UsefulInterestingMemorable

A good class is:

Time for a new

approach

Going to highlight everything you can use to talk about the theme of a poem.

By the end of the class, you shall be able to discuss the theme of any poem in great detail.

Today

Unseen Poetry 3

Heading

Mr. Dunne 1st October

1. A poet becomes obsessed with an emotional

concept to the point where he or she must write

it down.

2. A poet creates a device which shall reproduce

this emotional concept in others.

3. A reader encounters the device and becomes

aware of the concept. That concept is the theme

of the poem.

Philip Larkin – Three stages of poetry

How to find a theme – S.P.I.T.

S.p.i.t.s.

S. – Subject Matter

P. – Purpose or Message

I. – Identify Emotion, Mood or

Feeling

T. – Technique

S. – Summary

How to find out the theme or purpose of a poem.

Subject Matter

What is the poem about?

What is the story, the setting, the

event as you see it?

The title of a poem gives clues

about the theme.

A Room in the Past

Nettles

A Sentimental Moment

Examples

Purpose or Message

Why did the poet write the poem?

Is the poet trying to tell you something

or convince you of something?

The answer can be derived from the

last line or stanza usually.

“turning her back on the rest of us, forever”.

“My son would often feel sharp wounds again”.

“I sometimes start to reach for his hand”

Examples

Identify Emotion, Mood or Feeling

Is there a strong feeling in this poem?

How does it make the reader feel?

If you do not see a word you can

associate with a feeling, look at the

verbs and act them out.

“A kitchen falling through time”

“Slashed in fury” or “feel sharp

wounds again”

“He doesn’t know”

Examples

Technique

Structure, Language, Imagery,

Movement.

S.L.I.M.

How the poem looks, sounds, thinks and

moves all reveal the theme.

A Sentimental Moment There are stanzas - There is order.

Language – what words or letters repeat

Image of the son – age.

No full stop at end of first stanza – confusion.

Examples

Summary

What is the impact of the

whole poem for you?

What do you think?

Margaret Walker is an African-American poet. In

this poem she celebrates experiences of the

African Americans.

Two of the three poems you have done so far

have had introductions such as this.

I Want to Write

I Want to WriteI want to writeI want to write the songs of my people.I want to hear them singing melodies in the dark.I want to catch the last floating strains from their

sob-torn throats

I want to frame their dreams into words; their souls into notes.

I want to catch their sunshine laughter in a bowl;fling dark hands to a darker skyand fill them full of starsthen crush and mix such lights till they becomea mirrored pool of brilliance in the dawn.

I Want to Write – S. I want to writeI want to write the songs of my people.I want to hear them singing melodies in the dark.I want to catch the last floating strains from their

sob-torn throats

I want to frame their dreams into words; their souls into notes.

I want to catch their sunshine laughter in a bowl;fling dark hands to a darker skyand fill them full of starsthen crush and mix such lights till they becomea mirrored pool of brilliance in the dawn.

I Want to Write – S. I want to writeI want to write the songs of my people.I want to hear them singing melodies in the dark.I want to catch the last floating strains from their

sob-torn throats

I want to frame their dreams into words; their souls into notes.

I want to catch their sunshine laughter in a bowl;fling dark hands to a darker skyand fill them full of starsthen crush and mix such lights till they becomea mirrored pool of brilliance in the dawn. - P.

I Want to Write – S. I want to writeI want to write the songs of my people.I want to hear them singing melodies in the dark.I want to catch the last floating strains from their

sob-torn throats

I want to frame their dreams into words; their souls into notes.

I want to catch their sunshine laughter in a bowl;fling dark hands to a darker skyand fill them full of starsthen crush and mix such lights till they becomea mirrored pool of brilliance in the dawn. - P.

sob-torn i.

I Want to Write – S. I want to writeI want to write the songs of my people.I want to hear them singing melodies in the dark.I want to catch the last floating strains from their

sob-torn throats

I want to frame their dreams into words; their souls into notes.

I want to catch their sunshine laughter in a bowl;fling dark hands to a darker skyand fill them full of starsthen crush and mix such lights till they becomea mirrored pool of brilliance in the dawn. - P.

sob-torn i.

i. sunshine laughter

I Want to Write – S. I want to writeI want to write the songs of my people.I want to hear them singing melodies in the dark.I want to catch the last floating strains from their

sob-torn throats

I want to frame their dreams into words; their souls into notes.

I want to catch their sunshine laughter in a bowl;fling dark hands to a darker skyand fill them full of starsthen crush and mix such lights till they becomea mirrored pool of brilliance in the dawn. - P.

sob-torn i.

i. sunshine laughter

singing

fillcrush

I Want to Write – S. I want to writeI want to write the songs of my people.I want to hear them singing melodies in the dark.I want to catch the last floating strains from their

sob-torn throats

I want to frame their dreams into words; their souls into notes.

I want to catch their sunshine laughter in a bowl;fling dark hands to a darker skyand fill them full of starsthen crush and mix such lights till they becomea mirrored pool of brilliance in the dawn. - P.

sob-torn i.

i. sunshine laughter

singing

fillcrush

T.

T.

I Want to Write – S. I want to writeI want to write the songs of my people.I want to hear them singing melodies in the dark.I want to catch the last floating strains from their

sob-torn throats

I want to frame their dreams into words; their souls into notes.

I want to catch their sunshine laughter in a bowl;fling dark hands to a darker skyand fill them full of starsthen crush and mix such lights till they becomea mirrored pool of brilliance in the dawn. - P.

sob-torn i.

i. sunshine laughter

singing

fillcrush

T.

T.

stars

strains

Songs

such

sky

souls

I Want to Write – S. I want to writeI want to write the songs of my people.I want to hear them singing melodies in the dark.I want to catch the last floating strains from their

sob-torn throats

I want to frame their dreams into words; their souls into notes.

I want to catch their sunshine laughter in a bowl;fling dark hands to a darker skyand fill them full of starsthen crush and mix such lights till they becomea mirrored pool of brilliance in the dawn. - P.

sob-torn i.

i. sunshine laughter

singing

fillcrush

T.

T.

stars

Dark hands to a darker sky

catch the last floating strains

Songs

such

sky

souls

frame their dreams into words

throats

I Want to Write – S.

a mirrored pool of brilliance in the dawn. - P.

sob-torn i.

i. sunshine laughter

singing

fillcrush

stars

Dark hands to a darker sky

strains

Songs

such

souls

catch the last floating strains

frame their dreams into words

throats

I Want to Write – Subject a mirrored pool of brilliance in the dawn. - Purposesob-torn i.

i. sunshine laughter

singing

fill

crush

stars

singing

Songs

such

souls

catch the last floating strainsframe their dreams into words

Two stanza – order, sense, structure

identify emotions

Techniques

sob-torn throats

Dark hands to a darker sky

Your opinion is always important. A quick summary of the poem and its effect on you is always welcome.

Summary

The poet Rosita Boland reflects on the tragedy of the war-torn region in our world

Butterflies

Subject Matter

Purpose or Message

Identify Emotion, Mood or Feeling

Technique

Summary

S.p.i.t.s.

ButterfliesIn Bosnia, there are landmines Decorated with butterflies And left on the grassy pathways Of rural villages. 

The children come, quivering down Familiar lanes & fields. Hands outstretched, they reach triumphant For these bright, elusive insects - Themselves becoming wingéd in the act; Gaudy and ephemeral. 

(Gaudy – loud or noisy)(Ephemeral –lasts a short amount of time)

(hint – landmine)

ButterfliesIn Bosnia, there are landmines Decorated with butterflies And left on the grassy pathways Of rural villages. 

The children come, quivering down Familiar lanes & fields. Hands outstretched, they reach triumphant For these bright, elusive insects - Themselves becoming wingéd in the act; Gaudy and ephemeral. 

(Gaudy – loud or noisy)(Ephemeral –lasts a short amount of time)

(hint – landmine)

Butterflies – S landmines

Decorated with butterflies

quivering

Outstretched triumphantBright, elusive insects

Becoming wingéd in the act

Gaudy and ephemeral – P

i

i

T

T

T

T

T

left

i

Subject Matter

Purpose or Message

Identify Emotion, Mood or Feeling

Technique

Summary

S.p.i.t.s.

Subject Matter – Butterflies – link to the rest

Purpose or Message

Identify Emotion, Mood or Feeling

Technique

Summary

S.p.i.t.s.

Subject Matter – Butterflies – link to the rest

Purpose or Message - Becoming wingéd in the

act, Gaudy and ephemeral

Identify Emotion, Mood or Feeling

Technique

Summary

S.p.i.t.s.

Subject Matter – Butterflies – link to the rest

Purpose or Message - Becoming wingéd in the

act, Gaudy and ephemeral

Identify Emotion, Mood or Feeling - quivering

Technique –

Summary –

S.p.i.t.s.

Subject Matter – Butterflies – link to the rest

Purpose or Message - Becoming wingéd in the

act, Gaudy and ephemeral

Identify Emotion, Mood or Feeling - quivering

Technique – image of landmine and wings

Summary –

S.p.i.t.s.

Subject Matter – Butterflies – link to the rest

Purpose or Message - Becoming wingéd in the

act, Gaudy and ephemeral

Identify Emotion, Mood or Feeling - quivering

Technique – image of landmine and wings

Summary – landmines kill children

S.p.i.t.s.

Child Of Our TimeYesterday I knew no lullabyBut you have taught me overnight to orderThis song, which takes from your final cryIts tune, from your unreasoned end its reason;Its rhythm from the discord of your murder,Its motive from the fact you cannot listen.

We who should have known how to instructWith rhymes for your waking, rhythms for your sleepNames for the animals you took to bed,Tales to distract, legends to protect,Later an idiom for you to keepAnd living, learn, must learn from you, dead.

To make our broken images rebuildThemselves around your limbs, your brokenImage, find for your sake whose life our idleTalk has cost, a new language. ChildOf our time, our times have robbed your cradle.Sleep in a world your final sleep has woken.

Homework

Discuss the theme of the poem.Use s.p.i.t.s.