Rick Reads The Life's Work of an English Teacher

Poetry

How to Write About Poetry

The questions to ask of any poem, model paraphrases, and worked answers for the poems the class read.

Getting started

The questions that open up any poem.

Understanding and Evaluating Poetry

The questions to ask of any poem: speaker, audience, occasion, setting, purpose, theme, and more.
Poetry Close reading Study guide

Paraphrase

Exercises and model paraphrases that put a poem into plain prose, line by line.

Paraphrase: "The Whipping"

A model paraphrase of Robert Hayden's "The Whipping."
Poetry Paraphrase Robert Hayden

Paraphrasing Exercise: "Break of Day"

A step-by-step exercise in paraphrasing Donne's "Break of Day."
Poetry Paraphrase John Donne

Paraphrasing Exercise: "There's been a Death, in the Opposite House"

An exercise in paraphrasing Emily Dickinson's "There's been a Death, in the Opposite House."
Poetry Paraphrase Emily Dickinson

Paraphrase: "I taste a liquor never brewed"

A model paraphrase of Emily Dickinson's "I taste a liquor never brewed."
Poetry Paraphrase Emily Dickinson

Paraphrase: "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"

A model paraphrase of Donne's "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning."
Poetry Paraphrase John Donne

Paraphrasing Example: "Fire and Ice"

The rules for paraphrasing, applied to Robert Frost's "Fire and Ice."
Poetry Paraphrase Robert Frost

Paraphrase: "The Indifferent"

A model paraphrase of Donne's "The Indifferent."
Poetry Paraphrase John Donne

Paraphrase: "Love's Deity"

A model paraphrase of Donne's "Love's Deity."
Poetry Paraphrase John Donne

Questions for analysis

The opening questions answered for each poem.

Analysis: "Break of Day"

Answers to the questions for analyzing and evaluating Donne's "Break of Day."
Poetry Close reading John Donne

Analysis: "A Hymn to God the Father"

Answers to the questions for analyzing and evaluating Donne's "A Hymn to God the Father."
Poetry Close reading John Donne

Analysis: "The Widow's Lament in Springtime"

Answers to the questions for analyzing and evaluating William Carlos Williams's "The Widow's Lament in Springtime."
Poetry Close reading William Carlos Williams

Analysis: "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"

Answers to the questions for analyzing and evaluating Donne's "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning."
Poetry Close reading John Donne

Analysis: "Ulysses"

Answers to the questions for analyzing and evaluating Tennyson's "Ulysses."
Poetry Close reading Tennyson

Analysis: "My Last Duchess"

Answers to the questions for analyzing and evaluating Browning's "My Last Duchess."
Poetry Close reading Robert Browning

Analysis: "The Indifferent"

Answers to the questions for analyzing and evaluating Donne's "The Indifferent."
Poetry Close reading John Donne

Analysis: "Love's Deity"

Answers to the questions for analyzing and evaluating Donne's "Love's Deity."
Poetry Close reading John Donne