FOR KIM WOODS ONLY

poem.docx

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1. Read the poem "My Last Duchess" very carefully. It's going to be hard to understand the first time, but keep trying, and please do not go to websites to find out what the "right answer" is, since that does not help you practice the skill of critical reading. (However, if you run into any words you don't know, do look them up in the dictionary.) When you have read the poem at least three times, tackle these questions: 1. Who is speaking? 2. What do we know about this speaker from what he says? 3. What was the Duchess like? 4. What happened to the Duchess? Give your own opinion in answering these questions, and feel free to make wild guesses. It is not important to get the right answer: it is important to engage critically in reading the material.

2. Choose one of the other poems for this week ("My Papa's Waltz," "Negro," "I'm Nobody," or "Daddy") and explain who the speaker is. (Again, do not look these poems up online to see what they are about: work on reading critically so you can figure it out for yourself) What is the speaker trying to tell us? What is the purpose of the poem? Go line by line and explain (explicate) the poem.

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