Poems Grouped by Literary Concept p. 1

SATIRESatire is the art of criticizing a subject by ridiculing it and evoking toward it an attitude of amusement, contempt, or scorn. Writers do this in order to point out weaknesses or wrongdoings that they want examined or corrected by some person or persons, or by society in general.

Mr. Artesian’s Conscientiousnessby Ogden Nash

    Once there was a man named Mr. Artesian and his                      activity was tremendous,      And he grudged every minute away from his desk be-      cause the importance of his work was so stupendous;

5    And he had one object all sublime,     Which was to save simply oodles of time.     He figured that sleeping eight hours a night meant that          if he lived to be seventy-five he would have spent          twenty-five years not at his desk but in bed,

10   So he cut his slumber to six hours which meant he only          lost eighteen years and nine months instead,      And he figured that taking ten minutes for breakfast          and twenty minutes for luncheon and half an hour          for dinner meant that he spent three years, two

15      months and fifteen days at the table,      So that by subsisting solely on bouillon cubes which he          swallowed at his desk to save this entire period he          was able,      And he figured that at ten minutes a day he spent a little

20      over six months and ten days shaving,      So he grew a beard, which gave him a considerable saving,      And you might think that now he might have been         satisfied, but no, he wore a thoughtful frown,      Because he figured that at two minutes a day he would

25       spend thirty-eight days and a few minutes in          elevators just traveling up and down,      So as a final timesaving device he stepped out          the window of his office, which happened to be on the          fiftieth floor,

30   And one of his partners asked "Has he vertigo?" and          the other glanced out and down and said "Oh no,          only about ten feet more."

 artesian (ar tee' zian). An artesian well is a deep-drilled well, especially one from which water gushes up under its own pressure.vertigo (vir te go), dizziness, sometimes brought about by looking down from a high place.

Poems Grouped by Literary Concept p. 2

1. Name Mr. Artesian's one object in life.2. Which two activities is he able to cut out all together?3. What is Mr. Artesian's destination?4. Is he an ignorant, tragic, or humorous character? Explain.5. Using the definition of vertigo as a guide, explain the pun (a play on the sounds and meanings of words) in the last three lines of the poem.6. Why might the poet have chosen the name "Mr. Artesian" for his character?  APPLYING: Satire1. Considering Mr. Artesian's goal in life, judge his final achievement.2. What does Mr. Artesian's experience tell you about who and/or what Ogden Nash is satirizing? 

TONETone is the author’s, or speaker’s, attitude--stated or implied--toward a subject or an audience. Words such as bitter, joyful, sarcastic, bored, and amazed describe attitudes and tones. Any adjective that describes a person’s mental or emotional state works as a tone descriptor. For clues to the tone of a selection, look at its words and details.

Birthdayby M.T. Buckley

Geronimo. I jumped into the world.No parachute. Bootless, falling into enemy territory

5 into the night (had my eyes closed).Didn’t take them long to find me.These suicide missions are all the same.Name? not yet. Unit? 82nd Newborn, ha ha.Slapped me around a bit

10 but I didn’t talkMade sure I wouldn’t escape.Sentenced me to life. I guess I deserved it.

1. By themselves, what tone do phrases like “enemy territory,” “suicide missions,” and “Slapped me around a bit” have?2. Do you feel that the speakers’ overall tone is joking or serious? Explain your choice.

Poems Grouped by Literary Concept p. 3

IMAGERYImagery is the use of language to represent experiences of the senses--what can be seen, heard, touched, tasted, and smelled. With vivid skillful imagery, poets and other writers can evoke deeply felt responses from a reader.

In the Plaza We Walkby Nephtali De Leon

In the plaza we walk under the Mexican moonfull of tangerine smells.

A cart pulls over5 full of the fruit

full of the moonand the lonely star.

So we buy twobut he says “three for a peso”

10 but we buy two.

Tangerines peeledwe walk

hand in handspitting the seeds

15 for future generationsand more lovers to be.

In the plaza we walkunder tangerine moons.

IMAGERY

Warningby Jenny Joseph

When I am an old woman I shall wear purpleWith a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer glovesAnd satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.

5 I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tiredAnd gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells

Poems Grouped by Literary Concept p. 4

And run my stick along the public railingsAnd make up for the sobriety of my youth.I shall go out in my slippers in the rain

10 And pick flowers in other people's gardensAnd learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fatAnd eat three pounds of sausages at a goOr only bread and pickle for a week

15 And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dryAnd pay our rent and not swear in the streetAnd set a good example for the children.We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

20 But maybe I ought to practice a little now?So people who know me are not too shocked and surprisedWhen suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

IMAGERY

The Centaurby May Swenson

The summer that I was ten --Can it be there was only one summer that I was ten? It must have been a long one then --

5 each day I'd go out to choose a fresh horse from my stable which was a willow grovedown by the old canal.I'd go on my two bare feet.

10 But when, with my brother's jack-knife, I had cut me a long limber horsewith a good thick knob for a head, and peeled him slick and cleanexcept a few leaves for the tail,

15 and cinched my brother's belt around his head for a rein, I'd straddle and canter him fast

Poems Grouped by Literary Concept p. 5

up the grass bank to the path, trot along in the lovely dust

20 that talcumed over his hoofs, hiding my toes, and turning his feet to swift half-moons.The willow knob with the strapjouncing between my thighs

25 was the pommel and yet the pollof my nickering pony's head. My head and my neck were mine, yet they were shaped like a horse. My hair flopped to the side

30 like the mane of a horse in the wind. My forelock swung in my eyes,my neck arched and I snorted. I shied and skittered and reared, stopped and raised my knees,

35 pawed at the ground and quivered.My teeth bared as we wheeled and swished through the dust again.I was the horse and the rider,and the leather I slapped to his rump

40 spanked my own behind.Doubled, my two hoofs beat a gallop along the bank, the wind twanged in my mane,my mouth squared to the bit.

45 And yet I sat on my steed quiet, negligent riding,my toes standing the stirrups,my thighs hugging his ribs. At a walk we drew up to the porch.

50 I tethered him to a paling.Dismounting, I smoothed my skirt and entered the dusky hall.

Poems Grouped by Literary Concept p. 6

My feet on the clean linoleumleft ghostly toes in the hall.

55 Where have you been? said my mother. Been riding, I said from the sink,and filled me a glass of water. What's that in your pocket? she said.Just my knife. It weighted my pocket

60 and stretched my dress awry. Go tie back your hair, said my mother,and Why Is your mouth all green?Rob Roy, he pulled some cloveras we crossed the field, I told her.

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGEFigurative language is language that is not used in a literal sense. It is not meant to be understood exactly as it appears. It depends largely on imaginative comparisons to express its meaning. It includes metaphor, simile, personification, hyperbole, understatement, and many others.

Miss Rosieby Lucille Clifton

When I watch youwrapped up like garbagesitting, surrounded by the smellof too old potato peels

5 orwhen I watch you in your old man’s shoeswith the little toe cut outsitting, waiting for your mind

10 like next week’s groceryI saywhen I watch youyou wet brown bag of a womanwho used to be the best looking gal in Georgia

15 used to be called the Georgia RoseI stand upthrough your destructionI stand up

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Poems Grouped by Literary Concept p. 7

Making a Fistby Naomi Shihab Nye

For the first time, on the road north of Tampico,I felt the life sliding out of me,a drum in the desert, harder and harder to hear.I was seven, I lay in the car

5 watching palm trees swirl a sickening pattern past the glass.My stomach was a melon split wide inside my skin.

“How do you know if you are going to die?”I begged my mother. We had been traveling for days.

10 With strange confidence she answered,“When you can no longer make a fist.”

Years later I smile to think of that journey,the borders we must cross separately,stamped with our unanswerable woes.

15 I who did not die, who am still living,still lying in the backseat behind all my questions,clenching and opening one small hand.

1. In the first stanza, what imagery helps the reader experience the car ride?2. Compare and contrast the significance of the hand in stanza 2 and stanza 3.3. Do you think the poem ends on an optimistic or a pessimistic note? Explain.4. In the first two stanzas, what figurative language helps the reader experience the child’s feelings?5. What do you think “boarders” and “backseat” really are in stanza 3?

Poems Grouped by Literary Concept p. 8

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Velvet Shoesby Elinor Wylie

Let us walk in the white snow In a soundless space;With footsteps quiet and slow, At a tranquil pace,

5 Under veils of white lace. I shall go shod in silk, And you in wool,White as white cow's milk, More beautiful

10 Than the breast of a gull. We shall walk through the still town In a windless peace;We shall step upon white down, Upon silver fleece,

15 Upon softer than these. We shall walk in velvet shoes: Wherever we goSilence will fall like dews On white silence below.

20 We shall walk in the snow.

1. What color dominates the poem? What other senses are appealed to?2. What do you think the poet wants more-- to leave the reader with an idea or a feeling? Explain your opinion. As you explain, deal with the cultural values associated with silence and whitness.

Poems Grouped by Literary Concept p. 9

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

O Daedalus, Fly Away Homeby Robert Hayden

Drifting night in the Georgia pines, coonskin drum and jubilee banjo. Pretty Malinda, dance with me.

Night is juba, night is congo. 5 Pretty Malinda, dance with me.

Night is an African juju man weaving a wish and a weariness together to make two wings.

O fly away home fly away

10 Do you remember Africa?

O cleave the air fly away home

My gran, he flew back to Africa, just spread his arms and flew away home.

15 Drifting night in the windy pines; night is laughing, night is a longing. Pretty Malinda, come to me.

Night is a mourning juju man weaving a wish and a weariness together to make two wings.

20 O fly away home fly away

Daedalus (ded’l es), in Greek legends, a skilled workman from Athens who built the labyrinth at Crete. He and his son were then imprisoned in this maze. They escaped by flying away on wings that Daedalus made of feathers and wax.

1. In what way is the metaphor in line 18 different from similar metaphors in earlier lines?2. How can “night” be both a “laughing” and a “longing” for these people?

Poems Grouped by Literary Concept p. 10

The poet Robert Hayden alludes both to the Greek myth of Daedalus and to a tale of black people who could fly. According to that legend, there once was a tribe of Africans who were able to fly. When they were taken as slaves, many members of this tribe excaped their cruel bondage by flying home to Africa. The myth was kept alive in slaves’ quarters and around their campfires: “My gran, he flew back . . . home” (lines 12-14).

Night brings the slaves time for throwing off their shackles--both physically and mentally--time for remembering Africa in the juba dance they have brought with them from across the ocean. Night’s cloak of darkness makes it possible to conjure memories and dreams. Night acts for them the way a juju man, a wielder of supernatural powers, would.

Advanced students can study the literary concept of allusion in this poem by researching the myth of Daedalus and Icarus. If desired, a comparison can be made to the allusion in “The Centaur.”

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

The Funeralby Gordon Parks

After many snows I was home again.Time had whittled down to mere hillsThe great mountains of my childhood.Raging rivers I once swam trickled now

5 like gentle streams.And the wide road curving on to China or

Kansas City or perhaps Calcutta,Had withered to a crooked path of dustEnding abruptly at the county burying ground.

10 Only the giant who was my fatherremained the same.

A hundred strong men strained beneath his coffinWhen they bore him to his grave.

Hyperbole is overstatement or extreme exaggeration.

1. What hyperboles are found in lines 10 to 13?2. What might be Parks’ reason for choosing to use these hyperboles?3. Why could we say that the “great mountains,” “raging rivers,” and “wide road” connected to foreign lands are not really hyperboles?

Poems Grouped by Literary Concept p. 11

SOUNDAlliteration: the repetition of the same or similar sounds at the beginnings of words in a group.

There Will Come Soft Rains(War Time)by Sara Teasdale

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night,And wild plum trees in tremulous white,

5 Robins will wear their feathery fireWhistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not oneWill care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree10 If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,Would scarcely know that we were gone.

1. What does this poem claim mankind is in danger of doing? Why?2. According to this poem, what will the natural world be like without humans?3. Point out examples of four kinds of imagery.4. The mood of the poem is one of quietness. Find a word to describe its tone. Suggestions from Mr. Swain are in Q 9, below, so if you prefer to try to figure this out for yourself, do so before you continue reading. Do you agree with the speaker’s attitude toward the place of humans in the world?

Rhythm is the sense of movement resulting from the arrangement of stressed and unstressed sounds. Its beat may be regular or varied and irregular. Rhyme is the repetition of word-ending sounds that form a pattern called a rhyme scheme.

5. What is the rhyme scheme in the poem?6. How many stressed syllables does each line have?7. Generally, the first stressed syllable in each line is the second or third one, but this poem has some exceptions. What lines contain the exceptions? How might we account for that exception?8. Find at least two instances of alliteration in this poem and explain how they help create a mood of quietness and calm.

Poems Grouped by Literary Concept p. 12

9. Although not related to sound, consider how the images of nature (delicate, tentative, alive, vibrant, colorful, carefree, enduring) interplay with the satiric (or serious, or humorous) tone of this poem.

SOUND

The Rainy Dayby Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;It rains, and the wind is never weary;The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,But at every gust the dead leaves fall,

5 And the day is dark and dreary.

My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;It rains, and the wind is never weary;My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past,But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,

10 And the days are dark and dreary.

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;Thy fate is the common fate of all,Into each life some rain must fall,

15 Some days must be dark and dreary.

1. Alliteration: What initial sound is repeated more than any other in “The Rainy Day”?2. Give other examples of alliteration in this poem.3. How does the presentation of sound affect the mood of the poem?

Poems Grouped by Literary Concept p. 13

SOUNDRhythm: the sound pattern created by combinations of stressed and unstressed syllables in groups.Rhyme: the sound pattern created by combinations of similar sounds throughout a text, particularly at the line ends of poems. Rhyme is often expressed through a “rhyme scheme” using letters to represent similar sound combinations.[Before beginning—students write “end” at the bottom of p.14.]

The Skater of Ghost Lakeby William Rose Benet

Ghost Lake's a dark lake, a deep lake and cold:Ice black as ebony, frostily scrolled; Far in its shadows a faint sound whirrs; Steep stand the sentineled deep, dark firs.

5 A brisk sound, a swift sound, a ring-tinkle-ring;Flit-flit,--a shadow with a stoop and a swing, Flies from the shadow through the crackling cold. Ghost Lake's a deep lake, a dark lake and old!

Leaning and leaning with a stride and a stride, 10 hands locked behind him, scarf blowing wide,

Jeremy Randall skates, skates late, Star for a candle, moon for a mate.

Black is the clear glass now that he glides, Crisp is the whisper of long lean strides,

15 Swift is his swaying--but pricked ears hark. None comes to Ghost Lake late after dark!

Cecily only--yes it is she! Stealing to Ghost Lake, tree after tree, Kneeling in snow by the still lake side,

20 Rising with feet winged, gleaming, to glide.

Dust of the ice swirls. Here is his hand. Brilliant his eyes burn. Now, as was planned, Arm across arm twined, laced to his side, Out on the dark lake lightly they glide.

25 Dance of the dim moon, a rhythmical reel, A swaying, a swift tune--skurr of the steel; Moon for a candle, maid for a mate, Jeremy Randall skates, skates late.

Poems Grouped by Literary Concept p. 14

Black as if lacquered the wide lake lies; 30 Breath as a frost-fume, eyes seek eyes;

Souls are a sword edge tasting the cold. Ghost Lake's a deep lake, a dark lake and old!

Far in the shadows hear faintly begin Like a string pluck-plucked of a violin,

35 Muffled in mist on the lake's far bound, Swifter and swifter, a low singing sound!

Far in the shadows and faint on the verge Of blue cloudy moonlight, see it emerge, Flit-flit--a phantom, with a stoop and a swing . . .

40 Ah, it's a night bird burdened of wing!

Pressed close to Jeremy, laced to his side, Cecily Culver, dizzy you glide. Jeremy Randall sweepingly veers Out on the dark ice far from the piers.

45 "Jeremy!" "Sweetheart?" "What do you fear?" "Nothing my darling--nothing is here!" "Jeremy!" "Sweetheart?" "What do you flee?" "Something--I know not; something I see!"

Swayed to a swift stride, brisker of pace, 50 Leaning and leaning, they race and they race;

Ever that whirring, that crisp sound thin Like a string pluck-plucked of a violin;

Ever that swifter and low singing sound Sweeping behind them, winding them round;

55 Gasp of their breath now that chill flakes fret; Ice black as ebony--blacker--like jet!

Ice shooting fangs forth--sudden--like spears; Crackling of lightning--a roar in their ears! Shadowy, a phantom swerves off its prey . . .

60 No, it's a night bird flit-flits away!

Low-winging moth-owl, home to your sleep! Ghost Lake's a still lake, a cold lake and deep. Faint in its shadows a far sound whirs. Black stand the ranks of its sentinel firs.

Poems Grouped by Literary Concept p. 15

1. How might we describe the rhythm of this poem, in general? Are there different rhythms to various sections of the poem? Is there any type of progression of the rhythm?2. What types of sounds does the reader hear when reading this poem? What literary tools does Benet use to help the reader hear those sounds?3. What words might describe the tone of the poem?4. How do the rhythm and sound imagery affect the tone of the poem?5. Consider the plot of this narrative poem. List at least four major plot events.6. What meaning might the last stanza have, being so similar to the opening stanza? What are the main differences between these two scenes?

SOUND

old laughterby Gwendolyn Brooks

The men and women long agoIn Africa, in AfricaKnew all there was of joy to know.In sunny Africa

5 The spices flew from tree to tree.The spices trifled in the airThat carelessly Fondled the twisted hair.

The men and women richly sang10 In lands of gold and green and red.

The bells of merriment richly rang.

But richness is long dead,Old laughter chilled, old music doneIn bright, bewildered Africa.

15 The bamboo and the cinnamonAre sad in Africa.

1. Contrast the first two stanzas with the last two stanzas.2. Cite examples of the poet’s use of rhyme, rhythm, and alliteration, and explain the role of each in the poem.

Poems Grouped by Literary Concept p. 16

SOUNDAssonance: Use of the same vowel sounds in groups of words, but with different consonants (“men sell the wedding bells,” “snakes who vape make great mistakes”).

The Bean Eatersby Gwendolyn Brooks

They eat beans mostly, this old yellow pair.Dinner is a casual affair.Plain chipware on a plain and creaking wood, Tin flatware.

5 Two who are Mostly Good.Two who have lived their day,But keep on putting on their clothesAnd putting things away.

And remembering . . .10 Remembering, with twinklings and twinges,

As they lean over the beans in their rented back room thatis full of beads and receipts and dolls and cloths,tobacco crumbs, vases and fringes.

1. What kinds of memories to the phrases “twinklings” and “twinges” suggest?2. What seems to be the true nourishment of the couple as they sit in their room? (Hints available in Q 4, below, so don’t read ahead if you plan to try to answer this on your own.)3. Identify examples of assonance in line 1. 4. Give examples from the poem that support the idea that the couple cherishes their own company and their memories. What word choice, especially, gives the reader a sense of the couple’s togetherness?

METAPHOR

truthby Gwendolyn Brooks

And if sun comesHow shall we greet him?Shall we not dread him,Shall we not fear him

5 After so lengthy A session with shade?

Though we have wept for him,Though we have prayed

Poems Grouped by Literary Concept p. 17

All through the night-years--10 What if we wake one shimmering morning to

Hear the fierce hammeringOf his firm knucklesHard on the door?

Shall we not shudder?--15 Shall we not flee

Into the shelter, the dear thick shelterOf the familiarPropitious haze?

Sweet is it, sweet is it20 To sleep in the coolness

Of snug unawareness.

The dark hangs heavilyOver the eyes.

1. Two main concrete objects in this poem are the sun and the darkness. What does each represent, metaphorically?2. How does the title of the poem relate to the rest of the poem, especially stanza 3 (which includes line 20).

SOUNDmaggie and milly and molly and mayby E.E. Cummings

maggie and milly and molly and may went down to the beach(to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles,and

5 milly befriended a stranded starwhose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone 10 as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me) it’s always ourselves we find in the sea

Poems Grouped by Literary Concept p. 18

SIMILE

Spring is like a perhaps handby E.E. Cummings

Spring is like a perhaps hand (which comes carefully out of Nowhere)arranging a window,into which people look(while

5 people starearranging and changing placing carefully there a strange thing and a known thing here)and

changing everything carefully

10 spring is like a perhaps Hand in a window (carefully to and fro moving New and Old things,while

15 people stare carefully moving a perhaps fraction of flower here placing an inch of air there)and

without breaking anything.

1. What does Cummings mean by perhaps? Why is that word appropriate here?2. What activities of spring are suggested?3. Find five uses of the word carefully. What is the speaker emphasizing?