Meta Poetry: Poetry about Poetry

Question 1

Why would poets choose one form over another?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

Poets use form to reinforce the overall effect of the poem.

Question 2

How does the structure of “Ars Poetica” reinforce the poem’s theme?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

The lack of traditional structure illustrates MacLeish’s idea that a poem shouldn’t be confined by rules.

Question 3

Why would modernist poets stray from formal poetry?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

Breaking form rules is a way to make poetry look and sound different from past poetry.

Question 4

Which two structural elements does this excerpt from a free-verse poem contain? Check all that apply.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

patterns of similar line lengths; organization

Question 5

How does free verse support the speaker of the poem’s initial statement “Poetry / I, too, dislike it”? Check the two boxes that apply.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

Free verse makes this poem look less like what was classically considered “poetry.”; Free verse makes the poem read more like prose.

Question 6

Read the poem. What is the poem about?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

poetry

Question 7

How does rhyme enhance the meaning of the poem?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

Rhymes show that free verse and poetic structure can exist together.

Question 8

Based on the analysis of the poem, what is one theme of “Ars Poetica”?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

A poem should try to be the thing it describes.

Meta Poetry: Poetry about Poetry Answers