1.Robert Frost, “Design” (372-373); Homework: Questions 1-3 (373)
2.Emily Dickinson, “I heard a Fly buzz–when I died” (459-460); Homework: Questions 1-3 (460)
3.Thomas Hardy, “The Convergence of the Twain” (389-390); Homework: Questions 2-4 (390)
4.David R. Slavitt, “Titanic” (391); Homework: Questions 1, 3 (391)
5.Jimmy Santiago, “Green Chile” (404-405); Homework: Questions 1, 2 (405)
6.Sally Croft, �Home-Baked Bread� (408-409); Homework: Questions 1, 3, 4 (409)

1.Robert Frost (1874�1963)
Design 1936
I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,
On a white heal-all,� holding up a moth
Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth �
Assorted characters of death and blight
Mixed ready to begin the morning right, 5
Like the ingredients of a witches� broth �
A snow-drop spider, a ?ower like a froth,
And dead wings carried like a paper kite.
What had the ?ower to do with being white,
The wayside blue and innocent heal-all? 10
2 heal-all: A common ?ower, usually blue, once used for medicinal purposes.
What brought the kindred spider to that height,
Then steered the white moth thither in the night?
What but design of darkness to appall? �
If design govern in a thing so small.
Considerations for Critical Thinking and Writing
1. FIRST RESPONSE. What kinds of speculations are raised in the poem�s
?nal two lines? Consider the meaning of the title. Is there more than
one way to read it?
2. How does the division of the stanzas in this sonnet serve to orga-
nize the speaker�s thoughts and feelings? What is the predominant
rhyme? How does that rhyme relate to the poem�s meaning?
3. Which words seem especially rich in connotative meanings? Explain
how they function in the sonnet.
4. CONNECTION TO ANOTHER SELECTION. Compare the ironic tone of
�Design� with the tone of William Hathaway�s �Oh, Oh� (p. 348).
What would you have to change in Hathaway�s poem to make it
more like Frost�s?

2.Emily Dickinson (1830�1886)
I heard a Fly buzz � when I died � c. 1862
I heard a Fly buzz � when I died �
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air �
Between the Heaves of Storm �
The Eyes around � had wrung them dry � 5
And Breaths were gathering ?rm
For that last Onset � when the King
Be witnessed � in the Room �
I willed my Keepsakes � Signed away
What portion of me be 10
Assignable � and then it was
There interposed a Fly �
With Blue � uncertain stumbling Buzz �
Between the light � and me �
And then the Windows failed � and then 15
I could not see to see �
Considerations for Critical Thinking and Writing
1. FIRST RESPONSE. What was expected to happen �when the King� was
�witnessed� (lines 7�8)? What happened instead?
2. Why do you think Dickinson chooses a ?y rather than perhaps a bee or gnat?
3. What is the effect of the last line? Why not end the poem with �I
could not see� instead of the additional �to see�?
4. Discuss the sounds in the poem. Are there any instances of ono-
matopoeia?

3.Thomas Hardy (1840�1928)
The Convergence of the Twain 1912
Lines on the Loss of the �Titanic��
i
In a solitude of the sea
Deep from human vanity,
And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she.
ii
Steel chambers, late the pyres
Of her salamandrine ?res,� 5
Cold currents thrid,� and turn to rhythmic tidal lyres.
iii
Over the mirrors meant
To glass the opulent
The sea-worm crawls � grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent.
iv
Jewels in joy designed 10
To ravish the sensuous mind
Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind.
v
Dim moon-eyed ?shes near
Gaze at the gilded gear
And query: �What does this vaingloriousness down here?� 15
vi
Well: while was fashioning
This creature of cleaving wing,
The Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything
vii
Prepared a sinister mate
For her � so gaily great � 20
A Shape of Ice, for the time far and dissociate.
viii
And as the smart ship grew
In stature, grace, and hue,
In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too.
ix
Alien they seemed to be: 25
No mortal eye could see
The intimate welding of their later history,
x
Or sign that they were bent
By paths coincident
On being anon twin halves of one august event, 30
xi
Till the Spinner of the Years
Said �Now!� And each one hears,
And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres.
Considerations for Critical Thinking and Writing
1. FIRST RESPONSE. Describe a contemporary disaster comparable to the
sinking of the Titanic. How was your response to it similar to or dif-
ferent from the speaker�s response to the fate of the Titanic?
2. How do the words used to describe the ship in this poem reveal the
speaker�s attitude toward the Titanic?
3. The diction of the poem suggests that the Titanic and the iceberg par-
ticipate in something like an arranged marriage. What speci?c words
imply this?
4. Who or what causes the disaster? Does the speaker assign responsibility?

4.David R. Slavitt (b. 1935)
Titanic 1983
Who does not love the Titanic?
If they sold passage tomorrow for that same crossing,
who would not buy?
To go down . . . We all go down, mostly
alone. But with crowds of people, friends, servants, 5
well fed, with music, with lights! Ah!
And the world, shocked, mourns, as it ought to do
and almost never does. There will be the books and movies
to remind our grandchildren who we were
and how we died, and give them a good cry. 10
Not so bad, after all. The cold
water is anesthetic and very quick.
The cries on all sides must be a comfort.
We all go: only a few, ?rst-class.
Considerations for Critical Thinking and Writing
1. FIRST RESPONSE. What, according to the speaker in this poem, is so
compelling about the Titanic? Do you agree?
2. Discuss the speaker�s tone. Is �Titanic� merely a sarcastic poem?
3. What is the effect of the poem�s ?nal line? What emotions does it
elicit?
4. CONNECTION TO ANOTHER SELECTION. How does �Titanic� differ in
its attitude toward opulence from Hardy�s �The Convergence of the
Twain� (p. 389)?
5. CONNECTION TO ANOTHER SELECTION. Which poem, �Titanic� or �The
Convergence of the Twain,� is more emotionally satisfying to you?
Explain why.
6. CONNECTION TO ANOTHER SELECTION. Compare the speakers� tones in
�Titanic� and �The Convergence of the Twain.�

5.Jimmy Santiago Baca (b. 1952)
Green Chile 1989
I prefer red chile over my eggs
and potatoes for breakfast.
Red chile ristras� decorate my door, braided strings of peppers
dry on my roof, and hang from eaves.
They lend open-air vegetable stands 5
historical grandeur, and gently swing
with an air of festive welcome.
I can hear them talking in the wind,
haggard, yellowing, crisp, rasping
tongues of old men, licking the breeze. 10
But grandmother loves green chile.
When I visit her,
she holds the green chile pepper
in her wrinkled hands.
Ah, voluptuous, masculine, 15
an air of authority and youth simmers
from its swan-neck stem, tapering to a ?owery
collar, fermenting resinous spice.
A well-dressed gentleman at the door
my grandmother takes sensuously in her hand, 20
rubbing its ?rm glossed sides,
caressing the oily rubbery serpent,
with mouth-watering ful?llment,
fondling its curves with gentle ?ngers.
Its bearing magni?cent and taut 25
as ?anks of a tiger in mid-leap,
she thrusts her blade into
and cuts it open, with lust
on her hot mouth, sweating over the stove,
bandanna round her forehead, 30
mysterious passion on her face
and she serves me green chile con carne
between soft warm leaves of corn tortillas,
with beans and rice � her sacri?ce
to her little prince. 35
I slurp from my plate
with last bit of tortilla, my mouth burns
and I hiss and drink a tall glass of cold water.
All over New Mexico, sunburned men and women
drive rickety trucks stuffed with gunny-sacks 40
of green chile, from Belen, Veguita, Willard, Estancia,
San Antonio y Socorro, from ?elds
to roadside stands, you see them roasting green chile
in screen-sided homemade barrels, and for a dollar a bag,
we relive this old, beautiful ritual again and again. 45
Considerations for Critical Thinking and Writing
1. FIRST RESPONSE. What�s the difference between red and green chiles
in this poem? Find the different images the speaker uses to distin-
guish between the two.
2. What kinds of images are used to describe the grandmother�s prepa-
ration of green chile? What is the effect of those images?
3. CREATIVE RESPONSE. Try writing a description � in poetry or prose � that
uses vivid images to evoke a powerful response (either positive or nega-
tive) to a particular food.

6.Sally Croft (b. 1935)
Home-Baked Bread 1981
Nothing gives a household a greater sense of stability and common comfort than the
aroma of cooling bread. Begin, if you like, with a loaf of whole wheat, which requires
neither sifting nor kneading, and go on from there to more cunning triumphs.
� The Joy of Cooking
What is it she is not saying?
Cunning triumphs. It rings
of insinuation. Step into my kitchen,
I have prepared a cunning triumph
for you. Spices and herbs 5
sealed in this porcelain jar,
a treasure of my great-aunt
who sat up past midnight
in her Massachusetts bedroom
when the moon was dark. Come, 10
rest your feet. I�ll make
you tea with honey and slices
of warm bread spread with peach butter.
I picked the fruit this morning
still fresh with dew. The fragrance 15
is seductive? I hoped you would say that.
See how the heat rises
when the bread opens. Come,
we�ll eat together, the small ?akes
have scarcely any ?avor. What cunning 20
triumphs we can discover in my upstairs room
where peach trees breathe their sweetness
beside the open window and
sun lies like honey on the ?oor.
Considerations for Critical Thinking and Writing
1. FIRST RESPONSE. Why does the speaker in this poem seize on the
phrase �cunning triumphs� from the Joy of Cooking excerpt?
2. Distinguish between the voice we hear in lines 1�3 and the second
voice in lines 3�24. Who is the �you� in the poem?
3. Why is the word �insinuation� an especially appropriate choice in
line 3?
4. How do the images in lines 20�24 bring together all of the senses
evoked in the preceding lines?
5. CREATIVE RESPONSE. Write a paragraph � or stanza � that describes
the sensuous (and perhaps sensual) qualities of a food you enjoy.