Discussion ?s for Poems

1. "The World Is Too Much With Us," William Wordsworth

•  This poem is a sonnet in which the first eight lines make one argument, and the last six lines take on a different perspective.
• What is being said in the first eight lines?
• How do the last six lines respond to the idea about how we live life?
• What religious or spiritual allusions are made, and how do they inform the speaker's view of the modern world? 
• How would you redefine "the world is too much with us" in contemporary language that we can understand? What does Wordsworth's speaker seem to be saying about the way we live our life today?
• What does consumerism mean, and how does that concept relate to this poem?

2. "The Fish," Elizabeth Bishop

• Jot down a few of the images of the fish that indicate notions of time. What is Bishop emphasizing about time's role in life through these images? What does it say about man versus other? 
• What are a few of the ironic images in the poem, and how do they help a reader understand the speaker's view of the natural world and man's place within it? Especially, describe the irony in the image of the "...where the oil spread a rainbow."

3. "Fork," Charles Simic

• In what ways does Simic transform how one looks at the everyday object? What is the purpose of making us look at a fork in such ways?