Name______________________________________
Use the side notes in the textbook (pp.751-759) for help with
definitions and questions to guide your understanding. Use your
blue tone worksheet to help you discover mature adjectives.
“This is my letter to the world”
“This is my letter to the world”
This is my letter to the World,
That never wrote to Me –
The simple news that Nature told –
With tender majesty
Her Message is committed
To Hands I cannot see –
For love of Her – Sweet – Countrymen –
Judge tenderly – of me!
1. What three adjectives might best describe the tone/mood?
2. Circle three words that establish this mood.
3. Give a short summary to the right of the poem. Paraphrase if
necessary to understand.
4. Underline and label any figurative language, or structural
devices. (Look for at least three)
5. Dickinson did not want her poems published during her
lifetime. Do you think she expected them to be? Which line
leads you to that conclusion?
“Hope is the thing with feathers”
“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –
And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –
I've heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of Me.
“Hope is the thing with feathers”
1. What three adjectives might best describe the tone/mood?
2. Circle three words that establish this mood.
3. Give a short summary to the right of the poem. Paraphrase if
necessary to understand.
4. Underline and label any figurative language, or structural
devices. (Look for at least three)
5. How do you interpret the last two lines of the poem?
“Success is Counted Sweetest”
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
“Success is Counted Sweetest”
1. What three adjectives might best describe the tone/mood?
2. Circle three words that establish this mood.
3. Give a short summary to the right of the poem. Paraphrase if
necessary to understand.
4. Underline and label any figurative language, or structural
devices. (Look for at least three)
5. What do you think of as you finish reading this poem?
As he defeated – dying –
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!
“Much Madness is Divinest Sense”
Much madness is divinest Sense
To a discerning eye –
Much sense – the starkest Madness –
’Tis the Majority
In this, as All, prevail –
Assent – and you are sane –
Demur—you’re straightway dangerous –
And handled with a Chain –
“Much Madness is Divinest Sense”
1. What three adjectives might best describe the tone/mood?
2. Circle three words that establish this mood.
3. Give a short summary to the right of the poem. Paraphrase if
necessary to understand.
4. Underline and label any figurative language, or structural
devices. (Look for at least three)
5. Do you agree with her ideas on madness and sense?
“My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close”
My life closed twice before its close—
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me
So huge, so hopeless to conceive
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.
“My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close”
1. What three adjectives might best describe the tone/mood?
2. Circle three words that establish this mood.
3. Give a short summary to the right of the poem. Paraphrase if
necessary to understand.
4. Underline and label any figurative language, or structural
devices. (Look for at least three)
5. What do you think is Dickinson’s attitude toward death?
“After Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes”
After great pain, a formal feeling comes –
The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs –
The stiff Heart questions was it He, that bore,
And Yesterday, or Centuries before?
“After Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes”
The feet, mechanical, go round –
Of Ground, or Air, or Ought –
A Wooden way
Regardless grown,
A Quartz contentment, like a stone.
2. Circle three words that establish this mood.
3. Give a short summary to the right of the poem. Paraphrase if
necessary to understand.
4. Underline and label any figurative language, or structural
devices. (Look for at least three)
5. What emotions is the speaker trying to convey?
This is the Hour of Lead –
Remembered, if outlived,
As Freezing persons, recollect the snow-First – Chill – then Stupor – then the letting go –
1. What three adjectives might best describe the tone/mood?
“I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died”
I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air –
Between the Heaves of Storm –
The Eyes around – had wrung them dry –
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset – when the King
Be witnessed – in the Room –
1. What three adjectives might best describe the tone/mood?
2. Circle three words that establish this mood.
3. Give a short summary to the right of the poem. Paraphrase if
necessary to understand.
4. Underline and label any figurative language, or structural
devices. (Look for at least three)
5. How would you describe the view of death presented in the
poem?
I willed my Keepsakes – Signed away
What portions of me be
Assignable – and then it was
There interposed a Fly –
With Blue – uncertain stumbling Buzz –
Between the light – and me –
And then the Windows failed – and then
I could not see to see –
6. Looking at Dickinson’s last stanza, what does she do to make
the portrayal of death a realistic one?
“Because I Could Not Stop for Death”
Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.
We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility –
1. What three adjectives might best describe the tone/mood?
2. Circle three words that establish this mood.
3. Give a short summary to the right of the poem. Paraphrase if
necessary to understand.
4. Underline and label any figurative language, or structural
devices. (Look for at least three)
5. In the third stanza, what might the objects the carriage passes
symbolize?
We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –
Or rather – He passed Us –
The Dews drew quivering and chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –
We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible –
The Cornice – in the Ground –
Overall Impressions
6. Of the eight poems you’ve read, what are your impressions of
Emily Dickinson? Which of her poems was your favorite?
Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity –
On the next page, fill-in the chart for one of the last two
poems in this packet: “I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died” or
“Because I Could Not Stop for Death”
Element to Look for in Poem
Title
Words from Poem with Line Numbers
Commentary – answer questions
What does it mean at first glance?
Paraphrase
Connotation
Nothing here
Should have summary/paraphrase next to poem
What words add a negative or positive connotation to
the text?
Attitude (tone/mood)
Shifts
What word(s) would you use to describe it?
Where?
Type or what is the change?
Title
Yes, again. Any extra meaning?
Figurative Language
What is the figurative language term(s)?
Imagery
What senses does it appeal to?
Diction
Why do these words stand out?
Detail
Why is the detail important?
Syntax (word order in
clauses/phrases)
How does this wording emphasize anything?
Theme
What is the overall theme? (Be sure it’s a sentence!)