Name: ________________________________________________
Tone Worksheet 2

Directions: Read each poem and then answer the following questions.

Heat
By Hilda Doolittle

O wind, rend1 open the heat,
Cut apart the heat,
Rend it to tatters2.

Fruit cannot drop
Through this thick air --
Fruit cannot fall into heat
That presses up and blunts
The points of pears
And rounds the grapes.	

Cut the heat --
Plough through it,
Turning it on either side
Of your path.

1. rend: to tear or rip apart
2. tatters: ragged clothing, fabric, or paper	

1. What is this poem about? ____________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

2. What is the speaker's tone? ___________________________________________________________

Explain your answer using textual evidence.

	

from The Land of Beginning Again
By Louisa Fletcher Tarkington

I wish there were some wonderful place
Called the Land of Beginning Again,
Where all our mistakes and all our heartaches,
And all our poor, selfish grieves1
Could be dropped, like a shabby2 old coat, at the door,
And never put on again.

We would find the things we intended to do,
But forgot and remembered too late--
Little praises unspoken, little promises broken,
And all of the thousand and one
Little duties neglected3 that might have perfected
The days of one less fortunate.	

So I wish that there were some wonderful place
Called the Land of Beginning Again,
Where all our mistakes and all our heartaches,
And all our poor, selfish grieves
Could be dropped, like a ragged old coat, at the door,
And never put on again.

1. grieves: to feel very sad about something
2. shabby: torn, worn, in poor condition
3. neglected: failed to care for something	

3. What is this poem about? ____________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

4. What is the speaker's tone? ___________________________________________________________

Explain your answer using textual evidence.

	

Strange Meetings
By Harold Mono

   If suddenly a clod1 of earth should rise,
   And walk about, and breathe, and speak, and love,
   How one would tremble, and in what surprise
   Gasp: "Can you move?"

   I see men walking, and I always feel:
   "Earth! How have you done this? What can you be?"
   I can't learn how to know men, or conceal2
   How strange they are to me.	

1. clod: a lump of something, especially dirt or clay
2. conceal: hide

5. What is this poem about? ____________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

6. What is the speaker's tone? ___________________________________________________________

Explain your answer using textual evidence.

	

from Riding to Town
By Paul Lawrence Dunbar

 When labor is light and the morning is fair,
 I find it a pleasure beyond all compare
 To hitch up my nag1 and go hurrying down
 And take Katie May for a ride into town;
   For bumpety-bump goes the wagon,
     But tra-la-la-la our lay.
 There's joy in a song as we rattle along
   In the light of the glorious day.	

A coach would be fine, but a spring wagon's good;
 My jeans are a match for Kate's gingham2 and hood;
 The hills take us up and the vales3 take us down,
 But what matters that? we are riding to town,
   And bumpety-bump goes the wagon,
     But tra-la-la-la sing we.
 There's never a care may live in the air
   That is filled with the breath of our glee.

1. nag: a horse
2. gingham: a cotton fabric 
3. vales: valleys	

7. What is this poem about? ____________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

8. What is the speaker's tone? ___________________________________________________________

Explain your answer using textual evidence.