Interactive Literature Selections The Introduction

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The Introduction

Investigate, Inquire, and Imagine, page 576

Recall

1a. How does Finch feel the general public would react to her poem?

2a. According to Finch, what does society believe are the "proper" activities of women?

3a. What does the poet state about her Muse and about groves of laurel?

Analyze

4a. Analyze the poem to find the arguments Finch faces against women poets and her counter-argument, which forms the main idea of the poem.

Evaluate

5a. Evaluate the idea that people are limited by their gender in what they can do.

Interpret

1b. Why might people in Finch's world believe that a woman poet is "presumptuous"? Why is Finch certain that she would get criticism for her work? Who do you think would criticize Finch?

2b. In the world Finch describes, what is the most a woman can achieve? To what aspects of life are her achievements limited?

3b. What significance do Muses and groves of laurel have in the poem?

Synthesize

4b. Why might Finch have chosen this poem as the first in her published collection of poems?

Extend

5b. Do you think barriers still exist based on gender? on race? on other criteria? Explain your response.

Understanding Literature, page 576

Allusion. Identify two biblical allusions in the selection. What point does Finch make by using these allusions?

Slant Rhyme, Assonance, and Consonance. Identify examples of slant rhyme in this poem. Why might Finch have chosen to vary the rhyme scheme in these places?

Writer's Journal, page 576

1. Write a note of support to Finch. In your note address the difficulties she mentions in this poem. Or, write a note of support to somebody you know who is trying to do something that defies convention.

2. This poem serves as an introduction to Finch's poetry collection. Write a prose epilogue for this volume. In your epilogue, you may wish to reiterate, in your own words, some of the main ideas expressed in Finch's poem. You may also refer to the volume as an example of what a woman can accomplish.

3. Read Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in Unit 8 and Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own in Unit 11. These three women all wrote in different eras, yet they share similar ideas and concerns. Write a short essay comparing the theme of each selection.

Integrating the Language Arts, page 577

Language, Grammar, and Style

Correcting Sentence Fragments. Make whatever changes are needed to convert the following fragments into complete sentences. Delete or add words or phrases if you wish.

1. Considering the disadvantages of being born into an aristocratic family

2. The pastoral beauty of the English countryside as a subject of Anne Finch's poems

3. That the literary efforts of women were not regarded as serious literature

4. Moving into a house in the countryside to escape the conventions of social life

5. Bitterness and depression that result from effort and excellence without acceptance

Vocabulary

Sentence Completion. Select the words that best complete each of the sentences below.

1. There is a sort of _____ indeed which is worse than the greatest _____.

2. A woman may study plays and _____ all her days, and be a great deal more _____ but never a jot the wiser.

3. Such a _____ as this serves only to instruct and put her forward in the practice of the greatest _____.

4. Yet how can they justly _____ her who _____ or at least won't afford opportunity of better?

5. A rational _____ will be employed; it will never be _____ in doing nothing.

Collaborative Learning

Bill of Rights. What rights do you think the students in your school should have? Brainstorm a list of rights with your classmates. Then discuss each idea and decide as a group if it should be included or if it spawns other ideas. Make a final "Bill of Rights."

List of Rights:

Our School's "Bill of Rights"

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