A Postcard from the Volcano
A Postcard from the Volcano [1936]
Wallace Stevens (1879-1955)
Children picking up our bones
Will never know that these were once
As quick as foxes on the hill;
And that in autumn, when the grapes
Made sharp air sharper by their smell
These had a being, breathing frost;
And least will guess that with our bones
We left much more, left what still is
The look of things, left what we felt
At what we saw. The spring clouds blow
Above the shuttered mansion-house,
Beyond our gate and the windy sky
Cries out a literate despair.
We knew for long the mansion's look
And what we said of it became
A part of what it is . . . Children,
Still weaving budded aureoles,
Will speak our speech and never know,
Will say of the mansion that it seems
As if he that lived there left behind
A spirit storming in blank walls,
A dirty house in a gutted world,
A tatter of shadows peaked to white,
Smeared with the gold of the opulent sun.
Questions for Discussion
1. What is the meaning of "these were once / as wuick as foxes on the hill" (lines 2-3)?
A) The bones used to belong to living people.
B) The bones belonged to foxes on the hill.
C) The children are as quick as foxes.
D) The children don't realize the hill is steep.
E) The days used to go by very fast.
2. Who is the speaker in this poem?
A) a child who has found some bones?
B) a man watching children play
C) a person who dreams about the past
D) an abandoned house
E) the dead owner of the house
3. What is being likened to a person because of its cries?
A) the volcano
B) the bones
C) the mansion
D) the wind
E) the sun
4. What will the childen say is in the house?
A) their ancestors
B) bones
C) a ghost
D) nothing but shadows
E) dirt and dust
5. Which of the following is the theme of this poem?
A) Children don't realize who and what came before them.
B) Children can play and find joy in anything.
C) Time passes and damages houses and other buildings.
D) A house is only a home when people live there.
E) Spirits sometimes live in old houses.
6. What is the mood of the poem?
A) forgiving
B) scary
C) sad
D) grieving
E) angry
1A
2E
3D
4C
5A
6C