G11U4_ST_Frost_Wu_263-266.fm Page 266 Tuesday, April 1, 2008 4:13 PM
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Poems by Robert Frost
Reading Warm-up B
Read the following passage. Pay special attention to the underlined words. Then, read it again,
and complete the activities. Use a separate sheet of paper for your written answers.
Writers use repetition for a variety of purposes. Repetition often serves to emphasize a point, for example, and
within a short poem it can be especially meaningful.
Robert Frost uses the device with special skill in some of
his poems. For example, in “Mending Wall,” he has the
speaker repeat the first line, “Something there is that
doesn’t love a wall,” at line 35. The speaker seems a bit
sad, or even rueful, about the yearly ritual of repairing
the wall. Another repetition balances this one, when the
neighbor, perhaps a little stubbornly or willfully, insists
that “good fences make good neighbors” (lines 27 and
45). The two sets of lines are like wagons traveling
abreast on a road, parallel yet different.
In “Out, Out—”, Frost uses the phrase “snarled and
rattled” three times in the poem’s opening lines. The verb
snarled suggests that the buzz saw has come to life as an
enemy, determined to injure the innocent, artless boy
who handles it.
Finally, in “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,”
Frost closes the poem with two identical lines: “And miles
to go before I sleep.” The soft, downy flakes of snow and
the dark beauty of the woods have lulled the speaker into
a temporary sense of security and relaxation. He realizes,
though, that he cannot make an outright surrender to
the temptations of standing still or giving up. He must
continue on forthwith, with an immediate resolution to
keep life’s promises and do his duty. The repetition
underlines the speaker’s renewed sense of commitment.
1. Underline the words that give
a clue to the meaning of
rueful. Write a sentence of
your own using the word
rueful.
2. Circle the words in this sentence that give a clue to the
meaning of willfully. List two
words meaning the opposite
of willfully.
3. What is a definition of the
word abreast?
4. Underline the words in this
sentence that give a clue to
the meaning of snarled. Are
the connotations of this word
positive or negative?
5. What are two synonyms for
the word artless? What are
two antonyms for the word
artless?
6. What is a synonym for
downy? What is an antonym
for the word downy?
7. Underline the words in this
sentence that hint at the
meaning of outright. Use the
word outright in an original
sentence.
8. Circle the word in this sentence that hints at the meaning of the word forthwith.
What is an antonym for
forthwith?
Unit 4 Resources: Disillusion, Defiance, and Discontent
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