Name: Date: Period:

Elements of Literature
Imagery

Using complete sentences, answer the following questions about James Wright’s poem “A Blessing” (p. 405).

1. What is the setting of the poem- where and when does it take place?

2. What were the ponies doing all day?

3. How do the ponies feel about the visit?
How do they feel about each other?

4. Why does the speaker feel especially fond of one of the ponies?

5. Most of the images in this poem appeal to the senses of sight and touch. Using the chart below, list
images from the poem in the appropriate columns. Some images might be listed in both columns.

Sight / Touch

Answer the following questions about Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “Daily” (p. 410) and Maya Angelou’s poem “Woman Work” (p. 409).

1. Name Five (5) activities listed by the speaker of “Woman Work.”
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

Name Five (5) activities listed by the speaker of “Daily.”
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

2. Both catalog poems list daily activities in a woman’s life, but the tone of each poem is different--the
speakers express different attitudes toward their lives. How would you describe the tone of each poem?
Is it complaining, bitter, angry, resigned, accepting, loving, or joyful? Is it something else? Cite details
from each poem to explain the tone you hear in it.
a. Tone of “Woman Work”:
Details from text:
b. Tone of “Daily”:
Details from text:

Using complete sentences, answer the following questions about E.E. Cummings poem “in Just---” (p. 414).

1. What season of the year is the setting for this poem?
What’s the weather like at that time of year?

2. List three (3) activities that are mentioned in the poem.

3. Who is the central figure in this poem---the person who is mentioned three (3) times?

4. What sound does this poem make and who is attracted to this sound?

5. What senses do the images “mud-luscious,” “whistle far and wee,” and “puddle-wonderful” appeal to?
What impact do these images have on the poem’s mood, or atmosphere?

6. Cummings is known for his unusual punctuation and arrangement of words. What are the children doing in the poem that matches the leaps and jumps of the words? Why might Cummings have made single words out of the names Eddie and Bill, Betty and Isbel?

Using complete sentences, answer the following questions about the haikus in your textbook (p. 419).

1. These haiku are, of course, translated. Which of the four haiku follow the rule of five syllables in lines 1 and 3, seven syllables in line 2?

2. Describe two (2) images you see in each haiku.

Miura Chora’s haiku:
Matsuo Bashō’s haiku:
Chiyo’s haiku:
Kobayashi Issa”s haiku:

3. Which haiku relies on the sense of hearing?

4. What season of the year do you think each haiku describes and which word or words give
you a clue?
Miura Chora’s haiku:
Matsuo Bashō’s haiku:
Chiyo’s haiku:
Kobayashi Issa”s haiku:

5. Haiku often balance two (2) contrasting images. In Chora’s haiku, for example, the toad in the road, probably resting, contrasts with the human, busy planting his bamboo. What contrasting images can you find in the other three (3) haiku?
Matsuo Bashō’s haiku:
Chiyo’s haiku:
Kobayashi Issa”s haiku:

Using complete sentences, answer the following questions about Robert Frost’s poem “Once by the Pacific” (p. 423).

1. Where is the speaker in “Once by the Pacific” standing as he observes the ocean? What are the waves doing?

2. According to lines 10-11, what do the wild waves make the speaker think of?

3. Look at the last two (2) lines of the sonnet, the concluding couplet. What dreadful thoughts is the speaker sharing with us there?

4. What images in lines 1-4 help you picture the waves---and even hear them?

5. What images in lines 5-6 help you picture the clouds?

6. Whose “rage” is describes in line 12?
What could cause the rage?

Using complete sentences, answer the following questions about Hô Xuân Hu’o’ng’s “Country Scene” (p. 425).
1. What is the speaker looking at?
What does she hear?

2. What does the speaker think of when she hears the bell?

3. How would you describe the tone of this lyric? Is it a pessimistic poem or a positive poem? Cite details from the poem to support your answer.

Compare Poems: Fill out a chart like the one below to help you compare these two (2) lyrics.

Frost / Hô
What is the speaker observing?
What images create the scene?
How does the speaker feel?
What lesson does the speaker draw from the experience?
What is the tone of the poem?