Modern and Contemporary Poetry Exam 3 (Final Exam)

Poetry - Marianne Moore

slanted and innovative approach to form, blending traditional structures with modern themes.

One Art - Elizabeth Bishop

lost, and the process of grieving through the metaphor of everyday objects.

The Fish - Elizabeth Bishop

Fish, Resilience, Hooks, Admiration, Release, Rainbow, Victory, and Compassion

Visits to St. Elizabeth’s - Elizabeth Bishop

A poem reflecting on mental illness, the complexities of care, and the nature of memory through visits to a psychiatric hospital. (that lies in the house of Bedlam) - growing stanzas

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night - Dylan Thomas

dark, light, night, sight, bright

Traveling through the Dark - William Stafford

Deer, doe, dawn, death

At the Bomb Testing Site - William Stafford

desert, nuclear testing, isolation, humanity

A Song in the Front Yard - Gwendolyn Brooks

front yard, back yard, bad woman

The Vacant Lot - Gwendolyn Brooks

Mrs. Coley, brick, basement, son-in-law, majesty, daughter, men, absence

The Rites of Cousin Vit - Gwendolyn Brooks

casket, satin, vital, snake-hips, bars, happiness, hysterics, emergence

We Real Cool - Gwendolyn Brooks

we, rhyming, youth, jazz, dropping-out, life ruining, enjambment

The Coora Flower - Gwendolyn Brooks

coming home, learning, escape, family problems

cutting greens - Lucille Clifton

cooking, embrace, knife, black, bonding life together

homage to my hips - Lucille Clifton

hips, enslaved, mighty, magic

poem to my uterus - Lucille Clifton

uterus, loss, where to go, without you

to my last period - Lucille Clifton

goodbye, red, done, beautiful

The House Slave - Rita Dove

slave, guilt, varying levels of labor, blowhorn

Man and Wife - Robert Lowell

marriage falling apart, budern, turn your back, burnt out

Waking in the Blue - Robert Lowell

mental institution, harvard, victorian, crimson, new england, roman catholics, razor

Skunk Hour - Robert Lowell

hermit, decay, illness, skunks, loneliness

The Applicant - Sylvia Plath

societal issues, applying to be a wife, marriage issues, perfection

Daddy - Sylvia Plath

increasing intensity, confessional, german/polish, jew, anger, resentful

Metaphors - Sylvia Plath

syllables, fruit, animals, train for forever, inevitable

Lady Lazarus - Sylvia Plath

alive again, suicide, confessional, wanting to feel alive again, personal

Music Swims Back to Me - Anne Saxton

la la la, home, night, radio, november, not afraid

Ringing the Bells - Anne Saxton

and, who, that, bells, music, mental institution, crazy

The Abortion - Anne Sexton

multifaceted thinking, grief, loss, Rumpelstiltskin

Introduction to Poetry - Billy Collins

care about poetry, wanting to do know the exact answer to poetry, teacher student moment

Scenes of Hell - Billy Collins

literal stories of people in hell, occupation based terrors, family issues, wick, spark

My Number - Billy Collins

awaiting death, personifying death, grim reaper

The Lanyard - Billy Collins

dictionary, triggering a memory, nostalgic, craft

Forgetfulness - Billy Collins

getting old, dementia, memory loss, saying goodbye

I Go Back to May 1937 - Sharon Olds

you are going, my mother, my father, colleges

The Pope’s Penis - Sharon Olds

religious aspects, hanging, in praise of God

Satan Says - Sharon Olds

box, sin, corruption, coffin, death

Once - Sharon Olds

father, skin, creepy, memory, sexual

Typography - Sharon Olds

travel, New York, Texas, Kansas, sex as a map

How It Felt - Sharon Olds

clothes, punishment, memory, essence, unchanged