“The Song of the Wandering Aengus”

Collections pg. 73
Determine the Impact of Rhyme
A poem is a combination of sound and meaning. Poets choose their words carefully, since word
choice, or diction, affects a poem’s meaning and the way it sounds. Rhyme is the repetition of
sounds at the end of words, as in more and roar. Words rhyme when their accented vowels and the
letters that follow have identical or similar sounds.
Poets use rhyme for a number of purposes:

End rhyme refers to words that rhyme at the ends of lines of poetry. For example, the second and
fourth lines from “The Song of Wandering Aengus” contain end rhymes:
I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
The end rhymes are head/thread. Reread the first stanza of the poem to listen for and identify a
second pair of end rhymes.
Reread the first stanza of the poem to listen for and identify a second pair of end rhymes.
[HINT: Don’t include head/thread]
Answer…
Analyzing the Text
Cite Text Evidence Support your responses with evidence from the text.
1. Summarize What are the primary actions that take place in each of the three stanzas
of the poem?
Answer…
2. Identify Patterns Find end rhymes and other examples of repetition in the second
stanza. What effects do those forms of repetition have? Do they emphasize a particular
meaning?
Answer…
3. Interpret What is the quest of Aengus in this poem?
Answer…
4. Analyze What words suggest that Aengus is chanting a song?
Answer…
“Sonnet 43”
Collections pg. 75
Analyze Form: Sonnet
The deliberate arrangement of words is the mark of a well-crafted poem. The form of a poem is the
arrangement of its words and lines on a page. One established form is a 14-line poem called a sonnet.
The sonnet is a form that originated in Italy but was altered by English poets, especially William
Shakespeare. The Shakespearean sonnet is named for the best-known user of the form.

A sonnet may also have a specified meter, which is a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed
syllables. Notice where the stress falls in this line of the poem.
When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see,
Look again at the sonnet you have just read. How does the punctuation at the end of the lines show
how the ideas are organized?
How does the punctuation at the end of the lines show how the ideas are organized?
Answer…
Analyzing the Text
Cite Text Evidence Support your responses with evidence from the text.
1. Identify Patterns Explain what you notice about the rhyme scheme of this poem.
Answer…
2. Summarize A paradox is a statement that seems to contradict itself. What paradox
presented in the first line is developed throughout the sonnet? (Note that the word
wink means “to close one’s eyes to sleep.”)
Answer…
3. Interpret Reread the final couplet. Restate its message in your own words.
Answer…
4. Analyze Reread line 5. How should it be read aloud to express its meaning?
Answer…

COMPARE TEXTS (HINT: Use both texts)

Collections pg. 76
Determine Meanings
Figurative language is the use of words in imaginative ways to express ideas that are not literally
true. Poets use figurative language to convey meaning and achieve certain effects. This chart shows
three common types of figurative language with examples from “The Song of Wandering Aengus.”

The figurative language in “Sonnet 43” seems subtler than that in the Yeats poem. In Shakespeare’s
sonnet, which words help create a metaphor for the absence of the poet’s loved one?
In Shakespeare’s sonnet, which words help create a metaphor for the absence of the poet’s
loved one?
Answer…
Analyzing the Text
Cite Text Evidence Support your responses with evidence from the text.
1. Identify Patterns What is the rhyme scheme of Yeats’ poem and how does it differ
from the rhyme scheme of “Sonnet 43”?
Answer…
2. Compare An extended metaphor compares two unlike things at length and in a
number of ways, sometimes throughout an entire work. In each poem, the poet uses an
extended metaphor. What is the metaphor in each poem and what words does the poet
use to extend it?
Answer…
3. Analyze Reread each poem aloud to hear and feel the unstressed and stressed syllables
in each line. What qualities does the meter contribute to each poem? Explain.
Answer…

Level-Up Tutorial: Figurative Language

Directions: Type the answers to your questions below.
Practice
1. Which figure of speech uses like or as in its comparison?
Answer…
2. Choose which figure of speech appears in this sentence: The raindrops danced and jumped
on the window.
 Answer…
3. Choose which figure of speech appears in this sentence: The new pillows were like fluffy
white marshmallows.
Answer…
4. Choose which figure of speech appears in this sentence: Jake was like a whirlwind, rushing
from one activity to the next.
Answer…
5. Choose which figure of speech appears in this sentence: Belinda's fingers were icicles after
her ice-skating lesson.
Answer…