Page 197 - 100 Best Loved Poems - Teaching Unit
P. 197
“Recessional”
by Rudyard Kipling, pages 78-79
Vocabulary
contrite – remorseful, apologetic
pomp – splendor
1. The poem, an ode, takes the form of a prayer by the speaker. For what is the speaker
praying?
2. What is the ancient sacrifice being alluded to in the poem’s second stanza? What is its
relationship to the third stanza?
3. Why do you suppose the poem is subtitled, “A Victorian Ode”? Who is the speaker of the
Ode and to whom is the ode attributed?
4. The speaker repeatedly ends his stanzas with “Lest we forget – lest we forget.” What do
you think he is concerned people will forget?
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