Reflections on a New Year's Day by Thomas Hood: 25 flashcards
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1. Who wrote 'Reflections on a New Year's Day'?
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Thomas Hood
2. What does the speaker ask for instead of a New Year wish in stanza 1?
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A new hat
3. What does the speaker ask for instead of a longer life in stanza 2?
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A newer pair of shoes
4. What does the speaker wish for instead of the merry church bells in stanza 3?
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New trousers
5. What does the speaker ask for in stanza 4, matching the twelve new months?
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A dozen new shirts
6. What does the speaker openly admit about his financial state?
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'though I'm poor'
7. What are the four basic clothing items the speaker requests?
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Hat, shoes, trousers, shirts
8. What does 'steeple' mean in the poem?
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The bell tower on a church roof
9. What does 'merry din' describe?
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A happy, loud sound made by the church bells
10. What does 'luxury' mean, and does the speaker have it?
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Great comfort; the speaker says he has not had it
11. What is irony?
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Saying something with a deeper meaning underneath the polite words
12. What is the tone of the poem?
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Light and humorous, not angry
13. Where does the humour in the poem come from?
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Replacing grand New Year wishes with ordinary, practical needs
14. What does the poem gently criticise?
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Empty politeness and 'common chat'
15. What was Thomas Hood known for combining?
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Sharp wit with deep social concern
16. What social issue did Hood often write about?
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Poverty and hardship in Victorian England
17. How do the requests change across the stanzas?
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They grow from one item to a dozen
18. Why are clothes a good choice for showing poverty?
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Clothes are visible signs of poverty, making the poem vivid
19. What is the poem's message about good wishes?
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Good wishes alone do not meet real needs
20. What does the speaker do with the goodwill offered to him?
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He accepts it but redirects it to practical help
21. What keeps the poem bouncy and readable aloud?
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Its rhyme and rhythm
22. What does the poem sit between?
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Comedy and social comment
23. What reading skill does the poem reward?
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Reading between the lines (inference)
24. In the table of stanzas, what abstract thing becomes a concrete need in stanza 3?
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Merry church bells become new trousers
25. What does the speaker call New Year greetings in the poem?
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'compliment and common chat'
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