TOPICS for Reading Response 4 (choose ONE) Topic 1: Reflect on
Browning’s “Solil
TOPICS for Reading Response 4 (choose ONE)Topic 1: Reflect on Browning’s “Soliloquy of
the Spanish CloisterLinks to an external site.” (poem located in this module – M2:L4). In
your discussion, respond to all of the following:Are readers given any significant clues that
might explain why the speaker of the poem so powerfully dislikes Brother Lawrence?What
is the context for the speaker’s monologue? Are these words his thoughts? Are they spoken?
Where? To whom?How do the speaker’s diction and expressions and the form of the poem
contribute to our understanding of his character?ORCompare Browning’s “Soliloquy of the
Spanish Cloister” to Dorothy Parker’s “A Certain LadyLinks to an external site..”How do
these two poems reveal the characters of their speakers to the reader?In what ways are
they similar and different? Is one more surprising than the other?Topic 2: The relationship
between human persons and the culture they inhabit, possess, and pass on is a central
element of “The Latin Deli: An Ars Poetica” (849). In your discussion of Ortiz Cofer’s poem,
respond to the following:What is the relationship between language and culture in this
poem?Is this poem a narrative? How much of the poem is descriptive?What is the
relationship between the woman who tends the deli and the deli itself? Do they represent
different things? How do they create the culture that the poem describes?Is it important
that the shop is a deli? Would the sense of the poem change if the shop sold something other
than food? What is the “hunger” of the old man in line 31?Topic 3: Read Tracy K. Smith’s
poem, “Sci-Fi” (822). Consider the poem’s final premise, where we are told that in the future
even space will be “scrutable and safe” (21). Now work backward from that premise:
According to the poem, what are the conditions of existence that make things “safe”? (I.e.,
what does the world need to be like to be safe?) And does this vision of a safe existence
seem very satisfying? You might also consider the following questions:What is the speaker’s
tone (passionate and emotional? cold and detached?)Does the future, as presented in the
poem, seem positive, negative, or a mix of both? Cite specific examples.Are there elements
of “Sci-Fi” that do not really seem futuristic at all, but potentially happening right now?
Consider something like “For kicks, we’ll dance for ourselves / Before mirrors studded with
golden bulbs” (11–12): is this actually a reference to how social media, or the cult of
celebrity, might work for people in the present?What seems to happen to “history”
according to the poem? How is the idea of past (or what has come before) represented in
the poem? (And does history seem to have a place in this predicted future?) Consider too a

line like, “the dinosaurs gave way / To mounds and mounds of ice” (lines 5–6). What does
the phrase “gave way” convey? (A sense of inevitability? Passivity? The individual’s
helplessness against the steady progress of time?)Of all the possible aspects of the future
that the poem might have focused on, why do you think only these certain elements were
chosen, including “women,” “sex,” and what we’ll do “for kicks” (lines 7–11)?What does the
speaker seem to suggest about humankind’s impending relationship to technology?Topic 4:
Consider the concept of the fluidity of gender identity, that an individual’s gender exists on a
vast spectrum. In “The Kind of Man I Am at the DMV” (816), Waite intentionally obfuscates
the speaker’s chosen gender while clearly interrogating the male/female dichotomy. What
gender do you think the speaker identifies with? (note: there is no “right” answer here–
multiple interpretations are possible, as long as they are supported by the text). Examine
the poem closely, and remember that the speaker is separate from the poet. Respond to all
of the following: Why does the poem insist on the male/female gender dichotomy? What do
you think Waite is suggesting about that dichotomy?Consider the way the speaker describes
the boy in stanza 2. What do you think the speaker is suggesting about masculinity?How do
you interpret the final three lines of the poem?And/OrRead this poem against Marge
Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” (1205). What do the two poems suggest about gender roles and
heteronormativity?Read Judith Ortiz Cofer’s poem “The Changeling” (811). Use “The
Changeling” and “The Kind of Man I Am at the DMV” to investigate the way gender roles are
constructed by society and maintained by individuals.Topic 5: Christopher Marlowe’s “The
Passionate Shepherd to His Love” (827) epitomizes the pastoral tradition in lyric poetry.
Taking on the persona of the shepherd, Marlowe draws on imagery from rural life to paint
an idealized picture of love. In “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” (828),Sir Walter
Raleigh mocks Marlowe’s idealized portrait of both love and rural life, imitating the
conventions of pastoral poetry in order to make fun of it.How does the nymph’s reply
deflate the shepherd’s ideas of love?According to Raleigh, what does the pastoral vision
ignore?After you have read Raleigh’s parody of “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” do
you find Marlowe’s poem less effective? More effective? Discuss.Topic 6: Choose a poem in
Chapter 12 or in the Exploring Gender album. Prompt: Write a “mini” essay in which you
show how and why the speaker experiences a conflict between particular ways of looking or
being.Also look at how the speaker’s attitude toward–or thoughts about–something
changes, or how our vision of the speaker’s character changes over the course of a poem.Be
sure to clearly identify the speaker’s conflict and what changes during the poem.Your
writing will be reviewed according to the following criteria:Write well-developed
paragraphs relevant to the prompt(s) (minimum 300 words).Be sure that your thesis is
explicit and supported with one to two quotations from the literature.Do not write in first or
second person.Follow the rules of Standard English. Please proofread your writing before
clicking the ‘submit’ button!When you include a quotation from the literature in your mini-
essay, please place an in-text citation (also called a parenthetical citation) immediately after
you close the quotation marks and before you place a period at the end of your sentence.
That way, anyone in the class (including me!) can easily find the quotation in the literature if
necessary. If you’re not sure what to place inside the parentheses, there is instruction in the
textbook in Chapter 33: Quotation, Citation, and Documentation.When you include in-text

citations, there must be a Works Cited listing at the bottom of your post.Be sure to follow
the “Quote Sandwich” when you insert quotations.