Questions and Answers for Poetry
Poetry
What are the characteristics of poetry?
The “characteristics” of poetry are what separate it as a medium of writing from other forms. Specifically, what does poetry use as part of its forms and functions that different types of writing...
Poetry
Could someone explain to me the ballad "Get Up and Bar the Door"?
"Get up and Bar the Door" is an anonymous ballad, written in English with some Scots dialect, that appears to date from the seventeenth century. The poet recounts an argument between husband and...
Poetry
What are the characteristics of modern poetry?
The words "modern" and "modernist" are both disputed descriptions of poetry and several other arts. Matters for dispute include the period covered and the characteristics of modernity and...
Poetry
What Makes A Poem A Poem
In short, what makes a poem a poem is the ability to make the reader feel something. I know that can happen with prose, as well, but it seems to me it must happen with a poem. As has already been...
Poetry
What is the meaning of "style" in poetry?
To examine a poem's style, let's first consider two poems with quite different styles. First, these are the opening lines of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven": Once upon a midnight dreary, while I...
Poetry
Critical Appreciation Of A Poem
The best starting point when writing a critical appreciation of a poem is to determine what the author's message or theme is. Once you determine this key point, the rest of the paper falls into...
Poetry
Analyze the poem "The Sea" by James Reeves.
James Reeves's poem "The Sea" uses an extended metaphor to describe the sea as a dog. In the first stanza, the choppy gray sea is characterized as a hungry dog with "clashing teeth and shaggy...
Poetry
What are three features of a lyric poem?
Lyric poetry is relatively short, especially compared to epic poetry, and it makes use of one speaker who presents his or her emotions or state of mind. The sonnet is one of the quintessential...
Poetry
Do you underline or put quotes around a title of a poem?
In general, the titles of long works are italicized or underlined; italicize them when you are typing and underline them when you are writing them out by hand. Likewise, in general, we place the...
Poetry
This Is The Dark Time My Love
Let's begin by taking the poem piece by piece in order to figure out what it means: "This is the Dark Time, My Love" --we can learn a lot by looking at the titles to poems. "Dark Time" has the...
Poetry
What are the lines in a poem called?
Nowadays, a line of poetry is most commonly called just that, a line. A line can be identified as the string of words before a break, even if a sentence is not complete before the break occurs. A...
Poetry
What is Poetic Language?
The term "poetic language" is used to highlight the differences between poetry and other forms of speech. The specific nature of what is considered poetic varies over period and culture. In those...
Poetry
An Old Woman Poem Summary
Arun Kolatkar, an Indian poet, wrote in both Marathi and English. An exceptional graphic artist, he is considered as the premiere Indian poet. Kaolatkar's poem "An Old Woman" follows a formal...
Poetry
What is the tone of the poem "Africa" by David Diop?
This intriguingly unique poem has an overall tone and a secondary, middle tone along with a tertiary (third) tone. The overall tone is heard in the first six and last two lines. In between are the...
Poetry
How can I explain the meaning of "Song of a Dream" by Sarojini Naidu?
"Song of a Dream" by Naidu expresses the speaker's vision of a land of truth, love, and peace in a magical wood. Though this place is a dreamscape, not reality, the speaker feels a deep "longing"...
Poetry
What are the general characteristics of Elizabethan poetry?
The Elizabethan age ushered in a period of literary freedom and provided grounds for experimentation for the poets. The age was a break away from the tumultuous socioeconomic events of the previous...
Poetry
Homecoming Bruce Dawe Analysis
Bruce Dawe wrote his poem “Homecoming” in 1968 during the Viet Nam war. The poem is an anti-war poem giving the author’s negative view of his home country Australia’s involvement in the...
Poetry
What are some similarities and differences between haiku and free verse? I need at least three points for each.
First, neither haiku or free verse rely on end rhymes or a set meter for their effect. Second, both are often used to convey emotion. Third, both often have longing or a love of nature as themes. A...
Poetry
What are the similarities and differences between lyric and epic poetry?
The main similarity between lyric and epic poetry is that they're both primarily concerned with telling stories of one kind or another. Lyric poetry is poetry of the emotions; more often than not,...
Poetry
How does the poem the bangle sellers throw light on Sarojini Naidu's conception of Indian women?
Naidu’s “The Bangle Sellers” can be seen as a celebration of Indian womanhood. Naidu celebrates both the women who sell bangles—which are used here as a symbol of the successive stages of Indian...
Poetry
Metrical Romance
Popular among the nobility and upper crust during the Renaissance, metrical romances are non-rhyming prose poems that tell a story, usually concluding with a happy ending. Metrical romances do not...
Poetry
Please give a summary and critical appriciation of "The Lotus" by Toru Dutt.
"The Lotus" by Toru Dutt is a beautiful example of a Petrarchan sonnet. In the opening lines, we see a conflict between the rose and the lily flower. The mythological goddess of Love, Aphrodite,...
Poetry
How do you answer questions about poems in exams?
The first thing I encourage my students to do when reading a new poem for the first time is to read it once to get a sense of the entire text and where it is leading, and then to read it one more...
Poetry
Can I have a critical appreciation of the poem "On Killing a Tree" by Gieve Patel?
Gieve Patel's poem "On Killing a Tree" is deeper than the title would leave one to believe. While the depiction of a tree being killed is provided, it is justifiable that Patel is speaking about...
Poetry
What is the central message of 'No Men are Foreign?"
The central message of the poem is that war is a mistaken notion because all people on earth are connected through their common humanity. The poet describes a number of similarities that we share...
Poetry
What is Stewart Brown's poem "West Indies, USA" about?
The ultimate meaning of "West Indies USA" is in the last three lines, however the entire poem contains the meanings that lead up to the final one. In other words, in "West Indies, USA," the...
Poetry
What are examples of three kennings and three caesuras in the poem "The Wife's Lament"?
All of "The Wife's Lament," a heartfelt elegy for a lost loved one, is written with caesuras. These are wide breaks or pauses in the middle of a line. Along with alliteration, they add a sense of...
Poetry
What is a critical analysis of "Homecoming" by Lenrie Peters?
Lenrie Peters's poem "Homecoming" is about nostalgia and the inevitability of change. In the opening stanza of the poem, the speaker says that "The present reigned supreme / Like the shallow floods...
Poetry
What are the metaphors used in the poem "Night of the Scorpion"? Please identify all of them and include a detailed...
As another reviewer stated, "Night of the Scorpion" is not heavy on metaphors. There is more imagery and descriptive detail in the way Nissim Ezekiel presents the anecdote of a scorpion stinging...
Poetry
What is the theme and the subject matter in a poem?
It is very common- and easy- to confuse a subject and theme of a literary work, particularly poetry. However, these literary terms have universal meanings across different genres and types of...
Poetry
Mr Nobody Poem Questions And Answers
"Mr. Nobody" was published in 1947 in The Golden Book of Poetry, a collection of works for children. The poem observes that household responsibilities left undone (oiling the door hinges, closing...
Poetry
How to analyze "Usage" by Hayan Charara?
There are many possibilities for analysis in Hayan Charara's poem “Usage.” Let's look at a few examples. First, we might talk about the poem's themes. The most obvious theme is language usage (and...
Poetry
What is a summary of the poem "Night of the Scorpion" by Nissim Ezekiel?
"Night of the Scorpion" is a poem written in 1965. The poem's speaker uses first person to relate a memory of his mother being bitten on the toe by a scorpion on a rainy night in India. In the...
Poetry
What is the line-by-line meaning of the poem "The Lost Dances of Cranes" by Juliet Wilson?
Juliet Wilson's poem "The Lost Dances of Cranes" reflects on the changeover from endangered species to the development of cities via construction cranes. In this poetic analysis, lines from the...
Poetry
What is the meaning of the poem "Self-Portrait," by A.K. Ramanujan?
The speaker seems to be experiencing a loss or absence of personal identity. He feels that he can only see the similarities that he shares with other people, and, despite the fact that his...
Poetry
What is the difference between "closed form" poetry and "open form" poetry? Please explain.
In terms of poetry, there are two kinds or forms, based upon the "structure or pattern of organization" that a poet adopts when writing his verse. These are called "open" or "closed" forms. When...
Poetry
How might one analyze the poem "Postcard from Kashmir," by Agha Shahid Ali?
In Agha Shahid Ali’s poem titled “Postcard from Kashmir,” the speaker describes receiving a postcard from his native land, “Kashmir,” a region of the Indian subcontinent. Parts of Kashmir are...
Poetry
An Abandoned Bundle Poem Questions And Answers
The tone of an author roughly means the same thing as the mood. When examining the tone of a poet, it normally refers to the author's feelings towards the subject. In regards to poetry, on the...
Poetry
What is poetry all about? What is poetry all about?
Let's see, I think I'll defer to Mr. Keating here from Dead Poet's Society: We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race....
Poetry
What do you believe to be the message of julio noboa polanco's poem 'Identity' Not everything is about how others...
Polanco’s poem draws a dichotomy between “flowers” which have exchanged their freedom for human care and love (“watered, fed, guarded, admired / but harnessed to a pot of dirt”) with the wild...
Poetry
What is the purpose of imagery in poetry? What is the purpose of imagery in odes, elegies, haikus, sonnets and...
The purpose of imagery in poetry is to help get the poet's message across in language that is strong, vivid and very visual. The poet will use words to create images in our heads that help us to...
Poetry
What is the summary of "The Pedlar's Caravan" by William Brighty Rands?
W. B. Rands, who originated the long-running Boy's Own Paper, was a Victorian author of children's literature and poetry who contributed much to the canon, although little of it has survived to be...
Poetry
How do I do formalist criticism of "Spring and All" by William Carlos Williams, and how can it be related to subject...
In formalist literary criticism, the important thing is the process by which the work is created. Formalism doesn't engage in evaluating the work in terms of truth or morality. On the other hand,...
Poetry
What is a metaphor about the sunset?
A metaphor is a comparison of two unalike things where one thing is said to be another thing. It is usually meant to emphasize some quality of the literal thing that actually exists in a new or...
Poetry
Discuss the customs and traditions of the poem "Obituary" by A.K. Ramanujan.
The poem “Obituary” was written by A.K. Ramanujan. An obituary is usually a tribute to the person who has passed away, featuring the high points of his life. Such is not the case in this poem....
Poetry
What are some examples of figurative language in the poem "Casey at the Bat"?
The famous poem "Casey at the Bat" is full of figurative language, as the other educator has pointed out. Let's take a look at a few more examples: Personification is the attribution of human-like...
Poetry
What is a detailed analysis of the poem "Desiderata" by Max Ehrmann?
A literary analysis of a poem asks the reader to examine the title, mood, and writing within a specific poem. The title of Max Ehrmann's poem "Desiderata" originates from the Latin for "something...
Poetry
What is a summary/analysis of "An Old Woman" by Arun Kolatkar?
In Arun Kolatkar's poem, "An Old Woman," the main theme is about keeping what is important in perspective—in this case, an old woman and her heritage—the land from which she comes. Someone may be...
Poetry
What is an analysis of the poem "Da Same, Da Same" by Sipho Sepamla?
Sipho Sepamla is a South African poet born in 1932. He wrote during Apartheid and had some of his work banned by the Apartheid regime. Apartheid was a strict and violently enforced system of racial...
Poetry
Identify and discuss the effective use of voice on “ode to american english" by Barbara Hamby.
Various elements make up the unique voice of a poet or poem, including grammar, syntax and diction, as well as more elusive elements, like outlook and the cadence of the words. In Barbara Hamby's...
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