Part 1: Im Nobody

1
Part 1 Im Nobody

• 1. The simile in the second stanza compares a
  celebrity to a frog. How could a frog and public
  person be similar? Is this a flattering
  comparison?
•  
• 2. In the metaphor in the last line, admirers of
  famous people are compared to creatures in a bog
  (a marshy place) that admire a croaking frog.
  How do you think the poet feels about people who
  idolize celebrities?
•  
• 3. How do you think the speaker feels about
  fame? Do you agree?

2
Part 2 "I am of the Earth" and "Early Song"

• 4. Tone refers to the way a writer feels about a
  subject. Tone is communicated by word choice,
  including figures of speech. What words tell you
  how each of these speakers feels about the earth?
•  
• 5. What words in the poem tell you that Walters
  personifies the earth as her mother? What
  message or feeling about our world does this
  comparison convey?
•  

3
Part 2 "I am of the Earth" and "Early Song"

• 6. The following quotations use features of the
  earth to teach lessons. Choose one that you
  like, and write a paragraph about what the words
  mean to you. Include any of your own experiences
  to illustrate the lesson.
• "There is not hill that never ends." -- Masai
  proverb
•  
• "Do you have the patience to wait till your mud
  settles and the
• water is clear?" -- Tao-te Ching
•  

4
Part 3 "Harlem Night Song" and "Winter Moon"

• 7. Explain the sensory images in "Harlem Night
  Song."
•  
• 8. What do the images in "Harlem Night Song"
  reveal about the speaker?
•  
• 9. Draw a picture of the moon the speaker sees in
  "Winter Moon." Which words in particular help
  you visualize the moon?

5
Part 4 "I Ask My Mother to Sing"

• 10. Take a look at how the poet fits his thoughts
  into the structure of a sonnet. What is the
  topic of the first three quatrains? (quatrain is
  a stanza with four lines) How do the last two
  lines sum up the point of the poem?
• 11. A lyric poem expresses the speaker's thoughts
  and feelings. How does the speaker react to the
  song his mother and grandmother sing?
•  
• 12. Why do you think the mother and grandmother
  cry when they sing this song?

6
Part 5 "Ode to Family Photographs"

• 13. Odes are written in praise of something.
  What do you think this poet is praising? (It's
  not just the family photographs)

7
Part 6 "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not
Take the Garbage Out"

• 14. One element of humor is exaggeration. List
  three examples of exaggeration in the poem.
  Explain which is your favorite example.
•  
• 15. This poem is full of alliteration. Find
  three examples of it. Which sounds are repeated
  in each of your examples?
•  
• 16. In the poem, Silverstein says "Poor Sarah met
  an awful fate, / That I cannot right now relate."
  What do you think that fate might be?

8
Part 7 "The Runaway"

• 17. How do you think the speaker feels about the
  person who has left the cold alone in the
  pasture?
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• 18. Read the poem aloud to hear its
  conversational rhythms and rhyming sounds. Make
  a list of its rhyming words. Then, work out its
  rhyme scheme.

9
Part 8 "The Pasture" and "A Minor Bird"

• 19. The stanzas in "A Minor Bird" are all
  couplets. Explain the main idea of each couplet.
•  
• 20. Do you agree with the last two lines of "A
  Minor Bird"? Why or why not?
•