Name: __________________________ Date: __________

Poetry Stations
Directions: Fill out the following packet while working through the five stations.

Station 1: Learning About Emily

Directions: Use the following space to take notes about Emily Dickinsons life.

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Station 2: What is Poetry?

1. Write down 10 lines that stand out to you, lines that you like as a definition of poetry.

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2. What does it mean to you? What is poetry to you? Write down your own description of
poetry.

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3. Come up with 10 original sentences that define poetry. Be creative and get in touch with
your inner muse. What is poetry to you?

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Station 3: Rhetorical Analysis

Directions: Mark (annotate) the poem as you read and make notes on the sections. Be sure to
read through the requirements of each section. Make sure you underline and look up any words
for which you do not know the meaning. Make sure you make all of your annotations on the
same sheet as the poem. You may pick EITHER We grow accustomed to the Dark OR Before
I got my eyes put out to annotate. Both can be found in this packet.
TITLE
T Examine the title before
reading the poem. Is
the title significant?
How does the title
prepare readers for
what is to come in the
poem? What might the
 poem be about?

PARAPHRASE
P Translate the poem into
your own words. What
is the poem about?
Resist the urge to jump
to interpretation. A
failure to understand
what happens literally
inevitably leads to an
interpretive
misunderstanding.

FIGURATIVE DEVICES
F Look beyond the literal
figurative and sound
devices. How do they
affect meaning/feeling?

ATTITUDE
A Analyze narrators and
poets attitude (tone)

SHIFTS
S Note the shifts in tone,
subject, speaker,
situation, and diction

TITLE
T Rethink the meaning of
the title

THEME
T What is the poem
saying? What is the
message?

Station 4: Poetry Terminology

Terminology
In order to read, write, and talk about poetry, there are a few terms you need to know. Define
the terms below. Here are a couple of great websites to help you:
A Glossary of Rhetorical Terms - http://rhetoric.byu.edu/
Literary Vocabulary - http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms.html

1. Alliteration:
2. Allusion:

3. Assonance:

4. Ballad:

5. Connotation:

6. Couplet:

7. Consonance:

8. Denotation:

9. Hyperbole:

10. Meter:
11. Oxymoron:

12. Poet Laureate:

13. Refrain:

14. Rhyme: (end rhyme)

15. Stanza:
 Station 5: Questions
Directions: Read the poems We grow accustomed to the Dark and Before I got my eyes put
out. Then answer the following questions. Be sure to write your answers in COMPLETE
sentences.

1. Interpret: Paraphrase stanza two of We grow accustomed to the Dark. What is the central
idea of this stanza?

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2. Infer: What does Dickinson mean beyond the literal meanings of the words when she says We
grow accustomed to the Dark? With this interpretation in mind, consider the lines, And so of
larger--Darkness--/ Those Evenings of the Brain--: To what might these lines refer?

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3. Compare: Dickinson uses images of eyes and sign in both poems. Explain whether she uses
these imagines for the same purpose in both poems.

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4. Analyze: Analyze the meter of before I got my eye put out. What pattern do most stanzas
follow? What effect does the poet achieve by changing the meter?
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5. Identify Patterns: Review Before I got my eyes put out and identify the number of lines in
each stanza. Which stanza does not fit the pattern? What is the effect of this variation on
Dickinsons meaning and tone?

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6. Synthesize: Write a summary of the conclusion the speaker comes to at the end of each poem.
How and why do they differ? Cite lines from each poem to support your explanation.

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We grow accustomed to the dark

By: Emily Dickinson
We grow accustomed to the Dark -
When light is put away -
As when the Neighbor holds the Lamp
To witness her Goodbye -

A Moment - We uncertain step

For newness of the night -
Then - fit our Vision to the Dark -
And meet the Road - erect -

And so of larger - Darknesses -

Those Evenings of the Brain -
When not a Moon disclose a sign -
Or Star - come out - within -

The Bravest - grope a little -

And sometimes hit a Tree
Directly in the Forehead -
But as they learn to see -

Either the Darkness alters -

Or something in the sight
Adjusts itself to Midnight -
And Life steps almost straight.

Before I got my eye put out

By: Emily Dickinson
Before I got my eye put out
I liked as well to see
As other Creatures, that have Eyes
And know no other way

But were it told to me Today

That I might have the sky
For mine I tell you that my Heart
Would split, for size of me

The Meadows mine

The Mountains mine
All Forests Stintless Stars
As much of Noon as I could take
Between my finite eyes

The Motions of the Dipping Birds

The Morning's Amber Road
For mine to look at when I liked
The News would strike me dead

So safer guess with just my soul

Upon the Window pane
Where other Creatures put their eyes
Incautious of the Sun