Robert Frost (1874-1963)
"Mending Wall" (1914)
- Why does the speaker have such a conversational tone?
- How do lines 14-16 mimic what the speaker is trying to say?
- What is a "swinger of birches," and why does the speaker dream of being one again?
- What is the alternative to accepting the truth about ice storm and birches bent low?
- Explain the word "So" in line 27. What is the purpose of the detached tone?
- What do the last two lines suggest about the limits of poetry in the face of death?
- What is fire and what is ice, and why could each cause an end to us?
- Consider the length and straightforward words of the poem. Who is this speaker?
- In what way can a poem be "a momentary stay against confusion"?
- What kind of experience does Frost want to give the reader of his poems?
Wallace Stevens (1879-1955)
"The Snow Man" (1931)
- What is a "mind of winter" and why, according to the speaker, must one have it?
- How is a "mind of winter" related perhaps to the "impersonal theory of poetry"?
- What attitude toward death does the speaker seem to hold?
- How does this poem look for what will suffice? Why not glorify the death of a soldier?
- How does this poem explore the role of point of view in observation?
- Does this poem look for what will suffice, or does it look for more? What is the role of "imagination"?
- Written during WWII, how does this poem address the role of the poet during a war?
- What does the speaker mean by "the act of finding what will suffice"?
- Why is the "plain sense of things" not as appealing as imagination?
- How does this speaker respond to the idea that everything is falling apart and slowing down?
- What is the relationship between freedom and form for Stevens?
- Can freedom as a poet be achieved by using a particular form?
- What affect does the "violent reality of war" have on the imagination of the poet?
- Why must the poetry of war be "consciousness of fact as everyone is at least satisfied to have it be"?
- What is the relationship between form and meaning in poetry (and music)?
- How can poems have explicit meanings that are not explained by the poet?
T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1915)
- What kind of journey does the speaker of the poem want to take us on? Why?
- Consider that the poem is Prufrock's attempt to be a poet. Does he have anything important to tell us?
- What is an "objective correlative"? Does Prufrock manage to achieve this standard of poetry?
- What is the historical sense, and why does Eliot place so much emphasis on it?
- Explain the significance of the shred of platinum in terms of writing poetry?
- What is Eliot's "impersonal theory of poetry"? Why does it need to be impersonal in this way?
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)
"Babylon Revisited" (1931)
- Why does Charlie believe in character again? Why is it the only thing that lasts?
- How is this story about the word "dissipate"? What does the word mean?
- What prevents Marion from trusting Charlie? How does SHE define the word "character"?
William Faulkner (1897-1962)
"Barn Burning" (1938)
- In what way does this story use "outrageous overstatement" to create drama?
- Who is the narrator (not the boy) and what is the narrative perspective in this story?
- Considering the dilemma in this story, what is ironic about the last line, "He did not look back"?
Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
"The Snows of Kilimanjaro" (1938)
- What is the iceberg principle? How does the story create dramatic effect using this principle?
- How is the act of writing related to Harry's central conflict in the story? How does he "write"?
- Why doesn't Hemingway leave us with the pure and beautiful image of the snow on top of Kilimanjaro?
Literary Terms
speaker | persona | free verse | meter | caesura | enjambment | rhyme | diction | alliteration | negative capability | narrator | narrative | story | plot | setting | ellipsis | flashback | flashforward | character | point of view | parable | allegory | epiphany | catharsis | climax | dramatic irony | situational irony | verbal irony | ethical significance | representation | ambiguity | juxtaposition | style | image | symbol | metaphor | motif | hyperbole | allusion | objective correlative | impersonal theory of poetry | Iceberg Principle | historical sense | "make it new" | Romanticism | Realism | Impressionism | Naturalism | Modernism
Themes
candor | confusion | heroism | nihilism | fragmentation | coherence | experience | prejudice | forgiveness | character | egotism | authority | conventions | liberation | writing | storytelling | artistic vision | imagination | consciousness | truth | fantasy | freedom | bondage | death | invention | surrender | tradition | history | creation | fidelity | loyalty | humility | isolation | communication | brotherhood | paralysis | dissipation | transformation | confrontation | satisfaction | decay | memory | fantasy | nature | survival | free will | fate