Name: ______Block: ______Date: ______

Literature/Poetry Questions: Collection 1

Directions: Answer the questions as we read the poems in class.

“Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes

  1. What does deferred mean?
  2. What type of figurative language is used in the poem? What does it contribute to the overall meaning of the poem?
  1. How many questions does “Dream Deferred” ask?
  2. In what way is the last question different from the others? Explain.
  3. How would you answer the main question posed by the speaker in “Dream Deferred”? Why?

“Dreams” by Langston Hughes

  1. How many sentences is the first stanza?
  2. To what two things does the speaker in “Dreams” compare life?
  3. Restate in your own words the advice that “Dreams” offers.
  4. What figure of speech is used in this poem? What does it contribute to the overall meaning of the poem?
  5. How does the message in “Dreams” reaffirm the message in “Dream Deferred”?

“Sonnet on Love XIII” by Jean de Sponde

  1. Where does the sentence that starts in line 10 end?
  2. In “Sonnet on Love XIII,” to what does the speaker compare his love?
  3. What does this comparison suggest about the speaker’s feelings?
  4. What figure of speech is used in this poem?Explain how it helps get the message across.
  1. How many lines does a sonnet have?How many syllables are in each line in a sonnet?

“Meciendo/Rocking” by Gabriela Mistral

  1. What human trait does the wind show in the second stanza? What type of figure of speech is this?
  2. How does this use of figurative language contribute to the overall effect of the poem?
  3. How does the figure of speech of the sea in the first stanza and of the wind in the second stanza affect the mood of the poem?
  4. In “Meciendo/Rocking,” what natural sights and sound does the speaker describe?

“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth

  1. Look at the first line of the poem. What figure of speech is being used?
  2. To what does the speaker compare the daffodils in the simile in lines 7-8?
  3. Why is this comparison a simile and not a metaphor?
  4. Notice in lines 11 and 12 the poem reads, “Ten thousand I saw at a glance / Tossing their heads in a sprightly dance.” What figure of speech is used here, and what helps you to identify it?
  5. In “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” what natural sight does the speaker describe?