The poem begins with the word “Imagine” and moves from a description of the scene in Hopper’s painting to what was in the newspaper — real events from $1942$ — which the man in the painting might read the next morning. How does Sadoff honor the painting’s universal themes while also mooring it to a specific time in history?

In what ways has Stephanie’s writing style become more polished in the final draft? Consider word choice, sentence structure, and variety as well as accuracy of grammar and mechanics.

According to this poem, what potential does the artist have for improving society? How must the artist behave to make that potential become real and useful?

Look at the description of the wallpaper in paragraphs 96–104. How does the syntax of the sentences both mirror the pattern on the wallpaper and suggest the narrator’s agitation?

“Sound and Sense” is a didactic poem, meaning it was written for the purpose of instructing its readers. However, it does contain lyrical language that expresses emotion. How does Pope use that lyrical language to achieve his didactic purpose in this poem?

You may notice that the images are arranged from top to bottom — the sky to the streets in the first stanza, and the windowpanes to the drains in the third. What is the effect of the way Eliot has Prufrock guide the reader’s eye and imagination?

Explain evidence that suggests a genetic influence on sexual orientation from each of the following types of studies: • Family studies • Twins studies • Animal studies

How does the enjambment in this poem contribute to the development of the speaker’s persona?

Describe Erik Erikson's stages of psychosocial development for each of the following: • Marek, age 1 • Jessa, age 24 • Pauline, age 50 • Elsie, age 85

O’Hara once described his work as “I do this I do that” poetry because his poems sometimes sound like diary entries. “The Day Lady Died” is from a collection called Lunch Poems. How is it more than a report of what someone did on his lunch hour?

Why do you think the narrator gets back in touch with Sonny when his daughter, Grace, dies?

One of the most demanding aspects of this poem is its allusions, as Eliot expected his readers to be as well educated as he was. Some allusions are fairly accessible. The allusions to Michelangelo — an artist most people are familiar with — in line $14$ and again in line $36$ help us imagine the women Prufrock is talking about. The function of the less accessible allusions — such as “works and days of hands” (l. $29$) — may serve a different purpose. Why might Eliot have included such esoteric allusions? How do they affect your reading of the poem?

The narrator has a conversation with an old neighborhood friend of Sonny’s (paras. $9–46$). How does that conversation shape the characterization of the narrator? How does it shape our expectations for the outcome of the story?

The last two lines of the ode: “‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,’ — that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know” are among the most enigmatic in all of poetry, both for their content and for the many possibilities of who is addressing whom. Consider four possibilities: speaker to reader, urn to reader, speaker to urn, and speaker to figures on the urn. How does each perspective change the meaning of those two lines and the poem as a whole?