Closed Poetic Forms and Structural Conventions
15 questions
Read the following poem carefully:
The World Is Too Much With Us
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
[5] This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.—Great God! I’d rather be
[10] A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.
How does the structural transition at line 9 ("It moves us not.—Great God! I’d rather be") function to develop the poem's thematic argument?
Read the following poem carefully before choosing your answer:
When I Consider How My Light is Spent
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide;
'Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?'
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, 'God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.'
How does the structural turn (volta) that begins in line 8 ('But Patience...') reinforce the thematic development of the poem?
Read the following poem by Ernest Dowson (1867–1900) carefully before choosing your answer.
Villanelle of Sunset
Come hither, Child! and lay your hand on mine, (1)
And let us talk of many things:
Of the white road and the dim evening line. (3)
We have no care; we need no more design;
The day is finished with the buzz of wings:
Come hither, Child! and lay your hand on mine. (6)
The shadow gathers on the darkling vine,
And through the trees a sudden whisper rings:
Of the white road and the dim evening line. (9)
A little while, and then the stars will shine,
And we shall hear the nightingales of kings:
Come hither, Child! and lay your hand on mine. (12)
Wait not, nor weep: the night is very fine,
And in the darkness some sweet singer sings:
Of the white road and the dim evening line. (15)
Now is the hour when all things must resign
Their separate lives into the night that brings:
Come hither, Child! and lay your hand on mine: (18)
Of the white road and the dim evening line. (19)
Which of the following best describes how the structural constraints of the villanelle form, specifically the repetition of the alternating refrain lines, contribute to the poem's theme?
Read the following poem by Emma Lazarus carefully before choosing your answer.
The New Colossus (1883)
[1] Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
[2] With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
[3] Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
[4] A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
[5] Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
[6] Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
[7] Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
[8] The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
[9] 'Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!' cries she
[10] With silent lips. 'Give me your tired, your poor,
[11] Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
[12] The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
[13] Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
[14] I lift my lamp beside the golden door!'
Which of the following best describes the function of the transition (the volta) between the octave and the sestet (lines 8-9)?
Read the following poem carefully before choosing your answer.
Sonnet 73
[1] That time of year thou mayst in me behold
[2] When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
[3] Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
[4] Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
[5] In me thou seest the twilight of such day
[6] As after sunset fadeth in the west,
[7] Which by and by black night doth take away,
[8] Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
[9] In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire
[10] That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
[11] As the death-bed whereon it must expire
[12] Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by.
[13] This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
[14] To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
How does the structural division between the three quatrains (lines 1–12) and the concluding couplet (lines 13–14) function to develop the poem's theme?
Read the following excerpt from Dylan Thomas’s villanelle "Do not go gentle into that good night" (1951) carefully:
[1] Do not go gentle into that good night,
[2] Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
[3] Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
[4] Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
[5] Because their words had forked no lightning they
[6] Do not go gentle into that good night.
[7] Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
[8] Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
[9] Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
In the second stanza (lines 4–6), how does the enjambment at the end of line 5 ("they") contribute to the meaning of the passage?
Read the following poem by John Milton (first published in 1673) carefully before choosing your answer.
On His Blindness
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest He returning chide;
"Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?"
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts. Who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly: thousands at his bidding speed,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait."
How does the structural division between the octave (lines 1–8) and the sestet (lines 9–14) contribute to the development of the poem's theme?
Read the following poem by John Keats carefully before answering the question.
On First Looking into Chapman's Homer (1816)
Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
That deep-brow'd Homer ruled as his demesne;
Yet did I never breathe its pure serene
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
He star'd at the Pacific—and all his men
Look'd at each other with a wild surmise—
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
How does the structural shift (volta) between the octave (lines 1–8) and the sestet (lines 9–14) contribute to the development of the poem's theme?
Read the following poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar (first published in 1895) carefully before choosing your answer.
We Wear the Mask
[1] We wear the mask that grins and lies,
[2] It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
[3] This debt we pay to human guile;
[4] With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
[5] And mouth with myriad subtleties.
[6] Why should the world be over-wise,
[7] In counting all our tears and sighs?
[8] Nay, let them only see us, while
[9] We wear the mask.
[10] We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
[11] To thee from tortured souls arise.
[12] We sing, but oh the clay is vile
[13] Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
[14] But let the world dream otherwise,
[15] We wear the mask!
In the context of the poem’s closed rondeau structure, how does the repetition of the short refrain line "We wear the mask" (lines 9 and 15) contribute to the development of the poem's theme?
Read the following poem by William Wordsworth carefully before choosing your answer.
The World Is Too Much With Us
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.—Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
In lines 8–9 ("For this, for everything, we are out of tune; / It moves us not.—Great God! I’d rather be"), how does the placement of the transition (caesura and enjambment) within line 9 rather than at the line break reinforce the poem's thematic development?
Read the following poem by Claude McKay carefully before choosing your answer.
America (1921)
[1] Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,
[2] And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth,
[3] Stealing my breath of life, I will confess
[4] I love this cultured hell that tests my youth!
[5] Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,
[6] Giving me strength erect against her hate.
[7] Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood,
[8] Yet as a rebel fronts a king in state,
[9] I stand within her walls with not a shred
[10] Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer.
[11] Darkly I gaze into the days ahead,
[12] And see her might and granite wonders there,
[13] Beneath the touch of Time’s unerring hand,
[14] Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.
In McKay's sonnet, how does the relationship between the structural quatrains (lines 1–12) and the concluding couplet (lines 13–14) contribute to the development of the poem's theme?
Read the following poem by Christina Rossetti (1830–1894) carefully before choosing your answer.
Remember (1862)
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you planned:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late then to counsel or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
In the poem, the structural transition between the octave (lines 1–8) and the sestet (lines 9–14) primarily serves to do which of the following?
Read the following poem by John Donne (first published in 1633) carefully before choosing your answer.
Death, be not proud
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, [5]
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, [10]
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
In line 9 of the poem, how does the structural shift (the "volta") contribute to the development of the speaker's argument?
Read the following poem carefully before choosing your answer.
Sonnet 130
[1] My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
[2] Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
[3] If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
[4] If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
[5] I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
[6] But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
[7] And in some perfumes is there more delight
[8] Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
[9] I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
[10] That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
[11] I grant I never saw a goddess go;
[12] My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.
[13] And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
[14] As any she belied with false compare.
Which of the following best describes the function of the final rhyming couplet (lines 13–14) in relation to the rest of the poem?
Read the following poem carefully before choosing your answer:
Sonnet 29
[1] When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
[2] I all alone beweep my outcast state,
[3] And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
[4] And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
[5] Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
[6] Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
[7] Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
[8] With what I most enjoy contented least;
[9] Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
[10] Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
[11] Like to the lark at break of day arising
[12] From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
[13] For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
[14] That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
Which of the following best describes the function of the transition (volta) in line 9 ("Yet in these thoughts...")?