Emily Dickinson
1830-1886
If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me,
I know that is poetry.
About the Author- Review!
* Emily Dickinson was a famous New England author who wrote short, untitled poems. She was born
in Amherst, Massachusetts.
* After her schooling, she secluded herself in her house, dressing only in white and seeing only a few
close friends.
* She was known as an extensive reader, especially of Isaac Watts, Shakespeare, and the Bible.
* She was able to see the most common and ordinary things in an unusual way. She wrote on
aspiration, love, nature, immortality, and death . Death was her most common subject. Around 800
of her poems are about death.
* She wrote almost 2,000 poems, but most were published after her death (posthumously). These
poems were written on anything she could find--brown paper bags and the backs of envelopes. They
also did not have titles, so the first lines of her poems are the titles.
* She was not a Christian. She remained a skeptic throughout her life even though she wrote poems
about God. Religion was important, but she did not have a relationship with the Lord.
* Her poems are modern in nature even though she wrote during the Realistic Period of literature.
About "It Sifts from Leaden Sieves"
* This is an example of a puzzle or riddle poem.
* The "it" is snow and the aging woman is the landscape.
* The poem follows a chronological structure. The snow is a skilled cosmetician-dressmaker,
preparing a challenging specimen to be admired by the public. The specimen is the landscape, the
world before the poet's eyes.
* The first stanza indicates that snow covers everything like a blanket ("alabaster wool"). The word
"leaden" indicates a dark , snow-cloud filled sky.
* Notice the cosmetic imagery in the poem (powders, wrinkles, it makes an even face, unbroken
forehead).
* The second stanza indicates that the landscape is covered with the snow as an aging woman uses
powder or foundation to cover up the wrinkles on her face.
* The third and fifth stanzas are permeated with seamstress imagery (wraps, fleeces, veil, ruffles
wrists, as ankles of a queen).
* Stanzas 3-5 indicate the robing of the landscape. There are ruffles around the lady's wrists and
ankles just like there is snow around the fence posts.
* The last two lines ("Then stills its artisans like ghosts / Denying they have been.") indicate the
mysteriousness of the snowfall and the woman's assertions that her wrinkles were never there. Her
makeup and clothes have covered her up so that one cannot see her imperfections just like the
snow has covered the landscape and made everything smooth and white.
John Greenleaf Whittier
1807-1892
It is no use trying to sum people up. One must follow hints, not exactly what is
said, nor yet entirely what is done.
The best of a book is not the thought which it contains, but the thought
which it suggests; just as the charm of music dwells not in the tones but in
the echoes of our hearts.
The smile of God is victory.
You don't always win your battles, but it's good to know you fought.
About the Author
* Whittier was a man of strong conviction who believed in the abolishment of slavery. He is most
famous for his poetry--hymns, love poems, patriotic poems, ballads, and pastorals.
* His masterpiece is Snow-Bound, a pastoral that celebrates the New England country side and family
life. This poem has been called America's greatest pastoral.
About Snow-Bound
* This poem is a pastoral, a poem that deals with life in the country.- term to know!
* Summary- It is a cold and gloomy December day. The bitter cold and the strong east wind indicate
that a snowstorm is coming. The author and his siblings do their chores. As night falls, ti begins to
snow heavily, and snowdrifts are seen by bedtime. The snowstorm lasts through the next day.
The following morning, the snow has stopped, and the landscape is covered in deep snow. The
author's father tells the children to clear a path to the barn. The author and his siblings reach te
barn and wake up the animals.
A cold north wind is blowing, and there are no sounds heard but the shriek of the iwnd, the
moaning of tree limbs, and the sound of sleet hitting the windows. Shut up in the house, the family
sits around the fireplace keeping warm, drinking cider, and eating. They pass the time by telling
stories and doing puzzles and riddles.
As the fire dies down around 9:00 P.M., the mother gives thinks to God for their safety and
prays for others. The children like in bed listening to the wind and then fall asleep.
The next morning, the children awake to the sound of the road being cleared by a team of oxen.
The teamsters come to the house to borrow some of the family's oxen to add to their team and
stand around for a while talking and drinking cider while the children play in the snow. Young men
go to visit the young women at their houses, and the doctor comes around and says that a neighbor
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will need the mother's help tonight. The family reads books to pass the time. Finally, a newspaper
arrives, and the family feels connected to the outside world once again.
This poem is autobiographical and exhibits an organization based on contrasts--alternating
repetitions (natural and domestic, outdoor and indoor). It also chronicles the progression from work
to rest: Work comes first. The poem is also chronological in that it progresses from the coming of
the storm to the end of the storm and daytime to nighttime.
The theme of the poem is that strenuous effort must precede pleasure.
What is "And whirl-dance of the blinding storm" an example of? personification
Lines 3-8 indicate that the speaker and his family are able to recognize a storm is coming. They
notice that there is a circle around the sun, which seems to be an "ominous prophecy" heralding the
coming of the storm.
What is the line, "The cock his crested helmet bent," an example of? a metaphor
What are the lines, "The clothes-line posts / Looked in like tall and sheeted ghosts," an example of?
simile
"Of rare Aladdin's wondrous cave" is an allusion to the story of Aladdin in The Arabian Nights.
Notice the parallelism in the last stanza. Lines 175 and 176 are both questions that begin with the
same words (anaphora). Also, "blow high" matches "blow low."
This poem is written in rhymed couplets.
William Shakespeare
1564-1616
"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have
their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts,
his acts being seven ages."
"The course of true love never did run smooth."
"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust
upon them."
"He was not for an age, but for all time!" --Ben Jonson
About the author
* Greatest author of all time
* Famous for his 37 plays and 154 sonnets
About "Winter"
* This poem is part of Love's Labour's Lost.
* Shakespeare communicates the quality of winter life around a sixteenth-century English country
house. He does not tell us what the winter is like. He provides the details so we can imaginatively
experience the winter through our senses.
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What references to the senses do you see in the poem?
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We also do not see a beautiful picture when we read this poem. We see raw noses, greasy cooks,
and red faces. Shakespeare does not romanticize nature, here or elsewhere. The focus is on the
strength of human character.
The people are sick of winter, and the owl's ironically merry note seems all wrong.
The poem divides evenly into two identical stanzas. The severity of winter is a backdrop for both
human and animal activity. Life goes on, indoors and outdoors. Also, note that both stanzas end
with the owl's merry note and the line, "While greasy Joan doth keel the pot." Each stanza takes us
from morning to evening.
What do you think is the theme of this poem? Winter is not what it is sometimes praised to be--in
Christmas card illustrations, for example. Life is more difficult for both animals and man.
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