Wednesday/ Thursday April 29/ 30 transitioning to modernism WWI poems

by John Singer Sergeant Learning Targets: I can cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.   I can determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text. In class: video on World War I, analysis of death and casualty numbers, reading three World War I poems for tone, figurative language devices and theme. Because of performances and field trips on Thursday, I have put together the work for both days. The World War I background material is due at the close of class on WEDNESDAY. Thursday's assignment is identifying the figurative language devices in three World War I poem. I will collect this material on Monday at the start of class. You will find copies of all handouts below. world war I background  (6 minute video) One way to understand the violence and slaughter that occurred in the Great War is to examine the number of casualties and deaths. Exact figures are still in dispute, because of different definitions used each category, the questionable accuracy of the recording system used and the loss or destruction of a number of official documents. The data in the tables below reflect numbers from several sources and are consistent with most experts' current estimates. Assignment:  Part 1) read through the following information associated with World War I and compose three well-written sentences that include specific data and an analysis conclusion.   Model: Although the United States mobilized almost 4 ½ million soldiers, their casualty percentages were only 7.0%; therefore fewer American families did not feel a personal loss.                              Part 2) read through the following information on U.S. Casualties in Major Wars and compose two sentences that include specific date and an analysis conclusion. Write these on a separate sheet of paper, beginning with an MLA heading. This is due at the close of class on Wednesday.
Country	Total Mobilized Forces	Killed	Wounded	Prisoners and Missing	Total Casualties	Casualties as % of Forces
ALLIED AND ASSOCIATED POWERS
Russia	12,000,000	1,700,000	4,950,000	2,500,000	9,150,000	76.3
British Empire	8,904,467	908,371	2,090,212	191,652	3,190,235	35.8
France	8,410,000	1,357,800	4,266,000	537,000	6,160,800	73.3
Italy	5,615,000	650,000	947,000	600,000	2,197,000	39.1
United States	4,355,000	116,516	204,002	4,500	323,018	7.1
Japan	800,000	300	907	3	1,210	0.2
Romania	750,000	335,706	120,000	80,000	535,706	71.4
Serbia	707,343	45,000	133,148	152,958	331,106	46.8
Belgium	267,000	13,716	44,686	34,659	93,061	34.9
Greece	230,000	5,000	21,000	1,000	27,000	11.7
Portugal	100,000	7,222	13,751	12,318	33,291	33.3
Montenegro	50,000	3,000	10,000	7,000	20,000	40.0
TOTAL	42,188,810	5,142,631	12,800,706	4,121,090	22,062,427	52.3
ALLIED AND ASSOCIATED POWERS
Germany	11,000,000	1,773,700	4,216,058	1,152,800	7,142,558	64.9
Austria-Hungary	7,800,000	1,200,000	3,620,000	2,200,000	7,020,000	90.0
Turkey	2,850,000	325,000	400,000	250,000	975,000	34.2
Bulgaria	1,200,000	87,500	152,390	27,029	266,919	22.2
TOTAL	22,850,000	3,386,200	8,388,448	3,629,829	15,404,477	67.4
GRAND TOTAL	65,038,810	8,528,831	21,189,154	7,750,919	37,466,904	57.5

War	Number Serving	Battle Deaths	Disease & Accidents	Wounded	Total Casualties
Revolutionary War	NA	4,435	NA	6,188	NA
War of 1812	286,730	2,260	NA	4,505	NA
Mexican War	78,718	1,733	11,550	4,152	17,435
Civil War	2,213,363	140,414	224,097	281,881	646,392
Spanish-American War	306,760	385	2,061	1,662	4,108
World War I	4,743,826	53,513	63,195	204,002	320,710*
World War II	16,353,659	292,131	115,185	670,846	1,078,162
Korean War	5,764,143	33,651	NA	103,284	NA
Vietnam War	8,744,000	47,369	10,799	153,303	211,147
Persian Gulf War	467,539	148	145	467	760
NA = Not available * Does not include the number of soldiers missing in action Source: U.S. Department of Justice Name_______________________________________ Assignment: We will read the following poems as a class. On your own: for each of the poems, underline any figurative language devices and identify at the end of the line. I will collect these at the beginning of class on Monday, May 4

Figurative Language Devices:

1. simile(compares two things using like or as)

2. metaphor (a connection between two unlike things)

3 personification (human characteristics to inanimate objects, animals, or ideas)

4.hyperbole(outrageous exaggeration)

5.  litotes (ironical understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary (e.g., you won't be sorry, meaning you'll be glad )

6  synecdoche (a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa, as in Cleveland won by six runs (meaning “Cleveland's baseball team”)

7.symbolism (word which has meaning in itself but is used to represent something entirely different), 

8. alliteration (repetition of the first consonant sounds)

9. assonance (repetition of a vowel sound e.g., penitence, reticence )

10.  idiom (expression that has a meaning that is only known to a particular group of people. For example: kick the bucket; raining cats and dogs)

11. onomatopoeia(words that sound like their meaning, or mimic sounds)

12.oxymoron (two seemingly contradictory elements, such as "wise fool," "jumbo shrimp" or "icy hot.")

13. imagery (detailed description which incorporates the five senses -- sight, sound, smell, taste and touch)

14.  apostrophe- (speaker detaches himself from the reality and addresses an imaginary character in his speech.)
A look at some World War I poets. 
Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)
"Anthem for a Doomed Youth"

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
--Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
 Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries for them from prayers or bells,                               5
 Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,-
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
 And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?                           10
 Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
 The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of silent minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.                          15

Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)
"Dulce et Decorum Est "

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! -- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under I green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, --
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

14. Does it Matter? 

DOES it matter?—losing your legs?...
For people will always be kind,
And you need not show that you mind
When the others come in after hunting
To gobble their muffins and eggs.	5
Does it matter?—losing your sight?...
There’s such splendid work for the blind;
And people will always be kind,
As you sit on the terrace remembering
And turning your face to the light.	10
Do they matter?—those dreams from the pit?...
You can drink and forget and be glad,
And people won’t say that you’re mad;
For they’ll know you’ve fought for your country
And no one will worry a bit.	15

Friday, Monday and Tuesday, April 24, April 27 and April 28 Poem Collection Project

Please be aware of the following.

SPECIAL EVENTS GRADE REPORT

Teachers – Signing this form will determine if students will be allowed to participate in end of the year activities such as:

9^th/10 grade Semi-Formal – May 8, 2015

Senior Trip – May 15, 2015

Prom – June 6, 2015

If a student asks you to sign this form it means they are interested in attending one of the above events.  If they have no D’s or F’s THIS MARKING PERIOD they will be allowed to attend.

Student Name:   ___________________________________________________________

__________________________                    ____________________    Student has no D’s or F’s

Teacher’s name                                              Class

__________________________                    ____________________   Student has no D’s or F’s

Teacher’s name                                              Class

__________________________                    ____________________   Student has no D’s or F’s

Teacher’s name                                              Class

__________________________                    ____________________   Student has no D’s or F’s

Teacher’s name                                              Class

__________________________                    ____________________   Student has no D’s or F’s

Teacher’s name                                              Class

__________________________                    ____________________   Student has no D’s or F’s

Teacher’s name                                              Class

__________________________                    ____________________   Student has no D’s or F’s

Teacher’s name                                              Class

Students will be responsible for turning this form in upon purchasing a ticket to any of the above events.

_________________________________________________________________________________

In class: I am handing out copies of any work you have yet to turn in. Unless you had a legal absence, you have a zero.  Please turn the work by Monday, if you would like to receive credit. 

In  class for Friday, Monday and Tuesday everyone is working on the Poem Collection packet.

Directions: each poem has been assigned point value. You may earn up to 200 points.
Organization:
1) All work must be completed on a separate sheet of lined paper- yours or mine
2) Begin with a MLA heading
3) Put the title (in quotes) of your poem choice. They need not be in any particular order.
4)  In order to receive credit for your poem, you must answer ALL of the questions in complete sentences, using textual evidence if required.
5.There is no partial credit for any poem. You must complete every response correctly in order to receive points.

Thursday, April 23....individual poetry choice analysis

In class: Individually you are finishing W.E.B. Du Bois "Smoke King'"
When you have handed in your work, please pick up a copy of the late 19th century poetry with a choice project. 
See class handout / copy below. This project is due on Tuesday, 
April 28 at the end of class. You have three in-class days to complete the work. Plan your time accordingly.

Poem Collection  There are ten poems of varying levels of difficulty; hence they have different point values. You may earn up to 100 points, depending upon your choice of poems.

Directions: For each poem you choose, you must respond to all the questions as directed in well-written, complete sentences on a separate sheet of paper. 

Organization: begin with an MLA heading

                        Write out the name of your poem and its author. Be cognizant that poems are put into quotations.

                        Write the number of the question and complete the response.

                        Use both sides of the paper

                        As you use more paper, remember to include your surname and page number on the top right

                        We’ll staple everything together when you have finished.

Poem                                                      Point value

The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls

The Chambered Nautilus                                25

Auspex                                                            25

 Hope                                                              15

Tell All the Truth                                            15

I never saw a moor                                         15

A Noiseless Patient Spider                              25

Because I could not stop for death                 15

I heard a fly buzz                                           15

When I heard the Learn'd Astronomer          25

The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls  by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The tide rises, the tide falls,

The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;

Along the sea-sands damp and brown

The traveler hastens toward the town,

And the tide rises, the tide falls.                 5

Darkness settles on roofs and walls,

But the sea, the sea in darkness calls;

The little waves, with their soft, white hands

Efface the footprints in the sands,

And the tide rises, the tide falls.               10

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls

Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;

 The day returns, but nevermore

Returns the traveler to the shore.

  And the tide rises, the tide falls                 15

1.       Identify the setting

2.       What do the “little waves” do?

3.       What happens in the third stanza?

4.       What details of the setting in the first stanza suggest that the traveler is nearing death?

5.       What does the poem suggest about the relationship between humanity and nature?

6.       What is the effect of the refrain or repeated line?

7.       How does the rhythm contribute to the meaning?

8.       What do the details in lines 11-13 suggest about Longfellow’s attitude toward death?

THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS  by Oliver Wendell Holmes

This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,

Sail the unshadowed main,--

The venturous bark that flings

On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings

In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings,                  5

And coral reefs lie bare,

Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.

Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;

Wrecked is the ship of pearl!

And every chambered cell,                                                10

Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,

As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,

Before thee lies revealed,--

Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed!

Year after year beheld the silent toil                         15

That spread his lustrous coil;

Still, as the spiral grew,

He left the past year's dwelling for the new,

Stole with soft step its shining archway through,

Built up its idle door,                                                      20

Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more.

Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee,

Child of the wandering sea,

Cast from her lap, forlorn!

From thy dead lips a clearer note is born                   25

Than ever Triton blew from wreathed horn;

While on mine ear it rings,

Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings:--

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,

As the swift seasons roll!                                               30

Leave thy low-vaulted past!

Let each new temple, nobler than the last,

Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,

Till thou at length art free,

Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!   35

1.       What has happened to the nautilus the speaker is describing?

2.       What did the nautilus do “as the spiral grew”?

3.       What does the voice that rings ‘through the deep caves of thought” tell the speaker?

4.       Each year throughout the course of its life, the nautilus creates a new chamber of shell to house its growing body.  How does Holmes compare this process to the development of the human soul?

5.       What is it about the chambered nautilus that makes it appropriate for Holmes’ message?

6.       What can be learned from the life of the nautilus?

AUSPEX by James Russell Lowell (1819-1891)

(in ancient Rome, an auspex was someone who watched for omens in the flight of birds)

My heart, I cannot still it,                   

Nest that had song-birds in it;

And when the last shall go,

The dreary days to fill it,

Instead of lark or linnet,                              5

Shall whirl dead leaves and snow.

 

Had they been swallows only,

Without the passion stronger

That skyward longs and sings,--

Woe's me, I shall be lonely                        10

When I can feel no longer

The impatience of their wings!

A moment, sweet delusion,

Like birds the brown leaves hover;

But it will not be long                                  15

Before their wild confusion

Fall wavering down to cover

The poet and his song.

 

1.       According to the first stanza, what will “ill” the speaker’s heart when the songbirds have gone?

2.       According the second stanza. When will the speaker be lonely?

3.       What is the “sweetest delusion” the speaker refers to in lines 11-14?

4.       What will happen when the delusion ends?

5.       In this poem, Lowell compares songbirds to the happiness that provides him with poetic inspiration.  To what does he compare the emptiness following the disappearance of his happiness?

6.       What do the swallows (7) represent? How is this different than what the songbirds represent?

7.       What does the image of the leaves falling and covering the poet represent?

8.       What type event in Lowell’s life might have prompted him to write the poem?

Hope   by Emily Dickinson 

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune--without the words,

And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,

And on the strangest sea;

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.

1.       According to the speaker, what “perches in the soul”?  What type of tune does it sing? When does it stop singing?

2.       Name two places where the speaker has heard the ‘little Bird”?  What has the “little Bird” never done?

3.       Throughout the poem Dickinson develops a comparison between hope and a “little Bird.” What is the effect of this comparison?

4.       What qualities does the bird possess?  What does this suggest about the characteristics of hope?

5.       In what way do the final two lines suggest that hope is something that we cannot consciously control?

6.       What does this poem suggest about the human ability to endure hardships?

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant  by  Emily Dickinson

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant---

Success in Circuit lies

Too bright for our infirm Delight

The Truth's superb surprise

As Lightening to the Children eased

With explanation kind

The Truth must dazzle gradually

Or every man be blind---

1.       According to the speaker, what is “to bright for our infirm Delight”?

2.       Why must the truth “dazzle gradually”?

3.       What does Dickinson mean when she tells us to “to tell all the Truth but tell it slant”?

4.       To what type of “Truth” do you think Dickinson is referring?

I never saw a moor by Emily Dickinson

I never saw a moor,

I never saw the sea;

Yet know I how the heather looks,

And what a wave must be.

I never spoke with God,

Nor visited in heaven;

Yet certain am I of the spot

As if the chart were given.

1.       What two things has the speaker never seen?  What does she know in spite of never having seen them?

2.       With whom has the speaker never spoken?  Where has she never visited? Of what is she certain?

3.       How might the speaker have acquired the knowledge she claims to possess in the first stanza? In what way is the knowledge presented in the second stanza different from that of the first stanza?  How might she have acquired the knowledge in the second stanza?

4.       Explain the difference between intuition and experience?

A Noiseless Patient Spider by Walt Whitman

A NOISELESS, patient spider,     

I mark’d, where, on a little promontory, it stood, isolated;           

Mark’d how, to explore the vacant, vast surrounding,   

It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself;           

Ever unreeling them—ever tirelessly speeding them.     5        

               

And you, O my Soul, where you stand, 

Surrounded, surrounded, in measureless oceans of space,         

Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing,—seeking the spheres, to connect them;         

Till the bridge you will need, be form’d—till the ductile anchor hold;       

Till the gossamer thread you fling, catch somewhere, O my Soul.                                                                                  10

1.            Where is the spider standing when the speaker first sees it?

2.            How does the spider explore its “vacant vast surroundings”?

3.            Where is the speaker’s soul standing? What is it doing?

4.            What similarities does the speaker see between his soul and spider? 

5.            With what do you think the speaker’s soul is seeking connection? (lines 8-10)

6.            Like the Transcendentalist, Whitman believed that the human spirit was mirrored in the world of nature? How does this poem reflect this belief/

7.  Whitman presents a paradox, or apparent self-contradiction, in line 7, when he describes the soul as being “surrounded” and “detached.”  Why do you think this paradox might be used to describe the position of the poet in society?

Because I could not stop for Death…Emily Dickinson

Because I could not stop for Death,

He kindly stopped for me;

The carriage held but just ourselves

And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,

And I had put away

My labor, and my leisure too,

For his civility.

We passed the school, where children strove

At recess, in the ring;

We passed the fields of gazing grain,

We passed the setting sun.

Or rather, he passed us;

The dews grew quivering and chill,

For only gossamer my gown,

My tippet only tulle.

We paused before a house that seemed

A swelling of the ground;

The roof was scarcely visible,

The cornice but a mound.

Since then 'tis centuries, and yet each

Feels shorter than the day

I first surmised the horses' heads

Were toward eternity.

1.      Explain why Death stops for the speaker.

What does Death’s carriage hold?

2.      What does the speaker “put away” in the second stanza/

3.      In the third stanza, what three things does the carriage pass? Where does the carriage pause in the fifth stanza?

4.      How is death portrayed in the first two stanzas? What is ironic about this portrayal?

5.      How does the speaker’s attitude toward death change in the fourth stanza?

6.      How does Death affect the speaker’s conception of time?

I heard a fly buzz—Emily Dickinson

I heard a fly buzz when I died;

      The stillness round my form

Was like the stillness in the air

      Between the heaves of storm.

The eyes beside had wrung them dry, 5

      And breaths were gathering sure

For that last onset, when the king

      Be witnessed in his power.

I willed my keepsakes, signed away

      What portion of me I      10

Could make assignable,-and then

      There interposed a fly,

With blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz,

      Between the light and me;

And then the windows failed, and then  15

      I could not see to see.

1.      What does the speaker hear? When does she see it?

2.      To what does the speaker compare the stillness of the room?

3.      For what were breaths gathering firm in the second stanza?

4.      According to the final stanza, what happens when the windows fail?

5.      What does the buzzing of the fly heighten the speaker’s awareness of the stillness and tension in the room?

6.      What does the speaker’s attitude toward death seem to be?  How is this attitude reflected by the fly?

When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer by Walt Whitman

WHEN I heard the learn’d astronomer;

When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;

When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them;

When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,

How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;          5

Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself,

In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,

Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

1.       What visual aids does the astronomer use during his lecture?

2.       How does the speaker respond to the lecture?

3.       Where does the speaker go when he leaves the lecture?  What does he look up at from time to time?

4.       How is the speaker’s attitude toward the stars different from that of the astronomer?

5.       The word mystical means “spiritually significant.” Why do you think Whitman chose this word to describe the moist night air in line 7?

6.       Who do you think is more ‘learn’d” in regard to the stars? Explain.

7.       What is the theme of the poem?  How does Whitman’s use of parallel structures in the first four lines reinforce the theme?

Wednesday, April 22 finishing "The Song of the Smoke"

Reading as a class: "I saw a man pursuing the horizon" by Stephen Crane
                               and "Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson
Due by the end of class:  completed analysis of W.E.B. Dubois "The Song of the Smoke"  writing grade!

class handout / copy below

"I saw a man pursuing the horizon"

BY STEPHEN CRANE

I saw a man pursuing the horizon;

Round and round they sped.

I was disturbed at this;   

I accosted the man.

“It is futile,” I said,

“You can never —”

“You lie,” he cried,   

And ran on.

"Richard Cory"

BY EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,

We people on the pavement looked at him:

He was a gentleman from sole to crown,

Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,

And he was always human when he talked;

But still he fluttered pulses when he said,

"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich—yes, richer than a king—

And admirably schooled in every grace:

In fine, we thought that he was everything

To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,

And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;

And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,

Went home and put a bullet through his head

Name_________________________________________ Please complete the following abbreviated TIPCASTT Poetry Analysis for E.B. Du Bois’ “The Song of the Smoke”

THE “TIPCASTT” METHOD OF POETRY ANALYSIS will integrate the literal and figurative meanings conveyed by a poem into a coherent understanding of the poem, highlighted by an understanding of the literary devices that helped the poem’s purpose to be realized.  

“The Song of the Smoke”

BY W. E. B. DU BOIS

   I am the Smoke King

   I am black!

I am swinging in the sky,

I am wringing worlds awry;

I am the thought of the throbbing mills,      5

I am the soul of the soul-toil kills,

Wraith of the ripple of trading rills;

Up I’m curling from the sod,

I am whirling home to God;

   I am the Smoke King                                  10

   I am black I am the Smoke King,

   I am black!

I am wreathing broken hearts,

I am sheathing love’s light darts;

   Inspiration of iron times                            15

   Wedding the toil of toiling climes,

   Shedding the blood of bloodless crimes—

Lurid lowering ’mid the blue,

Torrid towering toward the true,

   I am the Smoke King,                                   20

   I am black.

   I am the Smoke King,

   I am black!

I am darkening with song,

I am hearkening to wrong!

   I will be black as blackness can—              25

   The blacker the mantle, the mightier the man!

   For blackness was ancient ere whiteness began.

I am daubing God in night,

I am swabbing Hell in white:

   I am the Smoke King                                   30

   I am black.

   I am the Smoke King

   I am black!

I am cursing ruddy morn,

I am hearsing hearts unborn:                       35

   Souls unto me are as stars in a night,

   I whiten my black men—I blacken my white!

   What’s the hue of a hide to a man in his might?

Hail! great, gritty, grimy hands—

Sweet Christ, pity toiling lands!

   I am the Smoke King                                    40

   I am black.

_______________________________________________by_________________________________

STEP 1: PARAPHRASE the poem; put into your own words.

 __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________

 STEP 2: CONNOTATION.

Reread the poem and state its point of view. (1^st person singular / plural, 3^rd person limited, 3^rd person omniscient)

Then, reread the poem, looking for rhyming patterns. What is the rhyme pattern, if any? A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other.  Example:

______________________________________________________________________

Next, look for especially significant or unusual words in the poem. Why were they included? What meaning do they convey?

Word/ line #	Denotation of word-what it literary means	Connotation- what is its deeper meaning
1
2
3
4
5

Step 3:

Look for examples of poetic devices in the poem. Describe these devices. How do such devices aid the poem in achieving its poetic effects?

Look for: simile(compares two things using like or as), metaphor (a connection between two unlike things); personification (human characteristics to inanimate objects, animals, or ideas), hyperbole (outrageous exaggeration); litotes (ironical understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary (e.g., you won't be sorry, meaning you'll be glad ), synecdoche (a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa, as in Cleveland won by six runs (meaning “Cleveland's baseball team”); symbolism (word which has meaning in itself but is used to represent something entirely different), alliteration (repetition of the first consonant sounds), assonance (repetition of a vowel sound e.g., penitence, reticence ).- idiom (expression that has a meaning that is only known to a particular group of people. For example: kick the bucket; raining cats and dogs); onomatopoeia (words that sound like their meaning, or mimic sounds); oxymoron (two seemingly contradictory elements, such as "wise fool," "jumbo shrimp" or "icy hot."); imagery (detailed description which incorporates the five senses -- sight, sound, smell, taste and touch); apostrophe- (speaker detaches himself from the reality and addresses an imaginary character in his speech.)

 Note these examples below. 1.__________________________________________________________________________________________ 2__________________________________________________________________________________________ 3__________________________________________________________________________________________ 4__________________________________________________________________________________________ 5__________________________________________________________________________________________ 6__________________________________________________________________________________________ 7__________________________________________________________________________________________ 8__________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 4

Write the theme of the poem in a complete sentence. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Song of the Smoke

BY W. E. B. DU BOIS

   I am the Smoke King

   I am black!

I am swinging in the sky,

I am wringing worlds awry;

I am the thought of the throbbing mills,

I am the soul of the soul-toil kills,

Wraith of the ripple of trading rills;

Up I’m curling from the sod,

I am whirling home to God;

   I am the Smoke King

   I am black.

I am the Smoke King,

   I am black!

I am wreathing broken hearts,

I am sheathing love’s light darts;

   Inspiration of iron times

   Wedding the toil of toiling climes,

   Shedding the blood of bloodless crimes—

Lurid lowering ’mid the blue,

Torrid towering toward the true,

   I am the Smoke King,

   I am black.

   I am the Smoke King,

   I am black!

I am darkening with song,

I am hearkening to wrong!

   I will be black as blackness can—

   The blacker the mantle, the mightier the man!

   For blackness was ancient ere whiteness began.

I am daubing God in night,

I am swabbing Hell in white:

   I am the Smoke King

   I am black.

   I am the Smoke King

   I am black!

I am cursing ruddy morn,

I am hearsing hearts unborn:

   Souls unto me are as stars in a night,

   I whiten my black men—I blacken my white!

   What’s the hue of a hide to a man in his might?

Hail! great, gritty, grimy hands—

Sweet Christ, pity toiling lands!

   I am the Smoke King

   I am black.

 Name_________________________________________

THE “TIPCASTT” METHOD OF POETRY ANALYSIS will integrate the literal and figurative meanings conveyed by a poem into a coherent understanding of the poem, highlighted by an understanding of the literary devices that helped the poem’s purpose to be realized.  

Use the rest of this worksheet to follow these steps for your given poem, writing in the spaces provided.  

STEP 1: TITLE. Write the title and author of the poem: _______________________________________________by_________________________________ Then, predict what the poem will be about: __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________

STEP 2: PARAPHRASE

 Silently read the poem. Then, with your partner, each of you read the poem aloud, following along as the other reads. Finally, restate its literal meaning in your own words on the following lines. Write at least one sentence for each stanza of the poem, capturing all of its literal ideas: __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________

 STEP 3: CONNOTATION.

Reread the poem and state its point of view. (1^st person singular / plural, 3^rd person limited, 3^rd person omniscient)

Then, reread the poem, looking for rhyming patterns. What is the rhyme pattern, if any? A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other.  Example:

______________________________________________________________________

Next, look for especially significant or unusual words in the poem. Why were they included? What meaning do they convey?

Word Line # Why included/Meaning

Word/ line #	Why included?	Meaning?

Step 4:

Look for examples of poetic devices in the poem. Describe these devices. How do such devices aid the poem in achieving its poetic effects?

Look for: simile(compares two things using like or as), metaphor (a connection between two unlike things); personification (human characteristics to inanimate objects, animals, or ideas), hyperbole (outrageous exaggeration); litotes (ironical understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary (e.g., you won't be sorry, meaning you'll be glad ), synecdoche (a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa, as in Cleveland won by six runs (meaning “Cleveland's baseball team”); symbolism (word which has meaning in itself but is used to represent something entirely different), alliteration (repetition of the first consonant sounds), assonance (repetition of a vowel sound e.g., penitence, reticence ).- idiom (expression that has a meaning that is only known to a particular group of people. For example: kick the bucket; raining cats and dogs); onomatopoeia (words that sound like their meaning, or mimic sounds); oxymoron (two seemingly contradictory elements, such as "wise fool," "jumbo shrimp" or "icy hot."); imagery (detailed description which incorporates the five senses -- sight, sound, smell, taste and touch)

 Note these examples below. 1.__________________________________________________________________________________________ 2__________________________________________________________________________________________ 3__________________________________________________________________________________________ 4__________________________________________________________________________________________ 5__________________________________________________________________________________________ 6__________________________________________________________________________________________ 7__________________________________________________________________________________________ 8__________________________________________________________________________________________

 STEP 5. SHIFT. Rarely does a poet begin and end the poetic experience in the same place. Discovery of a poet’s understanding of an experience is critical to the understanding of a poem. Trace the feelings of the speaker from the beginning to the end, paying particular attention to the conclusion. Look for the following to find shifts: 1. Key words (but, yet, however, although) 2. Punctuation (dashes, periods, colons, ellipsis) 3. Stanza division 4. Changes in line or stanza length or both.

Key words	Punctuation/ after?	Stanza division/ how?	Changes stanza / line length

Look over the above chart you created. Write two sentences about why you think the poet made particular choices.

________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

                                               

Step 6

Write the theme of the poem in a complete sentence. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________