Read this: HOW TO WRITE A LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY

Useful Expressions To Be Used in Text Analysis

1. The story is written in a matter-of-fact (tragic, ironic, humorous, epic, satirical, elevated, etc.) tone (style, key).
История написана в прозаическом (трагическом, ироническом, юмористическом, эпическом (героическом), сатирическом (насмешливом), благородном и т.п.) тоне (стиле, ключе).

2. The story is written with a touch of irony/The story is tinged with irony (tragedy, sadness, humour, epos, satire, etc.).
История написана с оттенком иронии (трагедии, печали, юмора, эпоса, сатиры и т.п.).

3. The text/passage under analysis presents ...
Текст/Отрывок в рамках данного анализа представляет ...

4. The author employs a number of stylistic devices that produce ... effect.
Автор использует ряд стилистических приёмов, которые производят ... эффект.

5. The author links ... to ...; the author likens ... to a human being.
Автор связывает ... с ...; автор уподобляет ... человеку.

6. The author employs ...
Автор употребляет ...

7. The author enhances the desired effect with the help of ...
Автор усиливает желаемый эффект с помощью ...

8. The author imposes his perception of the thing described on the reader.
Автор навязывает своё восприятие вещей читателю.

9. These epithets daze the emotional force they carry.
Эти эпитеты ошеломляют своей эмоциональной силой.

10. The powerful effect produced by these expressive means is unquestionable.
Мощный эффект, производимый этими выразительными средствами, не подлежит сомнению.

11. The author's object in employing these stylistic devices is quite evident.
При использовании этих приёмов, цель автора вполне очевидна.

12. ... is described in a few masterful strokes.
... описан несколькими мастерскими штрихами/в нескольких чертах.

13. Due to the vivid stylistic colouring ...
Благодаря яркой стилистической окраске ...

14. ... draws the reader's attention to ...
... привлекает внимание читателя к ...

15. The author emphasizes ...
Автор подчёркивает ...

16. The author lends some stylistic colouring to the description of the man's portrait.
Автор прибегает к использованию некоторых стилистических окрасок для описания портрета человека.

17. ... contribute largely to the vividness of ... representation.
... в значительной степени способствуют живости (яркости) ... представления.

18. This device colours the utterance emotionally.
Этот приём подчёркивает эмоциональность высказывания.

19. This stylistic device aims at a mocking effect.
Этот стилистический приём направлен на эффект насмешки.

20. The humorous effect is achieved by ...
Юмористически эффект достигается путем ...

21. The metaphor strikes the reader with its vividness and makes him feel ...
Эта метафора поражает читателя своей живостью (яркостью) и заставляет его чувствовать ...

22. The desired effect is strengthened by ... (is more enchanted by ...)
Желаемый эффект усиливается путем ... (становится сильнее за счет ...).

23. The similes the author resorts to make the description far too picturesque and very illustrative.
Сравнениями автор добивается очень живописного и показательного описания.

24. This metonymy may be interpreted as the author's attempt to ...
Данная метонимия может быть истолкована как попытка автора ...

25. These devices help to depict ...
Эти приёмы помогают изобразить ...

26. The author's irony is directed at ...
Авторская ирония направлена на ...

27. Within this phrase we can see some other expressive means...
В рамках данной фразы мы можем видеть некоторые другие выразительные средства ...

28. The author strives for a ... effect.
Автор стремится к ... эффекту.

29. The humorous effect is achieved by the incongruous combination of the solemn form and insignificant meaning.
Юмористический эффект достигается путём нелепого сочетания торжественных и маловажных форм.

30. Here the author bursts with emotions. He is unable to conceal his feelings towards his own creation and pours on him the full measure of his disgust (sympathy, love, etc.)
Здесь автор взрывается эмоциями. Он не в силах скрывать свои чувства по отношению к своему собственному творению и выплескивает их на него в полной мере (сочувствие, любовь и др.)

31. This is the case of climax. The sentences are so arranged that each of the consecutive sentences is more important, more significant and more emotionally coloured than the preceding one, all of them forming a chain of interdependent elements.
Это момент кульминации. Предложения расположены таким образом, что каждое последующее из них является более важным, более значительным и более эмоционально окрашенным, чем предыдущее, все они формируются в цепочку зависимых друг от друга элементов.

32. The starting point of the climax is .../the peak of the climax is .../the climax serves to ...
Отправной точкой кульминации является .../пиком кульминации является .../кульминацией служит ...

33. The denouement is unexpected.
Развязка неожиданная.

34. The idea of the passage is as follows / may be summed up in the following words).
Идея текста (отрывка) выглядит следующим образом .../может быть выражена следующими словами ...

35. The idea lies on the surface.
Идея лежит на поверхности.

36. The analysis would be incomplete if we did not touch upon man's individual speech.
Анализ был бы неполным, если бы мы не коснулись индивидуальной речи человека.

37. The author individualizes his character's speech for a definite purpose. By doing this he gives us some additional information concerning his character. It shows ...
Автор индивидуализирует речь своего персонажа для определенной цели. Делая это, он даёт нам некоторую дополнительную информацию о его характере. Он показывает ...

38. The syntax of the dialogue is very simple; plenty of ... make the speech expressive and emotionally coloured.
Синтаксис диалога очень прост; большинство ... делает речь выразительной и эмоционально окрашенной.

39. The narrative part of the story is illustrative of literary-bookish English. It contains bookish words (ex.), long sentences with different participial and gerundial constructions (ex.).
Повествовательная часть истории иллюстрирует литературный английский язык. Она содержит книжные слова (например: ...), длинные предложения с различными причастиями и герундиальными конструкциями (например: ...).

40. The speech of the characters is full of colloquial words (ex). The author's aim here is ...
Речь персонажей наполнена разговорной речью (например: ...). Здесь целью автора является ...

41. The text contains some realias (ex.), terms (ex.), professionalism (ex). They make us feel (understand) ...
Текст содержит некоторые реалии (например: ...), способы выражения (например: ...), профессионализм (например: ...). Они заставляют нас чувствовать (понимать) ...

42. The passage (story) is wholly narrative; wholly a dialogue; partially narrative and partially a dialogue.
Вся история представлена в виде повествования; диалога; частично повествования и частично диалога.

43. The plot of the passage (story) is built around (is unfolded around; deals with) ...
Часть истории построена вокруг (разворачивается вокруг, имеет дело с) ...

44. By the way of conclusion I'd like to ...
В заключении я хотел бы ...


to have a keen eye for details иметь острый глаз на детали/подробности
to make ample use of широко использовать
to bring forth the idea "родить" идею
to convey the idea сообщать/выражать идею
to manifest itself проявлять себя
to be used to convey использованы для передачи
to expose подвергать
to have a great emotional impact on the reader иметь большое эмоциональное воздействие на читателя
to produce a powerful effect on the reader производить сильное воздействие на читателя
to resort to прибегать к
to draw the reader's attention to обращать внимание читателя на
to open with начинать с
to impart an idea сообщать идею
to be concerned with иметь дело с
to be akin to poetry быть сродни поэзии
to describe sth. with great intensity описывать что-либо с большой интенсивностью/с яркостью
to alternate with чередоваться с
to be emotionally coloured быть эмоционально окрашенным

For Your Written Asignment

In Another Country by E.Hemingway

Full text of the story

Suggestions for analysis

1. Reproduce the exposition to the story. Comment on the emotional atmosphere it conveys. Point out the means that create that atmosphere.

2. How is war referred to in the first paragraph and elsewhere in the story?

3. Tell summarily what you have learned about the young men who came to the hospital for the machine treatment.

4. How do you understand the phrase "we...sat in the machines  that  were  to make so much  difference?"

5. Paraphrase and interpret the following: "... they had. done very different things to get their medals"; "I was never ashamed of the ribbons, though ...";

 "The three with the medals were like hunting-hawks, and I was not a hawk, although I might seem a hawk to those who had never hunted."

E. Hemingway, who avoids  straight-forward eva­luations, often resorts to periphrasis and understatement. Point out their occurrences in the above-quoted and other sentences of the text. Speak on their emotive quality.

6. Observe the occurrences of the words "cold" and "warm"; speak on the undercurrent of meaning they carry.

7. Comment on the meaning the word "detached" is imbued with in the story.

8. a) Why, do you think, did the major who had no confidence in the machine treatment come to the hospital very regularly?

b) Interpret the following: "The major who had been the great fencer, did not believe in bravery, and spent much time while we sat in the machines correcting my grammar."

c) Reproduce the dialogue between the major and the American when the two were sitting in the machines. What was it in the speech of the major that betrayed his nervousness and preoccupation? What turned out to be the cause of these? How is it made known to the reader?

d) Why, after what had happened to his wife, did the major come to the hospital again at the usual hour? What poetic detail shows that it was not the machine treatment the major came for? Pay attention to the phrase to make much difference. When was it first used and what is its implication in the present case? Observe the two occurrences of the phrase with­in the compositional framework of the story; speak on the meaningfulness of this compositional device.

9. Pay  attention  to  the  verbs  and adverbs/adjectives the author uses when he writes about the major. Comment on their quality.

10. Pick out words and expressions that denote physical injuries the characters have suffered. Comment on the emotive quality of those words. List the Italian words found in the story. Account for their use.

11. What moral message does the author convey through the image of the major.

12.  Interpret the title of the story, the interplay of the literal and the metaphorical in the phrase in another country. Write a short statement on the idea the author has conveyed in the story.

For our Oral Practice Class

E. Hemingway "The Snows of Kilimanjaro"

Read this:

Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway Summary and Analysis

Summary and Analysis "The Snows of Kilimanjaro"

Yahoo! Answers

Major Themes Explored

Study Guide

Text and Questions

Study Questions:

1. Read the epigraph again and discuss the significance of the epigraph for the story. What does the leopard stand for, what the “Ngaje Ngai”, the house of Gods?
2. The relationship Harry and Helen: How did it start?
   What brought them together?
   What drives them apart?
   What was/is his role in her life and vice versa?
   Why does he hate her in the end? - Or does he rather hate himself?
   Who or what destroyed Harry's talent? - Who does he blame?
3. The flashback: a narrative technique from the genre film. What is its function in this text? Retreat into the past or escape? - Discuss.
4. Hemingway has always been obsessed with “death” in his writing. So is “Harry” in “The Snows”. What does Harry say about death? Which symbols of death can you find in this story? Is “Snows” a story about “death”?
5. Have a look at “interior monologues” in this story. Try to find out how many there are, what they are about and what their function might be in the narrative structure of the text.
6. What is Harry's attitude and view of his own life: is he frustrated, bitter, dissatisfied, disappointed of himself? Did he meet/ live up to his own expectations? Can you find traces/characteristics of the writer Ernest Hemingway in the writer “Harry” in the story? So, are there autobiographical elements in the text and which ones could you find?
7. You (certainly) have noticed the “double ending” of the story. Try to link the ending(s) with the epigraph at the beginning of the story. What interest/ purpose may Hemingway have had for the ambiguous ending of the story? Try to pin down the point in the text where Harry is dying/ is dead. Perhaps there are not “two” endings but different perspectives of the same event.
8. “Harry -  a typical Hemingway hero”. In which way is Harry an “anti-hero” -  the typical Hemingway-style would-like-to-be-macho, the rather ridiculous than truly “heroic” figure?
9. Another typical Hemingway symbolism is that of the “plain”, where the nagative things happen and the “mountains”, where the good times/ things are. Find out to which extent this also applies to the story “The Snows”.
10. Is “The Snows of Kilmanjaro” a short novel or a longish short-story? List arguments which support your opinion.

 Short Answer Quiz

Ernest Hemingway, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”

1. “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” consists of a present-tense narration interrupted by various italicized inset descriptions, which are sometimes explicitly related to Harry’s dying moments, but are often left provocatively suggestive. What is the influence of these interruptions on the progress of the story?
   
   

2. “You kept from thinking and it was all marvelous. You were equipped with good insides so that you did not go to pieces that way, the way most of them had, and you made an attitude that you cared nothing for the work you used to do, now that you could no longer do it” (1988 [full ed.] 2248 [shorter ed.]): this is Hemingway’s “code” of masculine conduct, often having to do with bravely facing war, danger, or other adversity. In this story, the protagonist faces impending death and ultimate failure as an artist. Paraphrase the understatement of these lines: what does Harry find most important? What comes naturally to him, and what has he had to construct with great effort?
   
   

3. Apart from the fact that Harry and his lover are on safari in Africa, not much is said about Mt. Kilimanjaro besides its square white head. No one climbs it or refers to it explicitly; it serves the action of the story mainly as a backdrop for the psychological drama of Harry’s final memories. Why do you think Hemingway set this story in Africa, in front of this famous mountain, and how do you see the setting functioning in this story?
   
   

4. The final part of the story narrates the death of a character much like Hemingway himself (in many respects). With Harry passed out of the story, the narration provides the perspective of his lover who has been left behind: “Just then the hyena stopped whimpering in the night and started to make a strange, human, almost crying sound. The woman heard it and stirred uneasily. She did not wake. In her dream she was at the house on Long Island and it was the night before her daughter’s debut. Somehow her father was there and had been very rude” ( 1999 [full ed.] 2259 [shorter ed.] Consider that Harry’s perspective has dominated most of the story, and then interpret what we learn of the woman from these lines: how much do we know about her from her own perspective? How does what we learn here match up to Harry’s thoughts about her earlier in the story?
   
   

James Joyce (1882-1941)

James Joyce (1882-1941)

 

(born Feb. 2, 1882, Dublin, Ire.died Jan. 13, 1941, Zrich, Switz.) Irish novelist. Educated at a Jesuit school (though he soon rejected Catholicism) and at University College, Dublin, he decided early to become a writer. In 1902 he moved to Paris, which would become his principal home after years spent in Trieste and Zrich. His life was difficult, marked by financial troubles, chronic eye diseases that occasionally left him totally blind, censorship problems, and his daughter Lucia's mental illness. The remarkable story collection The Dubliners (1914) and the autobiographical novel Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), his early prose volumes, were powerful examples of his gift for storytelling and his great intelligence. With financial help from friends and supporters, including Ezra Pound, Sylvia Beach (18871962), and Harriet Shaw Weaver (18761961), he spent seven years writing Ulysses (1922), the controversial masterpiece (initially banned in the U.S. and Britain) now widely regarded by many as the greatest English-language novel of the 20th century. It embodies a highly experimental use of language and exploration of such new literary methods as interior monologue and stream-of-consciousness narrative. He spent 17 years on his final work, the extraordinary Finnegans Wake (1939), famous for its complex and demanding linguistic virtuosity.

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/james-joyce#ixzz1qHus3SrD 

About J.Joyce and His Works

Before you read "Araby" by all means read this: How to read Joyce. Advice

Listen to "Araby":

An award winning film adaptation of James Joyce's short story "Araby." Trailer

Map of the boy's route

 

Useful links

Araby Analysis
Araby
Epiphany
Essays 

Araby Criticism

Literary analysis: Araby, by James Joyce

"Araby" Study Questions Before Reading -- Title:  the title of this story is a proper noun: it refers to a real festival which came to Dublin in 1894, when Joyce was twelve years old. -- Style:  "Araby" has a long and descriptive introduction before this boy takes action. Be patient in your reading; you are about to enter the emotional world of a sensitive young boy. After the 1st Reading:  1. The setting & the language The story reads slowly because1) not much happens in the first six paragraphs(the first action being Mangan's sister's talking to the boy: "At last she spoke to me"), and the real action does not take place until paragraph [25]: "I held a florin tightly in my hand..." 2) the boy narrator feels a lot more than what he expresses outwards in his speech to others or action.  Find some descriptive passages, try to find out how images and the other figurative speech are used, and what their connotations are. It would be the best if you can find the passages by yourselves, if not, the following are some examples: Read the first two paragraphs carefully and see what kind of environment the boy is in. (What can the following details mean? The house which is"blind," or in a dead end of the street, the other houses "with brown imperturbable faces"; the musty room, the dead priest with his three books; the rusty bicycle pump; the apple tree and the garbage odors. These images seem to be unrelated to the plot, but they define the boy's environment as well as the story's atmosphere.) 2. The characters children vs. authorities:-- In the third paragraph, the boy describes the wild games they play after school and out on the street. Do you have any similar experience of playing in a group of kids, maybe with some "rough tribes" as your "enemies"? (A city child nowadays does not have the freedom to run around after school freely and beyond bounds, because it is considered unsafe (or unworthwhile) to do so. How about your childhood?) -- Who are the authority figures in the story? The dead priest? The uncle and aunt? Or Mangan's sister? Do they serve any roles in offering guidance to the boy? the boy's infatuation with Mangan's sister:-- In paragraphs 3-6, we get to see that the boy secretly loves an older girl who is Mangan's sister.  How does he describe his feelings for her? How is the attention he pays to the girl different from that of Sammy in "A & P"? -- Why does the image and name of Mangan's sister appear in the boy's mind and his fervent prayer in the noisiest moments? Why does the boy feel as if he went on a crusade (quest) for the girl? Have you ever had such a passionate sentiment for any event or person? "These noises converged in a single sensation of life for me: I imagined that I bore my chalice safely through a throng of foes. Her name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers and praises which I myself did not understand. My eyes were often full of tears (I could not tell why) and at times a flood from my heart seemed to pour itself out into my bosom. I thought little of the future. I did not know whether I would ever speak to her or not or, if I spoke to her, how I could tell her of my confused adoration. But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires." (par 6) [In the priest's room]"I was thankful that I could see so little. All my senses seemed to desire to veil themselves and, feeling that I was about to slip from them, I pressed the palms of my hands together until they trembled, murmuring: "O love! O love!" many times." (par 7) Mangan's sister:  -- Most of Mangan's sister's words are presented in the boy's narration (but not in direct quotations). How much do we really know about her? What kind of "character" do you think Mangan's sister is? A round character? A flat character? A substitute for something else? A character serving as a symbol? Pay close attention to how Mangan's sister is presented in the 3d and the 10th paragraphs. What major color and images are associated with her? Which parts of her body are described?-- Why do you think she suggests that the boy go to Araby? Does she really care if he makes it or not? h e does it or not? 3. The plot & external elements The boy's changes: As explained above, Mangan's sister initate the boy's desire for action (going to Araby) in paragraph 7, but the action itself takes place only in paragraph 25. In between, the boy is emotionally concentrated on the quest while he finds daily routine to be "child's play," and his childhood companions distant from him. a. -- From the third paragraph, we see the narrator, a child, plays with his friends, but this is the last time he talks about this group of kids as "we." How would you characterize his subsequent changes? Does he grow older and wiser? b. -- What stops him from going till very late on Saturday evening?-- What kind of conflict/contrast does the boy experience in the story between himself and his environment, or between him and the adults (aunt, uncleand Mrs Mercer) ? c. -- When he finally get to Araby, why does the boy remember "with difficult" he goes there? Why does he not buy anything at the fair? d. -- What does the ending mean? "Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger."

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Further Questions or After the 2nd Reading: 4. Language: Religious images vs. images of money What kind of sentiment does the boy have in his love for the girl?  Look at paragraphs 4-6 (e.g. the similes/metaphors used: "I bore my chalice"; "my body was like a harp" and his fervent prayer) and paragraph 13.    4. The trip to Araby (the bazaar) How is the bazaar presented at the end of the story (e.g. the dialogue between the woman and men, the image of darkness)?  What does this description, again, tell us about the boy's world? Examine the role money plays in the trip to the bazaar (paragraph 25 and 32). 5. Theme Why do you think the boy loves the girl so much, or, to put it in another way, in such a devout way?  What do you make of the ending?  How do you explain the word "vanity"? Does the boy know where his vanity come from? The story is an initiation story, meaning that the boy experienced growth, or a rite of passage, from one stage of his life (e.g. childhood) to another (young adulthood).   What do you think the boy has learned?  How is his growth similar to, or different from, that of Sammy's? To be more specific, is the ending of this story similar to that of "A & P"? (When Sammy looks at Lengel, "His face was dark gray and his back stiff, as if he'd just had an injection of iron, and my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter." 6. Point of View Describe the narrator or point of view in this story.  Is this narrator, like Sammy in "A & P," a young teenage boy or is he an older man remembering an important incident when he was younger?

Extension: What do you think about the boy's love for Mangan's sister? Have you experienced puppy love or momentary infatuation before?  How is your experience different from or similar to the boy's?  How would the story be told differently if the narrative perspective were that of Mangan's sister? Joyce mentioned in several letters that he chose Dublin as the setting for Dubliners because for him the city seemed to be the center of paralysis. Without getting into the historical background of Dublin in and around World War I, we can discuss the where the sense of paralysis comes from in the story, and also how/why we feel it or not feel it in our hometown. If we do, with what sensory image and/or events do we concretize it? Related Links Joyce's biography E-Text: "Araby" E-Text: James Joyce: Dubliners For Further Studies A collection of short essays on "Araby" Joyce's Dublin Steve Bender's James Joyce --includes: Joyce Texts On-Line, Joyce Biography, Joyce's Dublin, General Critical Resources, Critical Resources for Specific Joyce Texts, Ulysses Resources, Joycean Art (and Sound) Galleries, More Joyce Links

For Your Written Assighment

Robert Frost 

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

Listen:

When asked to reveal the hidden meaning of his poems, Robert Frost's response was "If I wanted you to know I'd had told you in the poem." Born in San Francisco in 1874, Frost spent his early childhood in California, then moved to Massachusetts at the age of 11, following the death of his father. He spent much of the rest of his life in New England. Frost taught at a number of New England institutions to support himself and his family; but his true passion was writing. He once said that he wanted to write, "a few poems it will be hard to get rid of." Frost wrote one of his most famous poems, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," at his home in Shaftsbury, Vermont in 1922. It was published the following year in a volume of poems called New Hampshire, which earned Frost one of the four Pulitzer Prizes he would receive in his lifetime. This clip came from a 1958 film shot at Frost's farmhouse in Vermont. In addition to reading two poems in the film, Frost also recalls personal experiences—as a mill worker, cobbler, and farmer—that helped inspire his poetry.

"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" from THE POETRY OF ROBERT FROST edited by Edward Connery Lathem. Copyright © 1923 1969 by Henry Holt and Company. Copyright © 1951 by Robert Frost. Used by arrangement with Henry Holt and Company, LLC.

Interactive Learning

How to analyse Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

An analysis of "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" begins with reading the poem. It's short. Read it several times. Step by step instructions:

a.     Annotate the poem using the following steps:

                                                             i.      identify the rhyme scheme

                                                           ii.      identify the meter and any examples of straying from the meter

                                                        iii.      if the poem is difficult, summarize each stanza

                                                        iv.      circle important words, ambiguous words, and words you need to look up

                                                           v.      circle examples of figurative language

                                                        vi.      write questions

                                                      vii.      write down insights.
              b.     Draw conclusions based on the information you gathered while annotating.

c.      Write the analysis. The following steps are for how to write a paragraph analysis:
                             i.      The topic sentence should state the poem's theme (one that may not be so obvious).

                                                           ii.      The examples, facts, citations from the poem you're analyzing should support your topic sentence.

                                                        iii.      Provide analysis explaining how your facts support your topic sentence.
ASSIGNMENT I

1 . Study the verse thoroughly. Read it aloud in a slow sing-song manner to determine its metre and kind of foot.

2. Choose the appropriate:

a) metre (monometer, dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, pentameter, hexameter, heptameter, octometer);

b) foot (of 5 kinds of feet in English: iambus, trochee, anapaest, dactyl, amphibrach).

3. Describe the metres employed in the verse

4. Determine which is more essential here in Frost's verse, - metre or rhyme.

a) choose the appropriate rhyme from perfect, nonperfect, single (or male) rhyme.

b) say if the rhyme is used by R.Frost to emphasize the shape of the verse.

5. Give characteristics of the types of lines and stanzas in the verse.

a) lines, rhyming in pairs, and lines of nonperfect rhyme;

b) lines of monometrical foot or tetrametrical foot;

c) the stanzas are of two or four lines.

6. Sum up all the above mentioned features of the verse and say if it is metrical with a regular rhyme-scheme or partly metrical, with an irregular rhyme-scheme.

7. Study the vocabulary of the verse and say:

a . Who do the following refer to?

"I think I know", "his words", "think it queer", "He gives", "To ask if .", ". the sweep of easy wind", " . lovely, dark and deep", " . before I sleep".

b. Which verb goes with the phrases:

"to watch his wood", "his harness bells a shake", "... if there was some mistake", ".   promises to keep", "And miles to go".

c. Say which of the words are the most appropriate to describe: woods, sounds, the horse, the time, the poet.

8. Study the syntax of the verse and comment on usage of the purpose clauses. (Pick them out from lines 4, 6, 1 0). Give examples of anaphoric sentences.

ASSIGNMENT II

1. Comment on the title of the verse.                                                                           

2.  State the main idea of the verse.

II. Comment on the poetic features of the text.

a)  rhythmical;

b) lexical;

c) stylistic.

III. Speak about the vocabulary of the verse, its morphological, semantic and poetic features.

IV. State the grammar forms in the verse and comment on their stylistic value.

V. Pick out and give examples of a peculiar kind of a rhythmical poetry based on reiteration of words and phrases. Say why they bring forth unexpected semantic effects. Don't forget about intensifiers "but", "and".

VI. Comment on detached epithets describing woods (lines 4, 13) farmhouse, line 6), promises (line 14) and miles (lines 15, 16). State their stylistic value.

VII. Speak about object-images in the verse:

1 . Give examples of metaphors, similes, repetitions in which the following associations are made: flakes, the wind, the horse, the only other sound, he and his, I sleep.

2. Say what connotations the words "sweep", "queer". "stop", "sleep" have for you.

3. Give examples of personification and exaggeration (hyperbole).

VIII. Comment on the devices which help to produce the musical effect and sometimes onomatopoetic-imitating sounds of nature:

a) alliteration in sounds and phrases;

b) punctuation in pair-rhymed lines, run-on lines, end-stopped lines.

IX. Characterize the key of the verse as lyrical, dramatic, epic or grotesque. Comment on your choice.

X. Determine the tonal message of the verse as genial, sad, lyrical or ironic. Say why.

XI. Summarizing your analysis don't forget to add:

what you think the poet's purpose is describing this scene; what the author is trying to help us imagine; what you think about the poet's message; if it is cognitive, informative or puzzling;

how you understand the poet's symbolic representation and what it adds to the verse;

what feelings this poem communicates to you. Are they named or expressed indirectly;

what physical details are selected to suggest precise secondary meaning;

which of the five senses (touch, taste, smell, hearing, sight) are exercised by the readers;

that the poem was highly appreciated for its remarkable optimistic power and was awarded the Pulitzer prize.

 Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening 

Questions

1. Why do you think Frost uses the word "woods" instead of "forest"? How are these two words different from one another?
2. Why does our speaker worry so much about who owns the woods?
3. Many people have criticized Frost for being too concerned with the past or with things that have nothing to do with the modern world (like  radios and TV). Do you agree with this criticism? Can you relate to this poem?
4. Why do you think Frost titled this poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening?"
5. Does it bother you that Frost rhymes "sleep" with "sleep"?

You can find a lot of useful information about how to read poetry in my earlier posts. Here's some links to R.Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods". Remember you 've promised to do outside reading after you 're through with your own analysis!

Criticism

Analysis

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