Lesson 33.
Spring and Fall
- Hopkins’s short lyric shares some elements with the sonnet, but it is a nonce form, invented for this poem only. Hopkkins’ idiosyncratic meter, which he dubbed “sprung rhythm”, uses accent marks over certain syllables. What is the dominant meter and line length? What is the rhyme scheme? Describe the poem’s structure. (Hint: The anomaly in the rhyme scheme is the key).
- The rhyme scheme is aabbccdddeeffgg. The structure is similar to that of a sonnett but there is one extra line in the “second” stanza.
- What is the effect of the frequent use of alliteration in the poem? Combined with assonance and consonance, what mood does this device create?
- The mood generated is not that of a happy one. some examples of alliteration are “by and by”, “spare a sigh”, “leafmeal lie” and “worlds of wanwood”. The effect of this is also repetative.
- Comment on the effect created by such unusual diction as Goldengrove and unleaving (line 2), fresh (line 4), wanwood and leafmeal (line 8), springs (line 11), and blight (line 14.) How do the connotations of these words create the poem’s mood?
- These words, the unusal diction, is very descriptive. Goldengrove describes the place perfectly. Fresh describes the sight… etc. These words create the poems mood by the meanings of the words being associated with death..mold and decay. These create a down and not happy mood.
The Oven Bird
- Analyze the poet’s use of figurative language. How does it suggest the theme of the poem?
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- Frost’s poem, like Hopkins’s, borrows from the sonnet form. What is its meter, rhyme scheme, and structure?
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- Paraphrase the three messages of the oven bird, then analyze the meaning of the word fall as it encapsulates the theme of the poem.
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- Paraphrase the last four lines of the poem. How does the oven bird symbolize the human condition?
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Filed by tittle at March 12th, 2008 under Uncategorized
