LITR 3731: Creative Writing 2008

Kristin Howard

Discussion Questions for “True Love”

Written by Miranda Allen

Questions to the Author:

1.  Does your poem represent a personal experience for you?

2.  What did you mean when in the 9^th stanza by, “So I became hostile in advance just so he would know?”

3.  There are a few references to time in the poem such as, “Such a short time later, so a very short while later, three whole days later, a scant two weeks after, and several days later.”  Was that something you intentionally thought about as you were writing or did it evolve on its own? 

Questions to the Class:

1.  Can you see a pattern of emotion as you read the poem?  Is the author’s tone consistent throughout the poem or does it change?  If so, how?

*Tone- "The poet's or persona's attitude in style or expression toward the subject, e.g., loving, ironic, bitter, pitying, fanciful, solemn, etc. Tone can also refer to the overall mood of the poem itself, in the sense of a pervading atmosphere intended to influence the readers' emotional response and foster expectations of the conclusion." (Glossary of Poetic Terms from BOB'S BYWAY)

2. Do you think that the focus in the poem is on the relationship as a whole or the episode of the man being lazy and confused and how the woman is dealing with it?  Why?

3.  What do you think the author meant in the 3^rd stanza when she writes, “And there it began, my education of men?”

4.  Do you think that the poem depicts true love as the title suggests even though the poem contains words such as anger, unpleasant, mean, dumb, hostile, laziness, stupid, frustrations, confused, violent thoughts, and strife?