Blog #8 - Harvey Jiang- period 1- 2/14/2020

February 14th, 2020
Harvey Jiang,
Period 1 

Aim: How do poetic elements create a thematic effect over the course of a poem? 

Do Now: Brainstorm. What comes to mind when you think of the word “identity”.
Create a word web. 
I think about identity as who you are, the way you think about yourself, the way you are viewed
by the world and the characteristics that define you and from that I developed a word web with
words such as uniqueness, race, ethnicity, social standing, and authenticity. 

While we were discussing the Do Now one of my classmates said that personality comes to mind
when he thinks about identity and I agree with him as personality, is one of the ways your Identity
is formed and in a way is how you live your Identity. 

Notes for the Day 

After the Do now we learned about Poetic devices such as the Extended metaphor and Rythm. 

Musical or sound devices: convey and reinforce meaning (or experience) through the use of sound 

➢ Cacophonous: Note: Cacophony comes from the Greek word meaning, “bad sound.” 

Involving or producing a harsh, discordant mixture of sounds (p, b, t, d, g, k, ch-, sh- etc.) 

○ Example: He is a rotten, dirty, terrible, trudging, stupid dude! 

➢ Euphonious: involving sounds that are soothing or pleasant to the ear ( consonants such 

as l, m, n, r and softer f and v, soft consonants or semi-vowels such as w, s, y and th or wh)
○ Example: “While the stars that oversprinkle all the heavens seem to twinkle” 

-Edgar Allen Poe 

Rhythm: in poetry, the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables 

Extended metaphor- metaphor developed over several lines or throughout an entire poem
Example: As You Like It (By William Shakespeare) 

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and
their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.” 

Shakespeare has remarkably compared “earth” to a “stage” in the excerpt mentioned above. 

We also learned about theme. 

Theme-The meaning of a work; a central idea, point, and underlying meaning of a literary
work that may be stated directly or indirectly; critical belief about life that the author is trying to
convey. 

Classwork 

Directions: Annotate the poem taking note of anything that stands out/resonates with you. 

Identity

by Julio Noboa Polanco

Let them be as flowers

always watered, fed, guarded, admired,

but harnessed to a pot of dirt.

I’d rather be a tall, ugly weed,

5 clinging on cliffs, like an eagle

wind-wavering above high, jagged rocks.

To have broken through the surface of stone,

to live, to feel exposed to the madness

of the vast, eternal sky.

10 To be swayed by the breezes of an ancient sea,

carrying my soul, my seed,

beyond the mountains of time or into the abyss of the bizarre.

I’d rather be unseen, and if

then shunned by everyone,

15 than to be a pleasant-smelling flower,

growing in clusters in the fertile valley,

where they’re praised, handled, and plucked

by greedy human hands.

I’d rather smell of musty, green stench

20 than of sweet, fragrant lilac.

If I could stand alone, strong and free,

I’d rather be a tall, ugly weed.

Some key annotations are that the flowers are cuddled and cared for while the weed is not as is
thrown out. Another annotation is that the author is comparing the flower as trapped and the weed as
free producing an Extended metaphor between the flowers and weeds. 

What extended metaphor is established in the poem? 

TEAM GROUP WORK: With your TEAMS create a unified response for the chart below. 

“Flower ”	“A weed ”
The flower represents innocence where the “flower” is oblivious to the outside world and pampered by the people who are caring for it. This innocence stems from the fact that the “flower” is harnessed or trapped in the utopia the gardener gave the flower.	The Weed, on the other hand, is despised and thrown away because it is useless to the grower and is a nuisance and prevents the beautiful flower from growing. The weed abandoned the “norm”and set out to be free and broke free from the chains.

THINK/PAIR/SHARE: 

Now with a partner, fill in the following “TWIST” chart analyzing Polanco's use of
poetic elements. 

TWIST Analysis Now, use the TWIST strategy (tone, word choice, imagery, style, theme) to
create a thesis that gets at the theme of “Identity.” 

➢ Think specifically about how the imagery, diction, and tone convey theme.

➢ After applying the TWIST strategy to “Identity,” write an interpretive statement about the
theme & overall poem. 

T Tone- The tone is Somber as the speaker is reflecting on how trapped the flowers seemed and
how terrible the situation was for him. 

W Word Choice- The author uses words such as exposed to show how strong and free the weed
was and uses admired to show how the flower is trapped and unfree. The author uses words such as "exposed"to show how strong and free the weed was and uses admired to show how the flower is
trapped and unfree. 

I Imagery Using words such as breeze and carrying my soul the author describes the joy of the
weed growing in unnatural places and how wonderful that freedom is creating a clam setting. 

S Style (the result of choices in T, W, & I) The style is persuasive where the poet is trying to
convince the audience that being free and in less than favorable situations is better than being
coddled and never being free. 

T Theme The theme is to be free and break out of your chains(the norm) and go out of your
comfort zone. 

Reflection 

Today’s class we learned about Poetic devices and read a poem where it compared a weed
to a flower that represented, being free and trapped. From the previous lessons, we learned about
poetry and I believe that the metaphor is trying to convey that we shouldn’t be tangled down by the
“rules”(flower) but be “free”(weed) and go out of your comfort zone. This especially applies to poetry
as poems are works of art and don’t have to follow a set of rules like free verse poems. This all comes
together to create our own Identity or style of writing which is a part of the journey to becoming a better
writer. Since we learned about being “free” in our writing we can eventually become more comfortable
with writing our own original poems down the road and to take risks in writing because like a weed
you will always bounce back and improve. This lesson also taught us about the Extended metaphor
which we can use in our writing to intensive the comparison between two things which can get the
theme across the reader more effectively.