Slam Poetry

1.  Embed a “poetry quotes” or “rhyme me” gadget to your blog (go to your Blog layout view.  Click “Add a Gadget” to find one of these). (3 marks)

2.  Embed a slam poetry video on your blog. Write a description above the video that includes the name of the poem and describes its theme(s). (4 marks)

         Pretty performed by Katie Makkai. This poem is really questioning society's values for women and trying to get across that a woman is so much more than her looks. 

3.  Write your own poem (minimum 12 lines) on any topic / theme. Include a title. You can write this alone or collaborate with a partner using Google Documents. (13 marks)

            
           Breathlessly her hands are crossed 
           Windy night's grace
           Stormy night's solace 
           Reaching over the darkness
           Ascending all the light
           Touching life itself
           Windy night's grace
           Stormy night's solace
           She caresses with care
           Stronger as a pair
           What is meant of this life
           Young and sweet
           She flies

Legends and Stories

Read all:

• The Forsaken – Duncan Campbell Scott (Theme & Image Book 1. Page 24)
• The Ice-Floes - E. J. Pratt (Theme & Image Book 1. Page 27)
• David – Earle Birney (Theme & Image Book 1. Page 32)

 1. Write a paragraph that discusses the themes of survival and sacrifice in The Forsaken. (6 marks)

        Survival and sacrifice were really prevalent in The Forsaken, being the big themes and all. The mother had cut, from her own being, flesh which she used to catch some fish to feed herself, and ultimately, her son. That in itself was the biggest moment of sacrifice and survival in this poem for me. Though it wasn't the only instance of the themes poking through. When the son and his children chose to abandon the mother, there was sacrafice and in order to have a better chance at surviving themselves, they got rid of the 'dead weight'. When it comes to sacrifice and survival, there are tough decisions to be made. 

2. Write a paragraph that explains the harsh irony of The Ice-Floes. (6 marks)

         There was a really harsh irony in The Ice-Floes. In the beginning, the seal hunters of The Eagle were compared to that of "..hounds on a caribou's track.", but as the story progressed and they finally registered the coming storm, the hunters became the hunted. The situation flipped for the seal hunters and now it was their lives that were in peril. To add to the irony, the storm itself was also compared to a hound "Not one of us thought of the speed of the storm/ That hounded our tracks in the day's last chase...". Though they may have bagged twenty thousand seals, sixty of their own men were lost to this ironic twist of events.

3. Write a paragraph that describes Birney’s technique of foreshadowing in the poem David. (6 marks)

         Birney really had a very interesting way of foreshadowing in David. The way Birney used this poetic technique it kind of kept one guessing as to what would happen yet, deep down the reader sort of just...knew. He gave the sense that David would fall down the cliff on a few occasions by describing the cliffs themselves and David and the story teller's experience with seeing the goat's skeleton. It started to become a little eerie and suspenseful later on. One knew it was bound to happen, but when?

4.  Embed a video that features information about one of these poets or poems.  (2 marks)

      

People and Places

Read:  Warren Pryor – A. Nowlan (Theme & Image Book 1. Page 13)

Answer in complete sentences:

1. What work is done by Warren’s family? (1 mark)

           The work Warren's family did was farming.

2. How did Warren represent their hopes and dreams? (1 mark)

           Warren represented their hopes and dreams because he had a future still and an education which they never had.

   

3. Explain the allusion used in the third stanza (see p. 215). What is the poem’s setting? (2 marks)

           "Their cups ran over--an allusion to the Twenty Third Psalm."
            The poem's setting was probably somewhere in New Brunswick where the poet lives due to the red sand being mentioned.

4. Identify the metaphor in the second stanza and the simile in the fourth stanza. (2 marks)

           The metaphor in the second stanza is "..the slender scroll,/ his passport..."
           The simile in the fourth stanza is "...serious/ like a young bear inside his teller's cage..."

5. Explain the situational irony of “Warren Pryor. “ (2 marks)

            Well, it was expected by both the reader and Warren's parents that Warren would love to be away from the toil of the farm, but as it turns out it seems he would rather be working that dying land than doing his office work. "...his axe-hewn hands upon the paper bills/ aching with empty strength and throttled rage."

6. Create hyperlinks to online definitions for the terms allusion, metaphor, simile, and situational irony in the questions above. (2 marks)

National Identity

Read:  The Lonely Land – by A. J. M. Smith (Theme & Image Book 1. Page 3)

1. What types of imagery can you identify in this poem? (2 marks)

          The types of imagery I can identify in this poem are sight and sound. 

2. What forms of life inhabit the lonely land? (2 marks)

          There are a few forms of life who inhabit the lonely island and they are a whole bunch of trees and some ducks.

      

3. Which three adjectives used by Smith do you think best portray the strength and beauty of the land he describes? Give your reasons for selecting each one. (6 marks)

          The three adjectives used by Smith that I think best portray the strength and beauty of the land are as follows:
        Passionate. I chose this because the word 'passionate' to me holds a really strong connotation for the feeling of beauty and love.
        
4. Embed two images on your blog that illustrate lines of the poem. Caption each image with the lines represented from the poem. (4 marks)

"Cedar and jagged fir/ uplift sharp barbs/ against the gray/ and cloud piled sky..."

              

"A wild duck calls/ to her mate,/ and the ragged/ and passionate tones/ stagger and fall..."