Reluctance

1. How does Robert Frost use the natural world to make an argument?

2. What do you make of the play on words with "wither' (I. 16) and "whither" (L. 18)?What
do you think is the answer to the question of "Whither, which means "where"?

3. Frost is considered a modernist poet, which means, among other things, that his work
has an economy and a directness to it. On the other hand, he used many of the
traditional tools of the nineteenth-century poets - this poem rhymes, for example.Does
"Reluctance seem to be a contemporary, or modern, poem or does it feel old-fashioned
to you? Explain.

4. What is the tone of 'Reluctance"? Does the tone jibe with the poems subject or is there
a bit of a disconnect? Explain your answer.

5. Post and critic William Staford said of Frost's poetry that "the bland voice qui-elly
carrying readers across chasms cannot prevent terrible glimpses. The poems often veil
and, at the same time, hint at elements too abrupt, too full of hurt, for direct
presentation." Does this description apply to "Reluctance"? Explain why or why not?

If we must die
1. Identify the form of 'If We Must Die" Why do you think Claude McKay chose that form for
his message? How does the rhyme scheme add a level of meaning to the poem?

2. Who do you think is the speaker of "If We Must Die"? What is his persona?

3. What argument does McKay make by beginning If We Must Die" with images of animals
and starting the penultimate line with "Like men we'll face the murder-bous, cowardly
pack" (1. 13)?

4. McKay wrote this poem in response to a series of antiblack riots and lynchings in the
summer of 1919. How do you think the poem was received by whites? By blacks?

5. Do you think "If We Must Die is a plea for martyrdom? How else might it be explained?

6. Critic William Maxwell notes that though "If We Must Die" is considered to be the
"inaugural address of the Harlem Renaissance," McKay unveiled it first to the black
employees of the Pennsylvania Railroad, where McKay was a waiter. Why do you think
he chose them as his first audience?