March+17,+18

Read the following poems and answer the questions that follow. Students in 8A/B need to email your work to Ms. B. by midnight TONIGHT!
"The Dark Hills" by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Dark hills at evening in the west, Where sunset hovers like a sound Of golden horns that sang to rest Old bones of warriors under ground, Far now from all the bannered ways 5 Where flash the legions of the sun, You face--as if the last of days Were fading, and all wars were done.

"Solar" by Philip Larkin

Suspended lion face Spilling at the centre Of an unfurnished sky How still you stand, And how unaided 5 Single stalkless flower You pour unrecompensed.

The eye sees you Simplified by distance Into an origin, 10 Your petalled head of flames Continuously exploding. Heat is the echo of your Gold.

Coined there among 15 Lonely horizontals You exist openly. Our needs hourly Climb and return like angels. Unclosing like a hand, 20 You give for ever.

__Questions__:

1. Describe the element of nature common to both these poems. 2. What does Robinson compare the sunset to in "The dark Hills"? 3. List three things to which Larkin compares the sun in "Solar". 4. Find two phrases in "The Dark Hills" that help you experience the sunset. Explain your choices. 5. Compare & Contrast--In what way do these two poems communicate opposite moods?