Table of contents:
Tips to answering poetry questions
Nobody Loses all the Time
Assassination
To Night
Dulce et Decorum Est
No Longer Mourn for me when I am Dead
My last Duchess
Refugee Blues
Ulysses
The wind begun to rock the grass
To Althea from Prison
Love’s Farewell
Portrait of a loaf of bread
Touch
Nightsong City
The tenant
The cry of South Africa
Penguin on the beach
Lost or Found World
I have my father’s voice
,Tips to answering poetry questions
How I learn for poetry:
1. Start off by reading through the poem once
2. Read over all the notes made, line by line. What you don’t understand,
try googling eg. words
3. Go over the poem once again, however, this time try to annotate the
poem on your own. In this way, you are able to memorize, as well as
come up with your annotations.
4. Answer all the questions given. Once you have answered the
questions, compare to the memo, however, remember that as long as
you substantiate your answer with solid evidence from the poem, your
answer is correct.
5. You should be aiming to study about 2-3 poems in one afternoon,
including the questions and answers.
How to answer poetry questions: (with everything explain why it has
been used/written like that. Must substantiate your answer)
1. Diction: Look at the specific stanza, or the poem as a whole. Choose
specific diction words that are impactful and emotive. Break down the
word according to the specific connotations of the word eg. fury: has
connotation of destruction and intense anger. If the diction needs to
link back to the mood or tone, then link all the diction words you have
looked at in order to emphasize the tone/mood of the poem.
,2. Figures of speech: Figure out what sort of figure of speech the line is
eg. simile, metaphor. Explain what is being compared to what, and why
the author has done this. When doing this, you can look at specific
diction used in this figure of speech (again, explain the connotation) as
well as looking at the line as a whole.
3. Structure: when looking at structure, look at specific details, such a
line length, indentations as well as punctuation and rhyme scheme.
❖ Line length: make the poem more drawn out. Longer
lines slow down the pace, and show a more drawn
out poem, while short lines speed up the pace of the
poem. Identify the relevant length and explain the
intention of the poem for choosing this line length.
❖ Indentations: normally emphasize words or phrases,
by making them stand out from the normal structure
of a poem, and thus isolating.
❖ Punctuation: has effects of slowing down the pace of
the poem. For example ellipses indicate that the
sentence has not been finished or fully explained
(purpose is to allow the reader to think further and
make up their own image).
❖ Rhyme scheme: affects the pace of the and adds
substance to the structure as a whole. Rhyme
scheme could be playful, making the poem more
lyrical and peaceful.
4. Imagery: The image that is created by the specific examples from the
poem. Diction and figures of speech can be used to explain specific
images in the poem. Look at those examples, and indicate the specific
connotation/comparison and in doing so, what image is created by
those specific examples.
,5. Sound devices: Alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia. Sound devices
can slow down/speed up the pace. They can make the poem more
lyrical and light hearted, as well as more serious and sad. Quote these
specific sound devices, and what sort of sound it is eg. plosive, heavy,
lighthearted. NB. repetition of “s” is sibilance.
,Nobody Loses All The Time__________________________
nobody loses all the time____________________________________________
i had an uncle named_______________________________________________
Sol who was a born failure and________________________________________
nearly everybody said he should have gone______________________________
into vaudeville perhaps because my Uncle Sol could_______________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
sing McCann He Was A Diver on Xmas Eve like Hell Itself which_____________
may or may not account for the fact that my Uncle_________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Sol indulged in that possibly most inexcusable____________________________
of all to use a highfalootin phrase______________________________________
luxuries that is or to_________________________________________________
wit farming and be__________________________________________________
it needlessly______________________________________________________
added___________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
my Uncle Sol’s farm________________________________________________
failed because the chickens__________________________________________
ate the vegetables so_______________________________________________
my Uncle Sol had a_________________________________________________
chicken farm till the_________________________________________________
skunks ate the chickens when________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
my Uncle Sol______________________________________________________
had a skunk farm but_______________________________________________
the skunks caught cold and__________________________________________
died and so_______________________________________________________
,my Uncle Sol imitated the____________________________________________
skunks in a subtle manner___________________________________________
or by drowning himself in the watertank_________________________________
but somebody who’d given my Uncle Sol a Victor_________________________
Victrola and records while he lived presented to__________________________
him upon the auspicious occasion of his decease a________________________
scruptious not to mention splendiferous funeral with_______________________
tall boys in black gloves and flowers and everything and____________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
i remember we all cried like the Missouri________________________________
when my Uncle Sol’s coffin lurched because_____________________________
somebody pressed a button__________________________________________
(and down went____________________________________________________
my Uncle_________________________________________________________
Sol______________________________________________________________
and started a worm farm)____________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
, Assassination___________________________________
______________________________________________
it was wild.________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
the______________________________________________________________________
bullet hit high.______________________________________________________________
(the throat-neck)___________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
&from everywhere:__________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
the motel, from under blushes and cars,____________________________________
from around corners and across streets,____________________________________
out of the garbage cans and from rat holes__________________________________
in the earth___________________________________________________________
they came running._________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
with_____________________________________________________________________
guns_____________________________________________________________________
drawn_________________________________________________________________
they came running_______________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
toward the King–___________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
all of them______________________________________________________
fast and sure–___________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
as if_____________________________________________________________________
the King__________________________________________________________________
was going to fire back._______________________________________________________
they came running,_________________________________________________________
fast and sure,______________________________________________________________
in the____________________________________________________________________
wrong____________________________________________________________________
Direction._________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
