Ideal for high school units on Gothic imagery, grief-themed writing, and supernatural personification poetry, this poem analysis worksheet helps readers interpret "Listening" by Cristel Hastings, a piece originally published in Weird Tales suggesting that the human need for companionship is not exclusively human. An answer key is included. By engaging with this poetry activity, students will:
Describe tone in context.
Determine the purpose of the poem's third stanza.
Choose the most appropriate synonym for a word without altering meaning or meter (e.g., furtive).
Articulate the implied metaphor in a given phrase (e.g., "that etch a hill").
Apply knowledge of literary devices (e.g., anaphora).
Discern the intended effect of a metaphor in context (e.g., "whose shadows make dim caves").
Explore the multiple appropriate meanings of a given phrase (e.g., "vaults of midnight blue").
Explain the shared motivation of the living and the dead in context.
Identify the symbolic value of the night in context.
Support claims and inferences with sound reasoning and relevant evidence.
Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. (Alternatively, a Google option is available.)
More Weird Tales resources for the Halloween season are available:
"Out of the Grave" by Eldridge Morton - Google and printable
"The Dogs of Salem" by David H. Keller - Google and printable
"The Graveyard Rats" by Henry Kuttner - Google and printable
"The Vow on Halloween" by Lyllian Huntley Harris - Google and printable
"The Werewolf Snarls" by Manly Wade Wellman - Google and printable
Ideal for high school units on Gothic imagery, grief-themed writing, and supernatural personification poetry, this poem analysis worksheet helps readers interpret "Listening" by Cristel Hastings, a piece originally published in Weird Tales suggesting that the human need for companionship is not exclusively human. An answer key is included. By engaging with this poetry activity, students will:
Describe tone in context.
Determine the purpose of the poem's third stanza.
Choose the most appropriate synonym for a word without altering meaning or meter (e.g., furtive).
Articulate the implied metaphor in a given phrase (e.g., "that etch a hill").
Apply knowledge of literary devices (e.g., anaphora).
Discern the intended effect of a metaphor in context (e.g., "whose shadows make dim caves").
Explore the multiple appropriate meanings of a given phrase (e.g., "vaults of midnight blue").
Explain the shared motivation of the living and the dead in context.
Identify the symbolic value of the night in context.
Support claims and inferences with sound reasoning and relevant evidence.
Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. (Alternatively, a Google option is available.)
More Weird Tales resources for the Halloween season are available:
"Out of the Grave" by Eldridge Morton - Google and printable
"The Dogs of Salem" by David H. Keller - Google and printable
"The Graveyard Rats" by Henry Kuttner - Google and printable
"The Vow on Halloween" by Lyllian Huntley Harris - Google and printable
"The Werewolf Snarls" by Manly Wade Wellman - Google and printable
