LITER ATUR E 3B

TEACHER’S NOTES
AUTHOR Ella Wheeler Wilcox Answers
TITLE Poems 1 prophet 2 file 3 sorrow 4 yield 5 woe 6 grief
THEMES Feelings about the future, putting things in 7 weep 8 creep 9 feast 10 rejoice
perspective, cheering someone up, life’s ups
and downs 4 Students read through the questions. Check for
understanding and remind them to refer closely to
WRITING A poem
the text to find the answers.
THINK STYLE Personification
Answers
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 1 spring 2 doesn’t 3 happier 4 popular 5 alone
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919) was born in Wisconsin in the 5 Students read the text again. Discuss the questions
USA. She started to write when she was very young and was well
known for her poetry while she was still at school. She wrote
and answers with the class.
Solitude, her most famous poem, after meeting a crying widow
(a woman whose husband has died) dressed all in black on a
Suggested answers
train. She was miserable after the journey but wrote the opening 1 They’ve experienced death/someone close to them
lines and continued the poem in an optimistic manner. Optimism has died. 2 Laugh/Weep, Rejoice/Grieve, Feast/Fast
is a common theme in most of her work. Although her poems These sets of words make the poem predictable and
are still popular and regularly appear in anthologies, they also easier to remember. 3 Both poems are about living life
appear in collections of bad poetry. It has been said that people optimistically and why it’s important to stay positive.
either love or hate her work.
6 Read through the sentences one at a time and check
comprehension of any unknown vocabulary. Students
INTRODUCTION complete the sentences with the words in the glossary.
Ask students if they can name any poets who write in Ask students for answers.
English. Then ask students if they can recite any lines
of poetry in English or even in their own language.
Answers
Write any ideas on the board in note form. Ask students 1 grief 2 creep 3 file 4 weep 5 rejoice 6 feast
if they have heard of Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Use the
information in the About the author box to provide Optional extension
an introduction. Depending on the class, it may be Ask students to make another sentence for each item in the
appropriate to use L1 at this stage. glossary. Explain that writing new vocabulary items in context is
a good way to remember them.

START THINKING …
1 Organise the class into pairs. Set a time limit of a few Optional extension
minutes for students to discuss the questions. Then Ask students to read the text again and to underline five more
words that are new to them. Ask them to write the words in
ask students for their opinions. Encourage them to
sentences. They then read their sentences in pairs and correct
back up their answers with examples. For example, each other’s mistakes.
‘When other people are upset, I feel sad too. I also
feel useless because I can’t cheer them up.’ Encourage
them to give reasons to justify their answers.
CRITICAL THINKING
2 Play the audio. One option is to encourage students
to listen to the poems first before reading along to Ask the students the questions: Which poem do you prefer?
the audio. If someone wrote this poem today, would it still be popular?
3 When students have read and listened to the text, Are the themes still relevant? Working individually, students
allow time to match the bold words in the text to write notes for each question. When students have
the definitions. Tell them they may need to change finished, ask them to work in small groups to compare
the part of speech (form of verb, noun, etc.) to the their ideas. You can then bring their ideas together on the
base form to fit the glossary. Point out that making a board and discuss their ideas as a class. Then ask students
glossary of unknown words in a text is a good way to if they can think of a pop song that has a similar theme.
learn vocabulary. Ask individual students for answers. Ask them to find the lyrics and compare and contrast the
poem and the song. Ask them to discuss which one they
think is more effective and why.

1 Think Level 4 Literature 3B Teacher’s Notes © Cambridge University Press 2017

ROLE PLAY JANE Yeah, you’re right. Solitude uses scenarios from
everyday life and relationships more – I think the line
7 Organise the class into pairs. Read the instructions ‘Be glad, and your friends are many’ means that if you
and check that students understand what they are are happy then people will be attracted to you and
going to do. Ask two students to read the first part want to be your friend. But if you’re not happy, then
of the conversation. Brainstorm ideas and phrases they will ignore you.
on the board. Set the students a time limit of 5–10 CHARLES So do you think the mood of the poems is the same?
minutes to prepare their role plays. Monitor and offer
WIT
JANE I guess so. They both seem very positive to me.
support and encourage students to write their scripts.
CHARLES Yeah, though to my mind, Solitude ends on a bit of a
Encourage as many pairs as possible to perform their
depressing note. Isn’t she basically saying that we all
role plays. Consider asking groups to perform to each
other. The ‘audience’ group can monitor language use
die alone? PEN NAMES
JANE Hmm, maybe, but I think the overall message is
and make corrections if necessary. This can also be
MEMOIRS
encouraging – live your life positively now, and you
done as a full-class exercise. will have a long and fulfilling life.
CHARLES What would you say to Ella Wheeler Wilcox if she was
LISTENING here today?
THEMES
JANE I’d ask her why she has such a positive attitude, and
8 Before listening, explain that students are going to what inspired her to write these poems. How about
listen to two students comparing and contrasting the
two poems. Play the recording twice. The first time,
you? SHAKESPEARE’S
ENGLISH
CHARLES I’d ask her who she’s writing to in I Told You!
encourage students to listen without taking notes. The
second time, they write A or B.

Answers STYLE
1 A  2 B  3 A  4 B
Personification
9 Students read through the questions. Encourage 10 
Read the Think box and check that students understand
students to answer from memory. Play the recording the meaning of personification. Read the following
again for students to complete their answers and to line from I Told You: That he’d flee in shame when the
check. south wind came. Ask them who he is and why the
poet uses he rather than it here. Point out the word
Answers fellow and ask them to think of a synonym (man).
1 bright  2 advice  3 clouds  4 message  5 Jane They may need to use dictionaries to do this. Ask
them to do the activity and then, at the end of the
exercise, write their own definition of personification.
AUDIO SCRIPT
CHARLES So let’s talk about these two poems. Did you like
Optional extension
them? Students could write five short sentences using personification
and then discuss their ideas with their partner.
JANE Loved them! I think Ella Wheeler Wilcox was a brilliant
poet. I love all of her poems.
CHARLES Which one did you like the most, I Told You or
Solitude? WRITING
JANE It’s really hard to say. They’re both really inspiring. 11 Read through the Writing skills box. Ask students
I like the message she gives in both of them. for other common features of a poem. These could
CHARLES Which is…? include the use of stressed and unstressed syllables
JANE Well, they’re about staying positive, looking on the or the use of a rhyme scheme. Ask students if they
bright side of things. Don’t you think? know what a Haiku is (a Japanese poem with three
CHARLES Yeah, I think so. But I think I like I Told You more – it’s lines. Lines 1 and 3 have five syllables; line 2 has
like she’s trying to cheer someone up in this poem seven). Students can write their poem in class or for
or bring them out of a dark phase, it seems like she’s homework. Students then swap their poem with a
talking to someone who hasn’t been very happy partner. They read each other’s work and highlight
recently, or has been through a tough period. any mistakes. They assess whether the student has
JANE Well, I think Solitude cheers you up too, but it sounds answered the question fully and whether they have
more like advice on how to live your life in general. followed the steps. They then return the poem to
I agree that in I Told You, it sounds like she is talking the original student who looks at the comments and
to someone in particular. But in Solitude, she’s telling redrafts their work. Ask some students to read their
everyone that, even if you suffer pain or go through poems out loud to the class.
difficult situations, you should keep a positive
attitude.
CHARLES Can you see any other similarities between the
Additional reading or internet research topics
poems? ●● The life of Ella Wheeler Wilcox
JANE I think the imagery and symbols are quite similar. She
talks a lot about nature – the earth, weather, flowers. ●● Poetry by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
CHARLES Yeah, but I think this comes out more in I Told You. She ●● How to write or analyse poetry
uses nature as symbols of positivity and negativity
– the positive ones being spring, flowers, birds, and
so on. The negative ones are things like wind, snow,
clouds and ice.

Think Level 4  Literature 3B Teacher’s Notes © Cambridge University Press 2017 2