Megan Mallory
1-19-04
Period 6
I taste a liquor never brewed
I taste a liquor never brewed --
From Tankards scooped in Pearl --
Not all the Vats upon the Rhine
Yield such an Alcohol!
Inebriate of Air -- am I --
And Debauchee of Dew --
Reeling -- thro endless summer days --
From inns of Molten Blue --
When "Landlords" turn the drunken Bee
Out of the Foxglove's door --
When Butterflies -- renounce their "drams" --
I shall but drink the more!
Till Seraphs swing their snowy Hats --
And Saints -- to windows run --
To see the little Tippler
Leaning against the -- Sun –
1. What is the speaker drinking in this poem? Why doesn't he/she want to
stop?
They are drinking life
during the summer
2. Who would the landlords in stanza 3 be? What details in the poem
suggest a tone of defiance?
Landlords represent
night and seasons, which destroys her joy of summer
3. Where is the little
"Tippler" or drinker in the last stanza? Can you see any significance
in the last word of the poem?
She
uses the word “Sun” to refer to Jesus
The
little “Tippler” refers to the speaker, who is drunk
"Much
Madness is divinest Sense"
Much
madness is divinest Sense—
To
a discerning Eye—
Much
Sense—the starkest Madness—
’Tis the Majority
In
this, as All, prevail— 5
Assent—and
you are sane—
Demur—you’re
straightway dangerous—
And
handled with a Chain—
This means that if you act the “right” way to a society, you
will blend in, but if you act different, they won’t treat you the same.
1. What is the meaning of the two paradoxes in the first three lines? How
do they affect the poem's meaning?
The first two lines mean
that if you aren’t yourself, other wise insane, then you are acceptable. They
affect the poem’s meaning because that is basically the theme of the entire
poem
2. What do you think is the poem's theme? What does the speaker think
about the individual's proper relationship to society?
They poem’s theme is
that people change their minds and bodies to what the society thinks is
acceptable; instead of people thinking for themselves, they are absent-minded
and go with what other people say.
3. Dickinson
liked to use dashes- -which her first editors removed. How do dashes help
emphasize certain ideas in this poem?
They help create pauses,
which help the reader stop and think of what is written.
4. What would you say is Dickinson's
tone in this poem?
She is a nonconformist,
and does not believe that people should form with what society thinks.
"Because
I could not stop for Death"
Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.
We passed the school, where children strove
At recess, in the ring;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.
Or rather, be passed us;
The dews grew quivering and chill,
For only gossamer my gown,
My tippet only tulle.
We paused before house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.
Since then 'tis centuries, and yet each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
were toward eternity.
1. What might the three things passed on the drive symbolize? Why does Dickinson
put them in this order?
The three tings
symbolized her stages of her life
The school
represented childhood, the grains represented maturity, and the setting sun
represented old age
2. Note that Dickinson
rhymes the word ground with itself. What effect does this repetition have?
The word “ground”
reinforces the finality of the final resting place
3. What is the main metaphor in the poem?
Death is a gentleman
4. Can you paraphrase the first two lines in a way that emphasizes their
irony? What word in line 2 tells you the tone is ironic?
Death kindly stopped for
her; more gentlemanly than expected
5. In stanza 2, civility means
"politeness." How does this kind of behavior
on the part of Death and the speaker extend the irony of the first stanza?
Usually death is not
considered to be civil or nice
6. Stanza 5 is a riddle in itself. What is the nearly buried house?
The nearly buried house
is her coffin that her broken body will stay in
7. Do you think the concluding stanza introduces a tone of terror because
the speaker suddenly realized that she will ride on forever, conscious of being
dead? Or is the poem really an expression of trust and even triumph? Explain
your response.
She is conscious of
being dead, but is still at peace because being dead does not seem to frighten
her very much; Dickinson
leaves it up to the reader to make up their mind
"I
heard a Fly buzz--when I died"
I heard a Fly
buzz--when I died--
The Stillness in
the Room
Was like the
Stillness in the Air--
Between the
Heaves of Storm--
The Eyes
around--had wrung them dry--
And Breaths were
gathering firm
For that last
Onset--when the King
Be witnessed--in
the Room--
I willed my
Keepsakes--Signed away
What portions of
me be
Assignable--and
then it was
There interposed
a Fly--
With
Blue--uncertain stumbling Buzz--
Between the
light--and me--
And then the
Windows failed--and then
I could not see
to see--
"I Heard a fly buzz . .
."
1. What mood is created in II. 2-8?
Solemn, gravity, respect,
2. What changes the mood?
The buzzing of a fly
interrupts
3. What effect does the poet achieve by repeating the s and z sounds in I.
13?
The repetitive sound of cer, stum, and buzz help to
emphasize the interrupting of the fly; this line of the poem stands out from
the rest and diverts the readers’ attention to the annoying fly
4. How could the final line be paraphrased to denote the two senses in
which the speaker is using the word see?
The speaker is trying to
say that she cannot understand what she is seeing
5. According to the second and third stanzas,
how had the speaker and those around her prepared for death?
Their eyes were dry
because no one had blinked for fear that they might miss her death
Their breaths were short
because they were nervous and waiting for her to die and see her see the King
of heaven
The person dying had
signed her will and assigned her belongings to who she could
6. What are the dying person and those around her expecting to find
in the room? What appears instead and why is this ironic?
The people in her room
are expecting to see the King of heaven, but it is interrupted by the buzz of a
fly (a fly is a pest-nothing that they expected). This is ironic because this
is something that people see every day of their lives
7. How does the poet use pauses and specific words in lines 12-13 to make
the appearance of the fly dramatic and lively?
The repetition of the
consonants “z” and “c” help to emphasize the interruption of the fly
The dashes create pauses
and make the reader stop reading and also create the trail of which the fly is
darting back and forth
Alliteration also comes
with “Blue” and “Buzz” as well as onomanopia with
“explosive” sounds
8. What tone do you hear in this poem? What feeling do you think the poet
expresses
A tone of disappointment by the speaker when the
fly comes in
There was a tone of anxiety from the people
watching
The writer is making fun of people who would
feel that they are so important that the would leave with a dramatic exit
Tell all the Truth but
tell it slant --
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm
Delight
The Truth’s superb
surprise
As Lightning to the
Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle
gradually
Or every man be blind --
"Tell
all the Truth but tell it slant (1129),"
"Tell all the Truth"
1. What does the expression slant the truth mean?
To tell a white lie, to
bend it and spin it their own way-so that they can make it as good as possible
for them
2. What might tell all the truth slant
mean?
To tell all the truth,
but a little at a time
3. What is the major difference between the two expressions?
In the first, you tell
the truth with a lie that suits you; in the second, you tell the whole truth
but a little at a time
4. Explain the meaning of Circuit (line 2) in the context of the
poem. What is "To bright for our infirm
delight" (line 3)?
The whole, entire truth
would be too hard for people to handle-“it is too bright, and it would hurt us”
5. Lines 5 and 6 provide an example to illustrate the poet's point about
truth. As is typical of Dickinson's
technique, she omits several words in these lines. How would you rephrase these
lines to make a full sentence?
6. What metaphor is implied in line 7? What things is truth being
compared with?