What is the form of the poem? How is the metaphor of a corset a good fit? List positive images of form, then negative images of form. How does the form of the poem help make her point? This poem is in open form and makes use of alliteration. As you read the poem out loud, notice the forms your mouth makes. Notice how the sounds in the second stanza spell out plum. What other sounds help support the overall theme? Consider the significance of the title: is the poem about the word plum or the plum itself? What is the tone of the poem? Could there be another level of this poem that has nothing to do with fruit? This poem is a sonnet (14 lines) but also a ghazal, a series of rhyming couplets with a three-syllable end rhyme. Although there isnt a stanza break, the tone of the poem does change a
fter the eighth line. In the octave, the night is a predator, afterwards, dreams heal and spring thaws the night. Then the poem reverts back to the pause of night. Consider the images one by one. What is the effect of the end rhyme scheme? Why break the final line that way? Compare to Frosts night poem. To get a feel for Cummings work, consider his poem l(a on p. 565 and compare with this one. Clearly there is no set form: stanza breaks are random, and there is no rhyme scheme. However, there is a rhythm to the work. Cummings chooses line breaks, stanza breaks and punctuation carefully. Begin in the middle, with Cummings argument that kisses are a better fate/ than wisdom (lines 8-9). What images does he use to support this conflict between the head and the heart? Do you agree?