Cedric Bonsol

AP English Literature, Period 2

March 4, 2015
Digging Poetry Response
1. The speaker of the poem is a writer who is the sin if a farmer. He seems to
appreciate the hard work of his elders.
2. The speaker addresses an audience of generic readers who may or may not
appreciate hard work.
3. The speaker establishes a setting of a farm through his use of pastoral imagery
and description of the farm that his father worked in.
4. The speaker of the poem utilizes an irregular rhyme scheme and poem structure. It
is in free verse.
5. The speaker sets the theme of the poem as hard work, as evident by his
description of the of his father and grandfathers hard work on the farm.
6. The speaker of the poem uses word such as digging, firmly, and handle to
showcase the idea of hard work on a farm.
7. The speaker alludes to Irish potato farming throughout the poem when referring to
the farming that his grandfather and his father performed.
8. The speaker of the poem utilizes a tone that is regretful because he wishes that he
could have performed with his father to dig and work hard.
9. The shovel is a symbol of hard work and great skill that his father and grandfather
showcased through hard work on the farm.
10. The speaker generates imagery of tools and hard work through his selective
diction to indicate hard work and shovels.
11. The speaker of the poem metaphorizes the potato as the fruits of labor. Whether it
be good or bad, hard work can have good or bad consequences.
12. The speaker of the poem generates a dramatic situation of himself farming and
using a tool.
13. The speaker of the poem also utilizes a Biblical allusion when referring to God to
emphasize the skill of his grandfather with a spade.

Cedric Bonsol
AP English Literature, Period 2
March 4, 2015
Those Winter Sundays Poetry Response
1. The speaker of the poem is a grown adult who appreciates his relationship with
his father as he grew up.
2. The speaker addresses himself as this poem is a self-reflection of his own lifes
past experiences.
3. The author utilizes dramatic situation in which the speaker performs selfreflection on his past life in relation to his father.
4. The speaker of the poem establishes a setting of Sundays that are cold and in a
cabin. The author refers to the past when discussing such.
5. The theme of the poem is delayed appreciation after an experience of happiness
interrupted by death occurs.
6. The speaker of the poem lacks a use of regular rhyme scheme and structure. The
poem, however, is a free-verse sonnet.
7. The speaker metaphorizes the death of his father as the death of any loved one
who brings happiness to ones life.
8. The structure of the poem relates to the authors life because each stanza
represents a state in the authors life in relation to his father
9. The speakers use of selective diction with words such as blueblack, blaze,
and warm help the audience feel a sense of presence in the authors dramatic
situation.
10. The speaker symbolizes his father as a source of happiness that comes from a
relative. His father represents all loved ones in the past.
11. The authors utilizes personification when describing the house as angry to
emphasize the emotion of the setting of the poem.
12. The speaker of the poem indicates that he misunderstood the strict attitude of his
father when he was younger, but now realizes that it was for his own good.
13. The speaker utilizes this poem as a eulogy to his fathers death, although this is
not explicitly statedit is simply inferred.