Working a Poem Set: A Full Walk-Through

The idea

A full walk-through shows how the course's methods combine on one poem set. Suppose the passage is Donne's "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," followed by questions on its subject, its central comparison, its tone, its form and its period. Begin by reading the whole poem once for the situation: a speaker about to travel forbids his beloved to mourn, because their love is spiritual and absence cannot divide it. Next, find the central figure: the lovers' souls compared to the two feet of a drawing compass, one fixed and one moving. Apply the conceit method: the two things are unlike, the parallels are several and precise, and the argument is that separation cannot divide true love, because her firmness makes his circle complete and brings him home. Name the tone: tender, reasoning and calm, not grieving. For the form and period question, notice the argument by conceit and the speech-like reasoning, which point to the metaphysical poets of the early seventeenth century rather than the Cavaliers' smooth song or the Elizabethan sonnet's Petrarchan suffering. For the meaning question, choose the option that names the poem's conclusion, constancy, not merely its comparison. Finally, eliminate options that describe love poetry in general, Petrarchan suffering or carpe diem urgency, because the passage does not support them. The same sequence, situation, figure, argument, tone, form and period, then elimination, works for any poem set on the exam, whether a Romantic ode, a Victorian monologue or a Modernist fragment, and it keeps every answer tied to the lines in front of you.