Making Connections

1. Compare the imagery presented in the two poems. How are the two poems alike? How are they different? Which of the two poems speaks more powerfully to you? Why?

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Making Connections: - Compare the imagery presented in the two poems. How are the two poems alike? How are they different? Which of the two poems speaks more powerfully to you? Why?
2. Look carefully at the word mingled (l.13) in “Shiloh” (p. 648) and at joined (l. 3) in “At the Un-National Monument along the Canadian Border.” What is the effect of each? How does each contribute to the poem as a whole? Compare how the two poets use these similar verbs.

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Making Connections: - Look carefully at the word mingled (l.13) in “Shiloh” (p. 648) and at joined (l. 3) in “At the Un-National Monument along the Canadian Border.” What is the effect of each? How does each contribute to the poem as a whole? Compare how the two poets use these similar verbs.
3. If they could, how would Stafford and Herman Melville respond to each other’s poems? Explain.

   Question

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   Making Connections: - If they could, how would Stafford and Herman Melville respond to each other’s poems? Explain.
4. Imagine seeing the “Un-National Monument”—with the text of Stafford’s poem on the memorial plaque—fronting a field across from Antietam, Shiloh, Gettysburg, or another war memorial with which you are familiar. What impressions would it make on visitors? What might be its effect?

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Making Connections: - Imagine seeing the “Un-National Monument”—with the text of Stafford’s poem on the memorial plaque—fronting a field across from Antietam, Shiloh, Gettysburg, or another war memorial with which you are familiar. What impressions would it make on visitors? What might be its effect?
5. How does this poem evoke both Melville’s “Shiloh” and Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” (p. 692)? Do you think the references were conscious? Did Stafford intend his readers to think of those pieces? Explain.

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Making Connections: - How does this poem evoke both Melville’s “Shiloh” and Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” (p. 692)? Do you think the references were conscious? Did Stafford intend his readers to think of those pieces? Explain.