THE HOUND

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THE HOUNDRobert Francis (b. 1901)

Life the houndEquivocalComes at a boundEither to rend meOr to befriend me.I cannot tellThe hound's intentTill he has sprungAt my bare handWith teeth or tongue.Meanwhile I standAnd wait the event.

THE ROAD NOT TAKENRobert Frost (18741963)

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,And having perhaps the better claim,Because it was grassy and wanted wear;Though as for that the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and II took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.

MY HEART LEAPS UP WHEN I BEHOLDWilliam Wordsworth (17701850)

My heart leaps up when I beholdA rainbow in the sky:So was it when my life began;So is it now I am a man;So be it when I shall grow old,Or let me die!The Child is father of the Man;And I could wish my days to beBound each to each by natural piety.

PROGRESSPeter Meinke (b. 1932)

Man is mindCried old DescartesAnd Wordsworth answeredMan is heart.

Down a new roadat last we come;our cry: Libidoergo sum.

OZYMANDIASPercy Bysshe Shelly (17921822)

I met a traveller from an antique landWho said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stoneStand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand,Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,Tell that its sculptor well those passions readWhich yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:And on the pedestal these words appear:"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"Nothing beside remains. round the decayOf that colossal wreck, boundless and bareThe lone and level sands stretch far away.

A VALEDICTION: FORBIDDING MOURNINGJohn Donne (15721631)

As virtuous men pass mildly away,And whisper to their souls to go,While some of their sad friends do say,The breath goes now, and some say, no:

So let us melt, and make no noise,No tearfloods, nor sightempests move,'Twere profanation of our joys,To tell the laity our love.

Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears,Men reckon what it did and meant,But trepidation of the spheres,Though greater far, is innocent.

Dull sublunary lovers' love(Whose soul is sense) cannot admitAbsence, because it doth remove Those things which elemented it.

But we by a love so much refined,That ourselves know not what it is,Interassured of the mind,Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss.

Our two souls therefore, which are one,Though I must go, endure not yetA breach, but an expansion,Like gold to airy thinness beat.

If they be two, they are two soAs stiff twin compasses are two,Thy soul the fixed foot, makes no showTo move, but doth, if th' other do.

And though it in the center sit,Yet when the other far doth roam,It leans, and hearkens after it,And grow erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to me, who mustLike th' other foot, obliquely run;Thy firmness makes my circle just,And makes me end, where I begun.

breach: breaktrepidation: dreadtempest: stormobliquely: circularly

A RED, RED ROSERobert Burns (17591796)

O my luve is like a red, red rose,That's newly sprung in June.O my luve is like the melodieThat's sweetly played in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,So deep in luve am I,And I will luve thee still, my dear,Till a' the seas gang dry.

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,And the rocks melt wi' the sun!And I will love thee still, my dear,While the sands o' life shall run.

MIRRORSylvia Plath (19321963)

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.Whatever I see I swallow immediatelyJust as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.I am not cruel, only truthful The eye of a little god, fourcornered.Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so longI think it is part of my heart. But it flickers.Faces and darkness separate us over and over.

Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,Searching my reaches for what she really is.Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.I am important to her. She comes and goes.Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old womanRises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.

SHE DWELT AMONG THE UNTRODDEN WAYSWilliam Wordsworth (1770 1850)

She dwelt among the untrodden waysBeside the springs of Dove,A Maid whom there were none to praiseAnd very few to love:

A violet by a mossy stoneHalf hidden from the eye!Fair as a star, when only oneIs shining in the sky.

She lived unknown, and few could knowWhen Lucy ceased to be;But she is in her grave, and oh,The difference to me!

AH, ARE YOU DIGGING ON MY GRAVEThomas Hardy (18401928)

"Ah, are you digging on my grave,My loved one? planting rue""No: yesterday he went to wedOne of the brightest wealth has bred.'It cannot hurt her now,' he said,'That I should not be true.'"

"Then who is digging on my grave?My nearest dearest kin?""Ah, no: they sit and think, 'What use!What good will planting flowers produce?No tendance of her mound can looseHer spirit from death's gin.'"snare

"But some one digs upon my grave?My enemy" prodding sly?""Nay: when she heard you had passed the GateThat shuts on all flesh soon or late,She thought you no more worth her hate,And cares not where you lie."

"Then, who is digging on my grave?Saysince I have not guessed!""O it is I, my mistress dear,Your little dog, who still lives near,And much I hope my movements hereHave not disturbed your rest?"

"Ah, yes! You dig upon my grave . . .Why flashed it not on meThat one true heart was left behind! What feeling do we ever findTo equal among human kindA dog's fidelity!"

"Mistress, I dug upon your graveTo bury a bone, in caseI should be hungry near this spotWhen passing on my daily trot.I am sorry, but I quite forgotIt was your restingplace."

NOTHING GOLD CAN STAYRobert Frost (18741963)

Nature's first green is gold,Her hardest hue to hold.colorHer early leaf's a flower;But only so an hour.Then leaf subsides to leaf.So Eden sank to grief,So dawn goes down to day.Nothing gold can stay.

THE THREE RAVENSAnonymous

There were three ravens sat on a tree,Downe a downe, hay down, hay downeThere were three ravens sat on a tree,With a downeThere were three ravens sat on a tree,They as blacke as they might be,With a downe derrie, derrie, derrie, downe, downe.

The one of them said to his mate,"Where shall we our breakfast take?"

"Down in yonder greene field,There lies a knight slain under his shield.

"His hounds they lie downe at his feete,So well they can their master keepe.

"His haukes they flie so eagerly,There's no fowle dare him come nie."

Downe there comes a fallow*doe, brownAs great with yong as she might goe. She lift up his bloudy hed,And kist his wounds that were so red.She got him up upon her backe,And carried him to earthen lake*. pit

She buried him before the prime*, about nine A. M.She was dead herselfe ere evensong time.

Gid send every gentlemanSuch haukes, such hounds, and such a leman*sweetheart

MEETING AT NIGHTRobert Browning (1812-1889)The gray sea and the long black land;And the yellow half-moon large and low;And the startled little waves that leapIn fiery ringlets from their sleep,As I gain the cove with pushing prow,And quench its speed i' the slushy sand.

Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;1Three fields to cross till a farm appears;A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratchAnd blue spurt of a lighted match,And a voice less loud, through its joys and fears,Than the two hearts beating each to each!

QUESTIONS:1.The hounds and the hawks are loyal followers of the knight, as is the doe. How do the references to the hounds and hawks in some degree prepare us for the doe? Is preparation necessary? Why?

2.Why does the poet include the ravens? do they confuse a poem on loyalty, or do they provide an effective contrast? Do the ravens help to give a fuller, more realistic picture of life? Explain.

3.Are the final two lines an intrusive comment? Explain.

BALLAD OF BIRMINGHAM(On the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963)

"Mother dear, may I go downtownInstead of out to play,And march the streets of BirminghamIn a Freedom March today?"

"No, baby, no, you may not go,For the dogs are fierce and wild,And clubs and hoses, guns and jailsAren't good for a little child."

"But, mother, I won't be alone,Other children will go with me,And march the streets of BirminghamTo make our country free."

"No, baby, no, you may not go,For I fear those guns will fire.But you may go to church insteadAnd sing in the children's choir."

She has combed and brushed her nightdark hair.And bathed rose petal sweet,And drawn white gloves on her small brown hands,And white shoes on her feet.

The mother smiled to know her childWas in the sacred place,but that smile was the last smileTo come upon her face.

For when she heard the explosion,Her eyes grew wet and wild.She raced through the streets of BirminghamCalling for her child.

She clawed through bits of glass and brick,Then lifted out a shoe."O, here's the shoe my baby wore,But, baby, where are you?"

QUESTIONS:1.This poem is based on a historical incident. On Sunday, September 15, 1963, a dynamite bomb exploded in a black church in Birmingham, killing four children. How does the poem differ from the typical newspaper account of the incident?

2.What characteristics does this poem share with "Three Ravens"? Why do you think this twentiethcentury poet chose to write in this traditional form?

3.What purpose does the poem have beyond simply telling a story? How is that purpose achieved?

4.On what central irony does the poem pivot?

STUDY QUESTIONS:Following is a list of questions that you may apply to any poem, in whole or in part, to supplement the questions to any particular poem.a.Who is the speaker? What kind of person is he?

b.To whom is he speaking? What kind of person is he?

c.What is the occasion?

d.What is the setting in time (time of day, season, century, etc.)?

e.What is the setting in place (indoors or out, city or country, nation, etc.)?

f.What is the central purpose of the poem?

g.State the central idea or theme of the poem in a sentence.

h.Discuss the tone of the poem. How is it achieved?

i.Outline the poem so as to show its structure and development, or summarize the events of the poem.

j.Paraphrase the poem.

k.Discuss the diction of the poem. Point out words that are particularly well chosen and explain why.

l.Discuss the imagery of the poem. What kinds of imagery are used?

m.Point out examples of metaphor, simile, personification, and metonymy and explain their appropriateness.

n.Point out and explain any symbols. If the poem is allegorical, explain the allegory.

o.Point out and explain examples of paradox, overstatement, understatement, and irony. What is their function?

p.Point out and explain any allusions. What is their function?

q.Point out significant examples of sound repetition and explain their function.

r.What is the meter of the poem? Copy the poem and mark its scansion.

s.Discuss the adaptation of sound to sense.

t.Describe the form or pattern of the poem.

u.Criticize and evaluate the poem.6