Spring

2010-
Shasho

PART ONE: Match the best definition to its literary device.

a. mood b. metaphor c. personification d. stanza e. free verse

f. hyperbole g. couplet h. onomatopoeia i. line j. ballad
k. rhyme scheme l. tone m. lyric poetry n. assonance o. denotation
p. connotation q. narrative poetry r. alliteration s. simile t. imagery
u. oxymoron v. symbolism

1. group of consecutive lines that form a single unit in a poem

2. use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning like bang, crackle, or crunch.
3. the pattern of rhymed lines in a poem
4. Two contradictory words used together to express a single idea, i.e. “jumbo shrimp,” “love
hate relationship.”
5. Poetry that expresses a speaker’s emotions or thoughts and does not tell a story.
6. The emotional association with a word; this secondary “meaning” is determined by a society.
7. The writer’s attitude on a subject revealed through the words, images, and phrases used.
8. Type of figurative language in which a nonhuman thing or quality is talked about as if it were
human and given human traits and abilities.
9. Repetition of initial consonant sounds, like Ted talked quietly to the tiny turtle.
10. Figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things; the comparison can
either be stated or implied.
11. An exaggeration used for emphasis.
12. Figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things using like, as or than
13. An object that represents itself but also stands for another, like a heart and Valentine’s Day.
14. The repetition of like vowel sounds in words that are close together.
15. The dictionary meaning of a word

PART TWO: Read the following quotations and decide whether each contains:
Choose (a) simile (b) metaphor (c) personification.
16. “Life is a broken-winged bird/That cannot fly.”

17. “Maybe it sags/like a heavy load.”

18. “Does it dry up/like a raisin in the sun?”

19. “Time had taken down to hills/The great mountains of my childhood.”

20. “Hope is a thing with feathers/that perches in the soul/And sings the tune without the
words/And never stops at all.”

21. “Life is a barren field/Frozen with snow.”

22. “[Death] had his black coat on,/Black gloves, a broad black hat.”

23. “Sorrow knocked at my door…”

24. “And you O my soul where you stand”

25. “How public—like a frog”

 26. “Leave my loneliness unbroken”

Part Three: Multiple Choice—Choose the best answer.

27. In Emily Dickinson’s “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers”, Hope is being compared to
a. The soul c. a feather
b. A bird d. a frog

28. “A Noiseless Patient Spider” by Walt Whitman is an example of which type of poem
a. Narrative poem b. Lyric Poem c. Ballad Poem

29. “Sweet Betsy from Pike” is an example of which type of poem

a. Narrative poem b. Lyric Poem c. Ballad Poem

30. In “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” Emily Dickinson emphasizes that
a. Being a “somebody” is overrated
b. She hates being a nobody
c. frogs are private creatures
d. She wants to be known as a great poet

Short Essay (Worth 10 points): Choose one of the following poems: “Fire and Ice”, “The Road
Not Taken” or “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers--“. Then in paragraph form, write an analysis of
the poem. What was the overall meaning of the poem? Give two examples of literary devices
(listed above in part one) to support your analysis.

“Hope” is the thing with feathers—

By Emily Dickinson

"Hope" is the thing with feathers—

That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all—

And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—

And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm—

I've heard it in the chillest land—

And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me.
Fire and Ice

By Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

The Road Not Taken

By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To 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 there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In 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 sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.