Aim: How do poetic elements create a thematic effect over the course of a poem?
Do Now: Me and my classmates had to come up with 6 words that come to mind when the word “identity” comes up. In other words, we had to come up with a word web for identity. The first person to share one of their words was Zihan who said fingerprint which was hinted by a picture in the corner of the slide. The conversation continued with Kelly, James, Randy, Kaitlyn, Andy, Ying Ye, Eric, and Ayah who list social security number, face, profile, personality, id, birthday, ethnicity, and background respectively. Overall, all the words have something to do with recognizing someone through some sort of feature they have. However, the main thing I took away from this is that one word can blossom into many ideas, words, images, or shapes.
Spirit Reading: The next activity after the do now was spirit reading notes on poetic devices. Spirit reading requires the combination of students to read through anything. It works when a student starts reading as much as they want and after they finish, another student will pick up from where they left off until they finish. During reviewing the notes and spirit reading we paused to watch videos about Euphony, Cacophony, examples of rhythm, and extended metaphor to get a better understanding of these ideas.
Poetic devices:
Euphony- Sounds that are smooth and pleasing to the ears which include words that start with consonants(l, m, n, r and softer f and v) and semi-vowels(w, s, y and th or wh).
Cacophony- Sounds that are generally harsh and discomforting(p, b, t, d, g, k, ch-, sh-). This word originates from the greek word which means “bad sound.”
Rhythm- The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. Personally, I usually get this word confused with the word rhyme which has two completely different meanings. To rhyme is to end two or more words with the same sound.
Extended metaphor- Has the same meaning as metaphor but with a twist. A metaphor is to compare two unlike things without using like or as. An extended metaphor is a metaphor that is represented through several lines of what is usually a poem.
Theme:
After discussing the poetic devices, I choose to volunteer and read about the theme. After I read, we watched a 6 minute video describing and giving examples of what theme is. To recap, the theme is the meaning, main point, or message of the writing that the author is trying to convey to you. An example of a theme is slow and steady wins the race.
“Identity”: Next we have to spirit read and annotate the poem called “Identity.”
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.
The author is trying to convey throughout the story that an uncared but free life is better than a cared but unfree life. He does this by using an extended metaphor between weed and flower throughout the whole passage. He describes flowers as being well-cared of, babysitted, and protected. He describes the weed as being ugly, tall and vulnerable. He uses imagery and descriptive words to produce these two ideas throughout the poem until the end. He gives the side that flowers no matter how beautiful and cared for they are, get picked out by people. On the other hand, he describes weeds as being strong and free through the hardships and weaknesses they have to face alone.
Teamwork:
Activity #1:
Establish the meaning of the extended metaphors describing the flower and the weed.
My group came up with the idea that flowers have a mundane and safe lifestyle meanwhile weeds have a risky and adventurous life. We discussed that compared to people, a flower would be someone that would be raised and taken care of but would eventually be forgotten and got rid of. However, the weed would be someone that is more vulnerable to the dangers around them but therefore make them more stronger to handle these situations. We also came to agree that the flowers would have an unsatisfying ending since it gets picked out by people. The weed would have a proud ending due to still being free and looking back at all the hardships and challenges it has overcome.
Activity #2:
Use the TWIST analysis which ends up with coming up with a theme and interpretative statement.
My group discussed and came up with the ideas that the poem has a more criticizing tone to the flower and more praising toward the weed. It was clearly seen throughout the poem that descriptive, visual, and action words are used to describe the poem. The imagery that the author used is to describe the characteristics of the flower and the weed and compare them to each other. The poem had a more contentious poem which means the poem is controversial and is a more positive argument. The theme we came up with was “It is better to be free with bad characteristics to be trapped and babysitted with good characteristics.” The interpretive statement we came up with was “The poem is about how flower and weed are related to society in terms of being unique in society rather than being normal in a contentious way.” We felt that the message was no matter what, a free and proud life is better than a cared and trapped life. My group came up with the interpretive statement using all the aspects we came up with about the poem.
Reflection: This lesson really took a deep dive into the ideas of finding the theme hidden within an extended metaphor. I never really had a problem with discovering themes but this was extremely good practice for understanding and breaking down poems. By spirit reading and working with my group, I have collaboratively understood more about poetic devices and the messages they give off. Everyone has a different perspective and processing of a poem. In the end however, everyone generally has the same ideas that have been hinted throughout the poem. This leads to everyone coming up with one agreeable theme.
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