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Unpacking Poetry Packet
Page / Assignment / Score2-5 / “Desiderata” / /15
6-7 / Poetry: Denser than Lead / /15
8-9 / Poetry: Denser than Osmium / /15
10-11 / “Football”/”First Men on the Moon” / /15
Total / /60
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Desiderata
Read the poem below. Then follow the directions and answer the questions you find at the end of the poem. You may make annotations and write on this paper.
/ Desiderataby Max Ehrmann
1
3
5
7 / Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
9
11
13 / Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
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17
19
21 / Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
23
25 / Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
27
29
31 / Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
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35
37 / You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
39
41 / Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
43
45 / With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
Max Ehrmann, “Desiderata,” Copyright 1952.
After Reading:
- Based on the poem and clues you see in the word, what do you think the title “Desiderata” means? Explain your guess.
- What do the numbers to the left of the poem tell the reader?
- What are the small paragraphs or sections in poems called? This poem has many of them.
- Placidly means calmly or without disturbance. Put a box around words in this poem that are new to you. Choose 3 of these and record them, with space to write definitions.
- Vexations are troubles. What troubles you right now? Make a list of a few things that are bothering you.
- This poem does not try to prove one thing to you, or tell you a story. It is a lyric poem full of ideas about what life should be. Find one idea or instruction in this poem that you feel is true, or that you feel strongly about. Record it, explain what it means to you, and say a little bit about your reaction.
- Think about the slideshow version of this poem. What did it add to the experience of reading the poem? Did it change anything for you about the poem? Explain.
- What are your reactions to this poem? How do you feel about it?
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Poetry: Denser than Lead
Notes and QuestionsFog
Carl Sandburg
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on. / The Setting:
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Haikus
By Issa
The snow having melted,
the village
is full of children. / The Setting:
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By Basho
An old pond!
A frog jumps in—
The sound of water. / The Setting:
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Nothing Gold Can Stay
Robert Frost
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay / Imagery:
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Notes and Questions
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. / Setting:
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Poetry: Denser than Osmium, Part 2
Notes and QuestionsInvention
by Billy Collins
Tonight the moon is a cracker,
with a bite out of it
floating in the night,
and in a week or so
according to the calendar
it will probably look
like a silver football,
and nine, maybe ten days ago
it reminded me of a thin bright claw.
But eventually --
by the end of the month,
I reckon --
it will waste away
to nothing,
nothing but stars in the sky,
and I will have a few nights
to myself,
a little time to rest my jittery pen. / Imagery:
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Notes and Questions
Little Eyes Upon You
(For Athletes)
Author Unknown
There are little eyes upon you,
And they're watching night and day;
There are little ears that quickly
Take in every word you say;
There are little hands all eager
To do anything you do;
And a little boy who's dreaming
Of the day he'll be like you.
You're the little fellow's idol,
You're the wisest of the wise,
In his little mind about you,
No suspicions ever rise;
He believes in you devoutly,
Hold, that all you say and do,
He will say and do, in your way
When he's grown up like you.
There's a wide-eyed little fellow,
Who believes you're always right,
And his ears are always open,
And he watches day and night;
You are setting an example
Every day in all you do,
For the little boy who's waiting
To grow up to be like you.
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Football
Identify 3 different literary devices present in each poem. For each, be sure to show where you see it in the poem and give a brief definition. Be VERY clear about what you mean.
Literary Devices and DefinitionsFootball
Louis Jenkins
I take the snap from the center, fake to the right, fade back...
I've got protection. I've got a receiver open downfield...
What the hell is this? This isn't a football, it's a shoe, a man's
brown leather oxford. A cousin to a football maybe, the same
skin, but not the same, a thing made for the earth, not the air.
I realize that this is a world where anything is possible and I
understand, also, that one often has to make do with what one
has. I have eaten pancakes, for instance, with that clear corn
syrup on them because there was no maple syrup and they
weren't very good. Well, anyway, this is different. (My man
downfield is waving his arms.) One has certain responsibilities,
one has to make choices. This isn't right and I'm not going
to throw it.
First Men on the Moon
By J. Patrick Lewis
"The Eagle has landed!" — Apollo II Commander Neil A. Armstrong
"A magnificent desolation!" — Air Force Colonel Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr.
July 20, 1969
That afternoon in mid-July,
Two pilgrims watched from distant space
The moon ballooning in the sky.
They rose to meet it face-to-face.
Their spidery spaceship, Eagle, dropped
Down gently on the lunar sand.
And when the module's engines stopped,
Rapt silence fell across the land.
The first man down the ladder, Neil,
Spoke words that we remember now—
“One small step...” It made us feel
As if we were there too, somehow.
When Neil planted the flag and Buzz
Collected lunar rocks and dust,
They hopped like kangaroos because
Of gravity. Or wanderlust?
A quarter million miles away,
One small blue planet watched in awe.
And no one who was there that day
Will soon forget the sight they saw. / Literary Devices and Definitions