1. Many of us are multi-taskers – eating while watching television, texting while on social media. Do you think it is good to be a multi-tasker or is it more satisfactory to focus on just one thing at a time?
2. The two-year Leaving Certificate course can be a very busy and stressful time. However, experts say that time off is as beneficial to students as time spent studying. Do you agree or disagree with this view?
3. Do you think the seasons and the weather have an impact on our moods?
COMPREHENDING AND RESPONDING
1. Do you think it is significant that the setting of this poem is ‘the first mild day of March’? Explain your answer with reference to the poem.
2. What do you think the poet means when he says there is ‘a blessing in the air’ in stanza two?
3. What kind of relationship is evident between the poet and his sister in stanza three?
4. In stanza four the poet says that ‘this one day/ We‘ll give to idleness.’ What do you think this reveals about their usual day-to-day routine?
5. Why do you think the poet proposes to name this day the ‘opening of the year’? Refer to stanza five in support of your answer.
6. What emotions do you think the poet is feeling in stanza six? Refer to the poem in support of your answer.
7. Do you agree with the poet when he says in stanza seven that enjoying themselves in the present moment will give them more than ‘years of toiling reason’? Explain your response.
8. What kind of ‘silent laws’ do you think the poet and his sister might make in their hearts? Support your answer with reference to stanza eight.
9. Who or what do you think the poet is referring to when he writes ‘blessed power’?
10. Stanza ten more or less repeats stanza four. What impact do you think this repetition has on the poem? Support your answer with reference to the poem.
11. ‘“To my Sister” is a poem that reveals the deep friendship between the poet William Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy.’ Write a response to this statement, supporting your answer with reference to the poem.
12. What theme or themes can you find in this poem? Refer to the poem in support of your answer.
