Sophomore English/2016-2017
Gods and Monsters
Berger-White
Writing Questions: “Bone” by Mary Oliver
(1) Select one phrase or line (or set of lines) that you see as central to the meaning of the poem.
Write at some length—about two paragraphs—about why that part of the poem is significant
to the poem as a whole.
(2) The numbered section breaks are odd and jarring—they seem to interrupt the flow of the
poem. Why might Oliver make these breaks where she does? How might this deepen or
reinforce one of her arguments?
(3) Look back to “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer.” How is the ending of “Bone”
similar? How does this poem make explicit what is implied in the Whitman poem?