Explore Spring Poem
🌼 Worksheet Title: Exploring Shakespeare's "Spring"
Overview:
This comprehensive worksheet invites students to delve into William Shakespeare's poem "Spring," examining its vivid imagery, thematic elements, and poetic devices. Designed to foster critical thinking and interpretive skills, the activities encourage learners to connect with the text both analytically and creatively.
What's Included:
- Full Text of the Poem: A copy of "Spring" by William Shakespeare for close reading and annotation.
- Comprehension Questions: A series of questions targeting understanding of the poem's content, structure, and language.
- Literary Devices Exploration: Activities focusing on identifying and analyzing literary elements such as imagery, symbolism, and tone.
- Thematic Discussion Prompts: Open-ended questions that encourage students to explore the juxtaposition of spring's beauty with the poem's underlying commentary on marriage.
- Creative Writing Exercise: A prompt inviting students to compose their own poem inspired by the themes and style of Shakespeare's "Spring."
- Answer Key: Detailed answers for all comprehension and analysis questions to facilitate easy grading and discussion.
Educational Objectives:
- Enhance students' ability to interpret and analyze classic poetry.
- Develop understanding of poetic devices and their effects.
- Encourage personal connection to literature through creative expression.
- Foster discussion on thematic contrasts and societal commentary within poetry.
Target Audience:
- Grade Levels: 8–12
- Subjects: English Language Arts, Literature, Poetry
- Standards Alignment: Common Core State Standards for Reading Literature and Writing.
This worksheet serves as a valuable resource for educators seeking to enrich their poetry curriculum with classic literature, providing students with a multifaceted approach to understanding and appreciating Shakespeare's work.
Song: Spring
BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
When daisies pied and violets blue
And lady-smocks all silver-white
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men; for thus sings he,
Cuckoo;
Cuckoo, cuckoo: Oh word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!
When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,
And merry larks are plowmen’s clocks,
When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws,
And maidens bleach their summer smocks,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men; for thus sings he,
Cuckoo;
Cuckoo, cuckoo: Oh word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!
Summary of "Song: Spring"
In "Song: Spring", Shakespeare celebrates the beauty and liveliness of the spring season, describing blooming flowers, singing birds, and pastoral scenes. The poem paints a joyful picture of nature—daisies, violets, and cuckoo-buds decorating the meadows, shepherds playing music, and maidens washing clothes.
However, beneath this cheerful setting lies a humorous warning: the repeated call of the cuckoo bird, which traditionally symbolizes infidelity. The cuckoo "mocks married men," reminding listeners of the fear of being cheated on. Thus, while spring brings new life and love, the poem suggests that love—especially in marriage—can also lead to betrayal.
Analysis:
1. Structure and Form
- The poem is composed of two stanzas with seven lines each.
- It follows a loose ABABCC rhyme scheme.
- It’s a song meant to be performed—typical of Shakespeare’s use of verse within his plays.
2. Themes
A. Nature and Renewal
The poem starts by painting a vivid picture of spring: blooming flowers, birdsong, and rustic life. Shakespeare names specific flowers—daisies, violets, lady-smocks, and cuckoo-buds—to evoke the vibrant colors and life of the season. The pastoral imagery celebrates fertility, renewal, and the natural cycle of life.
B. Irony and Infidelity
However, this cheerful scene is undercut by the refrain of the cuckoo. In Elizabethan slang, a “cuckold” was a man whose wife had been unfaithful. The cuckoo’s call is thus a mocking symbol of infidelity. While spring is a time of love and pairing off, the poem sardonically points out that not all love is faithful.
“Cuckoo! O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!”
This line encapsulates the core irony of the poem. The cheerful song of the bird becomes a source of anxiety and ridicule for married men.
C. Satire of Marriage
The repeated mocking of married men reveals a comic skepticism about romantic and marital ideals. In contrast to the natural world's harmony, human relationships—especially marriage—are portrayed as vulnerable and laughable.
3. Tone and Language
- The tone shifts between pastoral joy and comic bitterness.
- Shakespeare uses light, musical language ("daisies pied", "oaten straws") to evoke the rustic charm of spring.
- Yet the refrain ("Cuckoo!") intrudes like a joke that never quite stops—creating a humorous tension.
- The juxtaposition of natural beauty and human folly is key to the poem’s satirical tone.
4. Symbolism
- Cuckoo Bird: Central symbol; represents infidelity and mockery of naive trust in relationships.
- Flowers and Birds: Signifiers of spring, renewal, and fertility.
- Shepherds and Maidens: Represent innocence, rural life, and seasonal labor—but are also reminders of human behaviors tied to love and lust.
5. Context in the Play
In Love’s Labour’s Lost, the poem is part of a duet with another seasonal song about winter. The contrast between the two illustrates the broader themes of the play: the contrast between idealism and reality, romantic love and practical consequences, youthful joy and mature reflection.
Conclusion
“Song: Spring” is a clever, layered poem that masks its cynicism in the language of joy. Shakespeare uses the imagery of spring to celebrate nature’s beauty while simultaneously mocking human foolishness, especially in love and marriage. The repeated “Cuckoo!” is more than just birdsong—it's a chorus of warning, making this short lyric both delightful and biting in equal measure.
Daisy Time
See, the grass is full of stars,
Fallen in their brightness;
Hearts they have of shining gold,
Rays of shining whiteness.
Buttercups have honeyed hearts,
Bees they love the clover,
But I love the daisies' dance
All the meadow over.
Blow, O blow, you happy winds,
Singing summer's praises,
Up the field and down the field
A-dancing with the daisies.
After the Winter
BY CLAUDE MCKAY
Some day, when trees have shed their leaves
And against the morning’s white
The shivering birds beneath the eaves
Have sheltered for the night,
We’ll turn our faces southward, love,
Toward the summer isle
Where bamboos spire the shafted grove
And wide-mouthed orchids smile.
And we will seek the quiet hill
Where towers the cotton tree,
And leaps the laughing crystal rill,
And works the droning bee.
And we will build a cottage there
Beside an open glade,
With black-ribbed blue-bells blowing near,
And ferns that never fade.
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The Spring
BY THOMAS CAREW
Now that the winter's gone, the earth hath lost
Her snow-white robes, and now no more the frost
Candies the grass, or casts an icy cream
Upon the silver lake or crystal stream;
But the warm sun thaws the benumbed earth,
And makes it tender; gives a sacred birth
To the dead swallow; wakes in hollow tree
The drowsy cuckoo, and the humble-bee.
Now do a choir of chirping minstrels bring
In triumph to the world the youthful Spring.
The valleys, hills, and woods in rich array
Welcome the coming of the long'd-for May.
Now all things smile, only my love doth lour;
Nor hath the scalding noonday sun the power
To melt that marble ice, which still doth hold
Her heart congeal'd, and makes her pity cold.
The ox, which lately did for shelter fly
Into the stall, doth now securely lie
In open fields; and love no more is made
By the fireside, but in the cooler shade
Amyntas now doth with his Chloris sleep
Under a sycamore, and all things keep
Time with the season; only she doth carry
June in her eyes, in her heart January.
A Light exists in Spring
Not present on the Year
At any other period -
When March is scarcely here
A Color stands abroad
On Solitary Fields
That Science cannot overtake
But Human Nature feels.
It waits upon the Lawn,
It shows the furthest Tree
Upon the furthest Slope you know
It almost speaks to you.
Then as Horizons step
Or Noons report away
Without the Formula of sound
It passes and we stay --
A quality of loss
Affecting our Content
As Trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a Sacrament
Summary of Poem:
This poem gathers a specific moment in spring, when a unique light and color appear in fields. This sensory experience is both fleeting and profound, leaving a lasting impression on the observer.
However, it still conveys a complex and nuanced emotional response to the natural world. The poem's concise language and lack of rhyme or meter emphasize its immediacy and authenticity.
This poem reflects a common theme in literature of the time period, Romanticism. Romantic writers celebrated the beauty of nature and the importance of individual experience. Dickinson's poem captures both of these elements, expressing the speaker's deep connection to the natural world and the sense of loss that comes with the passing of a moment of beauty.
I have a Bird in spring
Emily Dickinson
I have a Bird in spring
Which for myself doth sing—
The spring decoys.
And as the summer nears—
And as the Rose appears,
Robin is gone.
Yet do I not repine
Knowing that Bird of mine
Though flown—
Learneth beyond the sea
Melody new for me
And will return.
Fast is a safer hand
Held in a truer Land
Are mine—
And though they now depart,
Tell I my doubting heart
They're thine.
In a serener Bright,
In a more golden light
I see
Each little doubt and fear,
Each little discord here
Removed.
Then will I not repine,
Knowing that Bird of mine
Though flown
Shall in a distant tree
Bright melody for me
Return.
In the first lines of the poem, the poet begins by describing a bird that only sings for her and who is leaving for the summer. As the brightness of summer looms, she knows that she’s about to lose the bird (which is an extended metaphor symbolizing her friendship with Sue). Although Sue is getting married (to the poet’s brother), the poet tries to convince herself that she’s not losing her friend and that she’ll come back with new melodies.
May-Flower
Emily Dickinson
Pink, small, and punctual,
Aromatic, low,
Covert in April,
Candid in May,
Dear to the moss,
Known by the knoll,
Next to the robin
In every human soul.
Bold little beauty,
Bedecked with thee,
Nature forswears
Antiquity.
Nature is What We See
"Nature" is what we see—
The Hill—the Afternoon—
Squirrel—Eclipse—the Bumble bee—
Nay—Nature is Heaven—
Nature is what we hear—
The Bobolink—the Sea—
Thunder—the Cricket—
Nay—Nature is Harmony—
Nature is what we know—
Yet have no art to say—
So impotent Our Wisdom is
To her Simplicity.
This poem explores a more straightforward and accessible style, focusing on concrete images and sensory details. It shares a common theme of exploring the relationship between the natural world and human perception, which is a prevalent motif in much of her poetry.
Emily Dickinson reflects the Romantic movement's emphasis on the importance of nature and the individual's subjective experience. It captures the Romantic sensibilities of wonder, awe, and a longing to connect with the natural world. The poem also hints at the limits of human understanding, a theme that resonated with readers during a period marked by scientific advancements and philosophical inquiry.
I died for Beauty - but was scarce
RW 448
I died for Beauty - but was scarce
Adjusted in the Tomb
When One who died for Truth, was lain
In an adjoining Room -
He questioned softly "Why I failed"?
"For Beauty", I replied -
"And I - for Truth - Themself are One -
We Brethren are", He said -
And so, as Kinsmen, met a Night —
We talked between the Rooms -
Until the Moss had reached our lips -
And covered up - Our names -
In this poem Emily Dickinson explains the relationship between beauty and truth, suggesting that they are ultimately intertwined. The speaker sacrifices their life for beauty, while another sacrifices their life for truth. When they meet in the afterlife, they discover that their paths were ultimately similar, as both beauty and truth are essential parts of the human experience.
The poem's brevity and simplicity emphasize its central message, while the use of rhyme and repetition creates a sense of unity and cohesion. The imagery of the tomb and the moss symbolizes the passage of time and the transience of human life, reminding us that even our greatest achievements will eventually be forgotten.
The Rhodora
Ralph Waldo Emerson
1803 –1882
In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes,
I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,
Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,
To please the desert and the sluggish brook.
The purple petals fallen in the pool
Made the black water with their beauty gay;
Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool,
And court the flower that cheapens his array.
Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why
This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
Tell them, dear, that, if eyes were made for seeing,
Then beauty is its own excuse for Being;
Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!
I never thought to ask; I never knew;
But in my simple ignorance suppose
The self-same power that brought me there, brought you.
Summary:
"The Rhodora" explores a spiritual connection with a primitive, deified nature and that man can share a kindred relationship with God through Nature. The rhodora is presented as a flower as beautiful as the rose, but which remains humble and does not seek broader fame. The narrator relates to the flower by equally embracing humility as a Christian virtue. "The Rhodora" shows the beginnings of Emerson's thoughts on humanity's connection with the natural world which would be greater expressed in his essay "Nature" in 1836.
Emerson expreses the titular rhodora mostly through the sense of sight by focusing on color, particularly its vibrancy in contrast with the dark pool, though he ignores other senses like smell and sound.
Emerson's poem is 16 lines long, which he may have intended as a slightly longer version of a sonnet. "The Rhodora" uses a sophisticated form of purposeful symmetry combining octaves, quatrains, and heroic couplets. The poem is clearly divided in half: The first eight lines present the situation and implies the question in the subtitle while the following eight lines present an answer.
Success
To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by
a healthy child, a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed
easier because you have lived;
This is to have succeeded.
- Ralph Waldo Emerso