1. Compare Housman's poem "To an Athlete Dying Young" to Updike's "Ex-Basketball Player." What is the theme or main idea of each? How are they alike or different in the attitudes of the speakers toward their subjects? (The answer to the latter problem suggests each author's tone.)

2. In "Dover Beach," by Matthew Arnold what light do the two see in the distance? Specifically, where are the two people in "Dover Beach"? describe the allusion used in stanza 2. What is the basic metaphor Arnold uses to express his fundamental theme in the beginning of the third stanza? What is this main idea? describe at least two other poetic devices that Arnold uses here.

3. Define and describe at least five figures of speech used in Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress." describe how each of these contributes to meaning in the poem.

4. Compare the Herrick poem and the Marvell poem. Discuss the theme and tone of each. Be specific with evidence from the poems to support your assertions about theme and tone.


5. The last sixteen lines of "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne, contain a single long image, one of the most widely admired images in all poetry. describe exactly how that image is related to the idea Donne is developing in those lines. (Students sometimes go astray because they do not understand what kind of compass Donne is talking about. Consider both the geometric and directional compasses as possibilities. One of these will fit; the other will not.) Show specifically how each detail of the image is matched to what Donne is saying about his relationship with the woman addressed.

6. Compare and contrast "The Convergence of the Twain" by Thomas Hardy to "Titanic" by Slavitt in terms of subject, language, tone, attitude of speaker, and theme.

7. Identify the meter and rhyme scheme in Keats' "When I have fears that I may cease to be." What other sound devices are used in the poem? How do these devices affect your reading of the lines? How do they contribute to meaning in the poem? 

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