The Prodigal part 2 by Elizabeth Bishop

Question 1

Quote the first six lines in the second stanza

Answer 1

“But evenings the first star came to warn.
The farmer whom he worked for came at dark
to shut the cows and horses in the barn
beneath their overhanging clouds of hay,
with pitchforks, faint forked lightnings, catching the light,
safe and companionable as in the Ark.”

Question 2

“But _______ the ____ star came to ____.”

Answer 2

“But evenings the first star came to warn.”

Question 3

“The ______ whom he ______ for came at ____”

Answer 3

“The farmer whom he worked for came at dark”

Question 4

“to shut the ___ and _____ in the ____”

Answer 4

“to shut the cows and horses in the barn”

Question 5

“_______ their __________ clouds of hay,”

Answer 5

“beneath their overhanging clouds of hay,”

Question 6

“with _______, faint forked _______, ______ the light,”

Answer 6

“with pitchforks, faint forked lightnings, catching the light,”

Question 7

“___ and ___________ as in the Ark.”

Answer 7

“safe and companionable as in the Ark.”

Question 8

Quote the second eight lines in the second stanza

Answer 8

“The pigs stuck out their little feet and snored.
The lantern-like the sun, going away-
laid on the mud a pacing aureole.
Carrying a bucket along a slimy board,
he felt the bats’ uncertain staggering flight,
his shuddering insights, beyond his control,
touching him. But it took him a long time
finally to make his mind up to go home.”

Question 9

“The pigs stuck out their little ____ and ______.”

Answer 9

“The pigs stuck out their little feet and snored.”

Question 10

“The ______-like the sun, going ____-“

Answer 10

“The lantern-like the sun, going away-“

Question 11

“laid on the mud a pacing ______.”

Answer 11

“laid on the mud a pacing aureole.”

Question 12

“_____ a bucket along a ____ board,”

Answer 12

“Carrying a bucket along a slimy board,”

Question 13

“he felt the bats’ _____ _________ flight,”

Answer 13

“he felt the bats’ uncertain staggering flight,”

Question 14

“his ________ _____, beyond his control,”

Answer 14

“his shuddering insights, beyond his control,”

Question 15

“______ him. But it ____ him a long ____”

Answer 15

“touching him. But it took him a long time”

Question 16

“finally to ____ his ____ __ to go _____.”

Answer 16

“finally to make his mind up to go home.”

Question 17

Quote the second stanza

Answer 17

“The pigs stuck out their little feet and snored.
The lantern-like the sun, going away-
laid on the mud a pacing aureole.
“But evenings the first star came to warn.
The farmer whom he worked for came at dark
to shut the cows and horses in the barn
beneath their overhanging clouds of hay,
with pitchforks, faint forked lightnings, catching the light,
safe and companionable as in the Ark.
Carrying a bucket along a slimy board,
he felt the bats’ uncertain staggering flight,
his shuddering insights, beyond his control,
touching him. But it took him a long time
finally to make his mind up to go home.”

Question 18

Quote the full poem

Answer 18

“The brown enormous odour he lived by
was too close, with its breathing and thick hair,
for him to judge. The floor was rotten; the sty
was plastered halfway up with glass-smooth dung.
Light-lashed, self-righteous, above moving snouts,
the pigs’ eyes followed him, a cheerful stare-
even to the sow that always ate her young-
till sickening, he leaned to scratch her head.
But sometimes mornings after drinking bouts
(he hid the pints behind a two-by-four),
the sunrise glazed the barnyard mud with red;
the burning puddles seemed to reassure.
And then he thought he almost might endure
his exile yet another year or more.”

“The pigs stuck out their little feet and snored.
The lantern-like the sun, going away-
laid on the mud a pacing aureole.
“But evenings the first star came to warn.
The farmer whom he worked for came at dark
to shut the cows and horses in the barn
beneath their overhanging clouds of hay,
with pitchforks, faint forked lightnings, catching the light,
safe and companionable as in the Ark.
Carrying a bucket along a slimy board,
he felt the bats’ uncertain staggering flight,
his shuddering insights, beyond his control,
touching him. But it took him a long time
finally to make his mind up to go home.”