Untitled Flashcards Set

Front: Alexander Pope, "A little learning is a dangerous thing" Back: Form: Couplet | Summary: This excerpt from An Essay on Criticism warns against shallow knowledge, encouraging deeper understanding. The couplet structure emphasizes balance and clarity.

Front: Jonathan Swift, "A Satirical Elegy on the Death of the Late Famous General" Back: Form: Couplet | Summary: Swift’s satirical poem critiques the late general’s legacy, mocking the public’s reaction to his death. The sharp rhymes enhance the biting tone.

Front: A. E. Housman, "Loveliest of Trees the Cherry Now" Back: Form: Couplet | Summary: Housman reflects on the fleeting beauty of cherry blossoms and the brevity of life. The poem’s structure mirrors this reflective tone.

Front: George Gordon, Lord Byron, "So We’ll Go No More a Roving" Back: Form: Quatrain | Summary: This melancholic poem reflects on the passage of youth and the need to slow down. The quatrain structure provides a steady rhythm to the introspective theme.

Front: Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "In Memoriam 2" ("Old yew that graspest at the stones") Back: Form: Quatrain | Summary: Tennyson mourns a friend’s death and reflects on the power of nature. The quatrains establish a meditative tone.

Front: Robert Frost, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" Back: Form: Quatrain | Summary: This quiet reflection explores themes of duty and rest, with a memorable closing repetition that emphasizes obligations.

Front: John Keats, "Ode on a Grecian Urn" Back: Form: Ode | Summary: Keats contemplates the eternal beauty of art and its ability to capture fleeting moments. The complex stanza structure reflects the poem’s meditative tone.

Front: William Collins, "Ode to Evening" Back: Form: Ode | Summary: This meditative poem praises the quiet beauty of dusk, using descriptive language to evoke calmness.

Front: Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Ode to the West Wind" Back: Form: Ode | Summary: Shelley addresses the West Wind as a powerful force of change and renewal. The dynamic structure mirrors the wind’s energy.

Front: Sir Philip Sidney, "Astrophil and Stella" I and IX Back: Form: Italian Sonnet | Summary: Sidney’s sonnets explore unrequited love and admiration, with emotional intensity heightened by the volta.

Front: Sir Thomas Wyatt, "Whoso List to Hunt" Back: Form: Italian Sonnet | Summary: Wyatt’s poem uses the metaphor of a deer hunt to explore themes of love and pursuit.

Front: William Shakespeare, Sonnet 73 Back: Form: Shakespearean Sonnet | Summary: Shakespeare reflects on aging and mortality, with imagery of autumn and twilight symbolizing life’s decline.

Front: William Shakespeare, Sonnet 94 Back: Form: Shakespearean Sonnet | Summary: This poem examines restraint and virtue, warning of corruption in those with power.

Front: William Shakespeare, Sonnet 106 Back: Form: Shakespearean Sonnet | Summary: Shakespeare reflects on historical admiration for beauty, suggesting his beloved transcends past ideals.

Front: William Shakespeare, Sonnet 130 Back: Form: Shakespearean Sonnet | Summary: This parody of traditional love poems presents a more realistic yet deeply affectionate view of his mistress.

Front: Robert Frost, "Design" Back: Form: Argument Sonnet | Summary: Frost questions the presence of design in nature through a meditation on a spider and a moth.

Front: William Wordsworth, "The World is Too Much with Us" Back: Form: Argument Sonnet | Summary: Wordsworth critiques humanity’s disconnection from nature, warning against materialism.

Front: John Milton, "When I Consider How My Light is Spent" Back: Form: Argument Sonnet | Summary: Milton reflects on his blindness and spiritual purpose, concluding that patience and service are key.

Front: William Shakespeare, "To Be or Not to Be" Back: Form: Blank Verse | Summary: In this soliloquy from Hamlet, Shakespeare contemplates existence, mortality, and the burden of suffering.

Front: William Shakespeare, "All the world’s a stage" Back: Form: Blank Verse | Summary: This passage from As You Like It outlines life’s seven stages, using theatrical imagery.

Front: William Wordsworth, "Tintern Abbey" Back: Form: Blank Verse | Summary: Wordsworth reflects on nature’s power to comfort and inspire, blending memory and meditation.

Front: William Cullen Bryant, "Thanatopsis" Back: Form: Blank Verse | Summary: Bryant’s meditation on death urges readers to accept mortality as part of nature’s cycle.

Front: Walt Whitman, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed" Back: Form: Free Verse | Summary: Whitman mourns Abraham Lincoln’s death while celebrating renewal and nature’s beauty.

Front: Walt Whitman, "The Noiseless, Patient Spider" Back: Form: Free Verse | Summary: This short meditation compares a spider’s web-building to the human soul’s search for connection.

Front: Walt Whitman, "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" Back: Form: Free Verse | Summary: Whitman reflects on memory, love, and loss, blending childhood nostalgia with mature reflection.

Front: Robinson Jeffers, "Shine, Perishing Republic" Back: Form: Free Verse | Summary: Jeffers critiques society’s moral decay, urging a return to individual strength and integrity.

Front: Allen Ginsberg, "Howl" Back: Form: Free Verse | Summary: Ginsberg’s passionate poem exposes social injustice, mental struggles, and rebellion.

Front: William Stafford, "Traveling through the Dark" Back: Form: Free Verse | Summary: Stafford tells a moral dilemma about compassion and practicality after discovering a dead deer.

Front: A. R. Ammons, "Corson’s Inlet" Back: Form: Free Verse | Summary: Ammons meditates on nature’s unpredictable patterns, celebrating its complexity.

Front: Dylan Thomas, "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" Back: Form: Villanelle | Summary: Thomas urges resistance against death, using repeated lines to reinforce his plea.

Front: W. H. Auden, "If I Could Tell You" Back: Form: Villanelle | Summary: Auden reflects on fate and uncertainty, emphasizing life’s unpredictability.

Front: Elizabeth Bishop, "One Art" Back: Form: Villanelle | Summary: Bishop explores loss and resilience, blending humor with deeper emotional reflection.

Front: Theodore Roethke, "I wake to sleep and take my waking slow" Back: Form: Villanelle | Summary: Roethke reflects on self-awareness and spiritual growth through repeated lines.

Front: John Milton, "Lycidas" Back: Form: Pastoral Elegy | Summary: Milton mourns a friend’s death while exploring themes of loss, fame, and salvation.

Front: Thomas Gray, "An Ode to a Favorite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes" Back: Form: Elegy | Summary: Gray offers a humorous yet cautionary poem about a cat’s curiosity leading to its demise.