AP English

1. Describe a villanelle by explicating the stanza pattern and the rhyme scheme of this poem. How many different end rhymes are in the poem? How many times is each sound repeated? Which words are repeated exactly at the ends of lines, in what pattern? How does the last stanza ust the rhyming words? Why is this appropriate at the end of the poem?

The poem contains 5 tercets with the rhyme aba and a quatrain at the end with the rhyme scheme abaa. The a rhyme is repeated 13 times, while the b rhyme is repeated 6 times. The words “know” and “hello” are repeated at the ends of lines 1, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15. These words are used at the end to restate the meaning of the poem.

2. Isolating the b rhymes (middle line of each tercet) gives us this list: fine, wine, nine, line, pine, sign. What is the significance of each of these words to the whole poem?

Fine represents both an answer to hello, and the temporary state of happiness in the poem. The wine represents the beginning of the relationship that is ended by nine o’clock. The use of the word “line” makes the relationship seem scripted and already planned out. The word pine both describes the tree and a sense of longing and sadness. The sign represents the end of all relationships

3. Incremental repitition tends to augment meaning and accumulate significance. What variations in meaning are present in the following groups of repititions and what is their effect?

The 1st hello is just a greeting. The 2nd greeting is a way to form a relationship. The 3rd hello is saying that all relationships are the same, and the 4th hello is saying that all relationships start and end the same way, with a hello and good-bye.

Goodbye at the end is saying that we say goodbye at the end of a converstation. Goodbye in the end shows that we know how the relationship will end because we have lived the story many times. Goodbye is the end repeates the idea of the previous goodbye, but in a sadder tone. The last goodbye states that this is the only story of relationships that we know.

The first “every story we know” states that every story begins and ends the same way. The second repitition reiterates the fact that we know the story by heart. The next repetition shows that every story ends with a good-bye. The last repitition of “we know, we know” shows how strongly the story has been ingrained into our brains

1. Describe the prosody of Alvarez’s poem

Alvarez’s poem is a sestina, meaning it has 6 stanzas with 6 lines each, with a 3 line envoy (the last 3 lines of the poem). The end words of the 1st stanza are repeated as the last words of the other stanzas in this order:

1. abcdef

2. faebdc

3. cfdabe

4. ecdfad

5. deacfb

6. bdfeca

The envoy, the last 3 lines,  contains all of the end words.

2. In the first stanza, what is the effect of personification and allusion? What is the Spanish counterpart to each? Sum up the meaning of the stanza.

Through the personification of the English language as ”snowy, blonde, blue-eyed, gum chewing” girl, and the allusion to the national anthem of America, “dawn’s early light”, we see that the narrator is not fond of the English language. Instead of using the allusion to make an image of America, the narrator uses it to make an image of ”dark-skinned girls.” The meaning of the stanza serves to show us that the narrator can easily translate simple words into English, but has trouble translating the words that hold special meaning to her.

3. What mood or feelings are evoked in stanza two? How does language create this mood?

Stanza two evokes feelings of nostalgia, comfort, and innocence. The speaker reminices about her childhood on the island, recalling how she would recite simple words in Spanish that would wash over her like “warm island waters.”

4. What do we learn in stanzas 2 and 3 about the difference between names and vocabulary words? How does the example of the plant called the morivivir help illustrate this gap? What does the metaphor of the genii in the bottle tell us about the nature of language?

We learn that names, which carry meaning, are completely different from vocabulary words, which only label things. The narrator says that vocabulary words are like the morivivir, whose leaves close when the children tried to touch it. The genii in the bottle metaphor shows that even names cannot summon the meaning.

5. In stanzas four and five, why does the speaker invoke Gladys and Rosario from her childhood? How is her childhood semsitivity to words inextricably bound to Spanish, her first language? What is significant about the allusion to Adam, the first man?

Gladys and Rosario are invoked because they represent her love of Spanish and her childhood innocence. Her childhood sensitivity is bound to Spanish because it was her first language, the language with which she saw her world. This made the allusion to Adam significant, because like Adam, the speaker created her world through her language.

1. how does the poem conform to a common sonnet form? What variations are notable, what is their effect?

The poem conforms to a Shakespearean sonnet in that there are three quatrains and a couplet, and each contains only one sentance. However, the poem follows more closely to the Italian rhyming scheme; beginning with the abba, repeating it, and adding two rhymes in the 3rd quatrain followed by an a rhyme.

2. Describe use of personifiation and apostrophe. How do these devices enhance our experience of the poem?

The apostrophe and personification is used to make Death seem powerless and weak. The narrator says “poor Death” and calls it a “slave to Fate.” Death is made mortal in the last statement “Death, thou shalt die.”

3. Paraphrase the 3 quatrains, preserving clauses but simplifying the syntax. Do the same for paradoxical couplet. Retain apostrophe and personification

Death, don’t be proud, although some have called you powerful and fearsome, you are not; because those that you think you defeat do not die, and you cannot defeat me. We love rest and sleep, which is all that you are, therefore we will get much more pleasure from you, as seen in the fact that the best people die first, and achieve rest for the bones and soul. You are a slave to fate, chance, kings and suicide, and you dwell with poison, war, and sickness. We can make ourselves sleep with opium and charms, so what is the point of your existence? You are powerless because our sleep is not eternal, and when we awake from death, you will lose all power.

4. Describe the form and structure of the poem.

The poem is divided into 16 lines of closed heroic couplets. It is further divided into 2 units: the first unit describes who death effects, and the second unit states what death does.

5.  Which details personify death? What is their effect? With what attitude does the speaker apostrophize death? What does she request of him?

Death is personified as an inevitable and terrifying end to all life. It is called the “King of terrors” and all living things are doomed to go to his “gloomy kingdom.” The narrator makes the ways that death kills worse than death itself. She asks death to take her “gently” and peacefully. 

6. Paraphrase each of the three sections of the poem: 1-6, 7-12, and 13-16. Use one sentence for each couplet. This time, change all figurative language to literal rather than retaining the apostrophe and personification.

Death you are terrifying because death is inevitable. Even kings, priests, prophets, and God’s son must die. I will also die. Death itself does not scare me as much as the way people die; in fevers that take us unprepared, and contagious diseases that kill even the mourners. I do not care when I die if I am spared the agony, I know I must die, and I know death must kill. I do not fear death if I go peacefully.

Weel the school’s internet is painfully slow, but other than that, making a blog has been pretty easy.

Heyo, this is Andrew. I don’t really know what to put here yet, but I’m working on something.