Download Extra Credit The Last Word Poem

Name: _____________________
Extra Credit—First Quarter
This assignment is worth up to 10 points on an objective summative grade within the
first quarter only.
Directions: Annotate the following poem for rhetorical/poetic devices. Reference the
annotations of “Tell All the Truth but Tell it Slant” and your rhetorical analyses of the
speeches from Antigone as examples of annotation. In order to receive extra credit, you
must turn in this poem annotated thoroughly. THEN, complete the cross over question
on the back of this page, type it in MLA format, and turn it in by October 21, 2014.
“The Last Word”
by: Matthew Arnold
(1822-1888)
Creep into thy narrow bed,
Creep, and let no more be said!
Vain thy onset! all stands fast.
Thou thyself must break at last.
Let the long contention cease!
5
Geese are swans, and swans are geese.
Let them have it how they will!
Thou art tired: best be still.
They out-talked thee, hissed thee, tore thee?
Better men fared thus before thee;
10
Fired their ringing shot and passed,
Hotly charged - and sank at last.
Charge once more, then, and be dumb!
Let the victors, when they come,
When the forts of folly fall,
Find thy body by the wall!
15
About the Author:
“Among the major Victorian
writers sharing in a revival of
interest and respect in the
second half of the twentieth
century, Matthew Arnold is
unique in that his reputation
rests equally upon his poetry
and his prose. But he believed
above all in the need for a
vision of perfection if faith in
the possibility of a better
society for all were to be
maintained. When Arnold's
poetry is considered, a different
meaning must be applied to the
term modern than that applied
to the ideas of the critic,
reformer, and prophet who
dedicated most of his life to
broadening the intellectual
horizons of his countrymen—
of, indeed, the whole Englishspeaking world. In many of his
poems can be seen the
psychological and emotional
conflicts, the uncertainty of
purpose, above all the feeling
of disunity within oneself or of
the individual's estrangement
from society which is today
called alienation and is thought
of as a modern phenomenon.”
"Matthew Arnold." Poetry
Foundation, 2014. Web.
30 Sept. 2014.
Name: _____________________
Directions: Answer the following question in paragraph format. Use the box below as
your rough draft. THEN type your paragraph in MLA format. Remember, you must
include a quote from Antigone AND a quote from “The Last Word.” In order to receive
extra credit, you must turn in this page completed along with a hard copy of your final
typed paragraph by October 21, 2014.
How are Antigone and “The Last Word” both about a universal story of the individual
against the group?