poems

Assignment: Respond to all the questions following “I Knew a Woman” and then select three (3) additional poems from the choices below and respond to those questions as well.

“I Knew a Woman” by Theodore Roethke

I knew a woman, lovely in her bones, When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them; Ah, when she moved, she moved more ways than one: The shapes a bright container can contain! Of her choice virtues only gods should speak, Or English poets who grew up on Greek (I’d have them sing in chorus, cheek to cheek).

How well her wishes went! She stroked my chin, She taught me Turn, and Counter-turn, and Stand; She taught me Touch, that undulant white skin; I nibbled meekly from her proffered hand; She was the sickle; I, poor I, the rake, Coming behind her for her pretty sake (But what prodigious mowing we did make).

Love likes a gander, and adores a goose: Her full lips pursed, the errant note to seize; She played it quick, she played it light and loose; My eyes, they dazzled at her flowing knees; Her several parts could keep a pure repose, Or one hip quiver with a mobile nose (She moved in circles, and those circles moved).

Let seed be grass, and grass turn into hay: I’m martyr to a motion not my own; What’s freedom for? To know eternity. I swear she cast a shadow white as stone. But who would count eternity in days? These old bones live to learn her wanton ways: (I measure time by how a body sways).

1. What outrageous puns do you find in Roethke's poem? Identify at least 4-5 and explain the double meanings of each. What is the effect of these puns (especially on tone?).

2. Identify the specific figures of speech that occur in the following lines:

Line 5: Of her choice virtues only gods should speak;

Line 18: My eyes, they dazzled at her flowing knees;

Line 25: I swear she cast a shadow white as stone.

* This one has two different figures of speech operating in it. Be sure to identify both.

3. What figure of speech is the poet's reference to himself as "old bones"? 4. Do you take Let seed be grass and grass turn into hay as a figurative

or a literal statement? Explain. 5. If you agree that the tone of this poem is witty and playful, do you think the

speaker is making fun of the woman? What is his attitude toward her? What part do figures of speech play in communicating it?

“Metaphors” by Sylvia Plath (467)

I'm a riddle in nine syllables,

An elephant, a ponderous house,

A melon strolling on two tendrils.

O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!

This loaf's big with its yeasty rising.

Money's new-minted in this fat purse.

I'm a means, a stage, a cow in calf.

I've eaten a bag of green apples,

Boarded the train there's no getting off.

1. To what central fact do all the metaphors in Plath’s poem refer? 2. In the first line, what has the speaker in common with a riddle? Why does she

say she has nine syllables?

3. What is a “cow in calf”? How does this relate to the speaker’s condition? 4. What is the speaker’s attitude about her condition? Be sure to consider all

evidence in the poem to support your response.

“Simile” by N. Scott Momaday (468)

What did we say to each other

that now we are as the deer

who walk in single file

with heads high

with ears forward

with eyes watchful

with hooves always placed on firm ground

in whose limbs there is latent flight

1. What is the central comparison in this poem? In other words, what two unlike things are being compared explicitly?

2. Momaday never tells us what was said. Does this omission keep us from understanding the comparison? What might have been said?

3. The comparison is extended with each detail adding some new twist. (Note that in literature, the term for an extended comparison like this is a “conceit.”) Explain how each of these details further enhance the comparison, and explain the implications of the last line.

“A Martian Sends a Postcard Home” by Craig Raine (468-69)

Caxtons are mechanical birds with many wings

and some are treasured for their markings –

they cause the eyes to melt

or the body to shriek without pain.

I have never seen one fly, but

sometimes they perch on the hand.

Mist is when the sky is tired of flight

and rests its soft machine on ground:

then the world is dim and bookish

like engravings under tissue paper.

Rain is when the earth is television.

It has the property of making colours darker.

Model T is a room with the lock inside –

a key is turned to free the world

for movement, so quick there is a film

to watch for anything missed.

But time is tied to the wrist

or kept in a box, ticking with impatience.

In homes, a haunted apparatus sleeps,

that snores when you pick it up.

If the ghost cries, they carry it

to their lips and soothe it to sleep

with sounds. And yet, they wake it up

deliberately, by tickling with a finger.

Only the young are allowed to suffer

openly. Adults go to a punishment room

with water but nothing to eat.

They lock the door and suffer the noises

alone. No one is exempt

and everyone’s pain has a different smell.

At night, when all the colours die,

they hide in pairs

and read about themselves –

in colour, with their eyelids shut.

Note on the poem: The title of the poem literally describes its contents. A Martian briefly describes everyday objects and activities on earth—in the late 1970’s, so some descriptions will be dated—but the visitor sees them all from an alien perspective. The Martian/speaker lacks a complete vocabulary and sometimes describes general categories of things with a proper noun (as in Model T in line 13). In line 1, “Caxtons” means “books,” since William Caxton (c. 1422-1491) was the first person to print books in England.

1. Explicate each stanza of the poem and explain (as best as you can) what the Martial is actually seeing or describing.

2. Try to translate back into Earth-based English what the Martian is observing.