Alice Walker (born in 1944 in Georgia, USA) is an author, poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender. She is best known for the critically acclaimed novel 'The Color Purple (1982) for which she won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Discussion Questions and Activities:
This poem "Expect Nothing" is a homily poem which means it conveys an inspirational saying or platitude. In this poem, Alice Walker wants us to learn from her message.
She gives us advice about how to lead a happy life.
1. What does frugally mean? What does the poet mean when she asks us to live "on surprise"?
2. What does the poet tell us about how to live in the first stanza? For what should we "purge away the need"? How can we do that?
3. A 'parka' is a kind of jacket or coat. What literary device is the poet using when she suggests taming "wild disappointment" by making a "parka" out of it for the soul? The poet tells us to wrap ourselves up in disappointment what does she mean by this? What does she want us to do when we are faced with disappointment?
4. In stanza 3, why does the speaker describe humans as midgets, unwise and having a small heart? What kind of effect do those descriptions create?
5. identify the refrain in this poem. Why do you think the poet has repeated the refrain in the last two lines of the poem?
6. What is the tone and mood of this poem? Why do you think so?
How does the structure of the poem contribute to its mood?
7. How does this poem make you feel? Why?
8. In her poem 'Expect Nothing', the poet is asking us not to expect anything in life so that we can be surprised, and avoid disappointment. Do you agree with her?
Do you agree with the speaker that one should live life without too many plans and expectations? Could you?
compassion = a strong feeling of sympathy.
urge = strong wish, especially one that is difficult
plead = to make an urgent, emotional statement or request for something.
purge = to get rid of people from an organization because you do not agree with them.
