She is telling us that we prepare our entire lives for understanding the gem quality of our lives and relationships. Until that moment when we reach understanding, we are merely playing. Are you now sitting back and saying, “I would never have thought about all that myself?” The answer is no, not if you’re used to reading quickly and with little thought. | When she writes that the shapes were similar she means that early love may look and feel like the real thing the gem but it really isn t it s just an imitation. Ultimately she is telling us that we prepare our entire lives for understanding the gem quality of our lives and relationships. Until that moment when we reach understanding we are merely playing. Are you now sitting back and saying I would never have thought about all that myself The answer is no not if you re used to reading quickly and with little thought. Poetry like all good literature requires careful thoughtful reading if you re going to have something intelligent to say about it. Now look at the study guide questions that follow. They relate to the poem we have just worked with. See if you can write responses to the questions. 1. What title would you give this poem Explain. 2. What is the metaphor on which the poem is based 3. What line phrase or word has the most meaning for you Why 101 Writing About Poetry EXPRESS YOURSELF 4. With whom would you share this poem Why Let s look at possible responses. 1. I would call this poem Child s Play because it really is about the importance of child s play. The author tells us that everything we do even the silly games we play is preparation for the most important lessons in life. or I would call this poem The Jewelry of Life because the author compares costume jewelry with real jewelry to tell us that we have to learn the difference in order to ever have any gems of our own. She is really saying that everybody can have real pearls if they just look hard enough. 2. The metaphor in the poem is comparing children at play to adults. By comparing children to adults the poet tells us that unless we learn important lessons we will never have real love or a real appreciation for life and like children we will always be playing. or The metaphor in the poem is comparing real jewels like pearls to costume jewelry made up of sand. Sand becomes pearls after years in the .
