Romanticism/Poetry Analysis Test Review
Test Dates: Thurs. 1/29 (A) / Fri. 1/30 (B) [100-point Major Grade]
FORMAT:
 Multiple Choice
 Short Answer/Poem Analysis – You will complete a DFTT on a new poem, where you will
identify the figurative language and poetic devices, decode the poem’s ideas, determine the
poem’s rhyme scheme, and identify and write—in sentences—about the poem’s tone and
central theme.
Notes on Romanticism and Rationalism
 Review the class notes we took on Romanticism and brief notes we looked at on Dark/Gothic
Romanticism that we looked at before reading “The Raven” (These are also on my webpage.)
 There are a few questions where you must know if a characteristic represents Romanticism or
Rationalism. If you have unwisely thrown out your Rationalism notes or have already glued
them into your English III Scrapbook, they will be on my webpage to review. Or…keep in
mind that Romanticism was very much a reaction to and away from Rationalism, so as long as
you study your Romanticism notes, you should be set.
Figurative Language and Poetic Devices - Study the packet you filled out on Figurative
Language Techniques and Poetic Devices (also the PP is on my webpage)
Understand the following well enough so you can apply them to examples:
Poetic Devices
Figurative Language
Alliteration
Parallel Structure
Assonance
Eye and Slant Rhyme
Know how to figure out a poem’s rhyme scheme
Metaphor/Implied Metaphor
Personification
Allusion
Simile
Hyperbole
Other Terms
diction, connotation vs. denotation, syntax, imagery, tone vs. mood
You will be able to use the following poems on the test, but make sure to review them.
 “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (346 in textbook)
 “If you were coming in the fall” (HW handout) and “Success is counted sweetest” (p 550 in
textbook and HW handout) by Emily Dickinson
 “America,” “O Pioneers,” and “O Me! O Life!” by Walt Whitman (handout)
 “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe (436-440 in textbook)
MAKE SURE TO BRING YOUR TONE WORD HANDOUT. YOU MAY USE IT ON THE TEST!
TIPS ON IDENTIFYING A POEM’S THEME:
 THEME is NOT plot; it’s not advice, so avoid “we should” or “we should never” statements; it’s
not a catchy phrase to go on a bumper sticker.
 Think about what the poet is saying about human behavior. Sometimes the observation might be
negative. That’s fine. Identify what the poet is observing about us. We don’t have to solve the
problem in our theme statement.
 To figure out a poem’s theme:
o A) Determine the life subject the poet is addressing
o B) Then…figure out what the writer is specifically saying about that life subject.
 While a poem might have more than one theme, there can be wrong answers. We must be able to
defend our theme choice with details from the text, choices made by the poet rather than simply
our opinion or personal experiences.
 Endings/last stanzas are very important when identifying a poem’s overall theme.
 When writing out a theme statement, include the author’s name, genre, properly punctuated title
(poem titles are given quotation marks.) NEVER USE THE SECOND PERSON “YOU” in a
theme statement. Use the first person plural “we” or third person “people/they.”
A good set-up is the following:
In Walt Whitman’s poem “America,” he expresses the idea that…
TIPS ON IDENTIFYING TONE:
 You must know the subject of a poem or stanza to identify its tone. Then, determine the speaker’s
attitude towards that particular subject. Remember—the poet creates the poem’s speaker. Look at
the poet’s diction—the connotation of the word choices, the imagery, the figurative language, etc.
 Just because the subject is sad doesn’t mean the tone/attitude is also sad. A poem about death
can have a playful or joyful tone; a poem about a birthday party could have a bitter or angry tone.
Remember, it’s all about the speaker’s ATTITUDE towards the particular subject.
 *YOU MAY USE YOUR TONE WORD HANDOUT ON THE TEST, SO BRING IT!
 An EXAMPLE of using words and phrases from the text to write about its TONE:
In his poem “Deer Hit,” because Loomis creates the image of the speaker picking up the injured
deer “like a bride” and, in a later stanza, has the speaker refer to its “beautiful body,” this
positive and tender diction reveals the speaker’s caring and sympathetic attitude towards the deer.
By the end of the poem, when describing how he and his father disposed of the deer’s body, the
speaker compares himself to a “gangster,” a term with a negative connotation. This word choice
creates the speaker’s guilty and regretful attitude towards his actions. In fact, Loomis ends the
poem with the speaker looking back over “all” of his life and the “trail of ruin” he has left.
Choosing to compare his life to a path littered with mistakes—a dark and negative image—goes a
step farther, revealing the speaker’s guilty and regretful attitude applies not only to hitting the
deer, but to many decisions and mistakes he has made throughout his life.