1. THE DARKER SOONER BY CATHERINE WING ABIGAIL CULLEN

2. Then came the darker sooner, came the later lower. We were no longer a sweeter-here happily-ever-after. We were after ever. We were farther and further. More was the word we used for harder. Lost was our standard-bearer. Our gods were fallen faster, and fallen larger. The day was duller, duller was disaster. Our charge was error. Instead of leader we had louder, instead of lover, never. And over this river broke the winter’s black weather.

3. REVENGE BY: LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON Ay, gaze upon her rose-wreathed hair, And gaze upon her smile; Seem as you drank the very air Her breath perfumed the while: And wake for her the gifted line, That wild and witching lay, And swear your heart is as a shrine, That only owns her sway. ’Tis well: I am revenged at last,— Mark you that scornful cheek,— The eye averted as you pass’d, Spoke more than words could speak. Ay, now by all the bitter tears That I have shed for thee,— The racking doubts, the burning fears,— Avenged they well may be— By the nights pass’d in sleepless care, The days of endless woe; All that you taught my heart to bear, All that yourself will know. I would not wish to see you laid Within an early tomb; I should forget how you betray’d, And only weep your doom: But this is fitting punishment, To live and love in vain,— Oh my wrung heart, be thou content, And feed upon his pain. Go thou and watch her lightest sigh,— Thine own it will not be; And bask beneath her sunny eye,— It will not turn on thee. ’Tis well: the rack, the chain, the wheel, Far better hadst thou proved; Ev’n I could almost pity feel, For thou art nor beloved.

4. CATHERINE WING Born in Louisville, Kentucky Attended Brown University before earning her MFA from the University of Washington Her poem Enter Invisible (2005) was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize Teaches poetry at Kent State Received fellowships and residences from Yaddo, the Macdowell Colony & the Sewanee Writer’s Conference

5. STRUCTURE/FORM/ORGANIZATION Then came the darker sooner, came the later lower. We were no longer a sweeter-here happily-ever-after. We were after ever. We were farther and further. More was the word we used for harder. Lost was our standard-bearer. Our gods were fallen faster, and fallen larger. The day was duller, duller was disaster. Our charge was error. Instead of leader we had louder, instead of lover, never. And over this river broke the winter’s black weather. Structure The poem uses a one stanza 15 line structure Catherine didn’t use any type of end rhyme but did use similar endings of words to create a rhythm. The way that this poem is organized is to create a mood about how the day was becoming darker and duller. The form of how the poem is set up is all of the beginnings of each line is margined to the left This poem has no rhyme scheme so in other words, it is a free verse

6. SPEAKER The speaker of the poem is relating to love that did not last and was not “happily- ever after. We were ever after” When reading this a reader can infer that this poet is relating to a past love that went wrong and was dark and dull The speaker is trying to make us visualize how she felt by using words like “darker” and “duller” and saying it was not going to be a happily ever after experience. They want us to feel the same pain that she did when her love for this person had died.

7. POETIC/LITERARY TERMS Then came the darker sooner, came the later lower. We were no longer a sweeter-here happily-ever-after. We were after ever. We were farther and further. More was the word we used for harder. Lost was our standard-bearer. Our gods were fallen faster, and fallen larger. The day was duller, duller was disaster. Our charge was error. Instead of leader we had louder, instead of lover, never. And over this river broke the winter’s black weather. Allusion- Metaphor- The metaphor used in this poem is a sweet happily-ever after and a love not lasting. The author uses this metaphor to pull the reader in and have a better comprehension of the poem being told. Repetition- The repetition is to give the poem an effect on the poet and how her heart and feelings were feeling duller and darker. The repetition sets the mood and how the reader should feel towards the poet.

8. POETIC/LITERARY TERMS Alliteration- the use of alliteration in this poem is to create a rhythm to match the poems meaning and purpose Lyric Poem- This is a poem that can be interpreted into many things, one thing is having a “true love” relationship being split up and or that had broken up/divorced Then came the darker sooner, came the later lower. We were no longer a sweeter-here happily-ever-after. We were after ever. We were farther and further. More was the word we used for harder. Lost was our standard-bearer. Our gods were fallen faster, and fallen larger. The day was duller, duller was disaster. Our charge was error. Instead of leader we had louder, instead of lover, never. And over this river broke the winter’s black weather.

9. IMAGERY “And over this river broke the winter’s black weather”- the change of the seasons into winter “Lost was our standard-bearer”- a medieval knight holding the flag of his country

10. LITERAL MEANING

11. FIGURATIVE MEANING

12. PURPOSE

13. THEME