Pondering Poems’ Meanings Assessment
Poem Title: Love and hate
P—Preview
· Look at the title of the poem. What
does it mean?
· Look at the structure. Circle and
look up any words you don’t know.
· Make a prediction of what you
think the poem will be about.
R—Read
· Read the poem once through, either
silently or aloud. Don't stop at the end
of every line; let the punctuation guide
your reading.
· What do you think the poem is
likely about? What words or phrases
helped you make that decision?
· Which words stand out? Which
images are created in your mind?
Type a two-sentence prediction of what the
poem will be about.
I think the poem is going to be someone
talking about love. And the same person
exploring the things that they hate.
After reading the poem, how has your
prediction changed?
After reading the poem, my prediction
changed. The author of the poem spoke
about someone that they once loved. They
told this person to not look at them because
they now hated this person and did not want
to be bothered by them.
Which words/images support your
interpretation?
The words that support my interpretation are:
“Great love I bore thee: now great hate sits
grimly in its place”.
 P—Paraphrase Select your favorite line from the poem and
paste it below along with your paraphrasing of
the line.

· Put the poet's ideas into your own My favorite line from the poem would be:
words. This doesn't mean replacing their “Great love I bore thee: now great hate sits
words with synonyms. Instead, rewrite grimly in its place”. My paraphrasing of the line
the ideas in a new way. would be: Before I love you but now I detest
you with all my heart.
· Maintain the author’s tone and
mood. What tone and mood does this line convey?

The tone in this line is bitter and the mood is

· Use context clues within the poem
melancholic.
to help you paraphrase.

Write a paragraph with your interpretation of the poem using evidence from the poem to support
your answer. A paragraph is five to seven sentences and includes supporting evidence. This
means using quotes from the poem to help prove your choice. Standard spelling, grammar, and
punctuation rules apply.

My interpretation of the poem is that the author told her ex lover not to look at her since
now she hates him and doesn’t want to know about him cause she doesn’t feel anything
because he took her will power. On the stanza #3, the author says “Turn thou away thy
false dark eyes, nor gaze upon face; Great love I bore thee: now great hate sits grimly in
its place”. In other words, she is telling him not to look at her with those lying eyes or
stare at her face because before she loved him but now she detest him more. On
stanza #4 states “All changes pass me like a dream, I neither sing nor pray; And thou art
like the poisonous tree that stole my life away”. This means that she no longer feels like
having illusions or pleading to God only because he is so toxic and took all her existence
away.
Pondering Poems’ Meanings Rubric
On Target Almost There Needs Improvement

Graphic 25-20 points 19-15 points 14-0 points

Organizer

(25 points)
· The graphic · The graphic · The graphic
organizer is filled organizer is filled organizer is
out with out with incompletely
complete somewhat filled out or
sentences. complete contains many
sentences. phrases and
· The analysis is fragments.
in-depth with · There is some
evidence. analysis with · There is no
little or no analysis of the
evidence. poem.

Interpretation 20-16 points 15-11 points 10-0 points

Paragraph

(20 points)
· There are a · There are a · There are fewer
minimum of five minimum of five than five
to seven to seven almost sentences.
complete complete
sentences. sentences. · There is no
supporting
· There is clear · There is some evidence.
and convincing allusion to
supporting supporting
evidence. evidence.
Grammar, 5-4 points 3-2 points 1-0 points
Usage, and
Mechanics

(5 points) · There are · There are a few · There are several

virtually no spelling, spelling,
spelling, punctuation, or punctuation, or
punctuation, or grammatical grammatical
grammatical errors. errors.
errors.