CONTENTS

UNIT SKILLS OUTLINE

Literary Skills and Concepts Aim, 650, 653 Alliteration, 612, 630, 633, 634, 637, 676 Assonance, 612, 630, 633, 650, 653 Colorful Language, 612 Concrete Poem, 612, 625, 628 Dialogue, 645, 649 Figure of Speech, 612, 613, 618, 664, 667 Flashback, 650, 653 Free Verse, 613, 618 Haiku, 612, 669, 673 Image, 612, 613, 618, 619, 624 Imagery, 612, 613, 618, 619, 624, 625, 628, 669, 673 Irony, 619, 624 Lyric Poem, 612, 661, 663, 664, 667 Metaphor, 612, 613, 618, 677, 664 Narrative Poem, 612, 656, 659 Onomatopoeia, 612, 634, 637 Personification, 612, 619, 624, 664 Repetition, 612, 638, 642, 656, 659 Rhyme, 612, 638, 642 Rhythm, 612, 630, 633 Simile, 612, 677, 664 Suspense, 656, 659 Symbol, 612, 645, 649, 661, 663 Writing Skills and Concepts Advice Column, 655 Fortune Cookie Inserts, 654 Freewriting a Poem, 643 Haiku, 674 Instructions, 628, 674 Lyric Poem, 676 Promotional Blurb, 674 Self- and Peer Evaluation, 679 Thesis Statement, 643 Language, Grammar, and Style Adding Colorful Language to Sentences, 655 Functions of Sentences, 629 Modifiers, 660 Prepositional Phrases, 655 Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement, 678 Synonyms, Antonyms, and Homonyms, 660 Using a Dictionary, 674 Using a Thesaurus, 655 Word Formation, 660

Report from Rockport, 1940. Stuart Davis. Private Collection.

GOALS/OBJECTIVES
Studying this unit will enable students to appreciate enjoy lyric and narrative poetry define and identify techniques in poetry such as imagery, shape, sound, and meaning define and identify forms of poetry, including narrative, lyric, and haiku engage in a meaningful independent reading experience by reading a poetry anthology on loss and compiling a their own poetry anthology write a lyric poem demonstrate an ability to use pronoun/antecedent agreement

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CROSS-CURRICULAR CONNECTION
Arts and Humanities Creating Found Art, 640 Illustrating a Silverstein Poem, 639 Images of Filling Stations and Barns, 620 Lyric Poems about Food, 635 Point of View Essay, 631 Researching Constellations, 662 Tribute to a Male Role Model, 651 Visual Image from a Haiku, 670 Writing a Concrete Poem, 626 Writing a Poem, 614 Writing a Series of Haiku, 670 Writing Descriptive Paragraphs, 620 Mathematics and Sciences Attitudes about Poetry Poll, 615 Brainstorming a List of Junk, 639 Dissecting Fruit, 615 Documentary on Parrots, 646 Parrot Research Report, 646 Researching Constellations, 662 Varieties of Apples, 665 Why Stars Change, 662 Social Studies Researching the Crimean War, 657 Applied Arts Corn Cookbook, 651 Lyric Poems about Food, 635 Writing a Series of Haiku, 670

TEACHING THE MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

Logical-Mathematical Attitudes about Poetry Poll, 615 Dissecting Fruit, 615 Documentary on Parrots, 646 Informal Class Debate, 631 Parrot Research Report, 646 Researching Constellations, 662 Varieties of Apples, 665 Why Stars Change, 662

UNIT NINE
TEACHING THE MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES (CONT.)
Creating Unique Descriptions, 625 Describing Your Bedroom, 619 Expressing Feelings, 645 Personal Treasure, 638 Sacrificing Ones Life, 656 Selective Hearing, 669 Sensory Details, 613, 664 Thoughts about Space, 661 Your Favorite Food, 634 Interpersonal A Characteristic Memory, 650 Abandoned Buildings, 623 Attitudes about Poetry Poll, 615 Becoming More Optimistic or Pessimistic, 630 Brainstorming a List of Junk, 639 Brainstorming Session, 662 Class Discussion, 641, 652, 657 (Continued on page 612)

Spatial Creating Found Art, 640 Dissecting Fruit, 615 Illustrating a Silverstein Poem, 639 Images of Filling Stations and Barns, 620 Researching Constellations, 662 Varieties of Apples, 665 Visual Image from a Haiku, 670 Kinesthetic A Characteristic Memory, 650 Becoming More Optimistic or Pessimistic, 630
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INTERNET RESOURCES
The Academy of American Poets home page at http:// www.poets.org/index.html offers a broad range of information about poetry, a Find-a-Poet link to help students learn more about their favorite poets, activities related to special events, and questions for discussion. This site is an excellent way to help students see what a huge presence poetry has in the United States and beyond.

ELEMENTS of

P O E T R Y

The main elements of poetry are imagery, shape, sound, and meaning. IMAGES AND IMAGERY. An image is language that creates a concrete representation of an object or an experience. An image is also the vivid mental picture created in the readers mind by that language. The images in a literary work are referred to, when considered together, as the works imagery. Poets use colorful, vivid language and figures of speech to create imagery. Colorful language is precise and lively words and phrases that help to create clear pictures in the readers mind. A figure of speech is language meant to be understood imaginatively instead of literally. Metaphor, simile, and personification are figures of speech. A metaphor is a figure of speech in which one thing is spoken or written about as if it were another. A simile is a comparison using like or as. Personification is describing something not human as if it were human. SHAPE. The shape of a poem is how it looks on the page. A concrete poem, or shape poem, is one with a shape that suggests its subject. SOUND. The sound of a poem is created through the use of rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, and repetition. Rhyme is the repetition of sounds at the ends of words, like locks, box, and socks. Rhythm is the patterns of beats in a line of poetry or prose. Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of syllables, as in Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in stressed syllables that end in different consonant sounds, as in lime light. Onomatopoeia is the use of words or phrases, like meow and beep, that sound like what they name. Repetition is more than one use of a sound, word, or phrase. MEANING. Meaning in poetry is created in many ways. The use of symbols appeals to emotion, and techniques such as dialogue and flashback can add meaning to a poem. A symbol is a thing that stands for or represents both itself and something else. Poetry comes in two main forms: narrative and lyric. FORMS OF POETRY. A lyric poem is highly musical verse that expresses the emotions of a speaker and does not tell a story. Lyric poems focus on ideas. A narrative poem is a verse that tells a story. Haiku is a highly specialized form of lyric poetrya traditional Japanese three-line poem. It has five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the third. Haiku and other poems written in languages besides English must be translated so that people can read them in English.

TEACHING THE MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES (CONT.)

Corn Cookbook, 651 Creating Unique Descriptions, 625 Describing a Sunrise or Sunset, 627 Describing Your Bedroom, 619 Difficult Words and Phrases, 620, 626 Disappearing Filling Stations and Barns, 620 Dissecting Fruit, 615 Dramatic Interpretation of Poem, 657 Effects of Positive and Negative Attitudes, 632 Expressing Feelings, 645 First-Choice Poem, 616 Informal Class Debate, 631 Interviewing a Poet, 626 Japanese Words in the English Language, 670 Least Favorite Seasons, 636 Mistaken Order, 658 Noticeable Surroundings, 666 Oral Reading, 631, 639, 662 Other Subjects for Haiku, 671 Paired Oral Reading, 614, 635, 651, 665 Personal Treasure, 638 Reading a Haiku, 670 Researching Constellations, 662 Researching the Crimean War, 657 Role-Playing a Character, 648 Sacrificing Ones Life, 656 Seasonal Foods, 635 Selective Hearing, 669 Sensory Details, 613, 664 Small-Group Discussion on Food, 614 Small-Group Research Project, 665 Syllables in Japanese Words, 670 Thoughts about Space, 661

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WORDS IN MOTION: POETRY

TEACHING THE MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES (CONT.)

Varieties of Apples, 665 Why Stars Change, 662 Writing a Series of Haiku, 670 Your Favorite Food, 634 Naturalist Corn Cookbook, 651 Documentary on Parrots, 646 Parrot Research Report, 646 Researching Constellations, 662 Varieties of Apples, 665

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Prereading

POEMS/IMAGERY

Poetry
and

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

by Nikki Giovanni

Readers
What images would you use to describe your favorite poem?

How to Eat a Poemby Eve Merriam

Readers T O O L B O X
FIGURE OF SPEECH. A figure of speech is a statement that has more than a straightforward, literal meaning. Hyperbole, metaphor, personification, and simile are examples of figures of speech. A metaphor is a figure of speech in which one thing is spoken or written about as if it were another. A metaphor invites the reader to make a comparison between the two things. Sometimes a metaphor is directly stated: Love is a red rose. Other times, a description alone makes the comparison: That song always leaps from inside me and gallops around in circles, restless and eager. What metaphors can you find in Poetry? What two things does How to Eat a Poem compare? FREE VERSE. Free verse is poetry that does not use regular rhyme, rhythm, meter, or division into stanzas. Read both poems out loud. Listen to the rhythm created by natural speech. How would you describe the rhythm of Poetry? How would you describe the rhythm of How to Eat a Poem? IMAGE AND IMAGERY. An image is language that creates a concrete representation of an object or experience. An image is also the vivid mental picture created in the readers mind by that language. The images in a literary work are referred to, when considered all together, as the works imagery. As you read Poetry, notice the words or phrases that Giovanni uses to describe poetry, poets, and poems. Make a cluster chart like the one shown in the graphic organizer below. In the center of your cluster chart write poetry. Around it write words or phrases from the poem that describe poetry. Circle the descriptive words or phrases and connect the circles with lines. Make a similar cluster chart for How to Eat a Poem.

Journal

UNIT 9 RESOURCE BOOK Selection Worksheet 9.1 Selection Check Test 4.9.1 Selection Test 4.9.2

Readers

Resource
Free verse originated among French poets in the late 1800s. The French poets wanted to use the rhythms found in natural speech. This was achieved by writing lines of different lengths and meter. The lines in these poems usually did not rhyme. Poetry, like poems by many writers, focuses on the poets craft. How to Eat a Poem focuses on the reader of the poem. Successful poets love words and language. Some express their thoughts about language and poetry in a poem, reflecting on how they communicate through their art. Although a good poem may seem natural or simple, most are the end result of writing, crossing out, starting over, scribbling, and rewriting. As poet John Frederick Nims says, Most writers work hard over their lines to make it seem they have not worked at all.

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
Students may include the following words and phrases from Poetry: motion graceful as a fawn; gentle as a teardrop; strong like the eye; poems seek not acceptance but controversy; a poem is pure energy/horizontally contained between the mind/of the poet and the ear of the reader; poetry is song; poetry is joy; and its message is life is precious. Students may include the following words and phrase from How to Eat a Poem: It is ready and ripe now, whenever you are; no core/or stem/or rind/or pit/or seed/or skin/to throw away.

READERS JOURNAL
You might expand this assignment by asking students what details of sight, sound, touch, smell, or taste they associate with their favorite piece of writing of any genre. For example, do they like a personal essay they read because it reminds them of the taste of salt in the air by the shore? Do they like a novel they have read because it helps them envision a gritty pirate and his parrot that calls out, pieces of eight?

Graphic
motion graceful as a fawn poetry strong like the eye gentle as a teardrop

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GOALS/OBJECTIVES
Studying this lesson will enable students to Have a positive experience reading two poems that explore the speakers feelings about poetry define figure of speech and metaphor and identify examples of metaphors in poetry define and identify examples of free verse define image and imagery and identify images in a poem

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ANSWERS TO GUIDED READING QUESTIONS
1. Poets think their words are golden. 2. Poems seek not acceptance but controversy. 3. Poets are trying to say that life is precious.

poetry is motion graceful as a fawn gentle as a teardrop strong like the eye finding peace in a crowded room we poets tend to think our words are golden though emotion speaks too loudly to be defined by silence According to the
speaker, what do poets think their sometimes after midnight or just words are? before the dawn we sit typewriter in hand pulling loneliness around us forgetting our lovers or children who are sleeping ignoring the weary wariness of our own logic to compose a poem no one understands it it never says love me for poets are beyond love it never says accept me for poems seek not acceptance but controversy it only says i am and therefore Why does a poem i concede that you are too never say accept me?

Nikki Giovanni

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES

MOTIVATION Encourage students to discuss in small groups foods they consider to be delicious and satisfying to eat. Encourage students to go beyond the taste of the food to discuss what about the experience of eating this food they enjoy. For example, do they enjoy the crunch of biting into one of the falls first apples? Do they like knowing that it was one of the falls first apples, and perhaps, that they picked it themselves? Do they enjoy the aroma of Thanksgiving dinner cooking in the oven all day almost more than they enjoy the meal itself? READING PROFICIENCY Encourage students to pair up with a reading partner. Have one partner read, Poetry, as the other closes his or her eyes and listens. The listening partner should then read aloud How to Eat a Poem, while his or her partner closes his or her eyes and listens. The two should then exchange roles, so each partner gets the benefit of hearing both poems read aloud. ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING Point out the following vocabulary words and expressions: goldenof a high degree of excellence warinessquality of being cautious and cunning about detecting and escaping danger controversydiscussion marked by the expression of opposing views discardget rid of ripefully prepared; brought to full flavor or the best state rindtough outer layer, such as the peel on a lemon SPECIAL NEEDS Students may find Poetry to be more challenging that How to Eat a Poem. Tell students to let the Guided Reading questions point them to important parts of the poem. They may wish to focus their responses to the Investigate, Inquire, and Imagine

a poem is pure energy horizontally contained between the mind of the poet and the ear of the reader if it does not sing discard the ear for poetry is song if it does not delight discard the heart for poetry is joy if it does not inform then close off the brain for it is dead if it cannot heed the insistent message that life is precious which is all we poets wrapped in our loneliness n are trying to say
What are all poets trying to say?

war i ness (war e ns) n., cautiousness, watchfulness. The cat approached the dog with obvious wariness. con cede (kn sed) v., accept as true. After hearing the same story from several witnesses, the officer conceded that the woman had been speeding. in sis tent (in sis tnt) adj., persistant, never-tiring. Jacob sleepily fumbled with the clock to stop the insistent beep of the alarm.

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INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES (CONT.)

questions to the Recall questions. They can listen in to the class discussion on higher level questions and participate however much they want, depending on what their comfort level with Poetry is. ENRICHMENT Encourage interested students to write their own poems about poetry. Tell students not to worry about what their feelings arethe important thing is that they express them through poetic means. They may wish to include a metaphor in their poem, urging their reader to compare poetry to something, or include vivid images that express their feelings about poetry. Students may experiment with rhyme, rhythm, and meter if they would like, but it might be easier for them to try their hands at writing free verse poems like the two featured here.

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ANSWER TO GUIDED READING QUESTION
1. Students may say that there is nothing to throw awayno stem, rind, pit, seed, or skin.

CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCES. Have students take a poll of their class or of their school to determine students attitudes toward poetry. Students might ask if students dislike poetry; like poetry, but prefer prose; prefer poetry. Students can graph the results of their poll and answer the following questions. How many students dislike poetry? What percentage of students like poetry? Do more students prefer poetry or prose?

Eve Merriam Dont be polite. Bite in. Pick it up with your fingers and lick the juice that may run down your chin. It is ready and ripe now, whenever you are. You do not need a knife or fork or spoon or plate or napkin or tablecloth. For there is no core or stem What is there to throw away? or rind or pit or seed or skin to throw away. n
Bitter Nest #2: Harlem Renaissance Party, 1988. Faith Ringgold. National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC.

CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCES. Students can dissect a fruit to find the different parts including the rind or skin, the pit, or the seeds. Students can make a fruit cup out of their dissected fruits. Ask them to compare and contrast the flavors, textures, appearances, and the structures of two different fruits.

POETRY

AND

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RESPOND TO THE SELECTION

You might also encourage students to discuss which poemPoetry or How to Eat a Poemmost appealed to them. Have them explain why they feel the way they do.

Respondto the SELECTION

What ideas do you have about poetry and how to enjoy it?

SELECTION CHECK TEST 4.9.1 WITH ANSWERS

Checking Your Reading 1. According to Giovanni, when do poets compose? Poets compose during the middle of the night: sometimes after midnight or just/before/the dawn. 2. According to Giovanni, a poem is pure what? A poem is pure energy. 3. According to Giovanni, what is the insistent message that poets are trying to say? The poets insistent message is that life is precious. 4. According to Merriam, when is a poem ready and ripe to eat? A poem is ripe and ready to eat now, whenever you are. 5. According to Merriam, how should a reader eat a poem? Answers will vary, but could include that readers should eat a poem as one would eat fruit (Pick it up with your fingers and lick the juice/that may run down your chin), should eat it completely (For there is no core/or stem/or rind/or pit/or seed/or skin/to throw away), and should eat it with gusto (Dont be polite./ Bite in). Vocabulary in Context Fill in each blank below with the most appropriate word from the following Words for Everyday Use from Poetry and How to Eat a Poem. You may have to change the tense of the word. wariness concede insistent

About the

A U T H O R S
Poet, professor, lecturer, and essayist, Nikki Giovanni has never shied away from tackling tough issues in her poetry. In the 1960s, she was one of the most outspoken voices of the Black Rights movement, much of her work dealing with the political and social struggles of African Americans in a whitedominated culture. Other work by Giovanni focuses on family and relationships. She has also written several books for children. About poetry, Giovanni has commented: But poetry responds to something. You know, nobody ever got up at a funeral and quoted some novel. Because it doesnt offer comfort. People quote poetry. Nobody ever got married reading the latest rap record. They turn to poetry. So poetry has its place. It offers comfort, its celebratory and joyful. EgoTripping and Other Poems for Young People, and Grand Fathers: Reminiscences, Poems, Recipes and Photos of the Keepers of Our Traditions are just two of many titles by Nikki Giovanni. Born on July 19, 1916, in Pennsylvania, Eve Merriam pursued her education at four different universities. She lived her adult life in New York City. In the 1940s, she was a copywriter and a writer for radio. Later, she began teaching and lecturing. Merriam published her first book, Family Circle, in 1946. Although poetry was always Merriams first love, she is also a well-known playwright and fiction writer. Eve Merriam died in 1992.

1. After he saw the snake slither into the hole in the wall, Jocelyn approached it with __________. wariness 2. Rochelle begged her parents not to make her go to summer school, but they were __________. insistent Readers Toolbox Fill in the blanks using the following terms. You may not use every term, and you may use some terms more than once. metaphor imagery free verse personification

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SELECTION CHECK TEST 4.9.1 WITH ANSWERS (CONT.)

1. Much of a works __________ comes from description that uses sensory detailswords and phrases that describe how things look, sound, smell, taste, or feel. imagery 2. When one thing is spoken or written about as if it were another, so that the reader can make a comparison between the two things, the author is using __________. metaphor

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CONTENTS

Investigate,
and
Recall: GATHERING FACTS
1a. According to the speaker in Poetry, poetry is finding peace in what? 2a. What emotion does the speaker associate with sitting in front of a typewriter? 3a. What is contained between the mind of the poet and the ear of the reader? 4a. What utensils does the speaker in How to Eat a Poem say you do not need while reading a poem?

Inquire, I m a g i n e
Interpret: FINDING MEANING
1b. What do you think the speaker means by this? 2b. Why might the poet connect this emotion with writing? 3b. Why might the speaker use this language?

ANSWERS TO INVESTIGATE, INQUIRE, IMAGINE

RECALL 1a. Poetry is finding peace in a crowded room. 2a. The speaker associates loneliness and forgetting about others with sitting in front of a typewriter. 3a. Pure energy is contained between the mind of the poet and the ear of the reader. 4a. The speaker says you dont need a knife, fork, spoon, plate, napkin, or tablecloth to read a poem. INTERPRET 1b. The speaker may mean that poetry is something that can give a personal a private feeling of peace and inner calm in a sometimes crowded and hectic world. 2b. The speaker might connect this feeling with writing because writing is a solitary and private occupation; also the speaker writes best at late hours when everyone else is asleep. 3b. The speaker might use the word energy to describe the strong connection or bond between the writer of the poet and the person who reads it to capture the force and vitality of this invisible link. 4b. Anybody can read a poem at any time without any special equipment. ANALYZE 5a. Students may say Giovanni uses words like think our words are golden, pulling loneliness around us, forgetting our lovers or children who are sleeping, ignoring the weary wariness of our own logic, and poets are beyond love. She suggests that poets place writing as a priority and try to forget the world of obligation and logic to write. She says that poets feel lonely. Merriam suggests that readers bite in to poetry, eat it without utensils, and says that there are no parts of poetry to throw away, Students may say this means that readers should begin reading poetry without worrying about whether they have the right tools or are reading the proper way because there is no proper way to read poetry. SYNTHESIZE 5b. Students may say that Giovanni sees poets as lonely people trying to express to others the preciousness of life. This reveals that Giovanni finds much beauty in the world but sometimes find that her talent separates her from others. Merriam believes that poetry is for everyone

4b. What does not needing special tools or utensils suggest about reading poetry?

Analyze: TAKING THINGS APART

5a. Examine the words and phrases Giovanni uses to describe a poet. What does she say poets do? feel? think? What suggestions does Merriam give to a poetry reader? How do these suggestions about eating translate into suggestions about reading?

Synthesize: BRINGING THINGS TOGETHER

5b. How does Giovanni see poets? How do Giovannis attitudes about poets and poetry reflect on herself as a poet? What does Merriam believe about reading poetry? What might Merriams attitudes about reading poetry tell you about her likes and dislikes? about her approach to new things?

Evaluate: MAKING JUDGMENTS

6a. Reflect on the ideas that Poetry and How to Eat a Poem offer the reader. Do you agree with the messages? Why, or why not?

Extend: CONNECTING IDEAS

6b. How do you view poetry? What does poetry offer you as a reader? What ideas would you want to convey in a poem ?

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AND

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ANSWERS TO INVESTIGATE, INQUIRE, IMAGINE (CONT.)

and that anyone can enjoy it. Her attitude may reveal that Merriam values simplicity and clarity in poetry rather than pretentiousness and deliberate obscurity. Students may say that Merriam seems to be the type of person to jump into new experiences wholeheartedly and feet first. EVALUATE 6a. Responses will vary. Students should recognize the central messages outlined in the response to question 5b, but their thoughts on these ideas will differ. EXTEND 6b. Responses will vary.

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ANSWERS TO UNDERSTANDING LITERATURE
IMAGE AND IMAGERY. The poem describes poems and poetry as motion graceful as a fawn, gentle as a teardrop, strong like they eye finding peace in a crowded room, as seeking controversy, and as pure energy. Images include a graceful fawn, searching for and finding peace among a crowd, writing after everyone has gone to bed, and a link of energy between poet and reader. Students may say the poets used imagery to provide a concrete mental image of something to which readers might compare something as intangible as poetry/ Imagery helps the reader to see poems and poetry as being similar to things in everyday life. FIGURE OF SPEECH. Metaphors from Poetry include a poem is pure energy, poetry is song, and poetry is joy ; metaphors from How to Eat a Poem include, Bite in/Pick it up with your fingers and lick the juice that may run down your chin, It is ready and ripe now, whenever you are, You do not need a knife, and there is no core or stem . . . to throw away. The metaphors in poetry present an image of poetry as everything that is beautiful and precious in life. The whole of How to eat a Poem presents an extended metaphor encouraging the reader to compare reading a poem to eating a piece of fruit. Each metaphor conveys the idea that you do not need special manners or tools to read poetry and that you can take in the whole of a poem. Responses will vary. FREE VERSE. Responses will vary. Some students may suggest that they enjoy the lack of predictable rhythm because it seems more like the poem is written in the language of everyday speech and that the poet is having a conversation with them.

Understanding

IMAGE AND IMAGERY. An image is language that creates a concrete representation of an object or experience. The images in a literary work are referred to, when considered all together, as the works imagery. Look at the cluster charts you made from the model on page 613. In what ways does Poetry describe poems and poetry? What images does the poem offer? Why do you think these poets chose to use imagery in their poems? How does the use of imagery help the reader envision a clear picture of what each poet is trying to say? FIGURE OF SPEECH. Figures of speech are statements that have more than a single literal meaning. Instead, it is a way of expressing or describing one word through another using metaphors. A metaphor is a figure of speech in which one thing is spoken or written about as if it were another. This figure of speech invites you to compare the two things. Highlight the descriptions in your cluster charts that use metaphor to describe poetry and poems. How do the metaphors in Poetry work together to provide a vivid image of poetry? How does metaphor work in How to Eat a Poem? What idea does each metaphor convey? What metaphors would you use to describe writing or reading poetry? FREE VERSE. Free verse is poetry that does not use regular rhyme, rhythm, meter, or division into stanzas. Get together with a partner. Take turns reading Poetry and How to Eat a Poem out loud. Listen to the rhythm created by natural speech. Then discuss the following questions with your partner. How effective is rhythm in the first poem? Would the speakers ideas be more strongly conveyed using a traditional form of poetry with predictable rhythms and rhyming patterns? Why, or why not? Answer the same questions for the second poem.

Literature

Bitter Next #2: Harlem Renaissance Party, 1988. Faith Ringgold. The National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC.

art s m a r t
Faith Ringgolds (b.1930) work combines two traditional artforms: painting and quiltmaking. Quilts have traditionally been used to commemorate important events in an individuals life. Here, Ringgold commemorates writers of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s, an important period in African-American culture. What handmade objects do you have in your home that commemorate family history? How are they examples of art?

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CONTENTS

Prereading

POEMS/IMAGERY

Filling Stationby Elizabeth Bishop

and

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Readers
What images would you use to describe your bedroom?

A Deserted Barnby Larry Woiwode

Readers T O O L B O X
IMAGE AND IMAGERY. An image is language that creates a concrete representation of an object or experience. Altogether, the images in a literary work are considered as the works imagery. Specific words and phrases that describe something by engaging one or more of the five senses are called sensory details. Which senses does Bishop engage in Filling Station? Which senses does Woiwode appeal to in A Deserted Barn? IRONY. Irony is a difference between appearance and reality. Words may say one thing, but they may imply something quite different. Look for examples of irony in Filling Station. What is ironic about a doily in a filling station? PERSONIFICATION. Personification is a figure of speech in which something not human is described as if it were human. What is personified in A Deserted Barn?

Journal

UNIT 9 RESOURCE BOOK Selection Worksheet 9.2 Selection Check Test 4.9.3 Selection Test 4.9.4

Readers

Resource
A filling station is a service station for motor vehicles. In the past, filling station attendants pumped gas for customers. Most stations now require patrons to fill their own gas tanks, a change that downsized the number of filling station employees. In addition, many stations now are computerized to allow patrons to pay with a credit card at the tank instead of entering the building to pay a cashier. HISTORY CONNECTION. As the landmark structure of a family farm, a barn is the symbol of a lifestyle that goes back centuries. Barns symbolize tradition, family, security, and living off the land. They often reflect a local culture through shape, style, and color. As corporate farms and hightech production facilities take over family farms, traditional barns fall into disrepair or become targets for wrecking balls. A number of organizations, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation Barn Again! program, promote the preservation and rehabilitation of historic barns.

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
Students charts may resemble the following: Filling Station IRONY: the presence of a flowerembroidered doily on a taboret, or upholstered footstool, and a big begonia amidst the dirt and grease if the filling station PERSONIFICATION: the cans softly say ESSO-SO-SO-SO IMAGE: dirt, oil, and grease on the station, the people,, and the dog; the big dim doily draping a taboret beside a big hirsute begonia A Deserted Barn IRONY: the deserted barn fears winter when its tenants leave, even though earlier it described these tenants as worrying it PERSONIFICATION: the barn is the speaker and talks about its feelings IMAGE: deserted barn with sagging door worried by termites and visted by bids; gray shape at edge of a cedar swamp; the barn under a cold cloak of snow, and reflections, at night, from the reflected light of the moon.

Graphic
Make a chart like the one shown. As you read the poems, fill in the chart keeping track of irony, personification, and images you encounter.
Filling Station A Deserted Barn

irony

personification

image

READERS JOURNAL
Encourage students to use sensory details that appeal to sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell to create a vivid picture of their bedrooms.

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GOALS/OBJECTIVES
Studying this lesson will enable students to appreciate two poems that create vivid images of places briefly explain how filling stations and barns have changed in recent years define image and imagery and explain what sensory details images appeal to define irony and identify irony in a poem define personification and recognize what is being personified as human

VOCABULARY FROM THE SELECTION

extraneous high-strung saucy translucency

TEACHERS EDITION

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CONTENTS
INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES
MOTIVATION Encourage students to discuss their thoughts and feelings about what is happening to many old-fashioned filling stations and barns, as they are forced out of business and fall into disrepair due to lack of money and too much competition. Ask students whether learning about this saddens them or whether they think it is good that progress is marching ahead. Is it possible to feel both ways at once? Why, or why not? READING PROFICIENCY Students may have difficulty with some of the words in these poems. Tell them to refer to the Words for Everyday Use and footnotes for help. You may also wish to share with them the English Language Learning vocabulary below. If students still have questions about what words or phrases mean have them write them down and give them to you. You might pick certain questions to discuss and answer anonymously if you note that students are having similar problems with their reading of these poems. ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING Point out the following vocabulary words and expressions: permeatedpassed into or through and affected every part of monkey suituniform wickerworkthin flexible twigs or pieces of wood woven together like a basket ot make furniture comfycomfortable termitestype of insect that lives in large groups and is very destructive to wood starlingstype of bird with short tail and long wings swallowssmall, swift-flying birds perchrest or sit SPECIAL NEEDS Make sure that students carefully read the Prereading page so they are familiar with what a filling station is and why so many barns are deserted. Students may find the images that accompany these poems helpful aids in visualizing the poems. You may wish to encourage students to bring in other images of filling stations and deserted barns. Ask them to choose which images best match the poems.

Filling Station, 1935. Walker Evans. Library of Congress.

Elizabeth Bishop

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES (CONT.)

ENRICHMENT You might encourage students to try writing two different paragraphs. The paragraphs should describe two places that produce very different emotions in them, with one paragraph dedicated to each place. For example, students might write one paragraph about their grandmothers cabin by a lake where they feel loved and at ease, and another about an exam room where they felt very stressed.

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CONTENTS
Oh, but it is dirty! this little filling station, oil-soaked, oil-permeated to a disturbing, over-all black translucency. Be careful with that match! Why the extraneous plant? Father wears a dirty, oil-soaked monkey suit that cuts him under the arms, and several quick and saucy and greasy sons assist him (its a family filling station), all quite thoroughly dirty. Do they live in the station? It has a cement porch behind the pumps, and on it a set of crushed and greaseimpregnated1 wickerwork; on the wicker sofa a dirty dog, quite comfy. Some comic books provide the only note of color of certain color. They lie
1. grease-impregnated. Being filled or saturated with grease 2. doily. Small decorative map 3. taboret. Stool 4. hirsute begonia. Type of flowering shrub covered with coarse, stiff hair 5. marguerites. Type of flower 6. crochet. Needlework formed with a single thread and hooked needle What is the father wearing?

upon a big dim doily2 draping a taboret3 (part of the set), beside a big hirsute begonia.4
Where are the comic books?

ANSWERS TO GUIDED READING QUESTIONS

1. Father is wearing a dirty, oil-soaked monkey suit that cuts him under the arms. 2. The comic books are on top of a big doily draping a taboret, besides a begonia.

Why the taboret? Why, oh why, the doily? (Embroidered in daisy stitch with marguerites, I think,
5

Quotables
We lived in an old gypsy caravan behind a filling station. My father owned the filling station and the caravan and a small meadow behind, but that was about all he owned in the world. . . . was now a scruffy little boy as you can see, with grease and oil all over me, but that was because I spent all day in the workshop helping my father with the automobiles. Roald Dahl, from Danny the Champion of the World

and heavy with gray crochet.6) Somebody embroidered the doily. Somebody waters the plant, or oils it, maybe. Somebody arranges the rows of cans so that they softly say: ESSO-SO-SO-SO to high-strung automobiles. Somebody loves us all.
n

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES

If students like Filling Station and the setting described in this poem, you might encourage them to read Roald Dahls Danny the Champion of the World as an independent reading project. This book would be a good choice for less confident readers because the story is told in simple straightforward language, but the story is exciting and moving enough that even more confident readers might enjoy this book.

trans lu cen cy (trants lu snt se) n., clearness, the quality of being transparent. The translucency of the water allowed them to see shells and colorful fish. sau cy (sa se) adj., amusingly bold; smart, trim. Marys saucy attitude sometimes offends people. ex tra ne ous (ek stra ne s) adj., not forming an essential part. Alex rewrote his report, editing out all extraneous information. high-strung (h str) adj., wound up, unquiet, agitated. Ben is a high-strung boy, who paces when he is nervous.

FILLING

S TAT I O N A N D

DESERTED BARN

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TEACHERS EDITION

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CONTENTS
ANSWERS TO GUIDED READING QUESTIONS
1. The cattle and horses are gone from the barn. 2. The barn fears winter.

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES

Ask students the following questions: 1. With what forms of life was the barn filled before it was deserted? 2. With what forms of life is the barn filled during most of the year now that it has been deserted? 3. In what ways has the barns function changed since it has been deserted? In what ways has its function stayed the same? 4. Given what you know about the barn and its function in both the past and during most of the year in the present, why might the barn fear winter? In what way is the barns function or purpose being taken away in winter? Answers 1. The barn was filled with horses and cows before it was deserted. 2. The barn is now filled with termites, dung bettles, maggots, rats, flies, starlings, and swallows. 3. The barn is no longer home to the farmers domesticated animals, but to wild creatures. Its function has stayed the same in that it still provides a home to living creatures. 4. Students may say that barn fears winter because this time of year makes it feel lonely and useless, as if it is dying. In winter the barn is no longer a shelter for living things and is left all alone.

I am a deserted barn my cattle robbed from me, My horses gone, Light leaking in my sides, sun What are gone piercing my tin roof from the barn? Where its torn. I am a deserted barn. Dungs still in my gutter. It shrinks each year as side planks shrink, Letting in more of the elements, and flies. Worried by termites, dung beetles, Maggots, and rats, Visited by pigeons and hawks, No longer able to say what shall enter, or what shall not, I am a deserted barn. I stand in Michigan, A gray shape at the edge of a cedar swamp. Starlings come to my peak, Dirty, and perch there; swallows light on bent Lightning rods1 whose blue Globes have gone to A tenants son and his .22. My door is torn. It sags from rusted rails it once rolled upon, Waiting for a wind to lift it loose; Then a bigger wind will take out My back wall.

Larry Woiwode

Roadside Barn, 1935. Walker Evans. Library of Congress. But winter is what I fear, when swallows and hawks Abandon me, when insects and rodents retreat, What does the When starlings, like the last of bad thoughts, go off, barn fear? And nothing is left to fill me Except reflections reflections, at noon, From the cold cloak of snow, and 1. Lightning rods. Metallic rods on Reflections, at night, from the reflected light of the moon. n rooftops that protect a building from lightning

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WORDS IN MOTION: POETRY

622

TEACHERS EDITION

CONTENTS

Respondto the SELECTION

Describe an old building or another place that has meaning for you.

RESPOND TO THE SELECTION

Ask students to discuss whether old and abandoned buildings are eyesores or whether they find something attractive about these places.

art s m a r t
During the Depression, Walker Evans (19031975) took photographs in impoverished areas to show the need for relief projects. Although their purpose was to document harsh realities, these photographs have also been praised for their artistic merit. Photographs are often thought to be more truthful than paintings, but even photographers bring their own personal feelings and point of view to their work. What choices can a photographer make that will affect the final picture?

SELECTION CHECK TEST 4.9.3 WITH ANSWERS

Check Your Reading SHORT ANSWER 1. Who is the speaker in A Deserted Barn? The barn is the speaker. 2. In A Deserted Barn, in what state is the barn located? The barn is in Michigan. 3. In A Deserted Barn, what fills the barn in winter? In winter, the barn is filled with reflections. 4. In Filling Station, what provides the only note of color? The only color comes from comic books. 5. In Filling Station, on what is the dirty dog lying? The dirty dog lies on the wicker sofa. Vocabulary in Context SENTENCE COMPLETION Fill in each blank below with the most appropriate word from the following Words for Everyday Use fromFilling Station. You may have to change the tense of the word. translucency saucy extraneous

About the

A U T H O R S
Born in Massachusetts in 1911, Elizabeth Bishop grew up in New England and Nova Scotia. She graduated from Vassar College in 1934. As a student at Vassar, she worked on the student newspaper and founded a literary magazine. Bishop went on to travel through Europe, and she lived in New York, in Florida, and, for 16 years, in Brazil. During her lifetime, she published only five volumes of poetryfour of them winning major awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1955. Bishops poetry has long been admired for its pure and precise examination of details in different corners of the world. In addition to writing poetry, Bishop translated a famous Brazilian diary, The Diary of Helena Morley, wrote stories for The New Yorker, and taught at several important universities before her death in 1979. Larry Woiwode was born in a small town in North Dakota in 1942. By the mid-1960s, he was living in New York City and publishing stories and poetry in The New Yorker. Today, Woiwode is the author of numerous novels and has published fiction and poetry in The Atlantic, Esquire, Harpers and The Paris Review. In 1978, Woiwode, his wife, and his four children moved back to North Dakota to a 160-acre farm. In 1995, he was named poet laureate of North Dakota, and he received the Award of Merit Medal from the American Academy of Arts & Letters for distinction in the art of the short story.

1. Maris tried to focus her picture through the ________ of the old camers lens. translucency 2. Indra packed many ________ items for the trip and then complained about the weight of her suitcase. extraneous Readers Toolbox SENTENCE COMPLETION Fill in the blanks using the following terms. You may not use every term, and you may use some terms more than once. metaphor irony personification sensory details

FILLING

S TAT I O N A N D

DESERTED BARN

623

ANSWERS TO INVESTIGATE, INQUIRE, AND IMAGINE (CONT.)

love, tenderness, and care in a place that is so extremely filthy. The last stanza is different because its is filled with an almost desperate loneliness and sadness, where earlier in the poem the abandoned barn was still teeming with life and visitors. EXTEND 5b. The impact of that poem directly encourage the reader to think about the people who love him or her and the ways in which they show their feelings through the little details of life. The ending of A Deserted Barn is different in that there is no direct appeal to the reader; however, it is similar in that the ending might also cause the reader to think about stages he or she will go through in his or her own life and hope that he or she doesnt end up all alone at the end of his or her life, as does the deserted barn.

1. When something in a literary work appears different than the reader expected, the author may be using ________ . irony 2. ________ is a figure of speech in which something that is not human is described with human qualities and traits. personification
TEACHERS EDITION

623

CONTENTS
ANSWERS TO INVESTIGATE, INQUIRE, AND IMAGINE
RECALL 1a. The only note of color is from comic books. 2a. Termites, dung beetles, maggots, and rate worry the barn. 3a. Only reflections fill the barn in winter. INTERPRET 1b. The rest of the station is gray and brown from dirt and grease. Even the doily is gray and the begonia spears to have been oiled rather than watered. 2b. In winter these creatures retreat from the barn, leaving it with a feeling of fear and emptiness. 3b. Students may say that reflection or memories of its past, its former usefulness, and the life it once housed. ANALYZE 4a. Images of a dirty place include oilsoaked, oil-permeated to a disturbing, over-all black translucency, a dirty, oil-soaked monkey suit, greasy sons, crushed and grease-impregnated wickerwood, and dirty dog. The image of a big dim doily draping over a taboret . . . besides a big hirsute begonia contrasts with this image. Such details include, Light leaking in my sides, sun piercing my tin roof, as side planks shrink/Letting in more of the elements, and flies, A gray shape at the edge of a cedar swamp./Starlings come to my peak,/Dirty, and perch there, swallows light on bent/Lightning rods, My door is torn/It sags from rusted nails it once rolled upon, and And nothing is left to fill me/Except reflections . . . at noon/From the cold cloak of snow, and . . . at night, from the reflected light of the moon. SYNTHESIZE 4b. The speaker is pleasantly surprised to see signs of beauty, and of love and caring in the filling station. The speaker in A Deserted Barn fears winter because it is left alone then and filled with nothing but reflections of its former life. Reflections off the snow and from the moon fill the barn, but the barn is also filled with reflections, or memories, about its former tenants and usefulness. EVALUATE 5a. Students may say the contrast comes from the surprising note of (Continued on page 623)

Investigate,
and
Recall: GATHERING FACTS
1a. What is the only note of color in the filling station? 2a. What creatures worry the barn?

Inquire, I m a g i n e
Interpret: FINDING MEANING
1b. How does this note of color compare with the rest of the filling station? 2b. How do those creatures affect the barn later in the poem? 3b. What does the speaker mean by this statement?

3a. What is left to fill the barn in the winter?

Analyze: TAKING THINGS APART

4a. What details in Filling Station create an image of a dirty place? What contrasts to this image are offered at the end of the poem? What details in A Deserted Barn create an image of a lonely, desolate place?

Synthesize: BRINGING THINGS TOGETHER

4b. What is the speakers overall thought about the filling station? Why does the speaker in A Deserted Barn fear winter? In what way or ways do reflections fill the barn in winter?

Evaluate: MAKING JUDGMENTS

5a. The last stanza of Filling Station provides a contrast to the rest of the poem. Describe that contrast. Similarly, the last stanza of A Deserted Barn causes the poem to change directions. How is that stanza different from the rest of the poem?

Extend: CONNECTING IDEAS

5b. Filling Station ends with a passage that could change the readers perception of the place. How is the impact of that ending different from the impact the ending of A Deserted Barn has on the reader? In what way might the two endings be similar?

Understanding

IMAGE AND IMAGERY. An image is language that creates a concrete representation of an object or an experience. An image is also the vivid mental picture created in the readers mind by that language. The images in a literary work are referred to, when considered all together, as the works imagery. Draw some of the images that come to your mind as you read each poem. Exchange your pictures with a classmate. Ask him or her to look at your drawings and describe the images he or she sees. How are these descriptions like or unlike the images you meant to represent? IRONY. Irony is a difference between appearance and reality. What examples of irony did you find in Filling Station? How does irony affect the impact of the poem? What is ironic about the creatures in A Deserted Barn? PERSONIFICATION. Personification is a figure of speech in which something not human is described as if it were human. Reread A Deserted Barn. How would the poem change without the use of personification?

Literature

624

UNIT NINE

WORDS IN MOTION: POETRY

ANSWERS TO UNDERSTANDING LITERATURE

IMAGE AND IMAGERY. Students drawings will vary, but you may wish to have students compare drawings in small groups, so they will have a broader group of pictures to think about when comparing and contrasting their drawings to others. IRONY. Students may say that the note of care and love in the dirty filling station is ironic because these rather feminine and frilly objects contradict the readers expectations of what a filthy filling station should be like. Irony helps the reader to see past the dirt to the feelings these people have about their work and home. Students may say it is ironic that the barn is lonely when the creatures that worry it disappear. This contradicts readers expectations because they might assume the barn would be pleased to rid itself of termites, rats, maggots, and dung beetles. (Continued on page 625)

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CONTENTS

Prereading

POEM/SHAPE

the / sky / was

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Readers
How would you complete the following sentence? The sky was ______________.

by E. E. Cummings

Readers T O O L B O X
CONCRETE POEM. A concrete poem, or shape poem, is one with a shape that suggests its subject. Poets develop concrete poems as visual images of the words they contain. Concrete poems can convey powerful images using few words. What image does the shape of the / sky / was suggest? IMAGERY. Taken together, the images in a poem or passage are called its imagery. What imagery is in the following poem?

Journal

UNIT 9 RESOURCE BOOK Selection Worksheet 9.3 Selection Check Test 4.9.5 Selection Test 4.9.6

Readers

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
Students simple concrete poems will vary. Other possibilities include examples like the following:

Resource
E. E. Cummings is famous for breaking the rules of grammar and punctuation. For example, he always spelled his name in all lowercase letters (e. e. cummings). In addition, his titles use only lowercase letters. What other rules does he break in this poem? What does he achieve by doing so? SCIENCE CONNECTION. Kaleidoscopes are optical devices that use mirrors and brightly colored beads to create colorful patterns. The viewer looks through a hole in one end of a tube and light enters the other end through translucent glass or plastic. The light reflects imagescreated by a pattern of the beadsoff the mirrors inside the tube. As the tube rotates, the beads move and change the pattern. Some kaleidoscopes have transparent glass on the outside of the nonviewing end, allowing the images to be seen from the outside as well.

Echo . . . echo . . . echo . . . echo . . . echo

or o l st piec s of a puz le z e

Graphic
The following are examples of simple concrete poems. Using a simple word or passage, create a concrete poem of your own.

LLOONS BA
RACE WITH THE WIND DOWN T HE HI LL

READERS JOURNAL
Encourage students to go beyond common descriptions such as blue or cloudy to come up with their own unique statements.

ANSWERS TO UNDERSTANDING LITERATURE (CONT.)

PERSONIFICATION. Without the personification, it would be near impossible for the reader to get insight into the feelings of a deserted barn; the reader would probably get little more than a description without personification and would have to infer the emotion.

THE /

SKY

WA S

625

VOCABULARY FROM THE SELECTION

luminous

GOALS/OBJECTIVES
Studying this lesson will enable students to have a positive experience reading a concrete poem define concrete poem and explain how shape contributes to the meaning of such a poem define imagery and identify imagery in a poem research an author identify the functions of sentences read poetry aloud interview a poet write a business letter create imagery through art identify synonyms

TEACHERS EDITION

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CONTENTS
ANSWER TO GUIDED READING QUESTION
1. It is spouting violets.

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES

MOTIVATION Students may especially enjoy the opportunity to interview a poet in the Media Literacy activity. Students might get more responses and interviews granted by using e-mail to contact and even interview a poet. Students might send an initial e-mail to a poet asking them whether it might be possible to interview him or her, and asking the poet if he or she would prefer a phone call at a time convenient to him or her or an e-mailed list of interview questions the poet can respond to at his or her leisure. READING PROFICIENCY Some students may find this poem difficult to read because of Cummingss unusual use of capitalization and punctuation, but also because he often breaks apart words, so the phrase cool chocolates, appears with a space between the coo and the l, and chocolates is broken over three lines. Encourage students to write out this poem in a line or two, reassembling words and phrases as necessary. You might also help students to this by writing on the board, The sky was candy, luminous, ediblespry pinks, shy lemons, greens, cool chocolates under a locomotive spouting violets. Then ask students to go back and reread the poem. Tell them to think about why Cummings chose to capitalize, punctuate, and break words as he does. ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING Point out the following vocabulary words and expressions: ediblefit to be eaten spryfull of life; active; nimble locomotiveengine on wheels that pushes or pulls a railroad train spoutingstream, jet, or discharge of liquid or air violetstype of bluish purple flower, also this color itself SPECIAL NEEDS Students may have difficulty with this poem for many of the same reasons less confident readers will. The above activity will be beneficial

E. E. Cummings

the sky was can dy lu minous edible spry pinks shy lemons greens coo l choc olate s. un der, a lo co mo tive s pout ing vi o n lets

Blaue Reiter Almanac, 1911. Wassily Kandinsky.

art s m a r t
What is the locomotive spouting?

Wassily Kandinsky (18661944) was a Russian painter who is credited by many scholars as being the first abstract artist. Abstract art is also called nonrepresentational art because it is not meant to represent actual things. In what ways is abstract art like or not like concrete poetry?

lu mi nous (lu m ns) adj., emitting or reflecting steady, glowing light. The still lake was luminous under the sunset.

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WORDS IN MOTION: POETRY

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES (CONT.)

for special needs students as well as less confident readers. In addition, however, special needs students may have difficulty determining what the shape of this poem is supposed to represent. You might bring in pictures of old-fashioned trains. Tell students that locomotives, or train engines, used to be powered by steam and trains would have a smoke stack that would discharge smoke. ENRICHMENT Encourage interested students to expand on the Graphic Organizer activity by writing longer, more complex concrete poems. For example, students might write a poem about a river in a rivers shape.

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CONTENTS

Respondto the SELECTION

Describe a clear sky on a summer evening.

RESPOND TO THE SELECTION

You might also ask students to describe the colors they see in the sky and clouds at sunset or at sunrise.

About the

A U T H O R
Edward Estlin Cummings (18941962), the son of a distinguished clergyman, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Cummings attended Harvard College, where he studied literature and classical and modern languages. During World War I, he volunteered to serve as an ambulance driver in France and was imprisoned by French authorities for writing letters that were critical of the war. On his release and return to the United States, he was drafted into the army. His imprisonment in France provided material for his first book, The Enormous Room, published in 1922. Cummings challenged popular beliefs and habits in his thought and in his style of writing. His unique style is most evident in his breaking of traditional rules of capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and grammar. In keeping with this style, he even signed his name with lowercase letters: ee cummings. In the beginning, critics did not know whether to reject or applaud his work. The most sincere form of flattery is imitation, however, and many poets imitated the work of Cummings. At the time of his death in 1962, Cummings was one of the most popular poets in the nation, second only to Robert Frost. In addition to writing poetry, Cummings was a talented playwright and a well-regarded painter.

SELECTION CHECK TEST 4.9.5 WITH ANSWERS

Checking Your Reading SHORT ANSWER 1. What is spouting violets? A locomotive is spouting violets. 2. Which color is spry? The color pink is spry. 3. What is made of candy? The sky is made of candy. Readers Toolbox SHORT ANSWER 1. What is a concrete poem? A concrete poem is one with a shape that suggests its subject. 2. What is imagery? A poems imagery is the overall picture created by the images in a poem or passage.

THE /

SKY

WA S

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TEACHERS EDITION

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CONTENTS
ANSWERS TO INVESTIGATE, INQUIRE, IMAGINE
RECALL 1a. The sky appears edible. 2a. A locomotive spouting violets is causing the colors. INTERPRET 1b. The speaker describes the sky as edible because it is filled with the colors of candy. 2b. Students may say the speaker reveals this at the end of the poem to increase the readers sense of curiosity. ANALYZE 3a. Such words include candy, luminous, edible, pinks, shy lemons, greens, and cool chocolates. Students may say that many of them are colors and that many of them describe candy flavors. They differ in that some like luminous describe a shining appearance rather than a specific color or taste, while others describe a quality like shy. Four of these words are adjectives, and five are nouns. SYNTHESIZE 3b. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Students may say something akin to, The sky looked like candy, shiny and good enough to eat because of the pinks, lemons, greens, and chocolate colors that surround a locomotives smokestack which is spouting colored smoke. EVALUATE 4a. Responses will vary. Students may say this poem vividly captures the sky the speaker sees; they may be less sure how well it describes a trains smokestack, especially if they have never seen one. EXTEND 4b. Responses will vary.

Investigate,
and
Recall: GATHERING FACTS
1a. What appears edible?

Inquire, I m a g i n e
Interpret: FINDING MEANING
1b. Why does the speaker describe this thing as edible? 2b. Why does the speaker reveal this at the end of the poem?

2a. What is creating the colors?

Analyze: TAKING THINGS APART

3a. Identify all the words that describe the sky. What do they have in common? How do they differ from one another? How many are adjectives? How many are nouns?

Synthesize: BRINGING THINGS TOGETHER

3b. Paraphrase this poem using simple language and simple sentence structure.

Evaluate: MAKING JUDGMENTS

4a. How well does this poem describe the sky the speaker sees? How well does it describe what a trains smokestack emits?

Extend: CONNECTING IDEAS

4b. Describe the sky as it is today. Include, if you wish, the influences of clouds, sun, rain, snow, smoke, or whatever you think affects the way you see the sky.

Understanding

CONCRETE POEM. A concrete poem, or shape poem, is one with a shape that suggests its subject. Poets develop concrete poems as visual images of the words they contain. Concrete poems can convey powerful images using few words. How could you tell what this poem was about before reading it? How might a concrete poem surprise the reader? IMAGERY. Taken together, the images in a poem or passage are called its imagery. How does the shape of the poem influence the poems imagery?

Literature

Writers Journal

1. Write a short poem in free verse for a celebration honoring an historic place or building. 2. Write a letter to Nikki Giovanni about Poetry or to Eve Merriam about How to Eat a Poem, sharing your thoughts about the poem you just read. 3. Write instructions for an artist who plans to paint a picture of the deserted barn without seeing it or seeing a photo of it. Describe the barn in precise, detailed language.

628

UNIT NINE

WORDS IN MOTION: POETRY

ANSWERS TO UNDERSTANDING LITERATURE

SHAPE. Students might say that they did not know what the shape of this poem was supposed to represent until the poems end when it becomes clear that the shape represents the colored smoke rising from the smokestack of a locomotive. This is a sort of surprise for the reader because it explains the shape of the poem to the reader and may answers questions in his or her mind. IMAGERY. Students may say the shape of the poem creates a visual image of the shape of the smoke and colors the speaker describes in the poem.

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CONTENTS
ANSWERS TO SKILL BUILDERS

Skill Builders
Study and Research
RESEARCHING POETS. Using library resources and the Internet, research the life of one of these poetsNikki Giovanni, Eve Merriam, Elizabeth Bishop, Larry Woiwode, or E. E. Cummings. Find answers to the following questions. Where did the poet grow up? What was his or her childhood like? What occupations has he or she had? What else has he or she written? Confirm the facts by finding each piece of data in at least two sources. Organize your findings in a brief report. 1. Change each declarative sentence to an imperative sentence, directing someone else to do the tasks described. At 7:30 I get my bicycle from the garage. I put on my backpack and bike helmet. I ride my bike to the intersection of Third Street and Main. I turn right on Main and go three blocks to James Street. I take a left on James Street, turn into the school parking lot, and lock my bike in the bicycle rack. 2. Change these declarative sentences to interrogative sentences. You were upset. You either dropped the vase or threw the ball at the vase to break it. 3. Change these declarative sentences to exclamatory sentences. I am so happy to see you. I love my new shoes. I cant wait to show you around the town.

Study and Research Students may use the information contained in the About the Author sections in this book as a starting point for their research. Have students present to you a print-out or a photocopy of the Web site or article they used. They should also present you with a list of their sources. If they are uncertain how to assemble such a list, refer them to the Language Arts Survey, Documenting Sources. Language, Grammar, and Style Students examples of sentences will vary, but they may include the following: declarative: A poem is pure energy horizontally contained between the mind of the poet and the ear of the reader. imperative: Bite in. interrogative: Why, oh why, the doily? exclamatory: Oh, but it is dirty! 1. At 7:30 get your bicycle from the garage. Put on your backpack and helmet. Ride your bike to the intersection of Third Street and Main. Turn right on Main and go three blocks to James Street. Take a left on James Street, turn into the school parking lot, and lock your bike in the bicycle rack. 2. Were you upset? Did you drop the vase or throw the ball at the vase to break it? 3. I am so happy to see you! Look at my new shoes! I cant wait to show you around the town! Speaking and Listening For information on preparing and delivering readings of poems, refer students to the Language Arts Survey, Oral Interpretation. You may wish to have students deliver their readings before their classmates rather than on video or audio tape. Tell students that they do not have to memorize the poems, but they should be familiar enough with them to be able to look at their audience. They may find it helpful to write out the poems or make photocopies of them and mark them up with notes about what words to emphasize and how they want to deliver certain lines.

Language, Grammar, and Style

FUNCTIONS OF SENTENCES. All sentences are one of the following types: declarative, imperative, interrogative, or exclamatory. A declarative sentence tells something or makes a statement. EXAMPLE Joe goes camping with his cousins every weekend. An imperative sentence gives a command or makes a request. EXAMPLE Pack your own lunch for school. An interrogative sentence asks a question and is followed by a question mark. EXAMPLE Have you ever seen a dirigible? An exclamatory sentence expresses strong emotion and ends with an exclamation point. EXAMPLE I cant believe you ate the last piece of pie! Look back at the poems in this section. Find examples of each type of sentence, and write them on your own paper. Then read the following passages and modify each sentence as directed.

Speaking and Listening

READING POETRY ALOUD. Find four or five poems written by the same author. Pretend you are that poet giving a reading at a local bookstore. Practice reading your selections to discover how the poem sounds best. Then read your selections to a small group of four or five classmates. If possible, tape record or videotape your session to share with the rest of the class.

THE /

SKY

WA S

629

TEACHERS EDITION

629

CONTENTS
POEM

Prereading

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
UNIT 9 RESOURCE BOOK Selection Worksheet 9.4 Selection Check Test 4.9.7 Selection Test 4.9.8

Readers

Journal

I to My Perils
by A. E. Housman

Describe yourself as a pessimist or an optimist.

Readers T O O L B O X
ALLITERATION AND ASSONANCE. Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of syllables, as in Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in stressed syllables that end in different consonant sounds, as in down and out or asleep under a tree. Alliteration and assonance help tie together words in a line or in a series of lines. Look for examples of both in this poem. RHYTHM. Rhythm is the pattern of beats in a line of poetry or prose. The meter of a poem is its overall rhythm. Rhythm and meter are determined by the pattern of stresses. Stress is the amount of emphasis given to a syllable. Scanning, or finding the meter of a poem, is done by marking each strong syllable with a straight mark (/) and each weak syllable with a dipped mark (). Read I to My Perils aloud several times, focusing on rhythm. Look for a pattern of weak and strong stresses. See the scanned stanza in the graphic organizer below. Write down the second stanza of the poem and mark the strong and weak syllables. Is the rhythm pattern the same as the first stanza? Write the remaining stanzas and scan them. Do all the stanzas have the same meter?

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
Hope lies to mortals and most believe her, But mans deceiver Was never mine. The thoughts of others Were light and fleeting, Of lovers meeting Or luck or fame. Mine were of trouble, And mine were steady, So I was ready When trouble came.

Readers

Resource
Like many poets, A. E. Housman was interested in appealing to the emotions of the reader, rather than the intellect of the reader, with his poetry. Many of Housmans poems, including I to My Perils, are pessimisticassuming that evil outweighs good and emphasizing negative conditions and outcomes.

READERS JOURNAL
Ask students if they hope to change the way they are to become more optimistic or more pessimistic. Why do they want to make this change?

Graphic
to my pe rils I Of cheat and char mer Came clad in ar mour

VOCABULARY FROM THE SELECTION

benign peril

By stars be nign

630

UNIT NINE

GOALS/OBJECTIVES
Studying this lesson will enable students to identify with a speakers feelings define alliteration and assonance and identify the use of these techniques in a poem define rhythm and scan a poem to determine patterns of weakly and strongly stressed syllables

630

TEACHERS EDITION

CONTENTS
ANSWERS TO GUIDED READING QUESTIONS
1. Most mortals believe in hope. 2. The speakers thoughts were of trouble.

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES

MOTIVATION Encourage students to hold an informal class debate on whether the speakers attitude in this poem makes him or her happy. Divide students into two groups and assign them a position to support in relation to this question. Tell students that they must try to support their assigned position in the debate even if they do not agree with it personally, as this is an exercise in supporting an idea not in personal expression. READING PROFICIENCY Students may benefit from listening to an audiotape of this poem being read aloud. (Doing so will also help them to hear the rhythm of the poem.) Have students follow along in their books as they listen. ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING Point out the following vocabulary words and expressions: cladclothed; dressed mortalshumans who must eventually die fleetingpassing swiftly; not lasting SPECIAL NEEDS Tell students to focus on the Guided Reading questions and the Recall questions in the Investsigate, Inquire, and Image section. Students may feel more comfortable forming small groups to discuss their answers and thoughts about higher level thinking questions before participating in a whole class discussion.

A. E. Housman

I to my perils Of cheat and charmer Came clad in armour By stars benign. Hope lies to mortals And most believe her, But mans deceiver Was never mine. The thoughts of others Were light and fleeting, Of lovers meeting Or luck or fame. Mine were of trouble, And mine were steady, So I was ready When trouble came.
n
Of what are the speakers thoughts? What or whom do most mortals believe?

The Knight, 1513. Albrecht Durer.

per il (per l) n., exposure to the risk of being hurt; danger. The excitement of mountain climbing outweighs the perils. be nign (bi ni n) adj., kindly; nonthreatening. I was scared to go to the new school, but the benign atmosphere made it easy to relax and meet people.

TO MY PERILS

631

ENRICHMENT Encourage students to write an essay in response to the following statement: Todays youth are very pessimistic about the future. Students may agree or disagree with this statement, but they should support their opinions with reasons and evidence drawn from their own experiences and observations.

TEACHERS EDITION

631

CONTENTS

RESPOND TO THE SELECTION

Ask students consider whether a positive attitude can lead to positive affects and whether a negative attitude can lead to negative effects.

Respondto the SELECTION

With what thoughts and emotions do you prepare for a new situation or an important event?

About the
SELECTION CHECK TEST 4.9.7 WITH ANSWERS
Check Your Reading SHORT ANSWER 1. The speaker comes to his perils clad in what? The speaker is clad in armour, or armor. 2. Who lies to mortals? Hope lies to mortals. 3. Does the speaker believe the liar? No, the speaker doesnt believe the liar. 4. What are the thoughts of others like? The thoughts of others are light and fleeting. 5. How are the speakers thoughts different from the thoughts of others? The speakers thoughts are of trouble. Vocabulary in Context SENTENCE COMPLETION Fill in each blank below with the most appropriate word from the following Words for Everyday Use from I to My Perils. You may have to change the tense of the word. peril benign fleeting

A U T H O R
Alfred Edward Housman was born in England in 1859, the oldest of seven children in the family. Housmans younger brother Laurence became a famous playwright, his sister Clemence a writer of short stories and novels. Housman became one of the most esteemed classical scholars of his time and a respected poet. He first attended Bromsgrove School, a school that stressed Greek and Latin studies. In 1877, he received a scholarship to St. Johns College in Oxford, where he continued his study of the classical languages. Although he was an excellent student while at Oxford, he left without graduating because he failed his final examination. A year later he returned to Oxford to finish his degree. For the next several years, he worked in the London Patent Office, all the while publishing articles for classical journals. In 1892, based on the merit of his published articles, he was appointed Professor of Latin at University College London. He published his first and most famous book of poems, A Shropshire Lad, in 1896. The anthology has 63 poems based on difficulties he had faced in life, and the book hasnt been out of print since its publication.

1. Astronauts face great ________ in their quest to explore space. peril 2. Alexander appreciated the ________ atmosphere in the doctors office. benign Readers Toolbox MATCHING a. rhythm b. meter c. stress d. alliteration e. assonance ________ 1. the pattern of beats in a line of poetry or prose A In the following lines of poetry: Softly sleeping. Sweetly dreaming. ________ 2. What is demonstrated in the first line? D ________ 3. What is demonstrated in the second line? E

632

UNIT NINE

WORDS IN MOTION: POETRY

632

TEACHERS EDITION

CONTENTS

Investigate,
and
Recall: GATHERING FACTS
1a. What is mans deceiver? 2a. What are the thoughts of others like?

Inquire, I m a g i n e
Interpret: FINDING MEANING
1b. Why might the speaker shun this? 2b. How does the speaker view these thoughts?

ANSWERS TO INVESTIGATE, INQUIRE, IMAGINE

RECALL 1a. Mans deceiver is hope. 2a. The thoughts of others are light and fleeting. They think of meeting a lover or achieving luck or fame. INTERPRET 1b. The speaker might shun hope because hope can sometimes leaf to disappointment when hopes arent realized. 2b. The speaker seems to feel that hope about loved ones, luck, or fame are doomed to lead to disappointment. ANALYZE 3a. Students may note the speaker describes his or her pessimism as a positive and noble thingas a knights armor. The speaker seems to look down on people who hope and congratulate him- or herself in line such as mans deceiver/Was never mine, and I was ready/When trouble came. SYNTHESIZE 3b. Most students will say that the speaker believes his or her views are correct and that other people are being deceived by false hope. EVALUATE 4a. Most students will say the speaker does not offer valid reasons in support of his or her beliefs. Students may say the speaker may have once been more hopeful, but was disappointed in one or all of his or her hopes, leading to his or her present pessimism. EXTEND 4b. Responses will vary. Students may say that too many negative experiences might give them an outlook similar to the speakers, while positive experiences might lead to a viewpoint very different from the speakers.

Analyze: TAKING THINGS APART

3a. Compare the ways in which the speaker describes himself with the ways he or she describes others. What words or phrases tell whether the speaker looks upon himself or herself and others with favor or disfavor?

Synthesize: BRINGING THINGS TOGETHER

3b. Does the speaker think his or her views are correct, or does he or she think others have the correct perspective? Explain your answer.

Evaluate: MAKING JUDGMENTS

4a. Does the speaker offer valid reasons for his or her beliefs? Why, or why not? What experiences might have led the speaker to embrace his or her way of looking at things?

Extend: CONNECTING IDEAS

4b. What experiences would lead you to look at things in the same way the speaker does? What experiences would lead you to look at things differently?

Understanding

ALLITERATION AND ASSONANCE. Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of syllables. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in stressed syllables that end in different consonant sounds. How do alliteration and assonance combine with rhyme to tie together the words and lines in this poem? What effect would eliminating alliteration and assonance have on the poem? Find out for yourself by changing the words in the poem that create these sound patterns. RHYTHM. Rhythm is the pattern of beats in a line of poetry or prose. The overall rhythm of a poem is its meter. Rhythm and meter are determined by the pattern of stresses. Stress is the amount of emphasis given to a syllable. Do all the stanzas in I to My Perils have the same meter? Look back at your scanning of the poem to determine your answer. What patterns of stresses do you find?

Literature

TO MY PERILS

633

ANSWERS TO UNDERSTANDING LITERATURE

ALLITERATION AND ASSONANCE. Students may note that alliteration in lines like cheat and charmer, and assonance like armour/By stars, make the poem seem to flow together, from one line to the next. These techniques give the poem cohesiveness and a musical quality. Students may say that eliminating the alliteration and

ANSWERS TO UNDERSTANDING LITERATURE (CONT.)

assonance makes the poem seem choppier and less musical. RHYTHM. Students may say that while every stanza does not match the others perfectly, there is a distinct pattern of rhythm in each stanza. For example, students may say that the first line of every stanza (with the exception of the first line of the last stanza which carries a slight variation) has a pattern of strongly stressed syllable, followed by two weakly stressed syllables, followed by one strongly and one weakly stressed syllables. The rhythm of other corresponding lines in stanzas is similar as well, with some quite minor exceptions.

TEACHERS EDITION

633

CONTENTS
POEM/SOUND

Prereading

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
UNIT 9 RESOURCE BOOK Selection Worksheet 9.5 Selection Check Test 4.9.9 Selection Test 4.9.10

Readers

Journal

Blackberry Eating
by Galway Kinnell

Describe your favorite food and how you eat it.

Readers T O O L B O X
ONOMATOPOEIA. Onomatopoeia is the use of words or phrases like meow or beep that sound like what they name. Look for examples of onomatopoeia in Blackberry Eating. ALLITERATION. Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of syllables. Tongue twisters demonstrate an exaggerated use of alliteration, as in She sells seashells by the seashore. What examples of alliteration can you find in the poem?

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Students may associate fresh vegetables like asparagus with spring. If they are Christian and celebrate Easter, they may associate spring with a meal of ham or lamb. Students may associate summer with foods like fresh fruit, barbecues, cookouts, and ice cream. Students may associate autumn with foods like pumpkin pie, squash, and turkey. Students may associate winter with rich hearty foods like roasts and potatoes. Students responses will definitely depend on their family background and cultural tradition.

Readers

Resource
SCIENCE CONNECTION. Several varieties of blackberries grow in the United States. Some are native to North America and have grown wild for centuries. Others were brought from Europe, where they originally grew wild as well. Berry breeders and farmers now cultivate many hybrid types of blackberries. Blackberries grow on vinelike bushes, many of which have sharp thorns. The different varieties of blackberries ripen at different times, although many are ready to eat in late summer. Berries ripen earlier in southern climates than they do in the north.

Graphic
Think about different foods you associate with certain times of the year, special events, or holidays. Copy this graphic organizer onto your own paper and add your ideas to each season. Be sure to indicate specific holidays or events with which you associate certain foods or meals.

READERS JOURNAL
Also ask students to write about the time of year they associate with this food.

winter

spring

autumn

summer

VOCABULARY FROM THE SELECTION

splurge

634

UNIT NINE

GOALS/OBJECTIVES
Studying this lesson will enable students to enjoy a lyric poem that uses sound techniques define onomatopoeia and recognize examples of this sound technique define alliteration and identify examples of this technique in a poem

634

TEACHERS EDITION

CONTENTS
ANSWERS TO GUIDED READING QUESTIONS
1. The prickly stalks are a penalty for the plants knowing the black art of blackberry-making. 2. Peculiar words like strengths or squinched fall to the speakers tongue like ripe berries.

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES

Galway Kinnell
I love to go out in late September among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries to eat blackberries for breakfast, the stalks very prickly, a penalty they earn for knowing the black art
For what are the prickly stalks a penalty?

MOTIVATION Students might enjoy talking about and sharing their responses to the Graphic Organizer activity on page 670. Ask students to share their favorite seasonal foods. What different foods does the class enjoy in different seasons? Are there any foods that most students associate with a season? READING PROFICIENCY Encourage students to form pairs with a reading partner. They should take turns reading this poem to each other aloud and closing their eyes and listening. Then have students go back and read the poem silently on their own. ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING Point out the following vocabulary words and expressions: stalksstems of a plant penaltypunishment, unfortunate consequence as the result of an act or condition peculiarparticular; unique; special squinchedpuckered or screwed up the face startledsurprised, frightened SPECIAL NEEDS Students who have never picked blackberries or eaten them may have a hard time understanding why the speaker describes the stalks of these plants as a prickly penalty or why the speaker thinks of the word squinched when he or she eats this fruit. You might bring in some blackberries for students to sample, or you might let students know that blackberries can be tart and that there are thorns on blackberry bushes. Encourage students to focus on answering the Guided Reading questions and the Recall questions in the Investigate, Inquire, and Image section before discussing the more challenging questions as a group.

of blackberry-making; and as I stand among them lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries fall almost unbidden1 to my tongue, as words sometimes do, certain peculiar words like strengths or squinched,
What sometimes falls to the speakers tongue like ripe berries?

many-lettered, one-syllabled lumps, which I squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well in the silent, startled, icy, black language of blackberry-eating in late September.
1. unbidden. Not asked or invited

splurge (splrj) v., indulge oneself extravagantly or spend a lot of money. When Dad got a raise, he splurged and took us all out for a fancy dinner.

BLACKBERRY

E AT I N G

635

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES (CONT.)

ENRICHMENT You might encourage interested students to write lyric poems about their favorite foods. You might have them begin this assignment by having them freewrite lists of words or images that come to mind when they think about their favorite food. You might have students compile their poems into an anthology called Recipes for Happiness or something similar.

TEACHERS EDITION

635

CONTENTS

RESPOND TO THE SELECTION

You might also ask students to discuss what seasons they dont like and why.

Respondto the SELECTION

What is your favorite season of the year, and why?

Graphic
GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
Under berries, students may list the following words: overripe, black, stalks very prickly, black art of blackberry-making, and ripest. Under words/language students might list the following words: peculiar, strengths, squinched, one-syllabled lumps, silent, startled, icy, black.

Create a list of descriptive words under the heading berries and another under the heading words/language, as shown in the example here. Complete the lists.

berries fat icy

words/language many-lettered black

SELECTION CHECK TEST 4.9.9 WITH ANSWERS

Checking Your Reading SHORT ANSWER 1. When does the speaker like to eat blackberries? The speaker likes to eat blackberries in late September. 2. What are the stalks like? The stalks are prickly. 3. Where is the speaker as he or she eats the blackberries? The speaker likes to eat blackberries while standing among blackberry bushes. 4. What types of words fall almost unbidden to my tongue? Peculiar words, many-lettered, onesyllabled lumps, fall almost unbidden to the speakers tongue. 5. What is silent, startled, icy, black? The speaker is describing the language of blackberry eating. Readers Toolbox MATCHING a. repetition of consonant sounds b. words or phrases that sound like what they name c. repetition of vowel sounds in stressed syllables that end in different consonant sounds d. pattern of beats in a line of poetry ________ 1. What is onomatopoeia? b ________ 2. What is alliteration? a Vocabulary SHORT ANSWER Write a sentence that correctly illustrates the meaning of the word splurge. Responses will vary.

About the

A U T H O R
Galway Kinnell was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1927. He was educated at Princeton University and at the University of Rochester in New York. Kinnell began publishing poetry in magazines and anthologies in the early 1950s, and his first collection of poems, What a Kingdom It Was, was published in 1960. In 1983, he received the Pulitzer Prize for poetry for Selected Poems. About writing poetry, Kinnell has said, When I found the world of poets, I realized I was not so odd after all. And when, one day, a teacher mentioned that Robert Frost was living and writing on a farm only a few hundred miles north of Pawtucket,

I realized that poetry was not an extinct art, that poets could still exist in the world. And I started to write poetry.

636

UNIT NINE

WORDS IN MOTION: POETRY

636

TEACHERS EDITION

CONTENTS

Investigate,
and
Recall: GATHERING FACTS
1a. What are the blackberries like in late September?

Inquire, I m a g i n e
Interpret: FINDING MEANING
1b. How would the fruit be different earlier in the year? What makes this time of year special for eating blackberries? 2b. How do these words apply to the blackberries?

ANSWERS TO INVESTIGATE, INQUIRE, IMAGINE

RECALL 1a. The blackberries are fat, overripe, icy, black. 2a. The speaker describes certain peculiar words, like strengths or squinched as falling unbidden on his or her tongue. The speaker says that he or she squeeze[s], squinch[es] open, and splurge[s] these words. INTERPRET 1b. Students might say that earlier in the year the berries might be very small and underripe or too tart. The berries might also be warm rather than icy and paler in color due to their immaturity. This time of year is special for eating blackberries because the blackberries are at their peak of intense flavor and ripeness. 2b. These words describe the way the speaker eats blackberries and their potent tart flavor and its effect on the eater. ANALYZE 3a. Students graphic organizers may resemble that shown on the previous page. SYNTHESIZE 3b. Students will note that the speaker describes both the blackberries using the same terms he later uses to describe the language of blackberry eating, including icy and black. Students will note the speaker describes certain peculiar words as if these syllable were blackberries falling on his or her tongue. The speakers description of what he or she does with these wordssqueeze, squinch open, and splurgeis also described in terms that could be applied to the eating of blackberries. EVALUATE 4a. Responses will vary. Most students will say that the speaker does vividly capture the essence of blackberry-eating in late September. The author does through by using vivid images that appeal to the readers sense of sight, touch, and taste. EXTEND 4b. Responses will vary. Students should use descriptive language to describe a favorite food.

2a. How does the speaker describe certain peculiar words? What does the speaker do with those words?

Analyze: TAKING THINGS APART

3a. Identify the authors descriptive words and phrases in the poem. Use the graphic organizer at left to separate the words that describe the berries from those that describe certain peculiar words and the language of blackberry eating.

Synthesize: BRINGING THINGS TOGETHER

3b. Examine your graphic organizer. Explain how the descriptions of blackberries could apply to certain peculiar words and the language of blackberry eating and how the descriptions of those words could apply to blackberries.

Evaluate: MAKING JUDGMENTS

4a. Critique this poems use of imagery. Explain whether the writers descriptions capture the essence of blackberry-eating in late September.

Extend: CONNECTING IDEAS

4b. How would you use this description to communicate in writing about a favorite food? Write a poem using descriptive language and imagery to show why and how you enjoy a favorite food.

Understanding

ONOMATOPOEIA. Onomatopoeia is the use of words or phrases like meow or beep that sound like what they name. Which words and/or phrases in the poem are examples of onomatopoeia? Which word is both an example of onomatopoeia and a blend, or portmanteau? ALLITERATION. Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of syllables. Where in the poem did you find alliteration? What consonants are repeated in those words?

Literature

BLACKBERRY

E AT I N G

637

ANSWERS TO UNDERSTANDING LITERATURE

ONOMATOPOEIA. Students may say that squinch and squinched are examples of onomatopoeia. Squinch is also an example of a blend of squint and pinch. ALLITERATION. Students may note the following examples of alliteration: black blackberries . . . breakfast, prickly, a penalty, strength or squinched, squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well/in the silent, startled . . . September. Students may note the consonants b, p, and s are repeated.

TEACHERS EDITION

637

CONTENTS
POEMS

Prereading

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
UNIT 9 RESOURCE BOOK Selection Worksheet 9.6 Selection Check Test 4.9.11 Selection Test 4.9.12 Speaking and Listening Resource 4.19

Readers

Journal

If you could communicate with any element in nature, what would it be? Why?

FORGOTTEN LANGUAGE Hector the Collector

and

by Shel Silverstein

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
Responses will vary, but students may list the following examples of alliteration in their charts: Pieces out of picture puzzles, Twist of wires, worn-out tires, Paper bags and broken bricks, Gatlin guns, belts that had no buckles, broken bottles, cups with cracks, glistenin gold, treasure trunk, silly sightless. Students may include the following examples of assonance in their charts: bits of string; boats that wouldnt float; ringsfingers; and modelsbottles.

Readers T O O L B O X Readers

Resource
Forgotten Language and Hector the Collector are both from Where the Sidewalk Ends: The Poems and Drawings of Shel Silverstein. First published in 1974, the book quickly gained popularity. It is now considered an important and funpart of contemporary poetry. Many literary works study the theme of communicating with elements in nature, such as animals, plants, and the forces that create weather. Some indigenous groups believe that every animal, plant, and rock has a spirit and that these spirits can communicate with people.

REPETITION. Repetition is more than one use of a sound, word, or group of words. Repetition is a tool that works to create or enhance rhythm. It also gives the sense that the speaker is dwelling on the repeated idea. What words and phrases are repeated in Forgotten Language? in Hector the Collector? RHYME. Rhyme is the repetition of sounds at the ends of words. Rhyme can enhance the musical quality of a poem. Many poems reveal a pattern of rhyming words that appear at the ends of lines. These are called end rhymes. Internal rhymes are rhymes within the line. Hector the Collector has both end rhymes and internal rhymes. As you read that poem, identify examples of each type of rhyme.

Graphic
In addition to rhyme and repetition, Hector the Collector (on page 640) has other sound devices. Use this chart to list examples of alliteration and assonance in the poem.

READERS JOURNAL
You might also ask students to write about an item that they treasure which might look worthless to others.

ALLITERATION Pieces out of picture puzzles broken bricks

ASSONANCE bits of string Hector called to all the people

638

UNIT NINE

GOALS/OBJECTIVES
Studying this lesson will enable students to enjoy reading two poems that make use of rhyme and repetition define repetition and identify repeated elements in poems define rhyme and point to examples of end rhyme and internal rhyme

638

TEACHERS EDITION

CONTENTS
ANSWERS TO GUIDED READING QUESTIONS
1. The speaker joined the crying of each falling dying flake of snow. 2. The speaker spoke the language of the flowers.

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES

MOTIVATION Students might enjoy brainstorming a list of junk that people usually throw out. You might list students ideas on the board. Share with them two or three items that Hector collects to get them started. READING PROFICIENCY Students may better understand both poems and more easily recognize their rhyme and repetition if they listen to the poems read aloud. Either read both poems aloud expressively to students or play them an audiotape of such a reading. Ask students to follow along with the words of the poems in their books as they listen.

People at Night, Guided by Phosphorous Traces of Snails, 1940. Joan Mir. Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Once I spoke the language of the flowers, Once I understood each word the caterpillar said, Once I smiled in secret at the gossip of the starlings, And shared a conversation with the housefly in my bed. Once I heard and answered all the questions of the crickets, And joined the crying of each falling dying flake of snow, Once I spoke the language of the flowers . . . How did it go? How did it go?
n
Whose language did he speak? Whom did the speaker join in crying?

FORGOTTEN

LANGUAGE AND

HECTOR

THE COLLECTOR

639

Shel Silverstein

ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING Point out the following vocabulary words and expressions: caterpillarwormlike immature form of a butterfly or moth gossipidle talk or rumors, especially about the situations of others starlingstype of bird with short-tail and long wings SPECIAL NEEDS Silversteins poems are a good choice for special needs students as well as students who say they do not like poetry or who find it difficult. The simple language and the straightforward expression of ideas may help students to grasp these poems more easily than some others. Encourage students who usually find answering higher level questions difficult to discuss their responses to the Investigate, Inquire, and Imagine questions in small groups. You might then hold a whole-class discussion. Encourage students who are usually reluctant to speak out to share their ideas on the Interpret, Analyze, Synthesize, Perspective, and Empathy questions.

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES (CONT.)

ENRICHMENT Shel Silverstein is also known for the illustrations he created to accompany many of his poems. Encourage students to draw an illustration for one of the Silverstein poems. If students choose to illustrate Hector the Collector, tell them that their image should be different from the one that Silverstein produced.

TEACHERS EDITION

639

CONTENTS
ANSWERS TO GUIDED READING QUESTIONS
1. The boats leaked and wouldnt float. The horns were stopped-up and wouldnt toot. 2. Hector loved these things more than diamonds and gold.

CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
ARTS AND HUMANITIES. Inform students that Hector might enjoy the found art movement. Certain twentiethcentury artists have made names for themselves by transforming junk that most people throw away into works of art. These artists carefully collect items like the ones Hector treasuresdolls with broken heads, bent-up nails and ice-cream sticksand transform them into three-dimensional works of art, letting the shape of these objects suggest a new form to them or assembling the objects in an abstract manner. Encourage interested students to create their own found art by using bits of junk from around their house to create a new and precious work of art. Tell students to check with their families before using any of the junk they find. It could just be that a family member was saving the junk for some future use him or herself!

Illustration from Where the Sidewalk Ends, 1974. Shel Silverstein.

Hector the Collector Collected bits of string, Collected dolls with broken heads And rusty bells that would not ring. Pieces out of picture puzzles, Bent-up nails and ice-cream sticks, Twist of wires, worn-out tires, Paper bags and broken bricks. Old chipped vases, half shoelaces, Gatlin guns1 that wouldnt shoot, Leaky boats that wouldnt float What was wrong And stopped-up horns that with the boats and wouldnt toot. the horns? Butter knives that had no handles, Copper keys that fit no locks, Rings that were too small for fingers, Dried-up leaves and patched-up socks. Worn-out belts that had no buckles.

Hector theCollector

Shel Silverstein

Lectric trains that had no tracks. Airplane models, broken bottles, Three-legged chairs and cups with cracks. Hector the Collector Loved these things with all his soul Loved them more than shining diamonds, Hector loved these things more than Loved them more than what? glistenin gold. Hector called to all the people, Come and share my treasure trunk! And all the silly sightless people n Came and looked . . . and called it junk.
1. Gatlin guns. Gatling guns, an early type of machine gun made in the 1800s

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Respondto the SELECTION

What things do you treasure? Why are they meaningful to you?

RESPOND TO THE SELECTION

Ask students to consider whether other people would find these objects as meaningful as they do or whether outsiders might consider their treasures junk. What might these say to someone to explain why their items is a treasure.

About the

A U T H O R
When I was a kid12, 14, around thereI would much rather have been a good baseball player or a hit with the girls. But I couldnt play ball, I couldnt dance. Instead, Shel Silversteinauthor, poet, cartoonist, composer, lyricist, screenwriter, playwrightstarted writing and drawing at a young age, developing early his unique style and voice. Silverstein was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1932. In the 1950s, he served in the military in Japan and Korea, and he was the cartoonist for the military newsletter. In 1952, he began his professional

career as a magazine writer and cartoonist. Although he is perhaps most widely known for his childrens books, Silverstein didnt start out writing for children. One day a friend of his brought him to talk to an editor who convinced him to write for children. He agreed, and went on to publish many books, including The Giving Tree, A Light in the Attic, and Where the Sidewalk Ends. Shel Silverstein died on May 10, 1999. In a National Public Radio interview on May 11, 1999, childrens book critic Leonard Marcus said about Silverstein, I think you could say that he was the troubadour king of American childrens books . . . I think adults as well as children identify with a lot of his poems, because he was always pointing out what the little, single person, up against a much bigger world, has to contend with.

SELECTION CHECK TEST 4.9.11 WITH ANSWERS

Check Your Reading SHORT ANSWER 1. In Forgotten Language, what language did the speaker once speak? The speaker once spoke the language of the flowers. 2. In Forgotten Language, who gossips? The starlings gossip. 3. Name two things that Hector collects. Responses will vary. 4. In Hector the Collector, how does Hector feel about his collection? He loves it very much. 5. In Hector the Collector, what do the people call his collection? The people call it junk. Readers Toolbox SENTENCE COMPLETION Fill in the blanks using the following terms. You may not use every term, and you may use some terms more than once. repetition rhyme end rhyme internal rhyme alliteration assonance 1. __________ is demonstrated in the following line: and all the silly sightless people. Alliteration 2. __________ is demonstrated in the last lines of Forgotten Language: How did it go? How did it go? Repetition 3. __________ is demonstrated in the title Hector the Collector. Internal rhyme

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ANSWERS TO INVESTIGATE, INQUIRE, IMAGINE
RECALL 1a. The speaker used to speak the language of flowers, caterpillars, starlings, houseflies, crickets, and the snow. 2a. All Hectors treasures are broken or useless items that most people would consider to be junk. 3a. Hector calls out to them, Come and share my treasure trunk! They call his things junk. INTERPRET 1b. Responses will vary. 2b. Students may say that Hector has fun collecting these items and finds them to be interesting so he places value on them. 3b. Hector may call out to the people because he wants to share with them his love and enthusiasm for these objects. The people respond in this way because they do not share Hectors feelings about his treasures and have different values. ANALYZE 4a. The speaker communicated with nature by speaking to flowers, understanding the words of the caterpillar, smiling at the gossip of starlings, sharing a conversation with the housefly, answering the questions of crickets, and joining in the crying of falling dying snowflakes. SYNTHESIZE 4b. The forgotten language may signify a close connection to nature and its creatures and an innocence that the speaker has lost as he or she has grown up. PERSPECTIVE 5a. Students may say that Hector loves his things because they are an expression of his personality and interests; he has spent much time assembling his unique collection of things and he loves them, so to him they are more precious than gold and diamonds. EMPATHY 5b. Students may say that Hector was probably hurt by the peoples response because he may have been hoping they would share his interest and love in his unique collection of junk. Hector might deny that his collection is junk. Hector might change his thinking if people express negative attitudes toward his collection for long enough.

Investigate,
and
Recall: GATHERING FACTS
1a. In Forgotten Language, what language did the speaker used to know? 2a. What do all of Hectors treasures have in common? 3a. What does Hector call to the people? What do they say in response?

Inquire, I m a g i n e
Interpret: FINDING MEANING
1b. How might the speaker have forgotten the language? 2b. Why might these things be valuable to Hector? 3b. Why does Hector do this? Why do the people respond this way?

Analyze: TAKING THINGS APART

4a. In what ways did the speaker of Forgotten Language once communicate with the different elements in nature?

Synthesize: BRINGING THINGS TOGETHER

4b. What might forgotten language signify?

Perspective: LOOKING AT OTHER VIEWS

5a. Why does Hector love his things more than obviously valuable things?

Empathy: SEEING FROM INSIDE

5b. How might Hector have reacted to the peoples response? What might he say to the people? How might he one day change his thinking?

Understanding

REPETITION. Repetition is more than one use of a sound, word, or group of words. Repetition is a tool that works to create or enhance rhythm. It also gives the sense that the speaker is dwelling on the repeated idea. What does the repetition in Forgotten Language indicate about the speakers focus? What is the speaker dwelling on? Explain whether repetition makes the poem more meaningful. How does repetition enhance the rhythm of Hector the Collector? RHYME. Rhyme is the repetition of sounds at the ends of words. Rhyme can enhance the musical quality of a poem. Many poems reveal a pattern of rhyming words that appear at the ends of lines. These are called end rhymes. Internal rhymes are rhymes within the line. How do internal rhymes help tighten the poem Hector the Collector? In what ways do end rhymes help weave the poem?

Literature

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ANSWERS TO UNDERSTANDING LITERATURE

REPETITION. The speaker repeats the lines, Once I spike the language of the flowers and How did it go? The speaker also repeats the Once I [verb] format for the beginnings of many of the lines. This repetition indicates that the speaker is focusing on the loss he or she feels about losing his or her connection to nature. The speaker is dwelling on what he or she could once do and is wondering how he or she lost this ability. Students may say repetition makes this poem more meaningful because it emphasizes the speakers sadness and sense of loss. Repetition helps give Hector the Collector helps give the poem a quick, playful rhythm. RHYME. Internal rhyme in select lines helps to tighten the poem because the poem is essentially a long list of things. The internal rhyme also provides surprises of sound in certain lines to help maintain the readers interest. End rhymes also help give cohesiveness and help the reader to move with interest through the list of things this poem presents. It also gives this poem a light and playful rhythm.

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ANSWERS TO SKILL BUILDERS

Writers Journal

1. Choose one of the poems in this unit and make a comic strip to illustrate it. Submit the poem and your comic strip to your school newspaper or to a different publication. 2. Suppose you are writing an editorial about airplane noise in your neighborhood. In your editorial, create an onomatopoeia for the sound a low-flying airplane makes. 3. Imagine that you are Hector the Collector as an adult and that you are opening a business to buy and sell antiques and collectors items. Write a jingle advertising your store.

Language, Grammar, and Style TECHNIQUES OF SOUND. Responses will vary, but make sure that students identify their use of the sound techniques listed in the Skill Builder activity on page 643. You may want to challenge students to form teams and write a group poem. The team whose poem includes the most techniques wins. Vocabulary BLENDS. For the blends listed, you may need to have students consult a dictionary. See the Language Arts Survey 1.17, Using a Dictionary. Responses may include the following: 1. glimmer blend of gleam + shimmer 2. smash blend of smack + mash 3. squiggle blend of squirm + wiggle 4. motel blend of motor + hotel 5. mingy blend of mean + stingy Study and Research THESIS STATEMENTS. Refer students to the Language Arts Survey 2.25, Writing a Thesis Statement and 2.26, Writing Main Ideas and Supporting Details for the writing part of this activity. Refer them to the Language Arts Survey, 5.175.29, for help in locating and evaluating sources. Speaking and Listening & Collaborative Learning ORAL INTERPRETATION. See the Assessment Resource 4.10, Collaborative Learning Evaluation Form and 4.11, Public Speaking Evaluation Form to evaluate student performance in this activity.

Skill Builders
Language, Grammar, and Style
TECHNIQUES OF SOUND. Write a poem on a subject you find appealing and use at least three of the sound techniques highlighted in this unit. Try to incorporate aspects of rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, and repetition. You may want to begin your poem by freewriting. Write down words and phrases that you like and that create interesting sound combinations. Then work the phrases together into a poem. you choose. A thesis is a main idea in a work of nonfiction such as an essay. For example, if your topic is rhyme in poetry, your thesis might be rhyme makes poetry more pleasing for most people. After formulating your thesis, use library resources and the Internet to investigate the topic. Find data that supports your thesis and also data that disputes it. After you have exhausted a number of resources, look critically at the information you have pulled together. What can you conclude from your research? Do your findings support or negate your thesis? How would you modify your thesis to fit your findings? Topics: Rhyme in poetry Shel Silversteins poems and pictures Poetry and song Uses of alliteration

Vocabulary
BLENDS. Blends are new words created by joining together two existing words. Look at the following list of words and try to figure out what two words were combined to make each blend. Then, create five new blends of your own. Write them in contextual sentences on the board in your classroom to see if your classmates can guess what two words each blend was derived from. 1. glimmer 3. squiggle 5. mingy 2. smash 4. motel

Speaking and Listening & Collaborative Learning

ORAL INTERPRETATION. Choose a poem from this unit. Practice reading the poem aloud to a partner. Then listen to your partner read aloud the poem he or she selected. Give one another constructive feedback on how to improve your readings. See the Language Arts Survey 4.19, Oral Interpretation of Poetry, for tips on dramatic reading. When you have perfected your reading, present it to the class.

Study and Research

THESIS STATEMENTS. Choose one of the following topics to research. Then write a thesis about the topic

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Media Literacy
EVALUATING AN INTERNET SITE. Using a computer with an Internet connection, look up the Poetry Society of Americas Poetry in Motion homepage at http://www.poetrysociety.org/motion/homepage.html. Explore the site and its links and find answers to the following questions: What is Poetry in Motion? Who started the program? Where does this program function? What is the Poetry Society of America? What do members of the society do? How well does this page and related pages convey information? How well do these pages attract a persons attention?

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the lowest rating and 10 being the highest, rate this Internet site. Give solid reasons for your evaluation.

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Prereading

POEM/MEANING

THE LOST PARROT

by Naomi Shihab Nye

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Readers
Have you ever lost someone or something that you cared about? Describe your experience.

Journal

UNIT 9 RESOURCE BOOK Selection Worksheet 9.7 Selection Check Test 4.9.13 Selection Test 4.9.14

Readers

Resource

As you read poems such as The Lost Parrot, you may notice that the author tells a poetic story using much fewer words than in a prose story. The poem may appear simple on the surface, but each word is carefully chosen to suggest deeper meanings. The poet molds and shapes words to describe objects, experiences, and emotionseither from his or her own life or from observation. The poet uses rhythm, rhyme, sound, imagery, and figures of speech to present ideas in a meaningful way and to provoke an emotional response from the reader. No two people will interpret a poem in the same way. Each reader, based on his or her experiences and insights, may come away from the poem with a unique perspective on the poems meaning, but each perspective has to be justified by the words of the poem. SCIENCE CONNECTION. The Lost Parrot is about a boy who is trying to write a poem about a parrot. Parrot is the general name for such birds as cockatoos, macaws, and parakeets. Usually, though, the term parrot refers to a species of fairly large birds with colorful feathers, strong beaks, and fleshy tongues that enable them to mimic words and even sentences. Some types of parrots have been domesticated as pets, but many species continue to live in tropical rain forests and other natural habitats.

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER

Readers TOOLBOX
DIALOGUE. Dialogue is conversation involving two or more people or characters. In fiction, dialogue is enclosed in quotation marks ( ) and is often accompanied by tag lines, which are words and phrases such as he said or she replied that tell who is speaking. In poetry, however, dialogue is not always indicated by quotation marks or tag lines. As you read The Lost Parrot, determine whether or not the poem contains dialogue. SYMBOL. A symbol is something that stands for or represents both itself and something else. In this poem, the lost parrot is a symbol for something else. As you read, think about what the parrot might symbolize.

Near tension, students may write bites his pencil, squirms, looks nervous, pencil gripped in fist. Near sadness they may write frowning, talks slowly, hunches, stares at the ceiling. Near loss they might write I has a parrot . . .it left, always the same subject for Carlos, I dont know where it went, This time he will guard it carefully, make sure it stays, Before anything else he loves gets away.

READERS JOURNAL
Encourage students to discuss why it is hard for some people to fully express their feelings when they are sad about a loss.

Graphic
b ite sa th is p te ns e ion ncil

The Lost Parrot contains words and phrases that create a feeling of tension, loss, and sadness. As you read, fill in the graphic organizer at right with the words and phrases that you think help create this feeling.

ss lo

sadness frowns

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GOALS/OBJECTIVES
Studying this lesson will enable students to identify with the feelings of a character portrayed in a poem briefly compare and contrast how a poem tells a story to how a work of prose does define dialogue and identify dialogue without tag lines or quotation marks in a poem define symbol and identify a symbol in a poem

TEACHERS EDITION

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INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES
MOTIVATION You might wish to share with students a documentary film on parrots. Good sources for documentaries include National Geographic-sponsored films, PBS, the Learning Channel, and the Discovery Channel. If you cannot locate a documentary or do not wish to take the class time to show one, you might show students pictures of parrots from books or magazines. READING PROFICIENCY Students may benefit and have an easier time distinguishing dialogue from the rest of the poem if they hear it read aloud on audiotape. You might also let students know ahead of time that dialogue in this poem is indented, but they will have to determine who is speaking based on other details in the poem. ENGLISH LANGUAGE Point out the following vocabulary words and expressions: dream-poempoem based on images from a dream hunchesdraws up the body so as to form a hump or arch expeditionstarting out on a journey for a definite purpose, such as exploration or battle mangoesyellow-red tropical fruits, with a hard skin and pit, but flesh that is sweet, juicy, and soft when ripe SPECIAL NEEDS Students may benefit from reading the information in the About the Author section before reading the rest of this poem. Doing so will make who Carlos is and who the speaker is clear. This will help students to better attribute the dialogue to the correct character as well as to understand what the poem is about in the poets own words.

Naomi Shihab Nye

Carlos bites the end of his pencil Hes trying to write a dream-poem, but waves at me, frowning I had a parrot

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INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES (CONT.)

ENRICHMENT Ask interested students to prepare brief written reports on parrots. Students should focus on their natural habitat, their physical characteristics, how long they have been known to live, how they socialize, and parrots in captivity and what they can be trained to do. Ask students to speculate on whether or not a parrot would make a good pet based on what they have learned.

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He talks slowly, like his voice travels far to get out of his body A dream-parrot? No, a real parrot! Write about it He squirms, looks nervous, everyone else is almost finished and he hasnt started It left What left? The parrot He hunches over the table, pencil gripped in fist, shaping the heavy letters Days later we will write story-poems, sound-poems, but always the same subject for Carlos It left He will insist on reading it and the class will look puzzled The class is tired of the parrot Write more, Carlos I cant Why not? I dont know where it went
Why cant Carlos write more about the parrot?

ANSWERS TO GUIDED READING QUESTIONS

1. The parrot left. 2. Carlos cant write more about the parrot because he doesnt know where it went. 3. The speaker thinks that Carlos will guard the parrot carefully so it wont leave again.

What happened to the parrot?

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES

Remind students of the old saying that has been so often repeated it has become cliched: If you love something, set it free. Ask students to discuss whether or not Carlos would agree with this idea. How might he respond to this idea if someone suggested that his losing his parrot was for the best? Ask students to state their own opinions on this idea and how it relates to the poem. Answers. Responses will vary. Students may suggest that Carlos might disagree with this statement because he feels such sadness and loss about his parrot. They may suggest that he will feel differently and may come to agree with this statement in time. Responses will vary.

Each day when I leave he stares at the ceiling Maybe he is planning an expedition into the back streets of San Antonio1 armed with nets and ripe mangoes He will find the parrot nesting in a rain gutter This time he will guard it carefully, make sure it stays Before winter comes and his paper goes white in all directions Before anything else he loves gets away

What does the speaker think Carlos will do if he finds his parrot?

1. San Antonio. City in southern Texas

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RESPOND TO THE SELECTION

Ask students to imagine that they are Carloss friends. What might they say to Carlos to help him feel better?

Respondto the SELECTION

What would you do if you were Carlos?

SELECTION CHECK TEST 4.9.13 WITH ANSWERS

Checking Your Reading SHORT ANSWER 1. What is Carlos trying to write? Carlos is trying to write a dreampoem. 2. What will Carlos insist on doing in class? Carlos will insist on reading his poem out loud. 3. Why does Carlos say he cant write more? Carlos says he cant write any more because he doesnt know where the parrot went. 4. To where might Carlos be planning an expedition? Carlos might be planning to go to the back streets of San Antonio. 5. Where might Carlos find the parrot? Carlos might find the parrot in a rain gutter. Readers Toolbox SENTENCE COMPLETION Fill in the blanks using the following terms. You may not use every term, and you may use some terms more than once. dialogue tag lines symbol

About the

A U T H O R
Naomi Shihab Nye tells about discovering poetry at age six, sharing poetry with young people, and how she came to write The Lost Parrot. I started to read poetry at age six, possibly as a refuge from our insulting first-grade textbookCome, Jane, come. Look, Jane, look. I thought, Were there ever duller people in the world? You have to tell them to look at things? Why werent they looking to begin with? Poets I loved early on: Carl Sandburg, Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson (very mysterious), William Blake (my second-grade teacher urged us to memorize his Songs of Innocence), Walter de la Mare, Rachel Field, Rabindranath Tagore. I started to write poetry then too, and I sent my first poems to childrens magazines by age seven. Wee Wisdom, a magazine that still exists, published the first one about my cat Cricket. I got to read the poem over the school intercom, which seemed very spaceage in those days. You could write about anything, which seemed fabulous to me. The field was rich and wide open. Actually, the process of writing was much more exciting than the moment of seeing something in print. Writing was another way of thinking, but better, because your thoughts unfolded right there in front of you, and you could go back to them. Often, writing also felt like another kind of frienda patient companionyou could tell anything to. It would not betray or abandon you. After college, I worked as a poet-in-theschools, visiting schools all over my city and

1. The words or phrases that tell who is speaking are known as __________. tag lines 2. A thing that stands for or represents both itself and something else is called a __________. symbol

state, encouraging students to explore the material of their own lives through words. The Lost Parrot was written for a real boy named Carlos in San Antonio (a third-grader) after I had been working with children and their writing for a few years. A dream-poem is a poem in which a writer follows images that first come to him or her through dreamingwhether while sleeping or during a wakeful state. These can be kooky things, impossible things, wished-for things. (Poets think daydreaming is very important.) I urged students not to write that they had woken up in the last line. Stay in the dream, I said. I urged them to experiment with as many images as they could, describing them so readers could picture them too. Carlos, however, had only one image and one subject, as the poem suggests. I couldnt stop thinking of him after I left his classroom. I kept looking for his parrot in the trees. Just recently a woman sent me a poem in which she says she found his parrot and raised it for years. I just wish we could find him to tell him.

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CONTENTS

Investigate,
and
Recall: GATHERING FACTS
1a. What is Carlos trying to write a poem about? What are the only words Carlos is able to write? 2a. What does the speaker imagine that Carlos is planning?

Inquire, I m a g i n e
Interpret: FINDING MEANING
1b. Why is Carlos unable to write more? 2b. Why does the speaker think Carlos wants to do this?

ANSWERS TO INVESTIGATE, INQUIRE, IMAGINE

RECALL 1a. Carlos is trying to write a poem about a parrot. The only words Carlos is able to write are It left. 2a. The speaker imagines that Carlos is planning an expedition to find the parrot. INTERPRET 1b. Carlos says that he is unable to write more about the parrot because he doesnt know where it went. Students may suggest that Carlos is unable to write more because he is still overcome by sadness and grief and so is unable to put his feelings into words or his experience into perspective. 2b. The speaker thinks that Carlos might want to find the parrot so he can keep it this time. ANALYZE 3a. Students may point to the words and phrases identified in the answers to the Graphic Organizer activity. Students may say that Carlos seems so focused on the loss of his parrot that he is unable to write about or talk about much else. Students may say that Carlos acts very depressed and forlorn. SYNTHESIZE 3b. Students may say that Carlos seems devastated to have lost his parrot. He seems very depressed and obsessed with his loss. Students may say Carlos cannot write more because his loss is still too recent and he doesnt have the perspective necessary yet to put his feelings into words. PERSPECTIVE 4a. Responses will vary. Students might say that Carlos has lost someone he loves. They might also say that Carlos seems to be lonely and unhappy and as a result has a hard time in school. Students might say that the parrot is important to Carlos because it represents everything or everyone he has lost.

Analyze: TAKING THINGS APART

3a. Identify the words and phrases that describe Carlos. What does he do? How does he act?

Synthesize: BRINGING THINGS TOGETHER

3b. Describe Carlos in your own words. What do you think prevents Carlos from writing more?

Perspective: LOOKING AT OTHER VIEWS

4a. Why is the parrot so important to Carlos?

Empathy: SEEING FROM INSIDE

4b. What do you think will happen to Carlos if he never finds the parrot? How might his teacher and classmates help him?

Understanding

DIALOGUE. The Lost Parrot contains dialogue, or conversation involving two or more people or characters, but it does not look like the dialogue you normally see in a story. The dialogue in this poem is not separated from the rest of the text by punctuation or by tag lines. Using the dialogue in this poem, rewrite the conversation between the speaker and Carlos, using quotation marks and tag lines to indicate who is speaking. Be creative with your tag linesfor example, instead of writing he said, write he whined. SYMBOL. A symbol is something that stands for or represents both itself and something else. What do you think the parrot in this poem might symbolize?

Literature

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EMPATHY 4b. Students may say that Carlos will have to slowly learn to cope with his loss and distance himself somewhat from his feelings of loss over time. Students may say that his teacher and classmates can encourage Carlos to talk about his feelings and when he does so keep and open mind, not judge him, and be supportive.

ANSWERS TO UNDERSTANDING LITERATURE

DIALOGUE. Responses will vary. A possible response is given. I had a parrot, whispered Carlos. A dream-parrot? I asked. No, a real parrot! Carlos insisted. Write about it, I suggested. It left, was all that Carlos wrote. What left? I inquired. The parrot, Carlos sighed. Write more, Carlos, I urged him. I cant, he mumbled. I demanded, Why not? In a trembling voice full of long pauses, he breathed, I dont know where it went. SYMBOL. Students might say that the parrot symbolizes someone that Carlos has lost, such as a parent or a friend. Students might also say that the parrot symbolizes love, and that Carlos suffers from a lack of love in his life.

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POEM/MEANING

Prereading

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
UNIT 9 RESOURCE BOOK Selection Worksheet 9.8 Selection Check Test 4.9.15 Selection Test 4.9.16 Language, Grammar, and Style Resource 3.37 Study and Research Resource 5.21

Readers

Resource
Many stories and traditions from southwestern Native American cultures center around corn, often referred to as one of the three sisters along with beans and squash. Corn, or maize, is a domesticated plant native to the Americas. Over thousands of years, Native Americans cultivated maize from a wild grass originally growing in southern Mexico to the husked ear of corn with fused kernels found today. Traditionally, corn was an important crop and was eaten at every meal. All parts of the corn plant were usedthe husks were braided and woven into masks, moccasins, sleeping mats, baskets, and dolls. After the kernels were removed, the corncobs were used for fuel, ceremonial decorations, and games. Today in the United States, 60 million acres of farmland are used to grow corn, making it the most widespread crop in the country. An important theme in the traditions and writings of many Native American cultures is the relationship between humans and nature. Many indigenous people agree that humans should coexist with nature rather than try to control it. This philosophy came into direct conflict with that of white European settlers, who tended to view nature as a resource to be used at will.

My Fathers Song
by Simon Ortiz

Readers T O O L B O X
AIM. A writers aim is his or her purpose, or goal. People may write to inform (informative/expository writing); to tell a true or invented story (narrative writing); to reflect (personal/expressive writing); to share a perspective meant to entertain, enrich, or enlighten (imaginative writing); or to persuade readers to respond in some way (persuasive/argumentative writing). Many literary works fall under more than one of these categories. For example, an article about water pollution could be both informative and persuasive. A letter could be both narrative and personal/expressive. Based on the title of this poem, what do you think the authors aim, or aims, might be? FLASHBACK. A flashback is a part of a story, poem, or play that presents events that happened prior to the time in which the literary work takes place. Writers use flashbacks in many ways. One common way is to begin a work with a final event or situation and then to go back to the rest of the story or to an event that happened prior to that situation, as a way to explain how that event or situation came about. Another common technique is to begin a story in the middle of the action and then to use a flashback to fill in the events that occurred before the opening of the story. As you read, identify the flashback in the poem. ASSONANCE. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in stressed syllables that end in different consonant sounds, as with the long i sound in lime light. Identify phrases in this poem in which assonance is used.

READERS TOOLBOX
AIM. Students might suggest that the aim may be personal/expressive and imaginative. FLASHBACK. The flashback begins with the line, We planted corn one Spring at Acu. ASSONANCE. Students may point to phrases including the depth from his thin chest; to his son, his song; I remember the soft damp sand/in my hand.; to show me an overturned furrow; and tiny alive mice.

READERS JOURNAL
Encourage students to concentrate on describing one memory that sums up something about the person they have chosen.

Readers

VOCABULARY FROM THE SELECTION

clod

Journal

Think of someone close to you. What memories come to mind when you think of that person?

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GOALS/OBJECTIVES
Studying this lesson will enable students to identify with a speakers feelings about his father explain the importance of corn to Native Americans and identify a theme in Native American writing define aim and identify a poems aim define flashback and recognize flashbacks in works of literature research Native American or Latino poetry use prepositional phrases write an advice column use precise verbs

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CONTENTS

My

ANSWERS TO GUIDED READING QUESTIONS

1. The speaker misses his father. 2. The speakers father finds a mouses nest. 3. The speakers father puts the mouses nest in the shade at the edge of the field.

Fathers
Simon Ortiz

Song

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES

Campesino, 1976. Daniel Desiga. Collection of Alfredo Aragon.

Wanting to say things, I miss my father tonight. His voice, the slight catch, the depth from his thin chest, the tremble of emotion in something he has just said to his son, his song:

Whom does the speaker miss?

We planted corn one Spring at Acu1 we planted several times but this one particular time I remember the soft damp sand in my hand. My father had stopped at one point to show me an overturned furrow;2 the plowshare3 had unearthed the burrow nest of a mouse in the soft moist sand.

Very gently, he What does the scooped tiny pink speakers father animals find? into the palm of his hand and told me to touch them. We took them to the edge What does the of the field and put speakers father do them in the shade with his discovery? of a sand moist clod. I remember the very softness of cool and warm sand and tiny alive mice n and my father saying things.
1. Acu. In Acoma culture, the place where life happens 2. furrow. Plowed land 3. plowshare. Part of the plow that cuts into the earth

MOTIVATION Ask students to make a list of dishes that use corn as an ingredient. Students might then bring in recipes and together create a corn cookbook. Urge students to prepare some of these dishes for each other to try. READING PROFICIENCY Have students form pairs and take turns reading this poem aloud to each other. Students should then read the poems on their own, referring to the Words for Everyday Use, footnotes, and the English Language Learning Vocabulary above to explain any unfamiliar turns. ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING Point out the following vocabulary words and expressions: catcha break in the voice, caused by emotion burrowhole or tunnel dug in the ground by an animal SPECIAL NEEDS Some students, especially urban ones, may be confused about what the father and son are doing in the field and why they might find a mouse there. Inform students that land is plowed before it is planted. The plow cuts, breaks up, and overturns the soil. It is often cut into long furrows, or rows. (You might try to locate pictures of a newly plowed field to show students.) Breaking up the soil and loosening its top layer is necessary before planting seeds of corn (as the father and so do in this poem). Mice and other creatures like moles create nests underground for their young. In this poem one of these nests has been broken into by the plow coming through and overturning the soil.

clod (clad) n., lump or mass of earth. Clods of dirt lay scattered around the golf tee.

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INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES (CONT.)

ENRICHMENT Ask interested students to write a tribute to a male role model in their own live. Their tribute can take any form they wisha poem, a personal letter of thanks to the role model, or a speech that might be given to honor this person. In their tributes students should identify what they learned from this person and why he was or is a role model to them. They may wish to share a memory about one event that is characteristic of the role models personality.

TEACHERS EDITION

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RESPOND TO THE SELECTION

Also ask students to consider and discuss as a class what the speakers memory tells you about the character of his father.

Respondto the SELECTION

What does the speakers memory tell you about his relationship with his father?

About the
SELECTION CHECK TEST 4.9.15 WITH ANSWERS
Checking Your Reading SHORT ANSWER 1. What does the speaker remember about the sand? The sand is described as soft, damp, cool and warm. 2. What does the speaker remember planting? The speaker remembers planting corn. 3. What does the plowshare reveal? The plowshare reveals the nest of a mouse. 4. What animal does the speakers father hold in his hand? The speakers father holds a mouse in his hand. 5. What does the speaker do with the animal? The speakers father moves the mouse and its family to some shade at the edge of the field. Readers Toolbox MATCHING A writers aim is his or her purpose or goal. Match each aim with its description. a. informative/expository b. narrative c. imaginative d. personal/expressive e. persuasive/argumentative _____ 1. tells a true or invented story b _____ 2. shares a perspective meant to entertain, enrich or enlighten. c _____ 3. convinces readers to respond in some way e

A U T H O R
Simon Ortiz knew he loved language at an early age. The language he first spoke was Acoma. A member of the Acoma Pueblo Nation, Ortiz was born in 1941 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He grew up in the Acoma village of McCartys (Deetseyamah) as a member of the Eagle clan (Dyaanih hanoh). Ortiz says in his book Woven Stone, This early language from birth to six years of age in the Acoma family and community was the basis and source of all I would do later in poetry, short fiction, essay, and other work . . . Ortiz attended the government-run McCartys Day School up to the sixth grade. Students there were required to learn and speak English and were forbidden to speak their native languages. After graduating from high school, Ortiz worked for a year mining uranium in Grants, New Mexico. He went on to college, but quit to join the army. In 1966, Ortiz went back to school, graduating from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. He got his masters degree from the University of Iowa Writers School. Since then, Simon Ortiz has taught classes in Native American literature and creative writing at several colleges and universities. He has traveled the United States and several countries in Europe sharing his poetry, lecturing, and telling stories. Ortiz is the father of three children. Of his work he has said, Most of my cultural and literary work continues to focus on issues, concerns, and responsibilities we, as Native Americans, have for our land, culture, and community.

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WORDS IN MOTION: POETRY

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TEACHERS EDITION

CONTENTS

Investigate,
and
Recall: GATHERING FACTS
1a. Why does the speaker miss his father?

Inquire, I m a g i n e
Interpret: FINDING MEANING
1b. What do you think has happened to the speakers father? 2b. Why does the speaker call up this particular memory?

ANSWERS TO INVESTIGATE, INQUIRE, IMAGINE

RECALL 1a. The speaker misses his father because he wants to say things. 2a. The speaker remembers his father saving a mouses nest and saying things. INTERPRET 1b. The speakers father has died. 2b. Students may say the speaker calls up this particular memory because it shows what kind of character his father possessedgentle, respectful of the earths other living creatures, and interested in his sons education in these matters. ANALYZE 3a. Students may say the speaker remembers his fathers voicethe catch in it from emotion and the depth of it. He also remembers his father had a thin chest. He remembers his father stops planting to show him the mouse nest and that he lifts up the animals gently and carefully places them in the shade by the edge of the field. SYNTHESIZE 3b. Students might say that the song in this poem is the speakers memory of his fathers compassion for the mice they find in the field while planting corn. They might also say that the song is made up of all of the valuable things that the speakers father taught him. PERSPECTIVE 4a. Students might say that the speakers father said things about planting or helping the animals. Students might say that the speaker simply wants to talk to his father about everyday happenings, or perhaps that he would like the chance to tell his father how he feels about him. EMPATHY 4b. Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. Students may suggest that the speaker might share his memories of his father with others and continue to honor his fathers memory by sharing what his father taught him about respecting the earth and its creatures with others, perhaps with his own family.

2a. What does the speaker remember about his father?

Analyze: TAKING THINGS APART

3a. In what ways does the speaker describe his father? What does he remember about his fathers physical nature? about his mannerisms?

Synthesize: BRINGING THINGS TOGETHER

3b. This poem is called My Fathers Song, yet there is no singing or music. What is the song in this poem?

Perspective: LOOKING AT OTHER VIEWS

4a. What things do you think the speakers father said to his son? What things might the speaker want to say to his father?

Empathy: SEEING FROM INSIDE

4b. What might the speaker do to feel better? How might he choose to celebrate his memories?

Understanding

AIM. A writers aim is his or her purpose, or goal. Do you think Ortizs goal was to inform, persuade, tell a story, reflect, or share his perspectives? What, specifically, was Ortiz trying to convey through this poem? Do you think he accomplished his purpose? ASSONANCE. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in stressed syllables that end in different consonant sound. Assonance has an effect similar to rhyme. In what way does assonance contribute to the sound of this poem? FLASHBACK. A flashback is a part of a story, poem, or play that presents events that happened prior to the time in which the rest of the literary work takes place. Why do you think the author chose to include a flashback in this poem? What does the flashback contribute to the meaning of the poem?

Literature

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ANSWERS TO UNDERSTANDING LITERATURE

AIM. Students may say Ortizs goal was to reflect, tell a story, and/or share his perspective. Students may say Ortiz was trying to convey a little about the character of his father through the story he tells in the poem as well as share the feelings he has about his father and his sense of loss now that his father is gone. Most students will say that Ortiz has accomplished his purpose, but if students have other points of view encourage them to share them and support them with reasons, using examples from the poem as necessary. ASSONANCE. Assonance helps create a more musical sound to this poem. FLASHBACK. Students may say that as the speakers father is dead, he shares a flashback from an early time to share the type of person his father was and help explain why the speaker misses him so much. The flashback shares that the speakers father was a gentle man who cared for nature and its creatures.

TEACHERS EDITION

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GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
Students may depict the following scenes: the speaker and his father are planting corn, the father stops and shows his son an overturned furrow, they see a mouse nest that has been unearthed, the father scoops up the mice gently in his hand and tells his son to touch them, they put the mice in the shade of a moist sand clod at the edge of the field, the father talks to his son, the speaker now grown upmisses his father and thinks about him.

Graphic
Make a storyboard that shows the action in this poem chronologically. Recall the major events of the poem, and then illustrate the events in a series of squares.

Writers Journal

1. Imagine you found Carloss parrot. Write a lost and found advertisement about the parrot for the local newspaper. 2. Write a note from Carloss teacher to Carlos, encouraging him to write his feelings. 3. In My Fathers Song, the speakers father taught him an important lesson about taking care of animals when he moved the mouses nest to a safe place. Write five fortune cookie inserts that might teach lessons on issues that you think are important in life.

Skill Builders
Study and Research & Collaborative Learning
RESEARCHING POETS. Form a group of three or four students. Using the Internet and library resources, research Native American or Latino poetry. Find out who the most popular writers are and collect samples of their work. Put together a scrapbook of poetry or hold a poetry reading for the rest of your class. Create a bulletin board featuring decorative versions of the poems you have selected, along with information about the authors.

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WORDS IN MOTION: POETRY

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CONTENTS
ANSWERS TO SKILL BUILDERS

Language, Grammar, and Style

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES. A preposition is used to show how its object is related to other words in the sentence. Common prepositions are in, on, over, under, before, after, among, at, behind, beside, off, through, until, upon, and with. The preposition begins a phrase that contains the object. In the sentence below, under is the preposition and the bridge is the object of the preposition. Note how this prepositional phrase gives additional information about where the car drove. The car drove under the bridge. Changing the preposition causes the meaning of the sentence to change. The car drove over the bridge. Changing the object of the preposition creates a new relationship in the sentence. The car drove under the fallen tree. In the sentences above, the prepositional phrase modifies the verb. A prepositional phrase can also modify a noun, an adverb, or an adjective. In the sentence below, the prepositional phrase modifies the noun. The boy in the yellow shirt is Toms brother. Add a prepositional phrase to each of the following sentences to tell something more about the subject or verb. EXAMPLE My dog barks. My dog barks at the moon. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. My house is the small one. Fred and Jeb walked. Sylvia ate a whole pizza. John and Erica laughed. The sun shone.

Applied English
ADVICE COLUMN. Imagine that you are an advice columnist, working for a newspaper. Using one of the poems in this section, write a letter from one of the characters asking for advice, based on the information in the poem. Then write a letter from you to the character, giving the needed advice. If you wish, work in pairs, with each person writing one of the letters.

Vocabulary
USING PRECISE VERBS. The sentences below contain verbs that express meaning but that do not convey precise details about the action in the sentence. Identify the verb in each sentence by underlining it. Then rewrite each sentence, changing the existing verb to a verb that is more specific, more informative, or more creative. See the Language Arts Survey 3.37, Adding Colorful Language to Sentences, for more help with this activity. Check a thesaurus if you have trouble thinking of new verbs for the sentences. For more information, see the Language Arts Survey 5.21, Using a Thesaurus. EXAMPLE I went to the drugstore. I strolled to the drugstore. 1. Sam quickly wrote directions to his house. 2. Aunt Maud always talks about her little poodle. 3. I will make dessert. 4. The cars move down the road. 5. Jan took a chocolate from the tray.

Study and Research & Collaborative Learning Students may find identifying Native American and Latino poets easiest on the Internet or by looking in anthologies of Native American or Latino poetry. Students may have difficulty determining who is the most popular poet, so encourage students to pick a poet who has won an award or who seems to have published widely. Divide students into three groupsone can work on the scrapbook, one can give poetry readings, and one can create a bulletin board. Language, Grammar, and Style Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. 1. My house is the small one beside the river. 2. Fred and Jeb walked beside the shore. 3. Sylvia ate a whole pizza at the local pizza parlor. 4. John and Erica laughed about the things they did when they were younger. 5. The sun shone above the grassy meadow. Applied English If students choose to work in pairs, you might encourage them to complete two advice columns, trading roles as the advice giver and the questioner. Have students share their columns with another pair to proofread each others work. For more information on proofreading, refer students to the Language Arts Survey, Proofreading. Vocabulary Responses will vary. Possible responses are given. 1. wrote; Sam quickly scrawled directions to his house. 2. talks; Aunt Maud always brags about her little poodle. 3. make; I will whip up a dessert. 4. move; The cars whiz down the road. 5. took; Jan snatched a chocolate from the tray.

For more information, see the Language Arts Survey 3.69, Prepositions.

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NARRATIVE POEM

Prereading

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
UNIT 9 RESOURCE BOOK Selection Worksheet 9.9 Selection Check Test 4.9.17 Selection Test 4.9.18 Reading Resource 1.20 Language, Grammar, and Style Resource 3.65 Speaking and Listening Resource 4.14

Readers

The Charge of the Light Brigade

by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Journal

How would you react if you were required to face a situation that might cost you your life?

Readers T O O L B O X
NARRATIVE POEM. A narrative poem is a verse that tells a story. Like most stories, a narrative poem has a setting; a protagonist, or main character; a conflict, or struggle; and a resolution, or final outcome to the conflict. As you read, identify these narrative elements in the poem. SUSPENSE. Suspense is a feeling of expectation, anxiousness, or curiosity created by questions raised in the mind of the reader or viewer. One way writers create suspense is by using details that create strong emotions. As you read, look for details that create a strong sense of emotion and curiosity about what is happening in the story. REPETITION. Repetition is more than one use of a sound, word, or phrase. Identify where Tennyson uses repetition in this poem.

Readers

Resource
GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
Students may include the following information in their completed charts: SETTING. All in the valley of Death PROTAGONIST. Rode the six hundred (the Light Brigade) CONFLICT. Stormd at with shot and shell / Boldly they rode and well / Into the jaws of Death RESOLUTION. Then they rode back, but not/Not the six hundred. They that had fought so well / Came through the jaws of death / Back from the mouth of hell / All that was left of them / Left of six hundred.

HISTORY CONNECTION. This poem is based on the Battle of Balaklava, fought on October 25, 1854, during the Crimean War. In the battle, a small force of British soldiers on horseback attacked a strong line of Russian troops armed with heavy artillery (cannons and large guns). Of the 673 British soldiers who fought in the Light Brigade, only 195 survived. The Crimean War, which started in 1853 and lasted for three years, was fought between Russia and the Ottoman Empire (modernday Turkey). The conflict was mainly over control of the Crimea and the vital seaports on the Black Sea. England, France, and Sardinia entered the war on the side of the Turks and fought several bloody battles in an effort to keep Russia from controlling the Black Sea.

Graphic
Use this graphic organizer to identify evidence in the poem that reveals the setting, protagonist, conflict, and resolution.
Setting All in the valley of Death

READERS JOURNAL
Encourage students to explore whether or not they believe there is a cause important enough for them to sacrifice their lives.

Protagonist

Rode the six hundred

Conflict

VOCABULARY FROM THE SELECTION

blunder dismay plunge reel sunder

Resolution

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GOALS/OBJECTIVES
Studying this lesson will enable students to enjoy a narrative poem briefly explain the historical context of The Charge of the Light Brigade define narrative poem and identify parts of the story in such a poem define suspense and point to elements in a poem that create suspense define repetition and identify examples of repetition in a poem

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TEACHERS EDITION

CONTENTS

click here for audio clip

ANSWERS TO GUIDED READING QUESTIONS
1. The orders are to move forward and charge the guns. 2. They follow the order without question.

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES

MOTIVATION Ask students to hold a class discussion on their beliefs about war. Is war ever justifiable? If so, when and under what circumstances? Would students be willing to die for their country in a war? Encourage students to be respectful of other students ideas and opinions. READING PROFICIENCY Students may benefit from hearing a dramatic interpretation of this narrative poem before they begin reading. You might encourage an older student who is interested in theater to prepare an interpretation for your class. Then ask students to read through the poem on their own. Tell them to refer to the Words for Everyday Use and footnotes in case they come across an unfamiliar word. You might also share with them the English Language Learning vocabulary below. ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING Point out the following vocabulary words and expressions: brigadelarge body of troops cannonbig gun volleydvolleyed, meaning propelled or discharged an object into the air gunnerssoldiers who operate or aim guns SPECIAL NEEDS Students may have a difficult time visualizing the action of this poem, especially if they are unfamiliar with the way war was fought in the nineteenth century. You may wish to show students a documentary or a scene from a movie about a nineteenth century war, such as the Crimean War. ENRICHMENT Encourage interested students to work in small groups to research the Crimean War in

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

1 Half a league,1 half a league, Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns! he said: The Charge of the Light Brigade was set to music by Into the valley of Death E. T. Paull in the early 1900s. Rode the six hundred. What orders are 3 2 given to the Light Cannon to right of them, Forward, the Light Brigade? Cannon to left of them, Brigade! Cannon in front of them Was there a man dismayd? Volleyd and thunderd; Not tho the soldier knew Stormd at with shot and shell, Someone had blunderd: Boldly they rode and well, Theirs not to make reply, Into the jaws of Death, Theirs not to reason why, Into the mouth of Hell Theirs but to do and die: How do the soldiers Rode the six hundred. respond to the Into the valley of Death orders given? Rode the six hundred. 1. league. Unit of distance

dis may (dis ma) v., unnerve; deter by arousing fear. The amount of work dismayed Sam, and he gave up. dismayed, adj. blun der (blun dr) v., make a mistake. I could have scored a goal, but I blundered and shot the puck over the goal.

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INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES (CONT.)

more detail. Students should focus on answering questions such as the following: Why was Russia so interested in controlling the Black Sea? Why were England, France, and Sardinia interested in stopping Russia from doing so? What were some major events in the war? What was the outcome of the war? Students should use a variety of sources for their research. Tell students that they should document their list of sources as they take notes. Groups might then prepare brief oral reports on their findings, using graphic aids as necessary. Students should present you with their lists of sources after they have given their presentation.

TEACHERS EDITION

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CONTENTS
ANSWERS TO GUIDED READING QUESTIONS
1. They are stormed at with shot and shell. 2. The speaker remembers them as heroes worthy of honor and glory.

RESPOND TO THE SELECTION

You might also encourage students to discuss what they believe should happen to the commander who gave the mistaken order. Should he be punished for this mistake? Why, or why not?

4 Flashd all their sabres2 bare, Flashd as they turnd in air, Sabring the gunners there, Charging an army, while All the world wonderd: Plunged in the battery-smoke Right thro the line they broke; Cossack3 and Russian Reeld from the sabre stroke Shatterd and sunderd. Then they rode back, but not Not the six hundred. 5 Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon behind them Volleyd and thunderd;

Stormd at with shot and shell, While horse and hero fell, They that had fought so well Came thro the jaws of Death Back from the mouth of Hell, All that was left of them, Left of six hundred. 6 When can their glory fade? O the wild charge they made! All the world wondered. Honor the charge they made, Honor the Light Brigade, n Noble six hundred.

What happened as the Light Brigade rode back?

How does the speaker remember the soldiers of the Light Brigade?

2. sabres. Cavalry swords 3. Cossack. Member of the Southern Russian cavalary

SELECTION CHECK TEST 4.9.17 WITH ANSWERS

Checking Your Reading SHORT ANSWER 1. How many soldiers are in the group? There are six hundred soldiers in the group. 2. Into what valley do the soldiers ride? The soldiers ride into the valley of Death. 3. What do the soldiers discover to the left, right, and in front of them? The soldiers discover that they are surrounded by cannons. 4. Who are the soldiers attacking? The soldiers are fighting Cossacks and Russians. 5. What does all the world do? All the world wonders. Vocabulary in Context SENTENCE COMPLETION Fill in each blank below with the most appropriate word from the following Words for Everyday Use from The Charge of the Light Brigade. You may have to change the tense of the word. dismay blunder plunge reel sunder

Respondto the SELECTION

What would you have done if you believed your orders to charge had been a mistake?

About the

A U T H O R
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, born on August 5, 1809, in Somersby, England, was writing poetry by the age of eight. He published his first poems at the age of 18. In 1850 he was named poet laureate of England. In 1883 the prime minister of England bestowed the title of lord on him. Tennyson continued to produce work throughout his lifetime. He died on October 6, 1892, and was buried in the Poets Corner of Westminster Abbey. Many consider him to be one of the greatest poets of the 19th century.

plunge (plunj) v., enter quickly into something. I plunged into the book as soon as I got home from the library. reel (rel) v., waver or fall back as from a blow. Glen reeled when the door flew open and hit him. sunder (sun dr) v., break apart or become disunited. Our group would sunder if we were caught by a violent storm.

1. As soon as shed spoken, Alexandra realized shed made a terrible __________. blunder 2. The water looked very cold, but Heidi took a deep breath and __________ in. plunged 3. Richard was __________ when his photos turned out to be blurry. dismayed

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WORDS IN MOTION: POETRY

SELECTION CHECK TEST 4.9.17 WITH ANSWERS (CONT.)

Readers Toolbox SENTENCE COMPLETION Fill in the blanks using the following terms. You may not use every term, and you may use some terms more than once. narrative poem suspense protagonist resolution conflict 1. The struggle at the heart of a story is known as a __________. conflict 2. __________ in a story is the feeling of anxiousness or curiosity created by the story. suspense 3. A verse that tells a story is called a __________. narrative poem

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TEACHERS EDITION

CONTENTS

Investigate,
and
Recall: GATHERING FACTS
1a. What does the speaker say about the orders given to the soldiers? 2a. What does the speaker say is a soldiers duty? 3a. What language does the speaker use to describe the valley where the battle takes place?

Inquire, I m a g i n e
Interpret: FINDING MEANING
1b. Why would the soldiers charge knowing that the command is a mistake? 2b. How do the soldiers actions demonstrate the sense of duty that the speaker describes? 3b. Explain why these descriptions help you understand what is happening to the Light Brigade.

ANSWERS TO INVESTIGATE, INQUIRE, IMAGINE

RECALL 1a. The speaker says that someone had blundered in giving these orders. 2a. The speaker says that it was not the soldiers place to make reply or to reason why, but that it was their place to simply do or die. 3a. The speaker describes it as the valley of Death, the jaws of Death, and the mouth of Hell. INTERPRET 1b. The soldiers followed orders obediently. They were courageous and sacrificed their safety for their cause. 2b. By charging into the valley and risking death, they show their willingness to do or die. 3b. The descriptions create a sense of doom, horror, and imminent death. They let the reader know that the light brigades mission is a doomed one that will claim many lives. ANALYZE 4a. The poet is using repetition. The lines repeated are Cannon to right of them / Cannon to left of them / Cannon in front of them / Volleyd and thunderd / Stormd at with shot and shell. The remaining lines are different. SYNTHESIZE 4b. Responses will vary. The poet contrasts two like images with two distinct images. The vision of violence and chaos carries over, but the images of the soldiers differ. In stanza 3, they are entering battle (Into the valley of Death, and in stanza 5 they are retreating from battle (back from the mouth of hell). Many of those who boldly rode in stanza 3 have fallen in stanza 5, and the survivors (all that was left of them) flee. Tennyson suggests their slaughter through contrast rather than direct description. The battle hasnt changed, but the soldiers have been changed by the battle. Such an approach suggests the soldiers as fuel for an event much larger than themselves. They are devoured (jaws of Death) and the refuse is spit out.

Analyze: TAKING THINGS APART

4a. Compare and contrast stanzas 4 and 6. What technique is the poet using? Which lines are different, and which lines are the same?

Synthesize: BRINGING THINGS TOGETHER

4b. Rewrite in your own words the section of the story found in each of these stanzas. How does the poets technique emphasize these two parts of the story?

Evaluate: MAKING JUDGMENTS

5a. How well does this poem tell the story of the Battle of Balaklava? What parts of the story could be missing? How well does the poem recreate the setting and mood, or atmosphere, of a horrible battle scene?

Extend: CONNECTING IDEAS

5b. Using what you know about war and military capabilities today, explain how a modern battle scene might differ from the battle described in this poem.

Understanding

NARRATIVE POEM. A narrative poem is verse that tells a story. Review the graphic organizer you made to identify passages in the poem that reveal information about the setting, the protagonist, the conflict, and the resolution. Create an additional column on the right side of the chart. In it, rewrite in your own words the passages you identified for each category. What is the setting of the poem? Who are the protagonists? What is the conflict? How is the conflict resolved? SUSPENSE. Suspense is a feeling of expectation, anxiousness, or curiosity. Writers create suspense by raising questions in the readers mind and by using details that create strong emotions. Review the examples of detail you found in the poem that contribute to the suspense. What adjectives does the author use? What are some of the action verbs? How are these details effective? What details would you use if you were writing a suspenseful narrative about a battle? REPETITION. Repetition is more than one use of a sound, word, or phrase. How does repetition contribute to the suspense and the mood in this poem?
THE
CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE

Literature

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ANSWERS TO INVESTIGATE, INQUIRE, IMAGINE (CONT.)

EVALUATE 5a. Responses may vary. The poem tells the story with emotion but does not offer many details about the action. The battle is described from beginning to end, but only from one sides point of view. The poem recreates the battles setting and mood by using vivid imagery of the battle scene. EXTEND 5b. Responses will vary. Students may suggest that horses and cannons would be replaced with more modern means of transport and weapons. Students might also suggest that modern means of communications might also make a misunderstanding about tactical orders less likely (although not impossible).

Answers to Understanding Literature can be found on page 660.

TEACHERS EDITION

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ANSWERS TO SKILL BUILDERS
Language, Grammar, and Style Adverbs include: well, not, lightly, hurtling, unheeded, bright, there, again. Antonyms for this set of adverbs includes, respectively: backward, timidly, badly, definitely, heavily, slowly, heeded, dully, here, once. If students have difficulty creating a poem using all these adverbs, have them write ten separate sentences, each using a new adverb. Media Literacy Students may find it helpful to complete the Enrichment activity for The Charge of the Light Brigade, so the students being interviewed will have more factual information on which to base their replies. Vocabulary Words that end in d include dismayd, blunderd, thunderd, flashd, reeld, shatterd, sunderd, volleyd, and stormd. The word thro is abbreviated for through. Past tense verbs in English are formed with an ed ending.

Writers Journal
Language, Grammar and Style

1. Make a list of words you associate with war. Then write a short story using those words. 2. Write a letter from a survivor of the Battle of Balaklava to his family at home, telling of the event. 3. Write a narrative poem about a conflict you have experienced.

Vocabulary
LOOKING AT WORD FORMATION. Look back at The Charge of the Light Brigade and note the shortened words that end in d. What other word is shortened with an apostrophe? Rewrite the words from the poem that contain apostrophes, removing the apostrophes and spelling out the complete words. What letter or letters did you need to add in the past-tense verbs (the words that ended in d)? What rule of grammar led you to do so? What letter or letters did you add to the other shortened word? Why do you think Tennyson shortened these words as he did?

ADVERBS AND ANTONYMS. Make a list of adverbs in Charge of the Light Brigade. Find an antonym (a word with the opposite meaning) for each adverb. Then write a narrative poem of your own, using the new adverbs. For more information, see the Language Arts Survey 3.67, Adverbs, and 1.20, Learning Synonyms, Antonyms, and Homonyms.

Media Literacy
ANSWERS TO UNDERSTANDING LITERATURE
NARRATIVE POEM. Responses will vary. Students rewrites may resemble the following: SETTING: All in a dangerous and deadly place PROTAGONIST. Rode the six hundred (the Light Brigade) = The six-hundred soldiers rode CONFLICT. Stormd at with shot and shell / Boldly they rode and well / Into the jaws of Death = Although the soldiers were showered with shots and shells, they boldly rode toward their almostcertain death. RESOLUTION. Then they rode back, but not/Not the six hundred. = The surviving soldiers who survived rode back, but there were less than six hundred. They that had fought so well / Came through the jaws of death / Back from the mouth of hell / All that was left of them / Left of six hundred. = The soldiers who fought well returned alive from the dangerous battle, but there were few of the original six hundred left. SUSPENSE. These lines add suspense: Theirs not to reason why/Theirs but to do and die; Cannon to the right of them,/Cannon to the left them,/Cannon in front of them/Volleyd and thunderd; Boldly they rode and well,/Into the jaws of death,/Into the mouth of Hell; Then they rode back but not/Not the six hundred; and While horse and hero fell. Students may note that the poem uses few

INTERVIEWING AND REPORTING. Imagine you are a reporter covering the Battle of Balaklava. Interview several classmates, each of whom should respond as a participant in the battle. For example, one student could respond as a soldier in the Light Brigade, another as the officer who gave the orders to charge, and another as a Russian soldier. Write a news story for television, radio, or the newspaper, reporting on the battle and its outcome. If possible, produce the story by videotaping it, making an audio recording, or printing it in newspaper format. See the Language Arts Survey 4.14, Conducting an Interview, for tips on how to prepare for an interview.

Collaborative Learning
SETTING A POEM TO MUSIC. The Charge of the Light Brigade was set to music by E. T. Paull in the early 1900s. In a small group, discuss how you would set the poem to music today. What type of music would best fit the poem? What instruments would the music be for? Would the music be slow-paced or fast-paced? loud or soft? What would the cover of your sheet music look like? Design the cover for the music. On the back cover, write a description of the music that you would favor for the poem.

660

UNIT NINE

WORDS IN MOTION: POETRY

ANSWERS TO UNDERSTANDING LITERATURE (CONT.)

adjectives, and far more concrete nouns (cannon, jaws, death, mouth, Hell, horse, hero) and vivid verbs (do, die, volleyed, thundered, rode). The action verbs and concrete nouns create a sense of motion and action fitting for a battle scene. Responses will vary. REPETITION. Repeated phrases include half a league, valley of Death, jaws of Death, mouth of Hell, theirs not . . . , Canon to . . . of them, Volleyd and thunderd, flashd, Stormd at with shot and shell, and the six hundred.

660

TEACHERS EDITION

CONTENTS

Prereading

LYRIC POEM

Corners on the Curving Sky

Author Unknown

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Readers
What do you think about when you ponder the sky?

Journal

UNIT 9 RESOURCE BOOK Selection Worksheet 9.10 Selection Check Test 4.9.19 Selection Test 4.9.20

Readers T O O L B O X
LYRIC POEM. A lyric poem is verse that reveals the emotions of a speaker and does not tell a story. Lyric poems are often contrasted with narrative poems, which have telling a story as their main purpose. Many lyric poems stem from poets observations of themselves, other people, places, things, and situations. What observations does the poet make in Corners on the Curving Sky? SYMBOL. A symbol is something that stands for or represents both itself and something else. As you read this poem, look for symbols that represent different points of view. Use the graphic organizer below to develop your ideas about the poems symbols.

Readers

Resource
Communication between individuals, groups, and even countries always involves points of view. Everyone views the world in a different way based on his or her beliefs, life experiences, emotions, and relationships. When people do not take the unique perspectives of others into account, conflict can arise. Open lines of communication occur when people realize that not everyone shares the same point of view. Accepting, acknowledging, and negotiating different perspectives helps people build relationships based on mutual understanding and respect. SCIENCE CONNECTION. When you look up at the night sky, what you see depends on where on the earth you are. The moon and stars appear one way to a person on the equator and look totally different to a person at the North Pole. In addition, because the earth rotates around its axis, the stars seem to move across the sky so that each night the sky looks slightly different from the last.
CORNERS
ON THE CURVING SKY

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
Students may list the following symbols that represent different points of view: round earth, difference in positions, stars in your window, sky burning with light and dark sky, separately cornering universe of our experience.

Graphic
stars w indo ur w in yo

READERS JOURNAL
You might ask students whether they think about space and what it may be like up there in space, what other people on earth are doing and thinking about the nighttime sky, or something else. Tell them to list as many thoughts as possible that run through their mind when they look up at the nighttime sky.

different points of view

661

GOALS/OBJECTIVES
Studying this lesson will enable students to appreciate a lyric poem explain briefly why two different people in different places see the night sky differently define lyric poem and identify the observations a poet makes in a lyric poem define symbol and identify symbols in a poem

TEACHERS EDITION

661

click here for audio clip

CONTENTS

RESPOND TO THE SELECTION

You might ask students to brainstorm a list of issues or situation in which people can differ and both be right. Keep track of their ideas on the chalkboard so that they can play off of other students ideas to come up with new ones.

ANSWERS TO GUIDED READING QUESTIONS

1. The speaker cannot imagine the stars the other person sees from his or her window. 2. The speaker says our cornering will determine the message of any star and darkness we encounter.

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES

MOTIVATION Encourage students to locate books, articles, or Internet sites that depict different constellations. Ask students to choose one constellation and then share with their classmates the name of this constellation, a star map of what it looks like, a description of what the shape is supposed to represent, and some tips for other students on how to recognize the constellation in the nighttime sky. READING PROFICIENCY Students may benefit from hearing this poem read aloud on audiotape. Tell students to follow along with the words of the poem as they listen. Have students then read the poem independently. ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING Point out the following vocabulary words and expressions: positionshere means both physical place where a person or thing is and ones opinion or point of view cornerturn corners encountermeet unexpectedly SPECIAL NEEDS Students may have difficulty with some of the concepts in this poem. Tell them to concentrate on responding to the Guided Reading questions and the Recall questions.

Our earth is round, and, among other things That means that you and I can hold completely different Points of view and both be right. The difference of our positions will show Stars in your window. I cannot even imagine. Your sky may burn with light, While mine, at the same moment, Spreads beautiful to darkness. Still, we must choose how we separately corner The circling universe of our experience Once chosen, our cornering will determine The message of any star and darkness we n encounter. 662
UNIT NINE

Author Unknown
What is it that the speaker cannot imagine?

What does the speaker say our cornering will determine?

WORDS IN MOTION: POETRY

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES (CONT.)

ENRICHMENT Encourage interested students to take on an independent research project to explain why the stars in the nighttime sky change over centuries, so that the stars ancient Native Americans saw from the western coast of the Gulf of Mexico are not in the same position as they appear to be to a contemporary Texan living in Corpus Christi today. Have students prepare brief oral reports in response to this question. After students deliver their reports have them give you a list of the sources they used to find an explanation.

662

TEACHERS EDITION

CONTENTS

Investigate,
and
Recall: GATHERING FACTS
1a. What does the statement, Our earth is round, mean to the speaker? 2a. What is it that the speaker cannot imagine? What does the speaker see in her sky? 3a. What does the speaker say we must choose?

Inquire, I m a g i n e
Interpret: FINDING MEANING
1b. What is the connection between this statement and what the speaker says it means? 2b. Why does the speaker see a different sky than the person he or she addresses sees?

SELECTION CHECK TEST 4.9.19 WITH ANSWERS

Checking Your Reading 1. What shape is the earth? The earth is round. 2. What does the speaker say the reader will see in the window? The speaker says the reader will see stars in the window. 3. With what might the sky burn? The sky might burn with light. 4. What will our cornering determine? The cornering will determine the message of any star and darkness we encounter. Readers Toolbox 1. What is the difference between a lyric poem and a narrative poem? A narrative poem tells a story, while a lyric poem conveys emotion or imagery and does not tell a story. 2. What is a symbol? A thing that stands both for itself and something else is a symbol.

3b. How does that choice affect each individual?

Analyze: TAKING THINGS APART

4a. What comparisons does the poem make? What contrasts does the poem make?

Synthesize: BRINGING THINGS TOGETHER

4b. Explain in your own words what this poem reveals about the idea that people can have different points of view and both be right.

Evaluate: MAKING JUDGMENTS

5a. To what extent do you agree with the ideas presented in this poem?

Extend: CONNECTING IDEAS

5b. What are your thoughts about how people can be different and yet still get along?

ANSWERS TO INVESTIGATE, INQUIRE, IMAGINE

RECALL 1a. Our earth is round means that you and I can hold/completely different/Points of view and both be right. 2a. The speaker cannot imagine the stars the other person sees from his or her window. The speaker sees the sky spread beautiful to darkness. 3a. The speaker says we must separately choose how to corner the circling universe of our experience. INTERPRET 1b. The connection is that from different points on a round earth, things such as the nighttime sky appear differently, and so in describing the sky both people are correct. 2b. The speaker sees a different sky because he or she may be on a different part of the planet, at the opposite end of the earth from the person he or she addresses. 3b. Our choice determines how we will perceive what we see or understand the message of any star and darkness we/encounter. ANALYZE 4a. The poem compares the way two different points of view can both be right, stars in two different skies, and understanding the message of two different experiencesstars and darkness. The poem contrasts the points of view (saying they are different) and the sky that burns
TEACHERS EDITION

Understanding

LYRIC POEM. A lyric poem is verse that tells the emotions of a speaker and does not tell a story. Lyric poems are often contrasted with narrative poems, which have telling a story as their main purpose. Many lyric poems stem from poets observations of themselves, other people, places, things, and situations. What emotions are revealed in this lyric poem? SYMBOL. A symbol is something that stands for or represents both itself and something else. How does the poet use the sky to represent his or her ideas? What symbols does he or she use to represent different points of view? Go back and finish or modify your graphic organizer to show your final thoughts about symbols. Then identify symbols you might use to represent the different points of view that people might hold.

Literature

CORNERS

ON THE CURVING SKY

663

ANSWERS TO INVESTIGATE, INQUIRE, IMAGINE (CONT.)

with light with the sky that spreads beautiful to darkness. SYNTHESIZE 4b. This poem reveals that because of the different places people live and the different experiences people have, they can have ideas and experiences that are both right but different. EVALUATE 5a. Responses will vary. Some students may have difficulty of the notion of there being more than one right answer or more than one truth. Other students will take readily to this idea. Encourage students to support their views with examples. EXTEND 5b. Responses will vary. Answers to Understanding Literature are on page 664.

663

CONTENTS
LYRIC POEM

Prereading

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
UNIT 9 RESOURCE BOOK Selection Worksheet 9.11 Selection Check Test 4.9.21 Selection Test 4.9.22 Speaking and Listening Resource 4.19 Study and Research Resource 5.25

Readers
What is your favorite place to be alone? Explain your answer.

Journal

Under the Apple Tree

by Diana Rivera

Readers T O O L B O X
LYRIC POEM. A lyric poem is verse that reveals the emotions of a speaker. Lyric poems are often contrasted with narrative poems, which have telling a story as their main purpose. Lyric poems often have songlike qualities. Traditionally, such poems were sung to the music of a lyre (ancient harp). What songlike qualities does Under the Apple Tree have? FIGURE OF SPEECH. A figure of speech is a statement or phrase that has more than a straightforward, literal meaning. Metaphor, simile, and personification are all figures of speech. In a metaphor, one thing is written about as if it were another, inviting the reader to make a comparison between the two things. A simile is a comparison using like or as. Personification describes something not human as if it were human. Try to identify the figures of speech used in Under the Apple Tree. Use the graphic organizer below to keep track of the figures of speech you find.

Readers
GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
For metaphor, students might write emerald hills; dark crevice of trunks; butterflys tiny blue hearts/on powdery wings; a yellow shrub/furiously sprouts/in a trance of burning stars; Branches are suns; insectssilver specks. For simile, students might write Like horses with their swerved necks,/ I concentrate on grass; Earthworms insert themselves into the earth/like glossy, pink pins!; little, highpitched, cricketed chirps/rise like tiny bells towards the ageless moon; horses trod down the pasture,/disappearing/like an impression of veils. For personification, students might write apple tree,/knotty with its hollow/belly; sun that strokes; a crowd of petals close their eyes.

Resource
SCIENCE CONNECTION. Apple trees belong to the rosaceae, or rose, family. In spring, white flowers that look like tiny roses appear. The flowers are pollinated by birds and insects, causing seeds to grow. The seeds grow into apples in about 140 to 170 days. Apples, like pears, are pomes fleshy fruits consisting of an outer thickened fleshy layer and a central core with five or more seeds. A healthy apple tree can produce more than 800 pounds of fruit per year. In many literary works, the writer creates a microcosm, or little world. Examples of microcosms in the larger world include dollhouses and aquariums. In literature, a microcosm can represent an authors view of life in the larger world.

Graphic
Make a Y-shaped grid like this one on your paper. Label the three wedges with M, S, and P, for each of the figures of speech defined above. Write examples of each in the corresponding spaces.

READERS JOURNAL
Encourage students to explore what they enjoy about the sights, sounds, smells, feelings, and tastesthe sensory detailsof this place.

VOCABULARY FROM THE SELECTION

crevice

apple tree with hollow belly

ANSWERS TO UNDERSTANDING LITERATURE

CORNERS ON THE CURVING SKY, page 663 LYRIC POEM. The emotions revealed are wonder and acceptance. SYMBOL. The poet uses the sky to represent the way two different ideas can both be right by showing how the sky will look different in one place than it does in another. She uses differences in positions and the different stars and skies seen to represent different points of view.

664

UNIT NINE

GOALS/OBJECTIVES
Studying this lesson will enable students to have a positive experience reading a lyric poem define lyric poem and explain what songlike qualities a lyric poem has define metaphor, simile, and personification and distinguish between these figures of speech research astronomy stage a poetry reading evaluate Internet sites

664

TEACHERS EDITION

CONTENTS
ANSWER TO GUIDED READING QUESTION
1. The sun strokes the sides of trees and casts its shadows on emerald hills.

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES

MOTIVATION Students may enjoy the opportunity to display their technical shrewdness and their knowledge about the Web in the Media Literacy activity following this poem. You may wish to form small groups of students, with some students who are very confident with computers and the Internet and others who are less confident. Each group should go to your school library or computer lab to complete this activity, and the students who are more computer-savvy should share what they know with other group members. READING PROFICIENCY Have students form pairs with a reading partner. Students should take turns reading aloud the poem to each other and closing their eyes and listening. They then might discuss the images from this poem that created the most vivid pictures in their minds. ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING Point out the following vocabulary words and expressions: knottyfull of hard lumps where branches grow or once grew out pasturesfields where animals such as cows or horses graze emeraldgreen precious jewel; also the color of such a stone trancestate of altered consciousness, somewhat resembling sleep, in which voluntary movement is lost glimmergive a faint flickering light scragglyuneven or ragged in growth or form nestlesettle down comfortably and snugly (in or as in a nest) trodwalk across impressionnotion, feeling, or recollection SPECIAL NEEDS Students may at first find the way ideas are expressed in this lyric poem challenging because there is no narrative, no chronological order
TEACHERS EDITION

The Lawrence Tree, 1929. Georgia OKeeffe. Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut.

UNDER the
I like it here, under the apple tree, knotty, with its hollow belly here sitting on its branch above stone fences that separate pastures, taking life here What does the with the sun that strokes sun do? the sides of trees casting its shadows on emerald hills.

Apple Tree
Diana Rivera
I like it here, entering the dark crevice of trunks, studying the butterflys tiny blue hearts on powdery wings. Like horses with their swerved necks, I concentrate on grass. Earthworms insert themselves into the earth like glossy, pink pins!

crev ice (krev is) n., narrow opening resulting from a split or crack. My shoe was caught in the crevice of that rock.

UNDER

THE APPLE TREE

665

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES (CONT.)

to follow. Share with students the Words for Everyday Use and the English Language Learning. Tell them that as they read they should concentrate on the images produced in their minds as they read and the feelings they associate with these images. ENRICHMENT Interested students might research different varieties of apples grown, the difference in the tastes of these apples, and what these apples can be used for. Students might work together to create a chart for a recipe book listing the information they discover on varieties of apples. Ask students to determine if there are more or fewer varieties of apples today that there were fifty years ago.

665

CONTENTS
ANSWERS TO GUIDED READING QUESTIONS
1. The yellow shrub furiously sprouts in a trance of burning stars. 2. At sunset the branch the speaker sits on snaps and coils.

Against the green, a yellow shrub furiously sprouts in a trance of burning stars.

Branches are suns that glimmer from within taking life here, under the apple tree, where a crowd of petals close their eyes, where scraggly layers of trunk seem to slowly come apart.

What does the yellow shrub do?

I like it here where birds now nestle and sleep, where little, high-pitched, cricketed chirps rise like tiny bells towards the ageless moon. Here, where insects,silver specks fly through the glimmering blue. Oh, but the mouse hides under the hay and the cracks. The horses trod down the pasture, disappearing n like an impression of veils.

RESPOND TO THE SELECTION

You might expand this activity for urban students to include any elements of students surroundings they notice when they are outside.

What happens at At sunset the branch I sit sunset? on snaps and coils. The blue jay hastily darts, and disappears.

SELECTION CHECK TEST 4.9.21 WITH ANSWERS

Checking Your Reading 1. Where does the speaker like to sit? The speaker likes to sit under the apple tree or on a branch. 2. What strokes the sides of trees? The sun strokes the sides of the trees. 3. What has tiny blue hearts? Butterflies have tiny blue hearts. 4. What does the blue jay do at sunset? The blue jay disappears at sunset. 5. What creatures sound does the speaker hear at night? The speaker hears crickets at night. Readers Toolbox MATCHING a. lyric poem b. figurative language c. metaphor d. simile e. personification ________ 1. describes an animal, a plant, an idea, a thing, an emotion, or a thought as if it were human e ________ 2. compares two things using like or as d ________ 3. does not tell a story a

Respondto the SELECTION

What aspects of nature do you notice most when you are outside?

About the

A U T H O R
Diana Rivera was born and raised in Puerto Rico. She has studied art in Rome, Italy, and currently resides in Upper Grandview, New York, where she writes and paints. Rivera is the author of Bird Language, a collection of poetry published in 1994.

ANSWERS TO UNDERSTANDING LITERATURE

LYRIC POEM. Students may say the poet shares the emotions of happiness, contentment, and wonder. We learn that the speaker likes nature, but we learn little about his or her dislikes, The speakers emotions, mostly repeated in the phrases, I like it and hear, give the poem a songlike quality through the repetition itself. The joyful emotions are also reminiscent of certain celebratory songs.

666

UNIT NINE

WORDS IN MOTION: POETRY

ANSWERS TO UNDERSTANDING LITERATURE (CONT.)

FIGURES OF SPEECH. Students may say the examples of metaphor they identified in their responses to the Graphic Organizer activity help share the speakers unique perspective on the world and the way he or she sees nature. Students may say the similes they identified help students to imagine natural scenes by comparing them to other things they know or can imagine. Students may say the examples of personification they identified helps the reader to see natural objects in human terms and so to relate to them better. Students may say they see human qualities in unexpected places (petals closing their eyes), which helps them to see the natural object in a new and unusual way.

666

TEACHERS EDITION

CONTENTS

Investigate,
and
Recall: GATHERING FACTS
1a. What does the sun do in the third stanza?

Inquire, I m a g i n e
Interpret: FINDING MEANING
1b. How does the speaker regard the sun? What makes you think so? 2b. How does the speaker react? How can you tell? 3b. How does this serve to conclude the poem?

ANSWERS TO INVESTIGATE, INQUIRE, IMAGINE

RECALL 1a. The sun strokes the sides of trees and casts shadows on emerald hills. 2a. At sunset the branch the speaker sits on snaps and coils and a blue jay hastily darts away. The speaker then sits longer enjoying the scene even after sunset. 3a. The horses trod down the pasture and disappear in the distance. INTERPRET 1b. The speaker regards the sun as a good life-giving force. This is evidenced when the speaker mentions taking life with the sun, and its gently stroking the sides of trees and giving shade to emerald hills. 2b. Students may say the speaker likes the scene as much at night as he or she did during the day. Students may point to the phrase, I like it here, and the vivid description of night the speaker offers. 3b. Their disappearance concludes the poem because the speaker mentions something leaving his or her range of sight from the apple tree for the first time. The horse are probably heading home, implying that the speaker will soon do the same. ANALYZE 4a. Students may say that many of the speakers observations describe things, such as the apple tree itself, the trunks of trees, butterfly wings, and horses necks. Many more describe actions he or she witnesses such as the sun stroking trees and casting shadows, the earthworms inserting themselves into the earth, the yellow shrub sprouting, the crowd of petals closing their eyes, the layers of trunk seeming to come apart, the blue jay darting away, the birds nestling and sleeping, the insects flying like silver specks, the mouse hiding, and the horses disappearing like veils in the distance.

2a. What happens at sunset?

3a. Where do the horses go in the last stanza?

Analyze: TAKING THINGS APART

4a. How many of the speakers observations describe things? How many of her observations describe actions she witnesses?

Synthesize: BRINGING THINGS TOGETHER

4b. Explain how the speakers descriptions work together to provide the reader with a vivid picture of the speakers experience, observations, and reactions to the experience?

Evaluate: MAKING JUDGMENTS

5a. How well does this poem capture and interpret the speakers experience? What, if anything, does the speaker fail to reveal about her experience?

Extend: CONNECTING IDEAS

5b. In what ways does this poem describe a universal experience that all people could share? In what ways is it more of a personal statement? How would you describe a similar experience in a different way?

Understanding

LYRIC POEM. A lyric poem is verse that tells the emotions of a speaker and does not tell a story. Lyric poems are often contrasted with narrative poems, which have telling a story as their main purpose. Lyric poems often have songlike qualities. What emotions does the speaker share in this poem? What do we learn about the speakers likes and dislikes? How do the speakers emotions contribute to the poems songlike quality? FIGURES OF SPEECH. A figure of speech is a statement or phrase that has more than a straight-forward, literal meaning. Metaphor, simile, personification, and hyperbole are all figures of speech. In a metaphor, one thing is written about as if it were another, inviting the reader to make a comparison between the two things. A simile is a comparison using like or as. Personification describes something not human as if it were human. Look back at your graphic organizer. What examples of metaphor did you find in the poem? What effect do they have on the poem? What similes did you find? How do they impact the poem? What objects in the poem are personified? In what ways does this help the reader see an unusual aspect of the object or objects?

Literature

UNDER

THE APPLE TREE

667

ANSWERS TO INVESTIGATE, INQUIRE, IMAGINE (CONT.)

EVALUATE 5a. Students may say that this poem does a good job of revealing what the speaker observes and experiences, as well as how the speaker feels about this place. The poem does not, however, reveal much directly about the character of the speaker him or herself or his or her life, other than how much he or she enjoys quietly observing nature from the apple tree. EXTEND 5b. Students may say that quietly observing nature is an experience all people can share even if they are not observing the exact same scene. Students may say the poem is also a personal statement about a place the speaker loves. Responses will vary. Answers to Understanding Literature on page 666.

SYNTHESIZE 4b. Responses will vary. Students may say then descriptions help to share the speakers experiences, observations, and reaction with the reader so the reader feels that he or she too has been to this place and seen these things and can relate to and participate imaginatively in what the speaker describes.

TEACHERS EDITION

667

CONTENTS
ANSWERS TO SKILL BUILDERS
Study and Research In addition to books, articles, and Web sites on astronomy, students may find natural science museums and planetariums to be valuable resources in completing this assignment. You might encourage students to form groups and to contact the resident astronomy expert at such a place by letter or e-mail to set up a phone or e-mail interview in which the expert might help students with these questions. For more information on interviewing, refer students to the Language Arts Survey, Conducting an Interview. Speaking and Listening Students might also prepare group interpretations of this poem in which each students delivers a stanza or two. Students should work together to rehearse their group oral interpretation before delivering it to the class. Media Literacy Refer students to the Language Arts Survey, How to Evaluate Internet Web Sites. If students have a hard time coming up with criteria, give them the following list as a starting point: number of poems available or presented, overall quality of poems, attractiveness of Web sites design, navigability (was it easy to get from one place to another in the Web site?), quality of links to other sites, timeliness (how often is the Web site updated?).

Writers Journal

1. Imagine that you are a teacher and that your class discussions sometimes result in everyone talking loudly at the same time. Write a list of ten rules for group discussion, reminding your students to respect one anothers points of view. 2. Write a lyric poem describing a secret hideaway that you have or wish to have. 3. Write a for sale classified advertisement for the property described in Under the Apple Tree.

Skill Builders
Study and Research
STUDYING ASTRONOMY. Use library resources or the Internet to find information on astronomy. As you research, keep a log to track what information you have found and where you found it. Try to locate answers to the following questions. What stars, constellations, and planets should I be able to see from this geographic location at this time of the year? How can I identify them? Where in the sky should I look? What should I do to get the best view? What unique astronomical objects can be viewed this year that cannot be seen every year? After you have found this information, check your answers by looking at the night sky yourself.

Media Literacy
EVALUATING INTERNET SITES. A number of amateur poetry sites and electronic magazines for kids exist on the Internet. Some are developed and maintained by schools. Others are sponsored by various organizations and Internet publishers. Like books, Internet sites can be reviewed, critiqued, and rated. Develop a list of at least five kids or amateur poetry sites, including a review for each one. Critique each by evaluating its different aspects, such as design, content, and ease of use. Finally, rank each site. Before searching for the poetry sites, create a list of criteria by which to evaluate them. Then decide which features you believe are most important in a kids poetry site or e-zine. Use your list to help you evaluate the sites you find. Some site addresses you may wish to start with are listed below. Or, you may want to use a search engine to look for keywords such as kids, poetry, and e-zine. For more information on Internet research, see the Language Arts Survey 5.25, Using the Internet. http://www.cyberteens.com/ezine/ http://www.poetrytodayonline.com/ TeenPoetry.html http://members.xoom.com/grnhouse/main.htm http://www.veeceet.com

Speaking and Listening

POETRY READING. Stage a reading of Under the Apple Tree. If you wish, you may use props or other special effects. Try to interpret the poem from the speakers point of view. As you read, pay particular attention to the voice you use, the emotions you express, your pacing and volume, and your gestures and facial expressions. See the Language Arts Survey 4.19, Oral Interpretation of Poetry, for more help reading poetry aloud.

668

UNIT NINE

WORDS IN MOTION: POETRY

668

TEACHERS EDITION

CONTENTS

Prereading

TRANSLATED VERSE

Haiku

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
by Matsuo Basho, Yosa Buson, and Kobayashi Issa; translated by Robert Hass

Readers
What do you hear when you sit perfectly still and listen to everything around you?

Journal

Readers T O O L B O X
HAIKU. A haiku is a traditional Japanese three-line poem. It has five syllables in the first line, seven in the second line, and five in the third. A traditional haiku presents an image to arouse in the reader a specific emotional state. Contemporary poets have adapted the form for other purposes. IMAGERY. An image is language that describes something that can be seen, heard, touched, tasted, or smelled. The images in a literary work are referred to, when considered altogether, as the works imagery. A haiku usually presents one or more images to capture a moment of reflection. Describe the images in the following haiku. What sensory details create the images? Make a cluster chart for each poem. Write the central image of the poem in a center circle. Around the center circle, add sensory details that contribute to the image.

UNIT 9 RESOURCE BOOK Selection Worksheet 9.12 Selection Check Test 4.9.23 Selection Test 4.9.24 Reading Resource 1.17

Readers

Resource
Translating poetry is an extremely difficult task. Poetry, even more than prose, is tightly linked to culture and to subtle meanings in language. While some people say that poems should be translated literally, word for word, others feel that the essence of the poem is the important thing. If meaning is the part of a poem that must be translated from one language to another, other aspects of the poem are often lost. The original poems rhyme and rhythm, for example, may be lost in the translated verse. In these translated haiku, for example, the traditional five-syllable/threesyllable/five-syllable lines have been changed. Haiku is a poetry form that originated more than five hundred years ago in Japan. The haiku tradition stems from a close observation of nature. The haiku is also characterized by seemingly simple reflections that really offer complex ideas.
HAIKU

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
Students may include the following information in their cluster charts: pondold, frog jumps in, sound of water; grassesmisty, quiet waters, evening; nightsummer, stars whisper to each other.

Graphic
a frog jumping

READERS JOURNAL
Encourage students to write about sounds they hear when they are listening carefully that they may not ordinarily notice or might tune out. Encourage students to notice other sensory details when they sit still and open their senses, such a sights they might not pay attention to ordinarily, smells, and physical feelings. Have students compare their observations in small groups to see what other students picked up on.

pond

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GOALS/OBJECTIVES
Studying this lesson will enable students to enjoy reading some translated haiku define haiku and explain the form of a haiku define imagery and identify the imagery in a poem examine different translations research the origins of haiku identify parts of a dictionary definitions

TEACHERS EDITION

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CONTENTS
ANSWERS TO GUIDED READING QUESTIONS
1. The frog jumps into the old pond. 2. The stars are whispering to each other.

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES

MOTIVATION Students may find it interesting to see how many Japanese words have entered the English language. Challenge students to use dictionaries, their own knowledge, and the Internet to come up with more Japanese words that have become a part of the English language. Have students bring their lists to class and share them. Compile a list on the chalkboard as students offer suggestions. READING PROFICIENCY Students may find the haiku more simple to read than many poems. Let students know, however, that haiku can create complex, detailed, and vivid images in very few words. Read the haiku aloud to students and have them close their eyes and try to picture the scene in each haiku. Students might then discuss in small groups which haiku appealed most to them and which created the most vivid pictures in their minds. Then have students read the haiku independently, slowly and carefully. Ask students to discuss whether their independent reading changed their minds in any way. ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING Share with students that in the Japanese language most syllables are given equal stress. Encourage students to try pronouncing the authors names giving each syllable the same weight or stress. SPECIAL NEEDS Encourage students to choose one of the haiku and draw the picture the haiku creates in their mind. Students might then share their drawings with others. Concrete visual images may help some students to better picture the images in these poems.

Matsuo Basho
The old pond a frog jumps in, sound of water.
Into what does the frog jump?

Yosa Buson
Misty grasses, quiet waters, its evening.
n

Kobayashi Issa
Summer night
What are the stars doing?

even the stars are whispering to each other.

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INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES (CONT.)

ENRICHMENT Encourage students to write their own series of three haiku on the same scene or subject. For example, students might describe a city playground during the night in winter, during the day in summer, and at night in summer, or students might describe three very different bodies of water. Students who participate might then compile their haiku into a class book of haiku to share with other students.

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CONTENTS

Respondto the SELECTION

If you were a haiku poet, what natural scene would spark your imagination as a potential subject for a haiku?

RESPOND TO THE SELECTION

Encourage students to also list subjects other than nature as possible inspiration for haiku. What other things might students observe to provide inspiration for haiku?

art s m a r t
Sugawara no Michizane Composing a Poem, 1886. Buemon Akiyama Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. Japanese prints of the Edo period (16031867) were called ukiyo-e, meaning literally pictures of the floating world, which evoke a carefree world of beauty and pleasure. Artists specialized in certain subjects, such as travel images, beautiful women, or celebrated poets and actors. Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (18391892) is best known for illustrating ghost stories and bizarre folk-tales, but here he depicts Sugawara no Michizanea ninth-century Japanese diplomat who became the shinto god of literature and calligraphycomposing a poem while observing nature. What qualities do ukiyo-e prints share with haiku poetry?

ART SMART
Haiku poetry and ukiyo-e prints share a style of simplicity and economy, and a calm, contemplative mood.

About the

A U T H O R S
Matsuo Basho (16441694) was a Japanese haiku master and a teacher of poetry. He also studied Zen Buddhism and practiced meditation. In 1689 he grew unhappy with his role as a teacher, so he sold his house and began to travel. The result was a collection of writings that is his masterpiece, Narrow Road to the Far North. Yosa Buson (17161783) was born near Osaka, Japan. He earned his living as a painter but considered himself a poet. Buson produced several books of poems, including Light from the Snow (1772) and A Crow at Dawn (1773). Kobayashi Issa (17631827) was born in a small village in the mountains of Japan. He was raised by his grandmother. Issas poetry is filled with images of tiny creatures, especially mice, lice, fleas, and ticks, as a result of his close observations of his natural surroundings.

SELECTION CHECK TEST 4.9.23 WITH ANSWERS

Checking Your Reading 1. In Bashos haiku, what jumps into the pond? The frog jumps into the pond. 2. In Busons haiku, what are the waters like? The waters are quiet. 3. In Busons haiku, what time of day is it? It is evening. 4. What season is reflected in Issas haiku? It is summer. 5. What are the stars doing in Issas haiku? The stars are whispering to each other. Readers Toolbox 1. In what country did haiku originate? Haiku originated in Japan. 2. Why do the poems in this selection differ from the traditional format? The poems differ from the traditional format because they have been translated into English, which affects the arrangement of syllables. 3. What is the most common subject matter for haiku, as demonstrated by these three poems? The most common subject matter for haiku is nature.

HAIKU

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TEACHERS EDITION

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RELATED READING

LITERARY NOTE
Share with students that struggling to translate meaning despite different cultures and heritages is only one of the translators challenges. When a translator works with a poem that is rich in sound techniques, such as rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, assonance, and onomatopoeia, these techniques are almost always lost in translation. The translator then faces a difficult choicehe or she can experiment with word choice and poetic form to try to preserve some of these sound techniques, but in doing so he or she may lose or alter some of the poems literal meaning. Translators have to make choices about what is most important in the poem they are translating and how best to convey this in another language. Ask students to consider how the translation team in Lost in Translation might best go about conveying the moonlight that is understood to all Japanese but may not be understood by people of other cultures in their translation?

from
Steven Harvey
Armed with my book of Japanese kana1 and her calculator-like word-finder, Junko and I sat at the dining room table and translated haikuat least, we tried. I printed a transliterated2 version of the haiku on the page in front of us and Junko read through it, her hand opening and closing as she counted off the syllables with her fingers. Yes, haiku, she said, when her fingers closed into a fist at the end of the five-syllable last line. She scratched the poison ivy under her eye and began writing English words above the Japanese. Over the word ana she wrote hole and over ya she wrote a colon. Haiku very boring, she said, opening her eyes wide as she always does when she is excited. But if you see in your mindis okay. Above the syllable no she wrote s but stumbled on the word in front of it. Shoji, she whispered, how say that. Eyes wide, she typed quickly into her word-finder. Shoji like sliding door, she mumbled, but. . . . Then she showed me the definition on her machine: A sliding door with a piece of Japanese paper on a lattice. Not good for Sam, she added with a giggle. She brought her hand down in a mock karate chop and said, Bam. Thats for sure, I said. She wrote sliding door and the word then above the long first word in the first line and milky way above the last word in the poem. Ama-no-gawa, I said in her language, haltingly, like a childthe word, not a word for me, but a plaything on my tongue. Mil-ky way, she answered. Yes. After a half hour of poking around at this text, our literal translation of Issas immortal haiku looked like this: Then: Sliding doors holes Milky Way. We both examined the sheet for a while, not sure what to do next this was our first experiment in translating haiku, and the results seemed, well, meager. Words and meaning are very different, she said, apologetically. You must picture. Despairing of any verbal solution, she drew a stick figure picture of a person under a window with a hole in the shade. Then she drew several lines from the hole to the man. Moonlight, she said, still drawing the linesas if the figure were bathed in it. Moonlight. I looked back at her, puzzled, and pointed out that there was no mention of moon in the poem. Always moon in haikuif night, always moon. I sure. She scratched the poison ivy again just under the rim of her glasses. Every peoples in Japan know this shoji and this moon, she said. I sure. Must picture moon. She looked at me and opened her eyes wide again, as if I might look through them and see what she sees. For a moment we shared what is s lost in translation.
1. kana. Japanese writing 2. transliterated. Written in the characters of a different alphabet

ABOUT THE RELATED READING This reading is a slice from the book, Lost in Translation, a collection of essays in which Steve Harvey reflects on language and its importance in everyday life. Harvey is a professor of English at Young Harris College and is also the author of A Geometry of Lilies: Life and Death in an American Family.

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CONTENTS

Investigate,
and
Recall: GATHERING FACTS
1a. What change does the frog create in the haiku by Basho? 2a. What time of day does the speaker describe in the haiku by Buson? 3a. What are the stars doing in the haiku by Issa?

Inquire, I m a g i n e
Interpret: FINDING MEANING
1b. How does this change seem either surprising or ordinary? 2b. Why might the speaker use these descriptions for that time of day? 3b. Why does the speaker say even the stars?

ANSWERS TO INVESTIGATE, INQUIRE, IMAGINE

RECALL 1a. The frog jumps into the pond and makes the sound of water. 2a. The speaker describes evening. 3a. The stars are whispering to each other. INTERPRET 1b. Responses will vary. Students may say that the frogs jumping into the pond isnt unusual, but describing the noise the frog makes as the sound of water is unusual and surprising because it inspires the reader to think about the sound of water. 2b. Students may say that the speaker is trying to capture the stillness and the coolness of evening with phrases like misty grasses and quiet waters. 3b. The speaker may be trying to imply that others are whispering perhaps the wind or people. ANALYZE 4a. Students may say that they are alike in that they all explore natural scenes, and two of them focus in on a specific time of day. They all contain vivid imagery and appeal to sight and sound. Students may say that they are different in that the Basho haiku doesnt mention a specific time of day unlike the others; some of them feature animals, while others do not; some personify nature and others do not. SYNTHESIZE 4b. Students might suggest that all three poets probably appreciated nature greatly and respected it. It seems they found peace and serenity in quietly observing nature. EVALUATE 5a. Responses will vary. EXTEND 5b. Responses will vary.

Analyze: TAKING THINGS APART

4a. Compare and contrast these three haiku. How are they alike? What characteristics do they share? How are they different?

Synthesize: BRINGING THINGS TOGETHER

4b. What common views might the poets who wrote these haiku share? What values might they have in common?

Evaluate: MAKING JUDGMENTS

5a. Which haiku made the strongest impression on you? What emotions did it evoke in you?

Extend: CONNECTING IDEAS

5b. How does this haiku relate to you, your life, and your experiences? What similarities exist between it and modern poems you have read, movies you have watched, art you have seen, or scenes you have witnessed?

Understanding

HAIKU. A haiku is a traditional Japanese three-line poem. It has five syllables in the first line, seven in the second line, and five in the third. A traditional haiku presents an image in order to arouse in the reader a specific emotional state. Why do you think haiku are so short? What does this format contribute to the poems imagery? IMAGERY. An image is language that describes something that can be seen, heard, touched, tasted, or smelled. The images in a literary work are referred to, when considered altogether, as the works imagery. These images are intended to create a particular emotion in the reader. What generalizations can you make about the imagery in these haiku? What generalizations can you make about the emotions this imagery evokes?

Literature

HAIKU

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ANSWERS TO UNDERSTANDING LITERATURE

HAIKU. Students may suggest that haiku are so short so as to better present the reader with one distinct picture of scene to draw a very specific emotional state related to that scene. The brevity of the poems heightens the intensity of the imagery; they are compact and the reader must pause for a moment to experience them. IMAGERY. Students may say all the images are related in some way to nature. Students may say that the emotions seem to be related to ways people react to naturewith surprised delight or with pleasure in tranquillity.

TEACHERS EDITION

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ANSWERS TO SKILL BUILDERS
Language, Grammar, and Style It might be easiest for students to comb through these sources to find different translations of the same poems if they work in small groups. You might ask your school or local library to put these books on reserve so that students can examine these books while in the library but cannot check them out. That way no one group can spoil other groups chances of completing their research. Study and Research Refer students to the Language Arts Survey 5.18, How to Locate Library Materials, before they begin this activity. Students might find reference works, including various literary reference books, to be helpful for this assignment. Anthologies of world literature may also prove helpful, as will books on haiku and the history of Japan. Vocabulary 1. teriyaki definition: Japanese dish consisting of meat or fish marinated in spiced soy sauce and broiled, grilled, or barbecued part of speech: noun ter e y k e origin: [Jpn < teri, nominal form of teru, to shine + yaki, nominal form of yaku, to broil: so called because the sauce makes the meat or fish shiny] 2. kamikaze definition: pertaining to a suicidal attack by Japanese airplane pilots during World War II part of speech: adjective k m k z e a origin: [[Jpn, lit., divine wind kami, god + kaze, the wind] 3. kimono definition: robe with wide sleeves and a sash, part of the traditional costume of Japanese men and women part of speech: noun k m n e o o origin: [Jpn ki (kiru, to wear) + mono, thing] 4. ginkgo definition: Asiatic tree with fan-shaped leaves and yellow, foul-smelling seeds enclosing a silvery edible inner kernel part of speech: noun g n kyo e origin: [Jpn ginkyo < Sino-Jpn gin, silver + kyo, apricot] 5. kakemono definition: Japanese silk or paper hanging or scroll with an inscription or picture on it and rollers at the top and bottom part of speech: noun k k m n a o o origin: [Jpn kake, to hang + mono, thing]

Writers Journal

1. Write a haiku that reveals something about how you view the world around you. Create this poem for a person who is close to you. 2. Imagine you are compiling a collection of haiku for a book. Write a promotional blurb for the back cover of the book, explaining why the book will intrigue poetry readers. 3. Write instructions for a photographer whose assignment is to go out and shoot pictures to accompany each of these three haiku on posters. Be as specific as possible.

Skill Builders
Language, Grammar, and Style
EXAMINING TRANSLATIONS. At a local library, search for different collections of translated haiku. The following is a list of some books you may want to find. The Essential Basho by Matsuo Basho, , translated by Sam Hamill The Spring of My Life and Selected Haiku, by Kobayashi Issa, translated by Sam Hamill The Narrow Road to Oku, by Matsuo Basho, translated by Donald Keene The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho Buson, and , Issa, edited and translated by Robert Hass Try to find different variations of the same original poems. In what ways do the translations differ from one another? What words generally remain the same? Which translation do you like the best? Why?

Vocabulary
JAPANESE WORDS. Look up the following words, all of which come from the Japanese language, in a standard English dictionary. Then write out the definition, part of speech, pronunciation, and origin of each word. If you need to review the parts of a dictionary entry, review the Language Arts Survey 1.17, Using a Dictionary. 1. teriyaki definition: part of speech: pronunciation: origin: 2. kamikaze definition: part of speech: pronunciation: origin: 3. kimono definition: part of speech: pronunciation: origin: 4. ginkgo definition: part of speech: pronunciation: origin: 5. kakemono definition: part of speech: pronunciation: origin: 6. karate definition: part of speech: pronunciation: origin: 7. dojo definition: part of speech: pronunciation: origin: 8. karaoke definition: part of speech: pronunciation: origin:

Study and Research

ORIGINS OF HAIKU. Using library resources, research early haiku writers. Try to determine the cultural surroundings from which haiku emerged. What was happening in Japanese culture around the same time Japanese poets began writing haiku? How did haiku change through time? Write a short summary of your findings on the history of haiku.

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ANSWERS TO SKILL BUILDERS (CONT.)

6. karate definition: Japanese system of self-defense characterized chiefly by sharp, quick blows delivered with the hands and feet part of speech: noun k r t a origin: [Jpn, lit., prob. kara, empty + te, hand] 7. dojo definition: studio or room in which martial arts are taught part of speech: noun d o j o origin: [Jpn] (Continued on page 675)

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For Your Reading List What Have You Lost?, edited by Naomi Shihab Nye, offers both humorous and serious poems about loss that will appeal to young adult readers. Hazel Rochman, writing for Booklist in April 1999, notes, as Nye points out in her splendid introduction, one reason why we fuss so much about petty losses is because we cannot bear to face the inevitable larger ones that can never be redeemed or reclaimed. Rochman goes on to say that English teachers will find this an important resource to stimulate students writing. The alternate selections listed on page 675 include How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry by Edward Hirsch and Cool MelonsTurn to Frogs!: The Life and Poems of Issa, ed. by Matthew Golub. Students will be intrigued by both poetry collectionsone which provides a broad overview of poetry and the other which looks at the life of a master of the haiku. Compile Your Own Poetry Anthology This activity can serve as an additional or alternate assessment to the preparatory work students will do for the Unit 9 Test. As students prepare to create their own poetry anthology, have them read the following sections in the Language Arts Survey: 1.3, Reading Literature: Educating Your Imagination, 1.4, Educating Your Imagination as an Active Reader, 1.5 Keeping a Readers Journal, 1.6, Reading Silently versus Reading Out Loud, 1.7, Reading with a Book Club or Literature Circle, and 1.8, Guidelines for Discussing Literature in a Book Club. See the Guided Reading Resource 1.31.8 in the Teachers Resource Kit for blackline masters of worksheets that will help students work these concepts more thoroughly. Refer them also to the Language Arts Survey 4.8, Communicating in a Small Group and 4.13, Collaborative Learning and Communication, if they prepare their anthology as a small group project.

for your

READING LIST
Loss must be the one truly universal experience. From the moment we are born and must leave the safe, warm, and comforting environment of the womb to begin our journey through this life, we experience loss. In her introduction to What Have You Lost? Naomi Shihab Nye says that she once walked into the classroom where her unruly students waited and said, simply, What have you lost? Write it down. Her students all picked up pens and pencils and began to fill pages, heads bent, absorbed in the question. It is a question for which we all have a long answer. What Have You Lost?, edited by Naomi Shihab Nye, is an anthology of poetry about losslost toys and lost brothers, lost love, the lost certainty and security of early childhood, the lost familiarity of a grandfathers big car and the scent of his Old Spice cologne, and more. Nye collected these poems for years as she wondered about the way loss affects us, causes us to rethink what we still have, and perhaps helps us to take better care of what remains. The accompanying photographs by Michael Nye, portraits of ordinary people like each of us, remind us that loss is something we all know. COMPILE YOUR OWN POETRY ANTHOLOGY Naomi Shihab Nye chose poems for her anthology that held a special meaning for her personally. What poems have you read that made you stop and think? Which ones seemed to express your own feelings? Which ones made you laugh? Which made you cry? Which poems seemed written just for you? Think back over the poetry you have read over the years and compile your own personal poetry anthology. You may want to review your textbooks and other volumes of poetry you have read to select those poems that have touched you in a personal way. If you have written poetry yourself, include some of your own work as well. After selecting several poems, consider the following: Is there a theme or a common thread to the poetry I have chosen? What title for my anthology does this suggest? How should I write my introduction, explaining when I first read each poem, and why it is significant to me? How might I illustrate my anthology? What art or photography would complement and enhance my work? How will I bind the anthology? (Consider the use of a notebook or binder that will allow you to add additional poetry in the future.) Other books you may want to read: How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry by Edward Hirsch Cool MelonsTurn to Frogs!: The Life and Poems of Issa, ed. by Matthew Gollub

FOR YOUR READING LIST

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ANSWERS TO SKILL BUILDERS (CONT.)

8. karaoke origin: [Jpn d j , fr. d o, way, art + j , ground] o o o definition: a machine that plays the instrumental portion of songs, allowing the user to sing the lyrics into a microphone part of speech: noun pronunciation: k r o k a origin: [Jpn, lit, kara, empty + oke, shortened from okesutura, orchestra: empty orchestra]

TEACHERS EDITION

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EXPRESSIVE/IMAGINATIVE WRITING

LESSON OVERVIEW
CREATING A LYRIC POEM Professional Model, 676 Examining the Model, 676 Prewriting, 677 Finding Your Voice, 677 Identifying Your Audience, 677 Brainstorming, 677 Writing with a Plan, 677 Student ModelGraphic Organizer, 678 Drafting, 678 Self- and Peer Evaluation, 679 Student ModelDraft, 679 Revising and Proofreading, 680 Student ModelRevised, 680 Publishing and Presenting, 681 Reflecting, 681 Language, Grammar, and Style PRONOUN/ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT Identifying Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement, 678 Fixing Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement, 679 Using Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement, 680

n be Writing poems ca ing down a way of pinn ; a dream (almost) a moment, capturing a memory, a happening; and, at s a the same time, it t way of sorting ou d your thoughts an feelings.

CREATING A LYRIC POEM

Blundering, backward day Red clouds and a purple smile A sigh, a kite, a fighting fly Waiting for the wind to wash us clean
You can almost sing these words, for they hold the imagery, sounds, and rhythm of lyrics. If you have ever written words to a song, you have come close to writing lyric poetry. Writing Assignment A lyric poem is a highly musical verse that expresses the emotions of a speaker. Rather than tell a story, the lyric poem expresses a state of mind, a thought, or a feeling. It captures a moment in time. This form lets you play with language, with the rich sounds and meanings of words. In this assignment, you will write a lyric poem about a feeling.
Examining the Model

on Lillian Morris

Professional Model
Blackberry Eating by Galway Kinnell, page 635

GUIDED WRITING
Software
See the Guided Writing Software for an extended version of this lesson that includes printable graphic organizers, extensive student models and studentfriendly checklists, and self-, peer, and teacher evaluation features.

Examining the Model

You might have students fill out a Sensory Details Chart for the Professional Model to identify the descriptive details used in the poem. Point out the simile the ripest berries fall almost unbidden to my tongue, as words sometimes do. . . . Encourage students to use figurative language in their own poem.

I love to go out in late September among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries to eat blackberries for breakfast, the stalks very prickly, a penalty they earn for knowing the black art of blackberry-making; and as I stand among them lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries fall almost unbidden to my tongue, as words sometimes do, certain peculiar words like strengths or squinched, many-lettered, one-syllabled lumps, which I squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well in the silent, startled, icy, black language of blackberry-eating in late September.

In Blackberry Eating, Kinnell captures a moment in time picking and eating blackberries. Words and phrases like I love to go out and the ripest berries fall almost unbidden to my tongue express the speakers thoughts or feelings. But the speaker doesnt stop there. He notices something else. The berries remind him of peculiar words that come to his mouth without thinking, and he compares these words to one-syllabled lumps that he squishes in the icy, black language of berry eating. Comparisons and images like these help the reader experience and understand the thoughts Kinnell is describing. So does the musical language. Read these lines aloud and listen for alliteration, or repetition of initial consonant sounds:

blackberries for breakfast the stalks very prickly, a penalty which I squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well
What examples of alliteration can you find in Kinnells poem? If you overuse alliteration, it can take away from the meaning in your poem. But if you use it to emphasize important ideas, it can add a strong, musical element to your writing.

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Click here for a complete set of blackline masters for this selection

CONTENTS
Prewriting FINDING YOUR VOICE. A lyric poem usually represents the voice of the author, but it can also be the voice of another character. Whether you choose to use your personal voice or that of a fictional speaker, make the voice real and intense so the thoughts and emotions come alive. Since a lyric poem is highly musical, it gives you an opportunity to allow your voice to play with the language through word choice, sound, rhythm, structure, tone, and style. IDENTIFYING YOUR AUDIENCE. Because a lyric poem expresses the personal thoughts and emotions of you, the author, you might be the most immediate audience for your own poem. Yet the musical nature of a lyric poem invites the poem to be read and shared out loud. Consider your classmates or others who would enjoy your subject as your audience, too. BRAINSTORMING. Often, when writers describe a general state of being, they find that words like surprised, confused, annoyed, jealous, sad, and happy will do the job. But to create a more intense experience, you will need to go beyond these vague words and appeal to the readers senses with specific details. Pick a feeling and list sensory details for it. Copy the five senses onto your paper and write words and phrases under each that describe your feeling. Sight: If you could see your word, what color would it be? What shape? What size? List words or phrases comparing your word to something you can see. Taste: If you could taste your word, what would it taste like? Touch: If you could touch your word, what would it feel like? What is its texture? Smell: If you could smell your word, what would it smell like? Sound: If you could hear your word, what would it sound like? How loud would it be? Now think back on a moment when you felt your word. Maybe you were riding on a Ferris wheel with your best friend. The rain came and your friend started shrieking. You looked out at the city, through the downpour, wet and shaking, looked at your friend, and you suddenly realized you were glad. Maybe you remember a time you saw a woman pull a tattered wallet from her purse, and there was something in that moment that made you feel melancholy. Write what that moment was like, using descriptions and comparisons that appeal to one or more of the five senses. WRITING WITH A PLAN. The power of poetry is in its concentrated language. That means explanations and descriptions are condensed into a few words or phrases. For example, in his poem Blackberry Eating, Galway Kinnell could have said:

Prewriting
FINDING YOUR VOICE. Review the definition of speaker with students. The speaker is the voice that speaks, or narrates, a poem. Encourage students to read the Language Arts Survey 2.5, Finding Your Voice, and 3.3, Register, Tone, and Voice. Ask students to identify the voice they intend on using and to write it on the same page as their graphic organizer. IDENTIFYING YOUR AUDIENCE. Have students read the Language Arts Survey 2.4, Identifying Your Audience. If you plan to have students read their poems to the class upon completion of the assignment, encourage students to think of their peers as their audience. However, to avoid possible selfcensoring, which can happen if students worry how their thoughts will be perceived, you may want to give them the option of keeping intensely personal expression private. BRAINSTORMING. Students might examine additional professional models to get ideas for their Sensory Details Chart. Have them read the Language Arts Survey 2.10, Learning from Professional Models. WRITING WITH A PLAN. If you havent already done so, point out the simile in the Professional Model. Students might benefit from doing a focused freewrite about their selected feeling word and moment when they felt their word. Have students read the Language Arts Survey 2.12, Freewriting.

The stalks of blackberries are very prickly because thats the price they pay for being able to do something as mysterious and amazing as the art of making blackberries.
But this explanation lacks the power of Kinnells concentrated language:

the stalks very prickly, a penalty they earn for knowing the black art of blackberry-making . . .
One way to condense language is to make comparisons, because comparisons offer a quick way to communicate a lot of information. A simile is a comparison using like or as. When you say, The shortstops double-play was like a dance, you are using a simile to compare one quality of a double-play to dancing. When you simply say, The shortstops double-play was a dance, you create a metaphor. A metaphor is a figure of speech in which one thing is spoken or written about as if it were another. In poetry, similes and metaphors are an essential way to communicate fresh and unusual connections in just a few words.
GUIDED WRITING

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STRATEGIES

MOTIVATION Introduce students to The American Academy of Poets Web site at http://www.poets.org. Select a lyric poem in the Listening Booth that you think students will like. Have students listen to the poet read his or her poem while they read along. Then ask students to identify characteristics that make the poem lyrical. READING PROFICIENCY Have students read the Language Arts Survey 1.5, Keeping a Readers Journal. Ask students to record their reactions to the poem they listened to in Motivation above

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and to the Professional Model. Encourage students to read the Professional Model and Student Model out loud to get a sense of how the language sounds as they work through the lesson. Refer them to the Language Arts Survey 1.6, Reading Silently versus Reading Out Loud. ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING See strategies for Reading Proficiency above that will also benefit students who are English language learners. You might want non-native speakers to bring in a poem in their native language and write a readers journal entry about it. English language (Continued on page 679)

TEACHERS EDITION

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GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
See the Guided Writing Resource for a blackline master of the Graphic Organizer for this lesson.

Language, Grammar, and Style

Pronoun/Antecendent Agreement LESSON OVERVIEW In this lesson, students will be asked to do the following: Identify Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement, 678 Fix Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement, 679 Use Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement, 680 INTRODUCING THE SKILL. Point out that making pronouns and antecedents agree is something that even adults have to think about. Tell students that readers get confused when the pronoun does not agree with its antecedent. You might need to define antecedent for students; the antecedent is the noun that the pronoun references. Tell students that number refers to singular and plural. PREVIEWING THE SKILL. Refer students to the Language Arts Survey 3.43, Getting Pronouns and Antecedents to Agree. Have students identify a problem with pronoun/antecedent agreement in the Student Model Draft. PRACTICING THE SKILL. For additional practice, have students work through the exercise in the following section of the Language, Grammar, and Style Resource located in the Teachers Resource Kit: 3.43, Getting Pronouns and Antecedents to Agree.

When describing out things, forget ab ey look like what th tell for a while. Dont like, me what it looks ells tell me what is sm or sounds like.

rey Martyn Godf

Aaron, whose word was contentment, wrote: Walking in the woods near my home on a hot summer day, through dappled light and sword ferns, the air smells blue. His sentence contains specific images the reader can see. There is also a metaphor comparing the woods to a blue smell. Jamel chose loneliness. He wrote, Metallic clouds hung over the November day as I sat alone. Jamel uses a metaphor comparing the clouds to metal. This comparison suggests the qualities of something hard, flat and gray, like loneliness. Sarah chose baffled as her feeling and used the graphic organizer below for her prewriting.

Student ModelGraphic Organizer

Language, Grammar, and Style
PRONOUN/ ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT Pronouns must always agree with their ante-cedents. That means pronouns must have the same gender and number as the word or words to which they refer.
GENDER AGREEMENT

Sight

greasy chicken cool juice a pomegranate sweet and sour pork

Taste

When the antecedent is masculine, the pronoun is masculine:

baffled is the color blue with a little bit of yellow swirling in it a heron looks like a fire that cant decide whether to keep burning or not

baffled

like a topographic map bumpy slimy watermelon seeds the rough edges of a dull knife

Jim got his license today.

When the antecedent is feminine, the pronoun is feminine:

Smell

Touch

The girl found her cat.

When the antecedent is neutral, use the pronouns it or its:

wood shavings car exhaust almost moldy cheese

Sound

the bustle of a crowd cars in the distance the wind

One fish had lost its fin.

When the antecedent is a word that could stand for both men and women, the masculine pronoun or both the masculine and feminine pronoun can be used:
UNIT NINE

Drafting The beginning of a poem is hidden in your prewritingall you have to do is find it. You can use the sentence or sentences you just wrote to begin your poem or you can think of another time when you experienced your word.

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Drafting
Tell students to use their completed Graphic Organizer modeled on page 678. Have students write a discovery draft in which they do not focus on spelling, grammar, usage, and mechanics. Students might benefit from reading the Language Arts Survey 2.31, Drafting. Point out to students that in writing their poem they are doing descriptive writing. Students might read the Language Arts Survey 2.36, Writing Description, Dialogue, Narrative, and Exposition.

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CONTENTS
Whatever moment you pick for your word, you will find many descriptive words and comparisons from your prewriting that you can use in your poem. You will also think of others as you write your first draft. In every line, put strong images that appeal to the sense of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Expand on some of your metaphors. Instead of saying, I felt purple, you could say, I felt purple the way a person feels when he comes home at night and finds nobody there. Dont focus on line breaks or rhythm at this point. Concentrate on showing your reader what that moment felt like without naming your word. Let your images show the reader what you mean. Self- and Peer Evaluation After you have a rough draft of your poem, read it aloud several times. This helps you hear the music of the lines. If you can, get someone else to read it aloud as well. See the Language Arts Survey 2.37 for more details about self- and peer evaluation. As you evaluate your poem, ask yourself these questions: What is the moment described in the lyric poem? What feelings or thoughts are expressed in the poem? What words communicate this feeling? Find images that appeal to the senses. Which images are the strongest? Which are the weakest? Why? Which lines or phrases sound musical? Which are lacking in lyrical sound or rhythm? How could these lines be improved? Where might the rhythm or meaning benefit from breaking the line? Where has the writer used repetition of sound to emphasize meaning? Where else could the writer repeat sounds or rhythms to emphasize meaning? Find any places where the pronoun does not match the antecedent. What word or line changes will fix this problem?

Anybody who wants to bring his or her own chairs may do so. Someone lost his jacket after the game.
NUMBER AGREEMENT

Self- and Peer Evaluation

Have students use the checklist on page 679 for self- and peer evaluation. See the Guided Writing Resource 7.9 located in the Teachers Resource Kit for a blackline master of the self- and peer evaluation checklist. The checklist is intended to act as a student-friendly rubric that should help students identify specific evidence of writing strengths and areas needing improvement. Make sure students provide concrete suggestions for improvement or specific evidence of the effectiveness of the lyric poem. It might help students to evaluate their peers poem by reading it out loud. Peer evaluators might be interested in using common proofreaders symbols, which are found in the Language Arts Survey 2.44, Using Proofreaders Marks.

When the antecedent is plural, use plural pronouns to refer to it:

Several of the students had to share their books.

The pronouns any, some, all, and none may be either singular or plural, depending on how they are used:

Singular: All of the page was marked in its margins. Plural: All of the riders wore their helmets.
When an antecedent is singular, no matter if it is followed by a prepositional phrase containing a plural noun, use a singular pronoun:

Teaching Note
Have students compare the Student ModelDraft on page 679 with the final version presented on page 681. Ask students to respond to the following questions: What improvements did Sarah make in her poem? Is there any way the final version could still be improved?

Everyone in the womens quartets received her letter.

When two or more singular antecedents are connected by or or nor, they should be referred to by a singular pronoun:

Student ModelDraft
Sarah drafted a poem from her prewriting about a time when she looked at a bird and wondered why things are the way they are. Note that she never used the word baffled. Instead, she let her descriptive images and metaphors explain her thoughts. Based on her self-evaluation comments and comments from one of her classmates, Sarah made changes to her poem. agreement? its line A heron, like all birds, cocks their Adding a ld break wou emphasize your heads to one side and I wonder thoughts

Neither Sam, Jack, nor Ed has finished his pizza.

IDENTIFYING PRONOUN/ ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT. Finding and fixing pronounantecedent problems in sentences requires that you find the antecedent first and then
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GUIDED WRITING

Bibliographic Note
You may be interested in consulting the following works for more ideas about teaching students how to write poetry: Lehman, David, ed. Ecstatic Occasions, Expedient Forms: 85 Leading Contemporary Poets Select & Comment on Their Poems. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Oliver, Mary. A Poetry Handbook. New York: Harcourt, Brace, & Co.

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learners may need special help understanding the use of figurative language used in poetry, such as the simile used in the Professional Model. These students might be persuaded to share a poem with the class in their native language. SPECIAL NEEDS Students with special needs may need help completing their Graphic Organizer. Pair them with a proficient student who can help them work through the cluster chart on page 678. ENRICHMENT You might have students find a published poem that centers on one feeling. Have students fill out a Sensory Details Chart to identify the descriptive details used in the poem. Students may wish to work their own poems collaboratively into a performance piece or to prepare their work for publication.

Padgett, Ron, ed. Handbook of Poetic Forms. New York: Teachers & Writers Collaborative. Tsujimoto, Joseph I. Teaching Poetry Writing to Adolescents. NCTE/ERIC.

TEACHERS EDITION

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Revising and Proofreading
Remind students that revising includes adding or expanding, cutting or condensing, replacing, and moving text. Have students read the Language Arts Survey 2.41, Revising. A handout of the proofreading checklist found in the Language Arts Survey on 888 is available in the Teachers Resource Kit, Guided Writing Resource 2.45.

track down the pronoun referring to it. In poetry, this might mean you have to backtrack through several lines of poetry before you find the antecedent. Then check if they agree in gender and number. Consider the following sentences. Which pronouns are correct and which need changing?

Why does a bird fly or does anything happen at all? My questions are the sound of a crowd, a hustle and bustle the rough edges of a dull knife like the smell of wood shavings mixed this is wordy and not very with exhaust and like almost-moldy smooth cheese
slow this down by adding line breaks

good rhythm

Nobody expected to find his or her books at the mall. One of the people at the dance left their coat. Mary or June will use their own phone to call you back.
FIXING PRONOUN/ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT. Find the pronounantecedent problem in Sarahs first draft of her poem. How would you fix it? In poetry, a writer may choose to attach gender qualities to animals and objects. To fix the pronoun-antecedent problem in her poem, Sara could use it because heron is a neutral word or she could use he or she to be more personal. USING PRONOUN/ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT. Read through your poem draft searching for pronouns. Underline them. Now scan backward looking for the words to which they refer. Circle these. Do the pronouns and antecedents agree in gender and number? Correct any problems so that your reader will be able to follow your poem without being confused by disagreement between pronouns and their antecedents.

good alliteration!

sweet and sour pork, a pomegranate over this would make a good ending ripe, so I like the way you mixed up many images-They are like confused a fire fading and your questions-mixed up confused Revising and Proofreading Based on your self- and peer evaluations, make changes to your draft. Add details, delete extra words, and play with line breaks. What happens when you put a word at the end of a line? Does the word become more or less noticeable? What about the sound of your poem? Trust your ear to tell you when you need a shorter word or a longer line. Change words to fit a rhythm that matches your meaning. Before you print your final copy, read over your draft for errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar. In poetry, you are often dealing with lines instead of sentences, so capitalization and punctuation become a matter of choice. However you decide to capitalize or punctuate, stick to a pattern from start to finish so that your format is clear to the reader.

Student ModelRevised
After listening to her poem many times and playing with the language until she was satisfied that the words, sounds, and rhythm in her poem reflected her thoughts, Sarah completed her final draft.

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UNIT NINE

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CONTENTS
Baffled A heron cocks his head to one side and I wonder Why does a bird fly? Why does anything happen at all? My questions are the sound of a crowd, a hustle and bustle the rough edges of a dull knife the smell of wood shavings, exhaust, or almost-moldy cheese sweet and sour pork, a pomegranate over ripe, confused a fire fading

Publishing and Presenting

felt A poem must be understood, and to be lt it before it can be fe must be heard.
You might have students present their poems to the class. Encourage students to practice the poem using the volume, pitch, gestures, and facial expressions they feel best express the meaning of their poem. Some students might want to memorize their poem. Refer students to the Language Arts Survey 4.19, Oral Interpretation of Poetry. You might suggest that writers of the best poems submit them to a review for publication.

Stanley Kunitz

Publishing and Presenting Poetry is best when shared either out loud or as a printed piece of art. To share your poetry out loud, consider reading to a small group of students. Or consider an audio or videotape reading that could be shared over an audio or audiovisual resource at your school. To publish your poem as a work of art, create a small poster by printing the poem in a way that suggests the content and the feeling of the poem. Add art, designs, or colors that also draw out the ideas in the poem. You may want to publish your poem in the school newspaper or literary supplement or to share it. Reflecting Poetry asks you to look at and think about things in a unique way. Simile, metaphor, imagery, rhythm, and sound become thinking, viewing, and listening tools for communicating thoughts and emotions. The use of some of these tools may come easily; the use of others may require you to expand your thinking. How might your thinking develop as you employ simile and metaphor in your thoughts and writing? What growth might occur from focusing on imagery? How might considering the sound and rhythm of your language increase the value of your communication? As you speak and write, try little experiments using simile, metaphor, imagery, rhythm, and sound. Then reflect on the changes you see in your communication and the effect these changes have on others.

For me poems usually begin with ople, true thingspe experiences, ickly quotesbut qu that ride off into other territory of imagination

Reflecting
Encourage students to respond to the questions in this section in their journal or to discuss the questions in small groups.

Nye Naomi Shihab

GUIDED WRITING

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Reflecting on Your Reading
The Genre and Theme questions are suitable to assign as essay prompts to help students prepare for the Unit Test. (To evaluate student writing, see the evaluation forms for writing, revising, and proofreading in the Assessment Resource.) The Genre and Theme questions can also be adapted for use as topics for oral reports or debates. Refer students to the Language Arts Survey 4, Speaking and Listening. (To evaluate these projects, use the Public Speaking Evaluation Form in the Assessment Resource.)

UNIT NINE review

Review: Words for Everyday Use
Check your knowledge of the following vocabulary words. Choose ten of these words that you would like to incorporate into your own daily language. For each word, write a short sentence that includes that word in context. To review a word, look back to the page number(s) indicated. benign (631) blunder (657) clod (651) concede (614) crevice (665) dismay (657) extraneous (621) high-strung (621) insistent (614) luminous (626) peril (631) plunge (658) reel (658) saucy (621) splurge (635) sunder (658) translucency (621) wariness (614)

Review: Literary Tools

VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT. Give students the following exercise. Write a poem that incorporates ten words from the list on page 682. Then, with a partner, practice reading your poems aloud, paying attention to the correct pronunciation of the new vocabulary words.

Define each of the following terms, giving concrete examples when possible. To review a term, refer to the page number(s) indicated. aim (650) alliteration (630, 634) assonance (630, 650) concrete poem (625) dialogue (645) figure of speech (613, 664) flashback (650) free verse (613) haiku (669) image (613, 619) imagery (613, 619, 625, 669) irony (619) lyric poem (661, 664) metaphor (664) narrative poem (656) onomatopoeia (634) personification (619) personification (664) repetition (638, 656) rhyme (638) rhythm (630) simile (664) suspense (656) symbol (645, 661)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
UNIT 9 RESOURCE BOOK Unit Review Unit 9 Study Guide Unit 9 Test

Reflecting
on your

Genre

reading

The selections in this unit give you a broad overview of the different forms poetry can take and of the different tools poets use to create certain effects. Look back at the poems in the unit. Which poem or poems do you like the best? What poetic tools do you find most effective? For example, do you appreciate rhyme and rhythm more than other aspects of poetry? Do you like free verse best? Write a brief essay about your favorite poems and why you like them.

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CONTENTS
Reflecting on Your Reading (CONT.)

Theme
The poems in this unit all highlight unique ideas and all have very different themes. Choose two poems from the unit and reflect on their themes. Begin by asking yourself the following questions: What is the poem about? What is its topic or subject? How does the title of the poem reflect its subject matter? How does it reflect a main idea, or theme? What does the poem say or imply about the subject or topic?

The Group Project activity can also provide an additional or alternate assessment to the Unit 5 Test. Ask students to tie in the insights they have gained from their research to the literature selections they have read in this unit. (To evaluate group and project work, see the evaluation forms in the Assessment Resource 4.104.12.)

On Your Own
Design a poster for your classroom or hallway, using one of the poems from this unit. Include on the poster the poem written out, the title and name of the author, and images that you feel complement the poem. You may want to use photographs, textures, painting, drawing, or other mediums to create the effect you want.

Group Project
Hold a classroom poetry reading, with each member of your class participating. Each student may choose a poem to recite to the class. To select a poem, you may choose one from this unit, from a book you have at home, or from a library book. Ask the librarian in your school or local library for help if needed. After you have selected your poem, read it aloud several times to learn it well. Then, work on your interpretation of the poem. Rehearse your reading, concentrating on volume, pace, emotion, voice, and body language. For more information, see the Language Arts Survey 4.19, Oral Interpretation of Poetry.

UNIT NINE REVIEW

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