Guiding Considerations

• How does the speaker's attitude toward the looming hurricane contrast with typical expectations, and what does this reveal about love's influence?
• What significance does nostalgia hold in the speaker's reflections on past relationships in comparison to her current love?
• In what ways do Dove's word choices and sensory imagery enhance the "coziness" of the domestic scene, and what impact does contrasting that coziness with the threat of an approaching storm have?

Requirements

• Formulate a clear, defensible thesis that articulates a specific interpretation of the poem's meaning.
• Back up your argument with direct quotes from the poem.
• Analyze — don’t just summarize — how literary devices contribute to the poem's main argument.
• Suggested length: 4–6 paragraphs.

• How does Dove's use of contrasting imagery (e.g., the hurricane vs. the domestic interior) strengthen her central argument about the essence of love?
• How does the poem's tone transition from irony or self-deprecation to genuine warmth, and what does this reveal about the speaker's authentic emotions?
• In what ways does the sonnet-like structure of the poem enhance or challenge the traditional love poem?

Requirements

Extension Challenge: Compare Dove's defense of ordinary love to another poet's depiction of romantic love (e.g., Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 or Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "How Do I Love Thee?"). How do the poets' interpretations of enduring love differ?

• Develop a clear, defensible thesis that goes beyond simply summarizing.
• Use textual evidence (direct quotes and paraphrases) to back up each argument.
• Examine the tension between the mundane and the profound as a key interpretative lens.
• Suggested length: 4–6 paragraphs (approximately 600–900 words).