ENGLISH POETRY
MM0415
poetry_final_2016.docx
Final Exam: Poetry
Choose THREE of the following topics and write a brief essay on each one. I am not
interested in the length of your essay but in the quality of perception that it displays.
Accordingly, show me as best you can the abilities that you are able to concentrate
on the interpretation of poetry.
1. Discuss Shakespeare's reference to false comparison at the conclusion of Sonnet 130: “My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun.” What is the relation between that final idea and the argument about comparison in the rest of the poem?
2. Discuss Keats’s use of the image of the cider press in "To Autumn." Compare the oozings of the press to the o’er-brimming bee cells at the end of the first stanza.
3. Discuss the use of light and darkness in Byron’s “She Walks in Beauty.” Light and darkness are usually viewed as opposites. How are they used here to convey the beauty of the lady? Do not write about light and darkness as ideas. Write about the language and the way that it is used to give us Byron’s images of light and darkness.
4. In Browning’s “My Last Duchess,” the Duke, who is the speaker, claims not to have "skill / In speech" (35-36). Study examples of his diction, or word choice, and judge the accuracy of his claim. Why does he call attention in this manner to his way of speaking? What might he mean by "skill / In speech"?
