Exercises & Assignments -- Week 3

Exercise 1: Meter

Determine the meter in William Blake's "The Tyger" and "London".

Exercise 2: Scansion and Meaningful Variation

What is the significance of the change from an iambic to a trochaic rhythm in line 4 of "London"?

Exercise 3: Scansion

Perform scansion on the poem "Song" by William Blake.

Exercise 4: Combine Imagery, Symbolism, Apostrophe, Personification and Rhythm

Do a short analysis of "Song" and "A Poison Tree" by William Blake.

Exercise 5: Writing a Paraphrase

Paraphrase the poems "London" and "Song" by William Blake.

Assignment: Interpretation

Interpret the poem "Song" by William Blake.

Exercises & Assignments -- Week 2

Exercise 1: Imagery, Symbolism, Simile, Metaphor, Apostrophe and Personification

William Blake's "To the Evening Star"

Mark all the examples of imagery (and their types), symbolism, simile, metaphor, apostrophe and personification.

Exercise 2: Imagery (and apostrophe and personification)

William Blake's "The Tyger"; "London"; "Song"; "The Lamb"; "A Poison Tree"

Identify and discuss the imagery in these poems. Also identify examples of apostrophe and personification.

Exercise 3: Denotations & Connotations

William Blake's "The Tyger"; "London"; "Song"; "The Lamb"; "A Poison Tree"

What is "said" (denotations) and what is "suggested" (connotations)?

Assignment: Symbolism

William Blake's "The Sick Rose"

Discuss the symbolism in this poem.

• Is the poem about England that is corrupted by politicians (the "worm")?
• Is the poem about a prostitute that is infected with a sexual transmitted disease?
• Is the poem about a virgin, that lost her virginity, maybe through rape?
• Do you have another interpretation?

Motivate your answer.

Definition: Imagery, Symbolism (including Simile and Metaphor), Apostrophe, Personification

Imagery

Imagery refers to anything in the poem that you can imagine. The most common form of imagery in poetry is (1) Visual Imagery. Images related to sound is called (2) Auditory Imagery; those related to touch is called (3) Tactile Imagery; referring to smells, (4) Olfactory Imagery; and imagery to do with taste is (5) Gustatory Imagery. Imagery concerning movement, i.e. (6) Kinesthetic Imagery, is sometimes also identified.

When you notice imagery, ask yourself: What is the purpose of the imagery? Is it merely to describe something, or does it reveal a mood or attitude? Do the imagery act symbolically?

Symbolism

A symbol is something that stands for, or represents, something else. For example, the flag below stands for, or symbolizes, the Republic of Korea.

Often, symbolism is "undefined". In other words, the symbol could refer to more than one thing.

There are two other ways in which something can stand for something else. They are called simile and metaphor.

If I say the sun is like an orange, then an orange becomes a symbol for the sun. They are similar in color and in form (spherical). When I use terms such as "like", "as", "than", "resembles", we call it simile.

"The sun is like an orange", is an example of a simile. When I omit such words of reference, and merely say X = Y, it is a metaphor. For example, "The sun is an orange" is a metaphor.

Simile and metaphor are usually considered "defined". We are certain what it represents.

Apostrophe

Apostrophe is a way of speaking to someone or something which one do not ordinarily speak to. For example, if I speak to my chair, or speak to Elvis Presley, it is called apostrophe.

Personification

When a thing, animal or something abstract (e.g. Truth), is made human, it is called personification. In "To the Evening Star", William Blake refers to "every flower that shuts its sweet eyes". Flowers do not have eyes -- this is an example of personification.