Question

Success Is Counted Sweetest–Terms and Questions
New Literary Terms for This Poem
accented syllables—To accent (or “stress”) a syllable is to say that syllable more loudly than the others. All of us accent certain syllables when we speak, whether we think we do or not. If we were not accenting syllables, we’d be speaking in a monotone. In this list of words, the accented syllables are boldfaced and underlined. Say them more loudly than the other syllables: carry, support, hummingbird, flamingo.
meter—In the same way that individual words consist of accented and unaccented syllables, so do lines of poetry. The word forbidden is a 3-syllable word with the accent on the second syllable. If we use a slash (/) to mark an accented syllable and a “u” to mark an unaccented syllable, we could indicate the accent pattern of “forbidden” as u/u. When the word “forbidden” appears in a line of poetry, we can mark the entire line. For example, “on whose forbidden ear” is accented on syllables 2, 4, and 6 and would be marked u/u/u/. (To really hear the meter, it helps to exaggerate the sound as you read it: duh dah duh dah duh dah.) To place these marks above the actual syllables in a line is to “scan” a line of poetry. There was a time when most all poetry was metered poetry with regularly accented syllables. Today, few poems are metered.
rhyme—Words that sound the same are words that rhyme. “Cat” and “hat” rhyme; “two” and “blue” rhyme.
rhyme scheme—When a poem contains rhyme, that rhyme will occur at the ends of lines and usually be organized in some sort of pattern. We can show a poem’s pattern of rhyme by using capital letters placed side by side. The pattern of rhyme in a poem is known as the poem’s rhyme scheme. For example, if we have 4 lines in which lines 1 and 3 rhyme and lines 2 and 4 rhyme, we would indicate the rhyme scheme as ABAB. The rule is this: each new rhyme gets the next letter of the alphabet.
slant rhyme—Slant rhyme is the term to describe words that are close in rhyme, but not exact. For example, the word pairs dive/give and death/faith are examples of slant rhyme.
stanza—A stanza is a group of lines separated by white space. “Success Is Counted Sweetest” consists of 3 stanzas; each stanza consists of 4 lines.
Success Questions
Highlight correct answers in yellow.
1. This poem was written by _____.
a. Edna St. Vincent Millay
b. Emily Dickinson
c. Robert Frost
d. William Butler Yeats

2. This poem consists of _____ stanzas.
a. 1
b. 2
c. 3
d. 4

3. The accent pattern u/u/u/u/ describes line _____.
a. 5
b. 6
c. 7
d. 8

4. The rhyme scheme of stanzas 1 and 3 is _____.
a. AABB
b. ABAB
c. ABCB
d. ABCD

5. We find slant rhyme in lines _____.
a. 1 and 3
b. 2 and 4
c. 5 and 7
d. 6 and 8

6. Why does Dickinson use an apostrophe in line 2?
a. Dickinson did not have the advantage of a high school education
b. that’s how the word “never” was spelled in the 19th century
c. to keep the regular meter
d. to make the word sound poetic

7. This poem consists of 3 parts. We can separate these 3 parts by dividing the poem after lines _____ and _____.
a. 2 and 4
b. 2 and 8
c. 4 and 6
d. 4 and 8

8. Who is the person who really understands success?
a. A dying solder from the losing army.
b. A person who is most thirsty.
c. A person who never succeeds.
d. Emily Dickinson

9. Who is the person who really understands how delicious nectar is?
a. A dying solder from the losing army.
b. A person who is most thirsty.
c. A person who never succeeds.
d. Emily Dickinson

10. Who is the person who really understands what it means to win in war?
a. A dying solder from the losing army.
b. A person who is most thirsty.
c. A person who never succeeds.
d. Emily Dickinson

Answer 1

1. This poem was written by _____.
a. Edna St. Vincent Millay
b. <mark>Emily Dickinson</mark>
c. Robert Frost
d. William Butler Yeats

2. This poem consists of _____ stanzas.
a. 1
b. 2
c. <mark>3</mark>
d. 4

3. The accent pattern u/u/u/u/ describes line _____.
a. <mark>5</mark>
b. 6
c. 7
d. 8

4. The rhyme scheme of stanzas 1 and 3 is _____.
a. AABB
b. ABAB
c. <mark>ABCB</mark>
d. ABCD

5. We find slant rhyme in lines _____.
a. <mark>1 and 3</mark>
b. 2 and 4
c. 5 and 7
d. 6 and 8

6. Why does Dickinson use an apostrophe in line 2?
a. Dickinson did not have the advantage of a high school education
b. that’s how the word “never” was spelled in the 19th century
c. <mark>to keep the regular meter</mark>
d. to make the word sound poetic

7. This poem consists of 3 parts. We can separate these 3 parts by dividing the poem after lines _____ and _____.
a. 2 and 4
b. 2 and 8
c. 4 and 6
d. <mark>4 and 8</mark>

8. Who is the person who really understands success?
a. <mark>A dying soldier from the losing army.</mark>
b. A person who is most thirsty.
c. A person who never succeeds.
d. Emily Dickinson

9. Who is the person who really understands how delicious nectar is?
a. A dying soldier from the losing army.
b. <mark>A person who is most thirsty.</mark>
c. A person who never succeeds.
d. Emily Dickinson

10. Who is the person who really understands what it means to win in war?
a. <mark>A dying soldier from the losing army.</mark>
b. A person who is most thirsty.
c. A person who never succeeds.
d. Emily Dickinson