notice to other poems in this collection? ENOCHS JUNIOR CURRICULUM 2013 CCS RL 2, 3, 5,, 9 8

( ) American. Favorite

( ) American. Favorite Song Of Myself by Walt Whitman Hello Poetry (1819-1892) American Favorite Song Of Myself 1 I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good