ENG 218 Final, Fall 2001

ERICAN CNIVERS!T LIBRAKY OF BEIRUT Final Exam — English 218 A. Elements of Poetry Look at the following lines and identify any use of sonics (sound effects), metaphor/simile, and allusion within them, and then write a few sentences describing the speaker, tone, and situation in the poem itself. “T have done it again. One year in every ten I manage it-— A sort of walking miracle, my skin Bright as a Nazi lampshade, My right foot A paperweight, My face a featureless, fine Jew linen.” LIBRARY UF KEIR B. Stylistic Comparison Looking at one of the following pairs of writers, in 2-3 paragraphs compare their styles in terms of syntax, diction, form, use of image, etc. I’ve provided some lines to help you, but you do not have to limit yourself to these lines when comparing the two writers. 1. Frost—*...Often you must have seen them Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning After a rain. They click upon themselves As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.” “Bubbles gargled delicately, bluebottles Wove a strong gauze of sound around the smell. ERICAN ONTVERSST? There were dragonflies, spotted butterflies, LIBRARY But best of all was the warm thick slobber oF betes Of frogspawn that grew like clotted water” and Heaney 2. Dickinson—“My Life had stood—a Loaded Gun— In Corners—till a Day The Owner passed—identified— And carried Me away—--“ and Cummings——“anyone lived in a pretty how town (with up so floating many bells down) spring summer autumn winter he sang his didn’t he danced his did.” OF BEIRUY ERICAN ONTVERSITY) LIBRAR ry 3. Williams—*There were some dirty plates and a glass of milk beside her on a small table near the rank, disheveled bed —“ and Simic—‘As you hold it in your hand, As you stab with it into a piece of meat, It is possible to imagine the rest of the bird: Its head which like your fist Is large, bald, beakless, and blind.” 4. Sexton—“He rested there like a building. He grew into her foot until they were one. The marks of the horseshoe printed into her flesh, the tips of her toes ripped off like pieces of leather, three toenails swirled like shells and left to float in blood in her riding boot.” and Collins—“Then the long white dress, a more complicated matter with mother-of-pearl buttons down the back, so tiny and numerous that it takes forever before my hands can part the fabric, like a swimmer’s dividing water, and slip inside.” C. Thematic Analysis Pick one of the following topics and, in 4-5 paragraphs, compare and contrast how that theme is being handled in those poems, making sure to be as specific as possible as to what points each poem is making about that theme and explaining, as best you can, how we can see it within the poem itself. Remember, how you say something is as important as what you’re saying, so qualify your statements. 1. Artistry as seen in four of the following: “The Idea of Order at Key West,” “Trumpet Player,” “Digging,” “Leaving the Roadside Motel,” and/or one poem by Collins. 2. Natural behavior and/or naturalness as seen in four of the following: “Death of a Naturalist,” “anyone lived in a pretty how town,” “The Heaven of Animals,” “A Blessing,” “Belly Dancer,” “A Martian Sends a Postcard Home,” “To Earthward,” and/or one poem by Simic. Female experience as seen in four of the following: “Now That I Am Forever with Child,” “Rape,” “Spelling,” “Belly Dancer,” and/or one poem by Sexton. Responsibility (to ourselves or others) and/or influencing others as sccn in four of the following: “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” “Visitors to His Cottage,” “Pig Song,” one poem by Hughes, and/or one poem by Simic.