Poetry review

What literary device is found in the line

"I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide"?

• Metaphor

• Personification

• Simile

• Alliteration

Answer explanation

The poet is comparing a poem to a color slide using the word like.

What is being personified in the line

"or walk inside the poem's room and feel the walls for a light switch"?

• The poem

• The room

• The light switch

• The speaker

Answer explanation

The poem is being treated as if it is a person.

In the line

"I say drop a mouse into a poem and watch him probe his way out"

who/what does the mouse represent?

• A professor

• A mouse

• The speaker

• Students

Answer explanation

The mouse represents students being able to read/explore a poem without needing to analyze it to death.

What does the speaker mean when they say

"but all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair and torture a confession out of it"?

• Students hate poetry and want to beat it up.

• Teachers don't think students analyze enough poetry.

• Teachers hate poetry and want to beat it up.

• Schools analyze poetry to the point where they are finding meaning that isn't there.

Answer explanation

The speaker is saying that schools analyze poetry to the point where they are finding meaning that isn't there.

What is the theme of "Introduction to Poetry"?

• Analyzing poetry is pointless.

• The path to true love never does run smooth.

• Analyzing poetry is an important skill for students to have.

• Students should just be able to explore and enjoy poetry without having to analyze it to death.

Answer explanation

The theme of the poem is that students should just be able to explore and enjoy poetry without having to analyze it to death.

What did you think of this poem?

What is allusion?

• Comparing two things using like or as.

• A reference to something unrelated.

• When a non human thing is given human characteristics.

• A direct comparison

Answer explanation

An allusion is a reference to something unrelated.

What is a symbol?

• A comparison between two unlike things without using “like” or “as.”

• An overarching idea in a piece of writing. What the author wants to say about the topic.

• When an object, colour, or word represents something else.

• When a non-human thing is given human qualities.

Answer explanation

A symbol is when an object, colour, or word represents something else.

ex) A heart is a symbol of love.

Which one is a metaphor?

• And it seems to me you lived your life like a candle in the wind.

• All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.

• Look, I’m no Mother Teresa. I’ve made my mistakes, but I’m trying.

• I saw an ol’ gnome/ Take a gknock at a gnat/

  Who was gnibbling the gnose of his gnu.

Answer explanation

This metaphor is comparing the world to a stage.

Which one symbolizes hope?

• A dove

• A heart

• A raven

• A tree

Answer explanation

A dove symbolizes peace.