Lesson Plans

Assignment to have been completed: Students should have read “Reading the Poem.” pp. 655-664 in Perrine’s Literature. They should also have completed the following parts of Reviewing Chapter Two: 1, the first part of 2, 3, and 4. Write answers in complete sentences.

Objectives: To apply the five steps of close reading

Activities:

• A. Review the approaches for developing an ability to understand and appreciate poetry.

  • 1. Read a poem more than once.
  • 2. Keep a dictionary by you and use it. [Have a Bible and a handbook of mythology nearby as well. Here is an opportunity to use the Internet wisely.]
  • 3. Read poetry aloud (or lip-read) slowly.
  • 4. Pay careful attention to meaning. [On the first reading you should determine the subjects of the verbs and the antecedents of the pronouns.]
  • 5. Practice oral interpretation.
    • a. Read affectionately, but not affectedly.
    • b. Read slowly enough that each word is clear and distinct and that the meaning has time to sink in.
    • c. Read so that the rhythmical pattern is felt but not exaggerated.
  • 6. Maintain the utmost mental alertness.

• B. Have one of the students read “Break of Day,” p. 664-665 aloud.

• C. Review the cardinal questions that should be asked of a poem.

  • 1. Who is the speaker?

    • a. Do not assume that the speaker is the poet just because the speaker uses first person pronouns.

    • b. Be careful in attributing autobiographical or personal philosophical status to all or part of a poem.

    • c. Realize that to some degree every poem is dramatic.

    • Who is the speaker? What can we know about it (her, him, or them)?

      The speaker in this poem is a woman who wants her lover to remain with her instead of going off to work

      She has a confident spirit and a quick mind; she values love above all else.

    • Is there an identifiable audience for the speaker? What can we know about it (her, him, or them)?

      Her lover who is a businessman (probably unmarried).

  • 2. What is the occasion?

    The lover is preparing to depart for work.

    • What is the setting in time (hour, season, century, and so on)?

      It is the morning after the night they have spent together.

    • What is the setting place (indoors or out, city or country, land or sea, region, nation, hemisphere)?

      They are both in the beloved’s bedroom.

  • 3. What is the central purpose of the poem?

    • a. To tell a story (entertainment)

    • b. To reveal human character (analysis)

    • c. To impart a vivid impression of a scene (imagery)

    • d. To express a mood or an emotion (tone)

    • e. To convey vividly some idea or attitude (theme)

      The central purpose of this poem is to persuade the lover not to leave for

      work.

  • 4. By what means is the purpose achieved? [Begin by describing the poem’s dramatic framework - if it has one.]

    Stanza 1: the argument that he should not leave just because the day has dawned.

    Stanza 2: the argument that he should not leave for fear of their love being exposed.

    Stanza 3: the argument that he should not betray their love by serving a second mistress: business

• C. Review the practice of paraphrasing.

  • 1. Paraphrase the poem in prose. Make sure it contains all the ideas in the poem in such a way as to make them clear to a puzzled reader and to make the central idea, or theme, of the poem more accessible.

  • 2. Some aspects of language will change.

    • a. Figurative language will give way to literal language.
    • b. Similes will replace metaphors.
    • c. Normal word order supplants inverted syntax.

  • 3. Others will remain unchanged.

    • a. The person of pronouns will remain constant.
    • b. Verb tenses will remain unchanged.

  • 4. After paraphrasing, determine how far short of the poem it falls, and why.

    Here is an example:

    So what if it is dawn? Is that the reason you want to leave me? Why should we leave this bed because it is light; did we go to bed because it was dark? If love brought us to bed despite the night, it should keep us here despite the day.

    The sun cannot speak even if it can see us. However, even if it could speak and told everyone that I prefer to stay in bed with you, my love, I would not be ashamed of anything it could say.

    Is work the reason you want to leave me? That is the worst affliction that any love could suffer. Love can come to paupers, villains, and liars, but it will not faze a businessman. (Or, paupers, villain, and liars can submit to love, but businessmen cannot.) A man who would try to serve a mistress and a business, is as wrong as a man who would try to keep a wife and a mistress.

• D. Distribute the handout on “A Study of Reading Habits.”

Assignment for next class meeting: Complete the handout on “A Study of Reading Habits,” p. 658.