QUESTIONS ON THE POEMS
The Scholar Gipsy.*
1. When Arnold wrote this poem he was still compara-
tively young. What light does the poem throw on his
state of mind at that time ?
2. It has been said that Arnold and his friends lived at
Oxford as in a great country house. How does this poem
confirm that statement ?
3. Arnold ^ speaks of poetry having "natural magic."
Point out adjectives and phrases in which he achieves this
magic in his own descriptions of Nature.
4. Compare the stanza-form with that used in Keats's
" Ode to a Nightingale " or " Autumn " (p. 117).
Itylus.
1. Comment on the vowel-music and poetical devices
(e.g. alliteration) in this poem. Do they injure the sense ?
2. Write a note on the rhymes and stanza-form.
3. Mention other English poems on the nightingale.
What do they say, and what does Swinburne here say,
about the bird ?
Pied Beauty.
^i. Comment on (a) the metre, (6) the language, (c) the
ps>wer of description, in this poem.
2. Compare this with other "catalogue" poems, e.g.
R. Brooke's " Great Lover " and " The Dead " (p. 152).
A Passer-By.
1. Are the poet's descriptions drawn from intimate
knowledge or are they only conventional ?
2. Quote words and expressions by which Bridges
emphasises (a) the dignity, (0) the " tidiness/9 of the ship.
3. Mention other poems describing a sailing-ship and
compare with this.
4. Write a note on the metre and stanza-form of this poem.
The Vagabond.
1. Mention any other poems of the open road, and com-
pare their ideal of life with Stevenson's. Do you think
Stevenson's account adequate or formed from experience ?
2. Quote any specially effective expressions.
Romance.
i. Compare this poem with " The Passionate Shepherd
to his Love " (p. 97). Contrast the inducements of the two
lovers.
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