Katharyn Howd Machan, Hazel Tells LaVerne

1. first response. What do you imagine the situation and setting are for this poem? Do you like this revision of the fairy tale “The Frog Prince”?

2. What creates the poem’s humor? How does Hazel’s use of language reveal her personality? Is her treatment of the frog consistent with her character?

3. Although it has no punctuation, this poem is easy to follow. How does the arrangement of the lines organize Hazel’s speech for clarity and emphasis?

4. What is the theme? Is it conveyed through denotative or connotative language?

5. creative response. Write what you think might be LaVerne’s reply to Hazel. First, write LaVerne’s response as a series of ordinary sentences, and then try editing and organizing them into poetic lines.

6. connection to another selection. Although Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” (Literature To Go, p. 446) is a more complex poem than Machan’s, both use dramatic monologues to reveal character. How are the strategies in each poem similar?