Questions 1 through 10 refer to the following poem. Read the poem carefully and then choose the answers to the questions. A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning Line As virtuous men pass mildly away, And whisper to their souls to go, Whilst some of their sad friends do say The breath goes now, and so say, No; … Continue reading John Donne – A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning (Practice Questions)
T. S. Eliot and his work were at the forefront of the modernist poetry movement. His lengthy poem ‘‘The Hollow Men’’ was written at the height of his career. Indeed, it was published only three years after the release of Eliot’s most famous epic poem, The Waste Land (1922). Parts of ‘‘The Hollow Men’’ were … Continue reading T S Eliot – The Hollow Men (Poem Summary)
Sonnet 29 : When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes, Sonnet 29 by Shakespeare When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,I all alone beweep my outcast state,And trouble deaf heav’n with my bootless cries,And look upon my self, and curse my fate;Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,Featured like him, like … Continue reading William Shakespeare – Sonnet 29 (Poem Summary)
You do not do, you do not doAny more, black shoeIn which I have lived like a footFor thirty years, poor and white,Barely daring to breathe or Achoo. Daddy, I have had to kill you.You died before I had time——Marble-heavy, a bag full of God,Ghastly statue with one gray toeBig as a Frisco seal And … Continue reading Sylvia Plath – Daddy (Poem Summary)
O Captain! My Captain! By Walt Whitman Walt Whitman composed the poem "O Captain! My Captain!" after Abraham Lincoln's assassination in 1865. The poem is classified as an elegy or mourning poem, and was written to honor Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. Walt Whitman was born in 1819 and died in … Continue reading Walt Whitman – O Captain! My Captain! (Poem Summary)
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea, The plowman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me. 4 In the first stanza, the speaker observes the signs of a country day … Continue reading Thomas Gray – Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (Poem Summary)
The Old Stoic Riches I hold in light esteem, And Love I laugh to scorn;And lust of fame was but a dream, That vanished with the morn:And if I pray, the only prayer That moves my lips for meIs, "Leave the heart that now I bear, And give me liberty!"Yes, as my swift days near their goal: ’Tis all that … Continue reading Emily Bronte – The Old Stoic (Poem Summary)
Amoretti I: Happy ye leaves when as those lilly hands BY EDMUND SPENSER Happy ye leaves when as those lilly hands,Which hold my life in their dead doing mightShall handle you and hold in loves soft bands,Lyke captives trembling at the victors sight.And happy lines, on which with starry light,Those lamping eyes will deigne sometimes to … Continue reading Edmund Spenser – Amoretti I (Poem Summary)
William Wordsworth wrote "We Are Seven" on a walk from Alfoxden to Lenton, one late spring afternoon in 1798. He was accompanied by his sister Dorothy and his good friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge; on his pilgrimage he also composed part of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", as well as other poems in "Lyrical Ballads". … Continue reading William Wordsworth – We Are Seven (Poem Summary)
"The Retreat' is the best known poem written by Henry Vaughan, a metaphysical poet. Earlier he was considered the most disdained poet of all the lesser poets of the seventeenth century, but renewed interest and critical re-appreciations have made him one of the most admired. A serious illness in 1651, led to deep religious fervour … Continue reading Henry Vaughan – The Retreat (Poem Summary)
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