My recital poems for Language Arts

Barbara Frietchie Literary Focus

Literary Focus

Question 1: Discuss the bravery or folly of Barbara Frietchie's response, "Shoot, if you must, this old gray head,/but spare your country's flag."

Answer: In this question, I think Barbara is telling the shooting men that she has enough courage to die under the flag of her country, rather than having those men shooting her country's flag and she will become a slave for them. This action showed me that Barbara Frietchie is very courageous and loves her country, since she is showing that through her words and actions, she wants America to see her death, because she is standing up for her country, but she does not want America to die when she still lives in it and will be a slave for the shooting men.

Question 2: Narrative poems contain characters. What do Frietchie's actions reveal about her?

Answer: Her actions throughout the poem tell me that she loves her country, she is not afraid of the soldiers even if they shoot her and let her die, she wants the soldiers to not shoot her country's flag, but not her. Barbara has the guts to stand up for what she loves, she is trying to show other Americans that nothing will stop them from taking back the freedom and peace for the country. Later on, when she died, the America flag hangs above of her grave, for other people to remember what a great person she was, sacrificing herself and not her country.