20th Century Poetry Unit II

A reference to the parable of Dives and Lazarus ("come from the dead") can be found in which 2 poems on your syllabus?

• "The Second Coming" and "Church Going"

• "The Hollow Men" and "Still Falls the Rain"

• "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "Still Falls the Rain"

• "The Hollow Men" and "Memoriam"

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CCSS.RI. 9-10.7

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CCSS.RL.9-10.7

"...Dark-smirched with pain

As Caesar’s laurel crown...."

What specific element of crucifixion iconology is referred to here?

• The sign marked "INRI" nailed atop the crucifix.

• The Crown of Thorns

• The spear-wound in Christ's side

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CCSS.RL.9-10.9

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CCSS.RL.8.4

At dusk, birch forest is a shore of bones.

I've pulled stones from the earth's black pockets,

felt the weight of their weariness - worn,

exhausted from their sleep in the earth.

I've written on my skin with their black sweat.

What specific geography do these lines evoke in Anne Michaels' poem?

• The native Canadian landscape

• The landscape of war-torn Europe

• Jewish displaced homes

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CCSS.RL.9-10.9

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If there is a dominant elemental theme in Anne Michaels' 'Memoriam', what do you think it is?

• Earth

• Sky/Air

• Water

• All 3 elements are evoked in the poem.

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CCSS.RL.9-10.9

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What historic event is Anne Michaels' poem and her second-generation memory linked to?

• The Holocaust or "Shoah"

• World War II

• The Decolonization of Canada

• The Extinction of Native populations in Canada

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CCSS.RL.9-10.9

CCSS.RL.9-10.10

CCSS.RL.11-12.8

CCSS.RL.8.5

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Wide farms went by, short-shadowed cattle, and

Canals with floatings of industrial froth;

A hothouse flashed uniquely: hedges dipped

And rose: and now and then a smell of grass

Displaced the reek of buttoned carriage-cloth

Until the next town, new and nondescript,

Approached with acres of dismantled cars.

What vision and of where do Larkin's lines describe?

• The vistas of modern railway lines anywhere in the world

• The landscape of industrialized Europe

• The English suburban landscape of London

• The English rural and suburban landscape in modernity

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CCSS.RL.9-10.9

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Philip Larkin's profession:

(a)  

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Peter R. King suggests that Larkin's work is “a poetry of disappointment, of the destruction of romantic illusions, of man’s defeat by time and his own inadequacies,” as well as a study of how dreams, hopes, and ideals “are relentlessly diminished by the realities of life.”

Select any two passages from the poem "Whitsun Weddings" that illustrate this:

• "All posed irresolutely, watching us go,

  As if out on the end of an event

  Waving goodbye

  To something that survived it"

• "and it was nearly done, this frail

  Travelling coincidence; and what it held

  Stood ready to be loosed with all the power

  That being changed can give."

• "children frowned

  At something dull; fathers had never known

  Success so huge and wholly farcical;

  The women shared

  The secret like a happy funeral;

  While girls, gripping their handbags tighter, stared

  At a religious wounding."

• "At first, I didn’t notice what a noise

  The weddings made

  Each station that we stopped at: sun destroys

  The interest of what’s happening in the shade,...."

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CCSS.RL.9-10.9

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What does Larkin refer to in 'Church Going' as "the holy end"?

• The church pews

• The church's rood loft

• The church's altar

• The church door

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CCSS.RL.9-10.9

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"Shall we avoid them as unlucky places?

Or, after dark, will dubious women come

To make their children touch a particular stone;

Pick simples for a cancer; or on some

Advised night see walking a dead one?"

What is Larkin talking about in these verses?

• How the practice of faith will change in the future when churches go out of use.

• How plain old superstition will overrun Christian belief when churches fall to disuse.

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CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

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