Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- Does knowing that this poem is part of a play make you see it as less of a poem and more like one of Hamlet's speeches?
- Do you need to know the plot of Love's Labour's Lost to understand this poem?
- Heck, do you need to know anything about that play to get something from this poem?
- Sure, this poem is about winter, as in the season. But is it possible that this is just a cover for something more important or deeper? If so, what might that be? What parts of the poem give you your ideas?
- What is the effect of the refrain (repeated parts) in this poem?
- Does that "Tu-whit, To-who!" really sound like an owl? What is its effect in the poem? Why does this poem include an owl anyway? Why not something else?
- This poem concludes Love's Labour's Lost (the play from which it comes). Does it "work" as a conclusion? Should it be somewhere else in the play? Why or why not?