Troi Danley
Troi Danley
Prof. Wright
EN 112-16 Freshman Composition
20 Jan. 2012
1. Why are the soldiers knock-kneed and coughing like hags?
2. Notice the verb in line two, which states the soldiers “cursed through sludge.” What are the connotations of this verb, as opposed to “marched” or “walked?”
3. The poet creates a neologism in line six, “blood-shod.” What do you suppose this word means?
4. What are Five-Nines?
5. Why does the poet capitalize the word “GAS” when he repeats it?
6. When the Five-Nines hit, why does the world become filled with thick green light” “as under a green sea” Why does the poet say the man next to him is “drowning” How can you be drowning when there is no water nearby? How can he be drowning in fire or lime?
7. What does the poet see each night in his dreams?
8. In the description, the dying man “plunges” at the speaker. Why would he be reaching out for the speaker, and why is that particularly disturbing?
9. In the last stanza, the poet uses some particularly bitter imagery in a string of similes. Give one example of such a visual imagery, gustatory imagery, tactile imagery, and audial imagery.
10. Why would children be “ardent for some desperate glory”?
11. What is the meaning of the Latin phrase “dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori? From what work is this quotation derived?
12. How would the Latin phrase chance in its meaning if we read it without the context of the rest of the poem?
13. Why is the lie an old lie?
Prof. Wright
EN 112-16 Freshman Composition
20 Jan. 2012
1. Why are the soldiers knock-kneed and coughing like hags?
2. Notice the verb in line two, which states the soldiers “cursed through sludge.” What are the connotations of this verb, as opposed to “marched” or “walked?”
3. The poet creates a neologism in line six, “blood-shod.” What do you suppose this word means?
4. What are Five-Nines?
5. Why does the poet capitalize the word “GAS” when he repeats it?
6. When the Five-Nines hit, why does the world become filled with thick green light” “as under a green sea” Why does the poet say the man next to him is “drowning” How can you be drowning when there is no water nearby? How can he be drowning in fire or lime?
7. What does the poet see each night in his dreams?
8. In the description, the dying man “plunges” at the speaker. Why would he be reaching out for the speaker, and why is that particularly disturbing?
9. In the last stanza, the poet uses some particularly bitter imagery in a string of similes. Give one example of such a visual imagery, gustatory imagery, tactile imagery, and audial imagery.
10. Why would children be “ardent for some desperate glory”?
11. What is the meaning of the Latin phrase “dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori? From what work is this quotation derived?
12. How would the Latin phrase chance in its meaning if we read it without the context of the rest of the poem?
13. Why is the lie an old lie?