Annie Dillard "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" excerpt

Answer the following questions in the space provided. Support each 3-5 sentence response with embedded text evidence. (If you've lost your copy of the text, read it online, here.)

1. In the first paragraph, how does the description of “[t]he Polyphemus moth in the picture” prepare you for what happens later?
   
   
2. What effect does the “urgent through” anaphora in the second paragraph produce? What connection/similarity is there between the direct objects of the “urgency”?
   
   
3. What effect is produced by the repetition of the verb “fade” in the third paragraph? How is Dillard’s technique similar to a special effect in a movie?
   
   
4. What tone is produced by the final two sentences of the fourth paragraph? What corresponding mood results? Which words are responsible for creating the tone/mood?
   
   
5. In the fifth paragraph, how does Dillard contrast the school children and the moth? How does this contrast make the moth’s “freedom” tragic instead of celebratory?
   
   
6. The final sentence of the final paragraph (“The Polyphemus moth is still crawling down the driveway…”) echoes something Dillard writes in an earlier paragraph. What does it echo? How does it provide a satisfying, if tragic, ending to the excerpt?
   
   

BONUS! If you read The Odyssey last year and remember Polyphemus the Cyclops from the story, what connection(s) can you make from that character and the moth in Dillard’s memoir?