Note: You may address some of the questions you
answered in the previous study guide, but only if you have
something new to say. Please don't simply repeat your
answers to the previous study guide.
Poetry Study Guide: Second Half of In
Memoriam
Instructions: Complete any 4 of the following 8
question clusters. Please note that these questions were
designed to accommodate a diverse group with different types
and levels of prior experience as well as to illuminate a
wide variety of poems. Therefore, not every question can be
readily applied to every reading, and not every student will
feel well prepared to answer every cluster. Use your best
judgment to choose the clusters that seem most likely to
enhance your understanding of the particular poem we are
studying and to best address your own interests. FYI, the
"smaller" questions within each cluster are intended as
prompts or suggestions and not as a definitive outline.
You are not expected to answer each systematically
(or to cover as much ground as the prompts
themselves), but only to provide substantive and
well-supported responses to the poems, responses that goes
beyond "what" and into "why it matters" (i.e. go beyond
identifying the rhyme scheme or recurrent imagery and
speculate on their significance within the poem).
Who?
What does the poem directly reveal about the speaker
(i.e. through actions, descriptions, and assertions)?
Indirectly (i.e. through language choices, style,
assumptions, implied attitudes)? Whom does the speaker
seem to be addressing? Are the speaker and audience
addressing the same person or persons? What is the
speaker's attitude toward the audience? What assumptions
does s/he make about them? What is the speaker's attitude
toward the subject? In each case, how do you know? Does
the speaker seem to "play" with the reader and his or her
expectations? What?
Situation/Action. What is the poem
"about"? Is it "about" different things on different
levels (literal vs. metaphorical, local vs. global)? Is
there a "plot"; is something "happening"; is a story
being told? If so, what is going on? What is the setting
(place, time, season, indoor/outdoor, etc.) and why might
it matter in terms of the meaning of the poem?
Argument. Does the poem have a
"message" or take a position? What is it? Is the
speaker's message the same as the authors? Is the message
or position expressed straightforward, or is it ambiguous
(either in the sense of being indeterminate or of being
contradictory)? If so, does one meaning seem to prevail?
Why? What is the effect on the reader? Are there any "key
lines" which seem to encapsulate the argument? How?
Sound and sense. Can you identify the
rhyme, meter, and genre (i.e. sonnet, lyric, dramatic
monologue) of the poem? Then take it a step further and
consider the "so what", the significance of these
choices? Do the rhyme, meter, and/or genre seem
appropriate to the subject or situation? How so (or how
not)? Are there places where the author deviates from the
established patterns? How might these deviations or
disruptions be significant? What are the effects on the
reader? What kind of mood is conveyed by the rhyme and
meter? By "sound effects" like alliteration, assonance,
and onomatopoeia? Is there anything unusual about the
punctuation or the placement of line breaks? Again, what
are the effects on the reader? If you choose this option,
you will want to focus your attention on a single
numbered section.
Words and Images. Why do you think the
author chose the title that s/he did? Does it have
meaning on more than one level? How do the author's word
choices establish tone, and what does this contribute to
the development of the poem? Are there any words that are
especially striking? Why might the author have chosen
that word and not another? Are there words with strong
connotations (associations beyond the dictionary meaning
of the word)? Words that have several possible meanings?
Does the author use allusion (i.e. references to other
texts)? What are they and why might the author have
chosen them? What associations might they have for the
reader? Are there any strong symbols or recurrent images?
What are they and why might the author have chosen them;
how do they complement or contradict other elements of
the poem? If you choose this option, you may (but are not
required to) focus your attention on a single numbered
section. Why?
Putting the poem in context.
How does your knowledge of the poem's historical,
literary, or cultural context enhance your understanding
of the poem? Illuminate its motive/s? What events,
situations, debates, or anxieties might the author be
responding to? And what does the author have to say about
these things; what does the author seem to be opposing or
advocating? How does this work fit or not fit with other
works by the same author? With other works written during
this period? With whom is the author in dialogue? Implications for readers today.
Is there anything in the poem that you think might
speak especially powerfully to people in our own time and
culture? What and why? Do you think that it speaks to
today's readers for similar reasons and in similar ways,
or in different ones? How so? Is there anything in the
poem that---due to differences in cultural
context---might be especially difficult for contemporary
readers to appreciate or sympathize with? What and
why? Potpourri
Is there any else that you think might be important
in understanding how the poem works that we have not
covered above? What and why?
