1. Nightsong City: The poem starts as if it were a love poem addressed to a person. At which point do you realize that line 1 is ‘figurative’ and the ‘love’ refers to is the city the speaker calls home?
The turning point comes in the second line of the first stanza. He says, ‘The harbor lights glaze over restless rocks’, this is a direct reference to the city and not a human being.
2. Harlem: Explain how you feel that each of the comparisons is effective and meaningful in this Hughes poem.
This poem’s comparisons are metaphoric in nature. The direct comparison employs creates very vivid pictures in a readers mind hence is very effective in the poem. It also makes the reader comprehend and appreciate the persona’s strong feelings towards Harlem. Therefore, the effect of comparisons in this poem is profound.
3. The Road Not Taken: This poem is often read as a poem about not conforming to the majority, taking a road that most people do not take. Frost was hesitant about this reading. What other reading or readings could you give to the poem?
Apart from the common view, it can also be understood as a lover who has to choose between two suitors. The persona then ends up with the less likely suitor and hence the title The road not taken.
4. Buffalo Bill’s poem : What is the effect on meaning to put individual words o separate lines, to break lines and situate words at unexpected places, and to jam words together? Tell us about your interpretation of this poem.(You should read it aloud first)
The pattern of words makes the poem more interesting to read.
Moreover, it changes the mood of the poem. This poem is about a dashing guy but despite his good looks and skills, he still dies.