In Class Essay

The speaker in this poem has very complex emotions towards desire. The author uses many metaphors to express the speaker's emotions. "Dregs of scattered thoughts" is what he compares to desire. This quote is what first sets the tone of the poem. The speaker sees desire as hopeless, useless scattered thoughts. Desire is unimportant and bad.
The speaker's thoughts of desire is keeping him up at night. Repetition is used to express his thoughts of desire. The thoughts of desire have been with him too long. Snap horses is also used to express the vanity he feels towards desire. He wants to get rid of his thoughts of desire. He desires to kill desire.
The author's use of diction and imagery play a role on how the speaker feels about desire. He uses words such as band, cradle, and web. Band can symbolize the coming together of all of his thoughts of desire. His mind cradles these thoughts without a care in the world. Web how's the complexity of the meaning of the word desire but also the speaker's emotion towards it.
The speaker hates desire so much he wants to get ride of it. He annoy get any thoughts of desire out of his mind. He will always have desire.

Poetry Essay Prompt #3

2004 Poems “We Grow Accustomed to the Dark” (Emily Dickinson) and “Acquainted with the Night” (Robert Frost)

Prompt: The poems below are concerned with darkness and night. Read each poem carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, compare and contrast the poems, analyzing the significance of dark or night in each. In your essay, consider elements such as point of view, imagery, and structure.

Prewrite 

                                                                                  Comparison                                           Contrast 

We Grow Accustomed to the Dark           Feel themselves in the dark                Third person

Acquainted with the Night   Talk about the main character in the dark       First Person

In Class Essay

     In the novel "Great Expectations" by Dickens the main character is greatly influenced by his surroundings/ Pip lives in a time where if you were part of a lower class then you stayed in the lower. By everyone who surrounded him, he was only expected to be a commoner and work the rest of his life. It was a tradition for many people who where born into a high and wealthy class than you were expected to go to school and become great.
     With the cultural influence Pip's great expectation was to become a worker and stay in his lower class to die. This affected him in many ways. Such as at first he could not believe that he himself would be able to become a gentleman. He was also shot down by the girl of he loved because he was not of good enough standards for her.
     The setting of this novel affected the main character Pip because in that time period people were not expected to go anywhere. If the setting had changed to present day then Pip would be an ordinary person with a greater chance to become who he wants to be.  
     With all these surrounding Pip's moral grew stronger. He wanted better for himself. He accomplished becoming a gentlemen and also getting the girl of his dreams.

1999 Essay Question 3

Ophelia from the Shakespeare play Hamlet is a character with a conflict of whether to listen to her heart or her father. Her heart is telling her that her one and only true love is Hamlet. Hamlet is pretending to go crazy and she believes that she can fix him. Her father thinks that she cannot help and that he is not the right man for her.
Between her father and her heart she becomes very conflicted. She does not know what to do. She understands that her father only looks out for her best interest like any other father would. Her heart is telling her to choose Hamlet because it will ultimately make her happy.
With these two opposing forces it was very hard for her to make a decision. It was either to follow her heart and choose Hamlet the one she loved romantically of her father whom she loved and respected dearly. With these two opposing forces she became crazy. When she became mad she floated down a river and drowned.    

1999 Essay Question 2

      McCarthy used a lot of imagery to convey the experiences of the main character. "The eye turned to fire gave back no light he closed it with his thumb and sat by her and put his hand on her bloodied forehead and closed his own eyes so that he can see her running through the mountains." In this sentence you can see that the main character is mourning a loss of someone. Even though they are covered in blood he can still see her in a living state. The fact that her eye gave back no fire gives a sense that the main character and the coyote had a connection.

     The author's diction with the help of imagery helps with the setting of this passage. By using the words talus and escarpments you know that he is in the wild. Talus is a slopping mass of rock debris at the base of a cliff. Escarpments are steep slopes. By using these words he is able to set the setting and the tone of the passage. The main character is in the wilderness and in a peaceful place where he encounters death.

     By encountering death the readers are able to sense the tone of the main characters experiences. The death of the coyote affected the main character in ways that you suspect that he had a connection with her. The tone is very calm and mourning.

Poetry Essay Prompt #2

2004B Poem “Crossing the Swamp” (Mary Oliver)

Prompt: Read the following poem carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze the techniques the poet uses to develop the relationship between the speaker and the swamp.

                   Speaker                                                                                    Swamp 

  "here is swamp, here is struggle" -Anaphora 

 "Here is the endless wet thick                             

 cosmos, center of everything"-imagery

Poetry Essay Prompts #1

1997 Poem: “The Death of a Toad” (Richard Wilbur)

Prompt: Read the following poem carefully. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain how formal elements such as structure, syntax, diction, and imagery reveal the speaker’s response to the death of a toad.

Prewrite: Response to Death of a Toad: 

Syntax and Diction: By using the words sanctuaried and using the phrase as still as stone you know that the toad will die. 

Structure: The poem is laid out in the steps of the death of a toad

Imagery: Chewed and clipped of a leg, with a hobbling hop has got,In the gutters of the banked and staring eyes. He lies As still as if he would return to stone,And soundlessly attending, dies

 

Gridlock

A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

TPCASTT:  Poem Analysis Method:  
title, paraphrase, connotation, diction, 
attitude, tone, shift(s), title revisited and 
theme

Titleof poem means-The speaker says that everything is merely a dream

Paraphraseparts of the Poem- In the first stanza the speaker is leaving someone. He says that everyday and everything he sees is just a dream. In the second stanza the speaker is standing on a beach seeing everything and asking God why can't he grasp the grains of sand tighter. 

Connotationof some of the words – changing literal meaning to implied or associated values- 

AttitudeWhat is the attitude of the author, characters or yourself?- In the first stanza the attitude of the author is confident in himself and what he thinks. He believes that everything is a dream. In the second stanza the attitude changes. He begins to question what he believes and question God. 

ShiftAt first we think or feel one way – then there is a shift:  identify the shifts and explain them-The shift is in between the two stanzas. At first you are comfortable with the fact the everything is just a dream. After the shift the speaker begins to question it and why it cannot be stopped. In the first stanza he seems to be having a good dream which then turns bad.

Title revisitedAny new insights on meaning or significance of title?- Not everything is what it may seem like.

Theme- The theme is that there are good dreams and bad dreams. Sometimes you may question them. 

Carrie Multiple Choice Questions

1)What does Chris think is possible on prom night? (from Part 1: Page 74-120)

a)That people will have a bad time since Chris won't be there and she's the life of the party usually.

b)That Sue will help her get her revenge against Mr. Morton.

c)That Chris will be allowed to go to the prom.

d)That Tommy and Carrie would be crowned king and queen.

2)How does Annie's mother feel? (from Part 3)

a)Peaceful.

b)A little scared.

c)Terrified.

d)It is not mentioned.

3)What does Carrie try on while her mother watches? (from Part 2: Page 121-188)

a)Her prom dress.

b)Her school uniform.

c)Her choir outfit.

d)Her new earrings.

4)What does Billy put on ice? (from Part 1: Page 74-120)

a)Coke.

b)Beer.

c)The meaet he buys at the grocery store.

d)Two buckets of blood.

5)What does Carrie think her date is doing? (from Part 2: Page 121-188)

a)She does not know.

b)Having second thoughts in the driveway.

c)Playing a practical joke on her.

d)Taking someone else to the prom.

6)What do Carrie and her grandmother have in common? (from Part 2: Page 121-188)

a)Their looks.

b)The same power.

c)Their slight build.

d)Nothing.

7)What does Annie do during a game? (from Part 3)                       

a)Gets upset easily.

b)Nothing.

c)Gets anxious.

d)Makes the playing pieces levitate.

8)What is the overall consensus of the town? (from Part 3)

a)That many people were to blame for the tragedy.

b)That Carrie was mentally unstable and cruelty pushes her over the edge.

c)That Carrie White is a devil and the murderer of their children.

d)That Carrie knows exactly what she was doing at the time.

9)Who does Billy decide must pull the string to dump the pig's blood? (from Part 2: Page 121-188)

a)Miss Desjardin.

b)Himself.

c)Mr. Morton.

d)Chris.

10)What does Carrie feel as she dons her special bra? (from Part 2: Page 121-188)

a)Pretty.

b)Acceptable.

c)Both shame and excitement.

d)Normal.

11)What does Carrie ask of her mother? (from Part 2: Page 188-242)

a)For understanding.

b)For punishment.

c)For forgiveness.

d)For help.

12)Where does Carrie go when Tommy is killed? (from Part 2: Page 121-188)

a)Outside but then back inside the building again.

b)To the hospital.

c)Home.

d)To the police.

13)What is Carrie doing as she waits for her prom date? (from Part 2: Page 121-188)

a)Singing.

b)Watching the clock.

c)Practicing dancing.

d)Admiring herself in the mirror.

14)What is on the White residence? (from Part 3)

a)A sign.

b)Nothing.

c)A banner.

d)A plague.

15)Why is Billy excited? (from Part 1: Page 74-120)

a)At the idea of paying back Tommy.

b)At the upcoming cookout with the steak he buys.

c)He is not excited; he's angry.

d)At the idea of giving pig's blood to a pig.

16)What does Cora want to know? (from Part 2: Page 188-242)

a)How to stop any other dangerous people like Carrie.

b)How Carrie gets such powers.

c)Why her daughter is one of the few to survive.

d)Where are daughter's remains might be.

17)Who wonders if she had reached out to Carrie she could have made a difference? (from Part 3)

a)Miss Desjardin.

b)Carrie's aunt.

c)Sue.

d)Carrie's grandmother.

18)Where is Sheriff Doyle when everything starts with Carrie? (from Part 2: Page 188-242)

a)At the jail.

b)At home asleep.

c)Out of town.

d)In the State capitol.

19)What is the name of the Jenks' baby girl? (from Part 3)

a)Sally.

b)Annie.

c)Caralyn.

d)Betty.

20)Where is Carrie buried? (from Part 3)

a)She is cremated as no cemetery will have her.

b)The book does not say.

c)She is buried beside her mother and father in an unmarked grave.

d)She is sent to be buried where her grandmother lives.

21)What does Billy do about his friends and gloves? (from Part 2: Page 121-188)

a)Nothing.

b)He tries to get them to wear gloves but they won't.

c)He has them wear gloves.

d)He makes sure they don't wear gloves.

22)Who is Mrs. Cora Simard? (from Part 2: Page 188-242)

a)A woman who survives the attack outside a church.

b)Carrie's favorite teacher.

c)Carrie's mother's only friend.

d)Carrie's neighbor.

23)What does Miss Desjardin tell Carrie? (from Part 2: Page 121-188)

a)That Sue Snell has been kept from the prom.

b)That Chris has been kept from the prom.

c)That she is pretty.

d)That Miss Desjardin is sorry for what happened in the gym.

24)What is the path of destruction that Carrie walks? (from Part 2: Page 188-242)

a)A path from school to Billy's house.

b)A path from school to Chris's house.

c)A path from school to home.

d)A path from school to Sue Snell's house.

25)Who goes with Billy? (from Part 1: Page 74-120)

a)A few of his friends.

b)Chris.

c)No one.

d)Tommy.

1.        D

2.        B

3.        A

4.        D

5.        C

6.        B

7.        D

8.        C

9.        D

10.    C

11.    D

12.    A

13.    B

14.    A

15.    D

16.    A

17.    A

18.    C

19.    B

20.    B

21.    D

22.    A

23.    C

24.    C

25.    A