LESSON
30S
COMPARING AND CONTRASTING TWO POEMS
ometimes reading two poems by different poets on a similar
subject will add to your understanding of both poems. You can
think about the subject from two perspectives. In this lesson, you are
going to read two poems, the first by Emily Dickinson and the second
by A. E. Housman. Use the Response Notes to comment on meaning
and to capture your questions. Mark lines in the poems with which
you make a connection.
Poem #67 by Emily Dickinson
Response
Notes
Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne’er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.
Not one of all the purple Host
Who took the Flag today
Can tell the definition
So clear of Victory
As he defeated—dying—
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear! p
To an Athlete Dying Young by A.E. Housman
To-day, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.
Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields where glory does not stay
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose.
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LESSON 30
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The time you won your town the race
We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.
Eyes the shady night has shut
Cannot see the record cut,
And silence sounds no worse than cheers
After earth has stopped the ears:
Now you will not swell the rout
Of lads that wore their honours out,
Runners whom renown outran
And the name died before the man.
So set, before its echoes fade,
The fleet foot on the sill of shade,
And hold to the low lintel up
The still-defended challenge-cup.
And round that early-laurelled head
Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,
And find unwithered on its curls
The garland briefer than a girl’s. p
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•
Working with your partner or group, talk about both poems. Use
questions 1-9 to start your discussion.
1
Who is the speaker of the poem? To whom is the poem
addressed?
2
What is the setting? Is it real or abstract?
3 Is there action in the poem? What is it?
4 What is the form of the poem? Where does the poet depart
from these patterns and forms? Why?
COMPARING AND CONTRAST ING T WO POEMS
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5 What figures of speech does the poem contain—metaphor,
simile, or personification?
6
What kinds of images does the poet use? Which senses are used?
7
Does the poem have an effective, striking, or climactic
moment? Does it come to some kind of resolution?
8
What is the tone of the poem—solemn, playful, irreverent,
mournful, objective? What is the poet trying to convey?
9 Note words that are used in an archaic, special, or unusual way.
•
Choose one of the prompts below or create your own topic related
to Dickinson’s poems. Use your own paper for this assignment.
Topic 1:
Topic 2:
Write a personal response to one of the two poems.
State your understanding of the meaning of the poem, then
show how you can apply it to an experience in your own life.
A comparison of
two poems may lead to greater
understanding of both.
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LESSON 30
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Write a comparison of the two poems, using the notes
you made to answer the nine questions above. Use lines from
the poems in your comparison.