English 3

Homework Week October 17, 2022

Monday: Consider the qualities Morrison identifies as characteristic of African-American art forms. Which of the Harlem Renaissance works you read would meet Morrison’s criteria for African American art? Cite details in your answer

Tuesday: Literary critic Bill Peschel has said that in Robinson’s Tilbury Town poems, “the town’s Puritan ethic, portrayed as repressive and critical, combined with the materialistic aspects of society, conspires to bring down its citizens.” Do you find evidence of this repressive Puritan ethic in the attitudes of the speakers in the Robinson poems? Explain why or why not.

Wednesday: Imagist poet William Carlos Williams once criticized Sandburg’s poetry as “formless.” Even some of Sandburg’s supporters conceded that this was true. Do you agree or disagree? Cite evidence to support your response, also explaining whether you would count yourself among his supporters or his critics, and why

Thursday: The literary critic and scholar Lionel Trilling hailed Frost for his “representation of the terrible actualities of life in a new way.” Apply this comment to the three Frost poems you have just read. What are the “terrible actualities of life” in each poem? What might be considered “new” or unusual about Frost’s portrayal of these realities? Explain

Friday: Robert Frost spent 11 years farming and drew tremendous inspiration from farm life. The poet Ezra Pound, reviewing Frost’s second book of poetry, wrote, “I know more of farm life than I did before I had read his poems. That means I know more of ‘Life.’” Think of the Frost poems you’ve read. In what ways can the themes of farm life as depicted by Frost be said to reflect life in general?