Lesson 33
Spring and Fall
Q1.) Hopkin’s idiosyncratic meter, which he dubbed “sprung rhythm” uses accent marks over certain syllables. What is the dominant meter and line length? What is the rhyme scheme? Describe the poem’s structure. (HINT: The anomaly in the rhyme scheme is the key).
A1.) The dominant meter of the poem is idiosyncratic. I really don’t know and the back of the book isn’t very clear. The rhyme scheme is made up of three pairs of lines that have end rhyme, one group of three lines with end rhyme, and then another three pairs of lines with the same end rhyme.
Q2.) What is the effect of the frequent use of alliteration in the poem? Combined with assonance and consonance, what mood does this device create?
A2.) The effect of the frequent use of alliteration in the poem is that it adds to the mood. Combined with assonance and consonance, the mood is created because of the sounds of the words when spoken aloud. It is a mood of sorrow.
Q3.) Comment on the effect created by such unusual diction as Goldengrove and unleaving (line 2), fresh (line 4), wanwood and leafmeal (line 8), springs (line 11), and blight (line 14.) How do the connotations of these words create the poem’s mood?
A3.) The effect created by the unusual diction is that it makes the reader feel icky because the words wanwood, and leafmeal make the reader picture decaying wood and leaves which is gross because it not only looks bad, but it usually smells too. The connotations of the words goldengrove, fresh, and springs are good words so they create a comfortable mood. The words wanwood, leafmeal, and blight have bad connotations because of what they mean.
Q4.) Analyze the poet’s use of figurative language. How does it suggest the theme of the poem?
A4.) The poet’s use of figurative language suggests the theme of the poem because the entire poem is written in a metaphor and it suggests the theme that the ending of a season is like the dying of a season or a person.
The Oven Bird
Q1.) Frost’s poem, like Hopkins’s, borrows from the sonnet form. What is its meter, rhyme scheme, and structure?
A1.) The meter is in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme is made up of an AABCBDCDEEFGFG pattern. The structure consists of a repeating of the words, “he says.” There is also alliteration with the letter “s”.
Q2.) Paraphrase the three messages of the oven bird, then analyze the meaning of the word fall as it encapsulates the theme of the poem.
A2.) 1st message: (lines 4 & 5) He says that the leaves are aging and that the flowers/are decreasing in number since mid-summer.
2nd message: (lines 6 & 7) He says that spring is past/ when the pear and cherry blossoms left the tree and blew away.
3rd message: (lines 11 & 12) The bird would stop sending his message and sing for fun like other birds/ but he knows that he sings to tell people that eventually they won’t sing anymore because they will die.
Q3.) Paraphrase the last four lines of the poem. How does the oven bird symbolize the human condition?
A3.) The bird would stop sending his message and sing for fun like other birds/ but he knows that if he stopped singing the rest of the birds wouldn’t know about the problem./ the question that he asks by strongly hinting/ Is how to address the problem.
