Kucaj/Rybicki
English 10
Poetry Unit - Questions to Support Reading
GENDER
“Just Because”
1. What seems to motivate the speaker?
2. Were there any stereotypes that were listed that you had not heard of?
3. What poetic device is the author using to make his/her point really sink in with
the reader?
4. How does the author use sarcasm to make his/her point? How does this make the
reader feel? Find a specific example.
5. What point of view are these poems written from? How does that create a
connection with the reader?
6. What is the theme or message all three authors are trying to send to the reader?
Assignment: Mimic the style of the “Just Because” poems and write one about yourself.
Your poem should have close to the same number of lines and follow the format of the
three poems in the packet.
“Barbie” – Marge Piercy
1. What seems to motivate the speaker?
2. If this poem was about boys what would the title be? Would this poem be
different?
3. Find the example of the poetic device simile in the poem.
4. How does the mood of the poem change as it progresses? What is the author
trying to show?
5. How does this poem relate to protagonists we have read about and their struggle
with society?
6. What is the theme or message the author is trying to send to the reader?
“Those Sundays” – Robert Heyden
1. Who is the speaker of the poem?
2. What does the first line reveal about the father?
3. Find an example of the poetic device alliteration in this poem.
4. How did the author of this poem treat the father?
5. What seems to be the tone of the author looking back on this situation?
6. What is the theme or message the author is trying to send to the reader?
RACE
“Theme for English B” – Langston Hughes
1. What motivates the speaker?
2. What does the author seem to be struggling with?
3. How does the subject change over the course of the poem? What list does the
author start to make? What deeper comments is he making towards the end?
4. Do you think the English teacher will learn from the author’s assignment?
5. How does this poem connect to the ideas presented by the “Just Because” poems?
6. What is the theme or message the author is trying to send to the reader?
“Public School, 190, Brooklyn 1963” – Martin Espada
1. Who is the speaker?
2. What do we learn about the school from the descriptions at the beginning of the
poem?
3. What would the author’s purpose be for using “we” instead of “I”? How does it
make the reader feel?
4. What is the author implying in the last line of the poem?
5. Should we continue to discuss stereotyping issues such as race or should we just
move forward and let the past be?
6. What is the theme or message the author is trying to send to the reader?
“The Certainty” – Roque Dalton
1. Who is the speaker?
2. How does this poem look different than most poems? Why would an author do
that?
3. Should this be considered a poem? Why or why not?
4. In the last line what affect does the phrase “of course” have on the reader?
5. Consider the title of this poem. Why would the poet call his poem this?
6. What is the theme or message the author is trying to send to the reader?
“Coal” - Audre Lorde
1. Who is the speaker?
2. What is the significance of putting “I” on its own line?
3. List the words from the poem that relate to what is bright and/or clear.
4. When in the poem do you see sentences that are grammatically incorrect? Why
would an author do that?
5. Skin color is not a choice we can make for ourselves. What is the poet saying we
do have a choice over?
6. What is the theme or message the author is trying to send to the reader?
CLASS
“Terrible People” – Ogden Nash
1. Who is the speaker?
2. How does the poet create a unique narrative voice? What are some phrases that
jump out at you?
3. What is funny about this poem? How does that help get the readers point across?
4. What do you notice about the end rhyme of this poem? How is it setup?
5. How would the author define as ‘terrible people?’ Who are they?
6. What is the theme or message the author is trying to send to the reader?
“To the Pay Toilet” – Marge Piercy
1. Who is the speaker?
2. Who is the ‘you’ the poet is talking to?
3. What poetic device is being used in Line 6? What is the image being created and
what does it mean?
4. What does the author mean by the phrase “or whatever the prevailing bottom is?”
5. What is the poetic device being used in the second to last line? What affect does it
have on the way we read the poem?
6. What is the theme or message the author is trying to send to the reader?
CENSORSHIP/AWARENESS
“The History Teacher” – Billy Collins
1. Who is the speaker?
2. How does the tone of the poem change from beginning to end?
3. Why does the speaker explain what the children are doing on the playground?
Why is that important?
4. Why would someone tell the history teacher to teach this way?
5. Is what the history teacher doing wrong? Does the age of the students matter?
6. What is the theme or message the author is trying to send to the reader?
“I am the People, I am the Mob” – Carl Sanburg
1. Who is the speaker?
2. What does the poet mean when he says, “The Napoleons come from me and the
Lincolns”?
3. In the third stanza was poetic device is being used? Why?
4. What does the poet say he must do? Why is that important?
5. What does it mean at the end of the poem, “the mass, will arrive then” ?
6. What is the theme or message the author is trying to send to the reader?
INDIVIDUAL vs. GROUP
“Conscientious Objector” – Edna St. Vincent Melay
1. Who is the speaker?
2. Who is the speaker talking about and describing in the poem? What poetic device
describes that?
3. What is the business of the character the author is speaking about?
4. What does the speaker refuse to do?
5. Where in the poem does the speaker change who he/she is speaking to?
6. What is the theme or message the author is trying to send to the reader?
“The Low Road” – Marge Piercy
1. Who is the speaker?
2. In the first stnaza who do you believe the “they” is?
3. What is the advice the speaker gives in the second stanza?
4. How do the images being presented change over the course of the poem?
5. What is the theme or message the author is trying to send to the reader?
6. Is this message realistic? How does it affect the reader?
“A Pace Like That” – Yehuda Amichai
1. Who is the speaker?
2. According to the speaker, what happens to your life as you get older?
3. What is a Torah scroll and why does the author compare it to his way of life?
4. Identify the images of nature and explain how they illuminate the ideas of the
speaker.
5. How can the images in this poem be seen as metaphors?
6. What is the theme or message the author is trying to send to the reader?
“I, Too” – Langston Hughes
1. What is the significance of the word “too” in the first line?
2. What do we know about the speaker of the poem?
3. How is life different today than how the author thinks they will be tomorrow?
4. How does this relate to past poems we have read in this packet?
5. What will the “they” in the poem ultimately be ashamed of?
6. What is the theme or message the author is trying to send to the reader?
“Do Not Go Gentle” – Dylan Thomas
No Questions.
WAR/POLITICS
“In Flanders Field” – John McClure
1. Who is speaking in this poem?
2. Find an example of alliteration.
3. What is the rhyme scheme of this poem?
4. How does this poem make the reader feel in the beginning as opposed to the end?
5. Why may the speakers not be able to sleep?
6. What is the theme or message the author is trying to send to the reader?
“Unknown Citizen” – W.H. Auden
1. Who is the speaker?
2. Who is this poem about?
3. What is the rhyme scheme of this poem?
4. Does it seem that the “Unknown Citizen” lived a happy, satisfying life?
5. What is curious about the line “our teachers report that he never interfered with
their education” ?
6. What is the theme or message the author is trying to send to the reader?