Poetry Reading Journal: "A Certain Lady"
INSTRUCTIONS
In your Poetry Reading Journal document, answer the following questions, giving examples/quotations from the poem to support or explain your answers. Remember that when you quote from a poem, you give the line numbers in parenthesis. If quoting two or more lines, use a slash to indicate a line break. Example: "And you laugh back nor can you ever see/The thousand little deaths my heart has died"(7-8).
Create a heading with the title of the poem. Then answer the questions below.
QUESTIONS
- In "A Certain Lady" we don't get a full sense of the speaker until well into the poem. As you read, try to imagine the tone of voice you think this person should use. Is the person sad, angry, sarcastic, confused, etc? Does the tone (attitude/feeling) change through the course of the poem?
- To whom does the speaker seem to be talking? What sort of person is he? How do you feel about him? Which habits and attitudes of his do you like least?
- How soon can you tell that the speaker is not altogether happy about his conversation and conduct?
- In what tone of voice would you read the first twenty lines aloud? What attitude would you try to express to the person spoken to?
- What tone of voice would you use for the last two lines of the poem?
- How would you describe the speaker's personality?