"Living Tenderly" is a riddle poem. Who is the speaker?
What does the "pattern of smooth seams" refer to?
What does the title of the poem suggest about the topic or speaker of the poem?
Does the first line contain a metaphor or simile?
What is the contradiction in line 5 of this poem?
In what line of the poem is personification used? What is being personified?
In "The Spider" what figurative language is used in line 1?
Although the word web is not used in this poem, it is clear that the poem is figuratively describing the spider spinning a web. What are the "silken blouse," the "lacework," and the "dwelling house" referred to in the first stanza?
What is the "staircase" in line 5?
What simile is used in lines 15-16? What is being compared?
In the final lines, the spider is compared to a scientist and to the mathematician, Euclid. What is the basis or reason for this comparisons? (Hint: How is a spider like a scientist? How is a spider like Euclid?)