美国文学问题作业汇总

Questions on “Song of Myself”

Recalling:

1.According to Line 1 of Section 1, who is the poet celebrating? Whom do lines 2-3 also

include in the celebration?

2.What facts about himself does Whitman reveal in lines 6-9 of section 1?

Interpreting

1.Describe the relationship Whitman sets up with the reader in the first section.

as many characteristics of Whitman’s “self” as you can. Which characteristics seem the

most prominent?

Questions on “Beat! Beat! Drums!”

Recalling

1.What people do the drums and bugles disturb in each of stanzas 1, 2, and 3?

2.what verbs and adjectives are used to describe the sounds of the drums and bugles?

Interpreting

1.Based on the description of the drums and bugles and the effect they have, what do they seem

to represent? What does the simile in line 2 imply?

2.Are the people in stanzas 1 and 2 doing anything out of the ordinary? Why is this significant?

3.Why might the people in stanza 3 be praying, beseeching, and so on? What do the drums and

bugles do to their prayers and pleas?

4.Explain how rhythm and repetition reinforce the meaning of the poem. In particular, consider

the effect of lines 1, 8, and 15.

Extending

What images other than drums and bugles might Whitman have used to make his point? General writing topics on Whitman

1.Why might Whitman have called his volume of poetry Leaves of Grass?

2.By associating himself with the grass, what does the poet suggest about himself? Summarize

Whitman’s attitude toward nature.

3.Why is free verse particularly suited to Whitman’s ideas? How do you think it relates to

Whitman’s democratic principles?

Questions on “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain”

Recalling

1.W here does the “Funeral” take place? Who keeps treading to and fro?

2.What keeps beating? What do the mourners lift?

3.According to stanza 3, what begins to toll after the mourners leave?

4.What breaks, according to stanza 5? What happens then?

Interpreting

1.What is the “Service” in line 6? What is the “Box” in line 9?

2.Whose funeral is the speaker envisioning? What might the last two stanzas be describing?

pare the images beginning in line 12 with the images of the funeral presented in lines

1-11. Which group of images is clearer? Why?

Questions on “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—”

Recalling

1.What does the speaker hear in stanza 1? When does she hear it?

2.According to stanza 2, what are the “Eyes” and “Breaths” doing?

3.According to stanzas 3-4, what interposes between the light and the speaker? What happens

then?

Interpreting

1.What is happening to the speaker/ who are the other people in the room?

2.What is unusual about the description of the people in lines 5-6? From whose pint of view are

they being described?

3.Why is the fly’s appearance somewhat ironic? What basic message abou t death is suggested

to the poet by the appearance of the fly?

4.What slant rhymes—also called off rhyme, near rhyme, approximate rhyme and imperfect

rhyme—occur in “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died”? What effects do they have? How are the slant rhymes related to the meaning of each poem?

Questions on “Because I could not stop for Death—”

Recalling

1.According to stanza 1, why did Death stop for the speaker? What did Death’s carriage hold?

2.What three things did the speaker and Death pass in stanza 3? Where did they pause in stanza

5?

3.According to stanza 6, how much time has passed since the day of Death’s visit? What does

that time feel shorter than?

Interpreting