So confused with...Canonization?

Unwiredmascot's Comprehensive Guide to Being Comprehensive

Ever feel like you aren't sure what you've been doing for the last two years? Are you confused about your overall life goals? Well, here's an opportunity compress the last two years worth of study into ten weeks, with the our patented DIY "Exam Nausea Kit"!

Got the blues? Then get the system! Intense study will erase your lonliness and lack of selfworth by throwing you in a small room full of other students just like you, equally confused and panicking! Order today!

But wait! There's more! You also get to participate in discussion about the value of canonization while complaining about the mixed messages the exam gives when compared to your canon-erasing classes!! In this part of the package, you can examine the worth of studying such whitemale classics as Robert Frost, William Wordsworth, TS Eliot, John Donne, Alexander Pope, and many more!

Order now and get as a special bonus

10 hours of reading in preparation for a presentation

10 weeks of two hour meetings with other, haggard students

5 Norton Anthologies of Literature to reread

2 nervous breakdowns

9 folders full of class notes

2 reams of notes from other students

38 student papers to grade, during those "down times"

The kit comes with the following poem as a "practice" test. Think about the following questions:
What literary school does this poet probably identify herself with?
What era is this: Modern or Post Modern? How? Why?
To what canonized author is she referring to in the last four lines? For what rhetorical purpose? How does knowing the referent of the allusion help you interpret this poem? How might that author react to her use of his/her lines in this way?
What rhetorical devices does she use?
What major literary critics have said something about the referred to author? Why is this important?
Does anyone read poetry for fun anymore? Explain.





Contrary

you should know by now
that the contradictions in her spirit
are the source and pride of the nation
you, after all, loved her first
and last, and always

they now can say
that it is all in the child she was
How could she act,
so confused with powers
How could she become,
so entrenched in flowers?