Poetry Packet – 9th grade
Poetry – a highly charged form of literature in which every word is packed with meaning. It has a musical
quality that may be achieved through meter, rhyme, repetition, and sound devices.
The following poems will be quized on ________________________. You are responsible for completing the
packet and studying the poetry. You will NOT be able to use the packet on the quiz, so it would be smart
to create a 3x5 card for each poem that summarizes and list key themes. Then, study your flash cards,
and USE them on the quiz. We will not go through the poems and give you the answers. Use must
INFER, use the internet as a source, and/or discuss the poems with classmates. You may use your own
personal notes (3x5 cards) on the quiz! One 3x5 card per poem may be used.
Poem 1: “Incident in a Rose Garden”
Note: Read this poem out- loud like a play! There are three characters: The master of the land, the
gardener, and Death.
Gardener: Sir, I encountered Death
Just now among our roses.
Thin as a scythe he stood there.
I knew him by his pictures.
He had his black coat on,
Black gloves, a broad black hat.
I think he would have spoken,
Seeing his mouth stood open.
Big it was, with white teeth.
As soon as he beckoned, I ran.
I ran until I found you.
Sir, I am quitting my job.
I want to see my sons
Once more before I die.
I want to see California.
Master: Sir you must be that stranger
Who threatened my gardener.
This is my property, sir.
I welcome only friends here.
Death: Sir, I knew your father.
And we were friends at the end.
As for your gardener
I did not threaten him.
Old men mistake my gestures.
I only meant to ask him
To show me to his master.
I take it you are he?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Define beckoned.
Why is the simile used to describe Death so effective?
How does the Gardener recognize Death? Describe Death’s appearance.
Why does the Gardener want to quit his job? What does he assume?
According to Death, why is the gardener mistaken in running away?
6.
Describe Death’s personality and quote a phrase to prove your response.
7.
How does the Master behave in an arrogant manner?
8.
Describe the irony in the final line.
9.
If the poem continued, what might the master say back to Death?
10.
How does the poet use personification in this poem?
11.
Is this poem free verse (no rhyme or meter)or blank verse (no rhyme, but it does have a
definite meter)? Explain your response.
Poem 2: “The Eagle”
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls:
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
1. Describe the scene that “The Eagle” presents. Define crag.
2. Since no spot is really “close to the sun”, how would you interpret this phrase figuratively? Why is
the eagle (figuratively) close to the sun? Why would the bird be lonely?
3. Explain “ringed with the azure world.” Clue: azure is closely related to the Spanish word azul.
4. Why is the sea described as wrinkled and crawling? From whose point of view would the sea be
wrinkly and crawling?
5. What two things are being compared in the simile. Name three things that the two items in the
simile have in common.
A.
B.
C.
6. Describe this poem’s rhyme scheme. (Only consider the last word of each line.)
Poem 3: Sonnet 30 by William Shakespeare
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:
Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,
For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,
And weep afresh love's long-since-cancel'd woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight.
Then can I grieve at grievances forgone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The sad account of fore-bemoanéd moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before:
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored, and sorrows end.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Describe a Shakespearean sonnet: (Notes from the teacher)
Define the following words: lack, woe, and grieve.
How many syllables are in the first line and why is that significant?
What is the mood of the poem and give one quote to prove your response.
Find the alliteration in line 1.
In general, what are the speaker’s feelings when he recalls the past?
How do we know the speaker wasted valuable time?. Find the quote.
What does drown an eye mean in line 5?
What or who is he grieving throughout the poem?
What does he wish he would have done differently? Infer.
What does the sonnet imply about the value of friendship?
The final lines of the poem are called the couplet. The couplet always contains the theme
of the poem. What is the theme or message to the readers?
Poem 4: “Dream Deferred” - Setting=Harlem, New York
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore-And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over-like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
1. What would be some common dreams for people living in Harlem, New York?
2. List the FOUR VERBS used to indicate what happens to a dream that is deferred.
3. Define deferred. What is the meaning behind the title of the poem?
4. List the 3 of the 5 similes.
A. Simile one-
B. Simile two-
C. Simile three-
5. Which simile suggests that people might just stop believing/forget about the dreams and
their dreams die?
6. Which simile suggests that people might ignore the injustice and try to lose themselves in
superficial pleasures?
7. Which simile suggests that people become sick with frustrations/never seem to reach
their goals?
8. Which simile suggests that people may become worn down with despair?
9. Why do people need to feel they can fulfill their dreams?
10. Interpret the last line. Why would the poet use the word choice explode? What mood is
created from the word choice?
Poem: 5: “Uphill”
Does the
Yes,
Will the
From
road wind up-hill all the way?
to the very end.
day's journey take the whole long day?
morn to night, my friend.
But is there for the night a resting-place?
A roof for when the slow dark hours begin.
May not the darkness hide it from my face?
You cannot miss that inn.
Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?
Those who have gone before.
Then must I knock, or call when just in sight?
They will not keep you standing at that door.
Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?
Of labour you shall find the sum.
Will there be beds for me and all who seek?
Yea, beds for all who come.
1. List FOUR phrases that illustrate what the questioner learns about the journey that he or she is taking?
2. What evidence is there that this journey is NOT an ordinary trip?
3. Show how the lines of this poem are divided between two speakers.
4. Who do you think the two speakers are in this poem? Infer.
5. What does the journey symbolize?
6. What would the “uphill winding” represent?
7. Explain (the metaphors) what the roof and slow dark hours could represent (symbolize)?
8. The word inn is a metaphor for _________________. Infer.
9. Who are those that have gone before?
10. Explain the meter of the poem. (count syllables per line)