POETRY HOMEWORK
Tiffany Powers
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 12
“The Road Not Taken” By: Robert Frost
• Diction: The diction in this poem is very descriptive.
Examples are “yellow road” and “lay in leaves” which
show how Frost uses adjectives to describe the different
paths that the speaker can take. The “road” infers that
there is a path you can take. This poem is told in first
person point of view.
IMAGES
The images in this poem show the reader that the speaker
has choices to make on what path to take. Frost uses words
like “grassy”, “leaves”, and “two roads diverged in a wood”.
DETAILS
This poem is about someone trying to figure out which path
to take because they are not sure which way to go. The
speaker looks at each path and sees what each path has to
offer. “And looked down one path as far as I could,” shows
that the speaker is trying to figure this out.
LANGUAGE
The figurative language uses phrases like “yellow wood” and
“sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler” to make
the reader visualize the speaker being forced to make a
decision… chose a path to take.
SENTENCE STRUCTURE
The sentence structure of this poem is very descriptive and
has a simple rhyme scheme of “ABAAB” that goes on through
the whole poem. The structure and scheme make this poem
have a very light tone for the reader and makes the reader
understand it because it is so simple.
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 13
“Fire and Ice” Robert Frost
• Diction: The diction in this poem is simple. This poem has
meaning behind it. “Fire” and “ice” stand for “love” and
“hate” which makes this poem very easy to understand.
The way Frost wrote this poem makes the reader think
that he would rather have the world end in “fire” rather
than “ice”.
IMAGES
Frost uses imagery to paint a picture in the readers mind.
The big one is “fire” and “ice”. He also uses words like
“destruction” and “suffice” to help the reader visualize the
meaning of this poem.
DETAILS
Frost wrote this poem to show that the speaker had
experiences with love and hate. Love is “fire” and hate is
“ice”. Love and hate are two of the biggest symbols used in
this poem. The speaker tells the reader that love can spread
faster than hate can and that we should chose love. Hate
can destroy people and their relationships in many different
ways. Its healthier to love than hate someone.
LANGUAGE
Frost uses figurative language. Frost uses words like “fire”
and “ice” to have a meaning other than what is stated. “Fire”
symbolizes love and “ice” symbolizes hate. In this poem the
pronoun “I” is used a lot so it is told in the first person and
is an opinionated poem.
SENTENCE STRUCTURE
The sentence structure in this poem starts out as an
statement and the end of the poem is an opinion. The
speaker states that his opinion is “fire”. The rhyme scheme
is interesting and it keeps the reader attentive.
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 14
“Curiosity” Alastair Reid
• Title: I think this poem is going to be about someone who
has a curiosity about things.
• Paraphrase: The speaker gives advice to the reader on
life. He tells us there are two different types of life. “Cats”
live care-free, adventurous, and irresponsible lives.
“Dogs” live worrying about consequences, don’t take
risks, and have their life together. This whole poem is
advice: “curiosity will not cause us to die- only lack of it
will” or “only the curious have, if they live, a tale worth
telling at all.”
TPCASTT
• Connotation: Reid uses an extended metaphor to describe
the lives of different people. “Cats” are risk takers and
“Dogs” are people who approach a situation with
hesitation. Allusion is present in the beginning. Reid starts
the poem right of the bat with allusion when she starts
with the “cat” “dog” analogy.
TPCASTT
• Attitude: The attitude of this poem appears to be
judgmental. At the very beginning the speaker takes
defense with the “cat” when he states that “curiosity
killed the cat”. The speaker then moves into comparing
“cats” and “dogs” in the next stanza. In the speakers
opinion the reader must go out and experience things in
order to know what life is like.
TPCASTT
• Shifts: The shifts in this poem occur when the speaker
goes back and forth arguing about “cats” and “dogs”. The
narrative switches between “cats,” criticizing “dogs” and
vice versa. The rhyme scheme is AB-AB.
• Title: After reading the poem and understanding what it
was about the title became more clear for me. This title
simply means that the speaker has an difference between
two different types of personalities and what to explain his
curiosity to other people.
TPCASTT
• Theme: The theme of this poem is the comparison
between two different groups of people. The dogs are the
type of person willing to live a simple, safe life which is not
a bad thing but their lives will end up being boring and
dull. The other group of people are the cats. The cats are
people willing to take risks and question the world and
their lives will be unique. The cats are the only way to live
according to the speaker.