2. Read "Mr. Flood's Party" 755 and answer one of the following prompts:
a) How would you describe the stanzas of this poem? (Once someone has answered satisfactorily, respond to a different prompt.)
b) Give a brief plot summary. (Once a satisfactory plot summary has been offered, respond to a different prompt.)
c) T or F: Eben Flood is a drunk, but he has dignity.
d) T or F: Mr. Flood has a dialogue with himself, but he do so with ironic consciousness that he is talking to himself.
e) List three of the most striking images by quoting them. Just quote the image, not the surrounding words. You don't have to explain; just quote them.
C) I would agree that Eben is drunk, (not a drunk, as in drunk all the time), but a sense if dignity is hard to identify. It is not absent, yet not obviously present. "A valiant armor of sacred hopes outworn. He stood there in the middle of the road Like Roland’s ghost winding a silent horn." This line suggests that the author feels like Eben Flood is a majestic character. (The image of Roland blowing a horn; Roland blows a horn to summon his king). Also, the words 'sacred hopes outworn' could mean that Eben Flood has lived a very full life, or at least a life full of good intentions. The author writes Eben's dialogue very carefully. Eben is not sloppy, not stupid, and he seems to have a purpose with the words he is speaking. He is perhaps keeping himself company in place of the friends he lost. His voice is perhaps the only other thing that keeps him company. "Of night he lifted up his voice and sang, Secure, with only two moons listening, Until the whole harmonious landscape rang— 'For auld lang syne.' The weary throat gave out, The last word wavered; and the song being done He raised again the jug regretfully And shook his head, and was again alone." After his voice is finished echoing through out the landscape, he is again alone. And lastly, this line, "Then, as a mother lays her sleeping child Down tenderly, fearing it may awake, He set the jug down slowly at his feet With trembling care, knowing that most things break; And only when assured that on firm earth It stood, as the uncertain lives of men Assuredly did not, he paced away...", is extremely sagely. I feel that if the author didn't want Eben Flood to have a sense of dignity, that he would write so colorfully about how to understand life.
ReplyDeleteStatement D is true. "Well, Mr. Flood, we have not met like this In a long time; and many a change has come To both of us, I fear, since last it was We had a drop together. Welcome home!""Convivially returning with himself, Again he raised the jug up to the light; And with an acquiescent quaver said:"Well, Mr. Flood, if you insist, I might." The reason why Mr. Flood is talking to himself is that he has no one to celebrate with or anyone who cares about him. He is reminicing about how his life has changed.
ReplyDeleteKatie Burch
statement e)
ReplyDeleteLine 45, 'For soon amid the silver loneliness'
Line 17, 'Avaliant armor of scarred hopes outworn'
Line 25, 'A mother lays her sleeping child.'
e)
ReplyDelete“as a mother lays her sleeping child/Down tenderly”
“acquiescent quaver”
“amid the silver loneliness/Of night
e)
ReplyDeleteLine 17 "A valiant armor of scarred hopes outworn"
Line 24 "Eben's eyes were dim"
Line 48 "the Whole harmonious landscape rang"
B) Eben Flood has climbed onto the hill looking down onto his town. He has brought a jug with some type of alcohol in it and he begins to drink while relecting on his life. He stands in the middle of the road and drinks, then sets the jug down to walk away from it. He talks to himself as if talking to a previous Mr. Flood, and offers himself a drink. He then starts to sing and ends with the raising of his jug as he realizes that there is nothing left in the town for him and yet there is nothing more to come in his life.
ReplyDeleteKatie Taylor
C Is true.
ReplyDeleteMr. Flood seems to be drunk but it's probably not because he's an alcoholic but because something happened to him that made him drink. One can infer this because he says, "well, Mr. Flood, we have not met like this in a long time and many a change has come to both of us". This means that Mr. Flood's statements can be somewhat trusted. The poem is also written in such a way that it seems like Mr. Flood knows exactly what he's doing. His motions are direct and straightforward and with purpose: "Then, as a mother lays her sleeping child down tenderly, fearing it may awake he set the jug down slowly at his feet with trembling care, knowing that most things break;"
D is true because he is sitting on a street alone talking about going "home," while reflecting on the present and what will come in the future."There was not much that was ahead of him, and there was nothing in the town below- where strangers would have shut the many doors that many friends had opened long ago." I would have to disagree with Katie, because he is not celebrating anything. He is pondering about the nothingness that is going to come in the future.
ReplyDeletee)
ReplyDelete1. "On earth again of home, paused warily."
2. "A valiant armor f scarred hopes outworn."
3. "For soon amid the silver loneliness/Of night he lifted up his voice and sang."
THIS IS ANGIE'S POST!!!
ReplyDeletee)
1)'then, as a mother lays her sleeping child down tenedrly, fearing it may awake, he set the jug down slowly at his feet'
2)'with only two moons listening until the whole harmonious landscape rang'
3)'the weary throat gave out'
e)
ReplyDelete- line 1-3
Old Eben Flood, climbing alone one night
Over the hill between the town below
And the forsaken upland hermitage
-line 8
For no man else in Tilbury Town to hear.
-line 19-20
He stood there in the middle of the road
Like Roland's ghost winding a silent horn.
Sinae Hwang
e)
ReplyDelete1)'He stood there in the middle of the road like Roland's ghost winding a silent horn'
2)The silver loneliness of night'
3)Where strangers would have shut the many doors that many friends had opened long ago'
Yes he is a drunk. He seems to have no control over himself. "Drink to the bird."He raised up to the light the jug that he had gone so far to fill." He seems to make excuses to have a drink, as if he is regretting that he has turned into a drunk. He did not say no to any situations that he was placed in. The last stanza shows how his drunkenness had taken over him so much that he had nowhere to go.
ReplyDeleteE)
ReplyDelete1. "He stood there in the middle of the road Like Roland's ghost winding a silent horn"
2. "He set the jug down slowly at his feet With trembling care, knowing that most things break"
3. "He raised again the jug regretfully And shook his headm and was again alone."
e)
ReplyDelete1. On earth again of home, paused warily.
2. A valiant armor of scarred hopes outworn
3. A phantom salutation of the dead