Emily Dickinson Poems

Match the poems to their central idea.

• Poem II

• cyclical nature of life

• Poem VII

• regret for missed opportunities

• Poem VI

• value of kindness and compassion

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Bloom's Taxonomy: Analyze

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When you read this line from the poem ‘Almost’, ‘Within my reach! / I could have touched!’, what emotions or words come to your mind?

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Bloom's Taxonomy: Apply

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What significance does the word ‘sauntered’ hold in the poem ‘Almost’?

• It implies a relaxed pace, contrasting with the urgency needed to seize opportunities.

• The word's repetition creates a dreamy, relaxed atmosphere as if the speaker reminisces or daydreams.

• The repetition of the word ‘sauntered’ is a crude reminder that ‘slack and you shall lose’.

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Bloom's Taxonomy: Analyze

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Explain how the author plays with words to amplify the visual and auditory quality of the poem ‘Almost’ through these lines:

Soft sauntered through the village,

Sauntered as soft away!

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Bloom's Taxonomy: Apply

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4

In poem II, the poet says everyone faces both difficulties and happiness; we fill empty moments with either bliss or scorn, experiencing clear goals or confusion, but clarity eventually emerges. Match the words from the poem to the idea they signify.

• clear goals

• night

• difficulties

• mist

• clarity

• stars

• empty moments

• blank

• confusion

• day

Tags

Bloom's Taxonomy: Analyze

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4

Accommodation is a common practice where a poem is assigned meanings it does not directly convey. Literal interpretation on the other hand extracts information solely available in the text.Categorize the following inferences of the poem ‘Almost’ under their respective category.

Groups:

(a) Literal interpretation

,

(b) Accommodation

• One is proud of their youthful beauty but it is as impermanent as the violets.

• It is now too late to feel the violets with her fingers.

• The poet regrets not touching the gentle violets when walking through the village

• These violets must be annual, not perennial because they don’t persist.

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Bloom's Taxonomy: Analyze

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The poet says that if she can stop one heart from breaking or ease one life from aching, she will consider her life (a)   .

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Bloom's Taxonomy: Analyze

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The editor writes in the Preface that ‘when a thought takes one's breath away, a lesson on grammar seems an impertinence’. Share a thought or idea, either from Dickinson’s poems or your own experience, that took your breath away.

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Bloom's Taxonomy: Apply

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Recite any one of the three poems in a fitting tone and pace.

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Bloom's Taxonomy: Apply

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