Emily Dickinson

1. Emily Dickinson Where Ships of Purple—gently toss— On Seas of Daffodil— Fantastic Sailors—mingle— And then—the Wharf is still! • Make one or two absolutely literal statements about the text (ones that no one could disagree with). • Briefly describe the central tension of the text • Make one interpretive statement about an image in the text (one in which you ascribe meaning or investigate a meaning beyond the literal. Be prepared to defend your interpretation with evidence from the text.) • Make a central assertion that captures the most valid meaning/message of the text. • Ask one key question about the poem.

2. “This Is Just to Say” --William Carlos Williams I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold • Make one or two absolutely literal statements about the text (ones that no one could disagree with). • Briefly describe the central tension of the text • Make one interpretive statement about an image in the text (one in which you ascribe meaning or investigate a meaning beyond the literal. Be prepared to defend your interpretation with evidence from the text.) • Make a central assertion that captures the most valid meaning/message of the text. • Ask one key question about the poem.

3. “Harlem” –Langston Hughes 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? • Make one or two absolutely literal statements about the text (ones that no one could disagree with). • Briefly describe the central tension of the text • Make one interpretive statement about an image in the text (one in which you ascribe meaning or investigate a meaning beyond the literal. Be prepared to defend your interpretation with evidence from the text.) • Make a central assertion that captures the most valid meaning/message of the text. • Ask one key question about the poem.

4. “The Fish” 
by William Butler Yeats Although you hide in the ebb and flow Of the pale tide when the moon has set, The people of coming days will know About the casting out of my net, And how you have leaped times out of mind Over the little silver cords, And think that you were hard and unkind, And blame you with many bitter words. • Make one or two absolutely literal statements about the text (ones that no one could disagree with). • Briefly describe the central tension of the text • Make one interpretive statement about an image in the text (one in which you ascribe meaning or investigate a meaning beyond the literal. Be prepared to defend your interpretation with evidence from the text.) • Make a central assertion that captures the most valid meaning/message of the text. • Ask one key question about the poem.

5. “Morning at the Window” 
by T. S. Eliot They are rattling breakfast plates in basement kitchens, And along the trampled edges of the street I am aware of the damp souls of housemaids Sprouting despondently at area gates. The brown waves of fog toss up to me Twisted faces from the bottom of the street, And tear from a passer-by with muddy skirts An aimless smile that hovers in the air And vanishes along the level of the roofs. • Make one or two absolutely literal statements about the text (ones that no one could disagree with). • Briefly describe the central tension of the text • Make one interpretive statement about an image in the text (one in which you ascribe meaning or investigate a meaning beyond the literal. Be prepared to defend your interpretation with evidence from the text.) • Make a central assertion that captures the most valid meaning/message of the text. • Ask one key question about the poem.

6. “Fire and Ice”By Robert Frost Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice. • Make one or two absolutely literal statements about the text (ones that no one could disagree with). • Briefly describe the central tension of the text • Make one interpretive statement about an image in the text (one in which you ascribe meaning or investigate a meaning beyond the literal. Be prepared to defend your interpretation with evidence from the text.) • Make a central assertion that captures the most valid meaning/message of the text. • Ask one key question about the poem.

7. From “Song of Myself” (Section 20)By Walt Whitman I exist as I am—that is enough; If no other in the world be aware, I sit content;   And if each and all be aware, I sit content.   One world is aware, and by far the largest to me, and that is myself; And whether I come to my own to-day, or in ten thousand or ten million years I can cheerfully take it now, or with equal cheerfulness I can wait.   My foothold is tenon’d and mortis’d in granite;   I laugh at what you call dissolution; And I know the amplitude of time. • Make one or two absolutely literal statements about the text (ones that no one could disagree with). • Briefly describe the central tension of the text • Make one interpretive statement about an image in the text (one in which you ascribe meaning or investigate a meaning beyond the literal. Be prepared to defend your interpretation with evidence from the text.) • Make a central assertion that captures the most valid meaning/message of the text. • Ask one key question about the poem.

8. “Theme in Yellow”ByCarl Sandburg I spot the hills With yellow balls in autumn. I light the prairie cornfields Orange and tawny gold clusters And I am called pumpkins. On the last of October When dusk is fallen Children join hands And circle round me Singing ghost songs And love to the harvest moon; I am a jack-o'-lantern With terrible teeth And the children know I am fooling. • Make one or two absolutely literal statements about the text (ones that no one could disagree with). • Briefly describe the central tension of the text • Make one interpretive statement about an image in the text (one in which you ascribe meaning or investigate a meaning beyond the literal. Be prepared to defend your interpretation with evidence from the text.) • Make a central assertion that captures the most valid meaning/message of the text. • Ask one key question about the poem.