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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 travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Questions:
1. What advice does the speaker give?
2. How does the speaker try to show which path is better?
3. How would you describe the speaker’s philosophy of life?
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Speaker: Who is the speaker?
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Occasion:
What is the social, cultural, historical, geographical context of the text?
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Audience:
Who is the target audience?
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Purpose: What is the message of the text?
Why was it written?
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Subject:
What is the text about?
What is the theme?
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Tone: What is the speaker’s attitude toward the reader, subject and audience?
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from chapter 2 of Walden (“Where I lived, and what I lived for”)
Henry David Thoreau
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." - Walden
"Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison." - "Civil Disobedience"
[15] We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep. I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor. It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts. Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour. If we refused, or rather used up, such paltry information as we get, the oracles would distinctly inform us how this might be done.
[16] I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to "glorify God and enjoy him forever."(17)
[23] Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in. I drink at it; but while I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is. Its thin current slides away, but eternity remains. I would drink deeper; fish in the sky, whose bottom is pebbly with stars. I cannot count one. I know not the first letter of the alphabet. I have always been regretting that I was not as wise as the day I was born. The intellect is a cleaver; it discerns and rifts its way into the secret of things. I do not wish to be any more busy with my hands than is necessary. My head is hands and feet. I feel all my best faculties concentrated in it. My instinct tells me that my head is an organ for burrowing, as some creatures use their snout and fore paws, and with it I would mine and burrow my way through these hills. I think that the richest vein is somewhere hereabouts; so by the divining-rod and thin rising vapors I judge; and here I will begin to mine.
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Speaker: Who is the speaker?
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Occasion:
What is the social, cultural, historical, geographical context of the text?
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Audience:
Who is the target audience?
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Purpose: What is the message of the text?
Why was it written?
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Subject:
What is the text about?
What is the theme?
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Tone: What is the speaker’s attitude toward the reader, subject and audience?
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To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time (Robert Herrick)
Gather ye rose-buds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day,
To-morrow will be dying.
The glorious Lamp of Heaven, the Sun,
The higher he’s a-getting
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he’s to setting.
That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times, still succeed the former.
Then be not coy, but use your time; *coy: modest
And while ye may, go marry:
For having lost but once your prime,
You may for ever tarry. *tarry: linger
1.) What does the speaker in the poem advise, or try to convince, women (or a particular woman) to do?
2.) How does the speaker in the poem try to convince women (or the woman)? Underline specific words or phrases that support your answer.
3.) How would you describe the speaker’s philosophy of life? Do you think this is a good philosophy? Why or why not?
SOAPStone
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Response
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Textual Support
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Speaker: Who is the speaker?
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Occasion:
What is the social, cultural, historical, geographical context of the text?
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Audience:
Who is the target audience?
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Purpose: What is the message of the text?
Why was it written?
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Subject:
What is the text about?
What is the theme?
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Tone: What is the speaker’s attitude toward the reader, subject and audience?
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O Captain My Captain - Walt Whitman
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck the Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck the Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up --- for you the flag is flung --- for you the bugle trills,
For you the bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths --- for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning,
Here Captain! dear father!
The arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.
Rise up --- for you the flag is flung --- for you the bugle trills,
For you the bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths --- for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning,
Here Captain! dear father!
The arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
1.) What does the speaker in the poem share with the audience?
2.) How does the speaker in the poem try to convince people of his captain? Underline specific words or phrases that support your answer.
3.) How would you describe the speaker’s philosophy of life? Do you think this is a good philosophy? Why or why not?
SOAPStone
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Response
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Textual Support
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Speaker: Who is the speaker?
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Occasion:
What is the social, cultural, historical, geographical context of the text?
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Audience:
Who is the target audience?
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Purpose: What is the message of the text?
Why was it written?
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Subject:
What is the text about?
What is the theme?
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Tone: What is the speaker’s attitude toward the reader, subject and audience?
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Sonnet XVIII - William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
1.) What does the speaker in the poem advise, others about this woman?
2.) How does the speaker in the poem try to describe women (or the woman)? Underline specific words or phrases that support your answer.
3.) How would you describe the speaker’s philosophy of life? Do you think this is a good philosophy? Why or why not?
SOAPStone
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Response
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Textual Support
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Speaker: Who is the speaker?
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Occasion:
What is the social, cultural, historical, geographical context of the text?
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Audience:
Who is the target audience?
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Purpose: What is the message of the text?
Why was it written?
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Subject:
What is the text about?
What is the theme?
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Tone: What is the speaker’s attitude toward the reader, subject and audience?
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She Walks In Beauty - Lord Byron
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear, their dwelling-place.
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear, their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
1.) What does the speaker in the poem advise, or try to convince, women (or a particular woman) to do?
2.) How does the speaker in the poem try to convince women (or the woman)? Underline specific words or phrases that support your answer.
3.) How would you describe the speaker’s philosophy of life? Do you think this is a good philosophy? Why or why not?
SOAPStone
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Response
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Textual Support
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Speaker: Who is the speaker?
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Occasion:
What is the social, cultural, historical, geographical context of the text?
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Audience:
Who is the target audience?
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Purpose: What is the message of the text?
Why was it written?
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Subject:
What is the text about?
What is the theme?
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Tone: What is the speaker’s attitude toward the reader, subject and audience?
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Puck’s Speech at the end of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
PUCK
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.
1. What is the speaker hoping for?
2. How do the ideas of Honesty and Lying come up?
3. What is the speaker’s philosophy of life?
SOAPStone
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Response
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Textual Support
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Speaker: Who is the speaker?
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Occasion:
What is the social, cultural, historical, geographical context of the text?
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Audience:
Who is the target audience?
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Purpose: What is the message of the text?
Why was it written?
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Subject:
What is the text about?
What is the theme?
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Tone: What is the speaker’s attitude toward the reader, subject and audience?
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