“Porphyria’s Lover” – pp. 947-948
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5.
Is this poem a dramatic monologue? Why or why not?
Who is the speaker in the poem?
What is the setting of the poem?
What is the situation in the poem?
What is the theme of the poem?
“Sonnet 43” – p. 954
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5.
Is the sonnet Shakespearean or Petrarchan? (See the Handbook of Literary Terms in the
back of your book.)
How many ways does the speaker count that she loves?
What are the ways the speaker loves?
What is the theme of this poem?
This poem is from a collection of poems titled Sonnets from the Portuguese. The poems
are not written in Portuguese. The poems are not about Portugal. How can you explain
the title of the collection?
“Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave?” – p. 976
1. How many speakers are there in the poem?
2. When one speaker speaks, we call that a monologue. What do we call more than one
speaker?
3. How many guesses does the speaker make before she correctly guesses who is digging on
her grave?
4. Who does she suspect?
5. Who is finally revealed to be digging on her grave?
6. Why does the speaker think the digging is being done?
7. Why is the digging being done?
8. What makes this poem ironic?
9. What is the theme of the poem?
“The Man He Killed” – Thomas Hardy
"Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have sat us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!
"But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him and he at me,
And killed him in his place.
"I shot him dead because –
Because he was my foe,
Just so – my foe of course he was;
That's clear enough; although
"He thought he'd 'list perhaps,
Off-hand like – just as I –
Was out of work – had sold his traps –
No other reason why.
"Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You'd treat if met where any bar is,
Or help to half-a-crown."
1. Explain why this poem is a dramatic monologue.
2. Define nipperkin, traps, half-a-crown, ‘list.
3. What does it mean to do something “off-hand?”
4. What do the dashes in stanza three indicate?
5. What is a foe?
6. Why did the speaker ‘list?
7. Why did the “foe” ‘list?
8. What conclusion does the speaker come to about the “foe?”
9. Why does the speaker describe war as “quaint and curious” in the last stanza?
10. What realization has the speaker come to by the last stanza?
11. How does irony function in the poem?
12. What is the theme of the poem?