Unit 7

My Papa’s Waltzby Theodore Roethke

In textbook on page 613Listen to the poem @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs8uO5nPgY4

I Ask My Mother to Sing

by Li-young LeeListen to the poem @ http://www.illinois.gov/poetlaureate/Documents/Lee_Sing.mp3

Grape Sherbetby Rita Dove

In textbook on page: 613Listen to the Poem @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNyT3ouLpWE

Essential Question: What is your most vivid memory? How can you best share it with others?

Common Core Standards: RL.1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. RL. 4 Analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone.

Introduction: What are some of your most vivid memories? Perhaps they include a holiday spent with your favorite relatives or your first camping trip with friends. Memories can take an important shape in your mind. Sometimes they are great stories to tell for years to come, but others might remain only as a sequence of images. The three poems you will read in this lesson consist of such images, boiled down to their quintessential qualities.

Make the Connection: Choose a memory that is very vivid in your memory and write a short recollection. Include sensory details as well as events that present a clear image of your subject.

Poetic Form: Lyric PoetryThese three poems are all examples of lyric poetry, brief poems in which the speakers communicate and share personal thoughts and feelings. In ancient Greek, the word lyric referred to a type of poetry that expressed the feelings of a single singer, joined by a lyre, a small harplike instrument. Today lyric poems are no longer performed, but lyric poems have a great deal in common with songs, including:

Imaginative word choice, or diction A sense of rhythm and melody The creation of a single, unified impression

Be sure to read the poems aloud to yourself to experience the sounds of the language.

Text Analysis: ImageryImagery is one of the most critical elements of a poem. Imagery is the words and phrases that appeal to one or more of the five senses. Imagery is a powerful way to recreate sensory experiences and conjures particular emotions and ideas in people. In the lines below from “My Papa’s Waltz,” the imagery appeal to sight and hearing but also evokes certain feelings:

We romped until the pans Slid from the kitchen shelf

These lines conjure a sense of rowdy and raucous playtime.

Skills for Reading: Making InferencesLyric poems to be very condensed. It’s not uncommon for them there to be more suggested than explicitly stated. When reading lyrical poems it is critical to make inferences about their meanings. Think about the ideas and emotions suggested by the poet’s word choices and the poem’s images. As you read each poem, keep track of the images and your inferences by creating a graphic organizer like the one below.

“Grape Sherbet”Image My Associations Inferences

“[Memorial Day] mornings we galloped/through the grassed-over mounds/ and named each stone / for a lost milk tooth.”

- Memorial Day celebrates the dead who have given their lives

- Grassy mounds and stone are found in cemeteries

-The characters must be running through a cemetery

About the AuthorsTheodore Roethke (1908-1963)

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/theodore-roethke

Roethke, a self-taught poet, learned the craft of poetry by studying other poets. He kept a notebook where he kept his thoughts, feelings, and observations and often sought inspiration there. He earned a Pulitzer Prize and two National Book Awards. He advised his readers to “listen” to his poems because “they are written to be heard.

Li-Young Lee (Born 1957)http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/li-

young-lee

Lee is the son of a couple exiled by the Chinese government. After his parents fled China to avoid political persecution, he and his family lived in many different Asian countries before landing in America in 1964. It wasn’t until after college that Lee began to write about his experiences. His poetry is about love, family, and every day experiences.

Rita Dove (Born 1952)http://people.virginia.edu/~rfd4b/

Dove has been a writer since she was in grade school when she composed a science-fiction novel based on the words she was required to learn for a school spelling bee. Her poetry collections have many awards, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1987. From 1993 -1995, she served as the U.S. poet laureate. She credits her imagination for her success.

Poem #1: My Papa’s Waltz by Theodore RoethkeListen to the poem @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs8uO5nPgY4

Tender Moments (2000) Franks Deceus

The whiskey on your breathCould make a small boy dizzy;

But I hung on like death:Such waltzing was not easy.

We romped until the pansSlid from the kitchen shelf;My mother’s countenance

Could not unfrown itself.

The hand that held my wristWas battered on one knuckle;

At every step you missedMy right ear scraped a buckle.

You beat time on my headWith a palm caked hard by dirt,

Then waltzed me off to bedStill clinging to your shirt

Close Read

Analyze Visuals – What are your impressions of the characters in the paintings? Cite the details that create that impression.

Countenance - facial expression

Analyze Lyric Poems – How does the speaker feel about the bedtime waltz with his father? Cite details from the poem to explain your thoughts and opinions.

Poem #2: I Ask My Mother to Sing by Li-Young LeeListen to the poem @ http://www.illinois.gov/poetlaureate/Documents/Lee_Sing.mp3

Mother and Child by Grand Canal (2000) by Hung Liu.

She begins, and my grandmother joins her.Mother and daughter sing like young girls.

If my father were alive, he would playhis accordion and sway like a boat.

I’ve never been in Peking, or the Summer Palace,

nor stood on the great Stone Boat to watchthe rain begin on Kuen Ming Lake, the

picnickersrunning away in the grass.

But I love to hear it sung;how the waterlilies fill with rain until

they overturn, spilling water into water,then rock back, and fill with more.

Both women have begun to cry.But neither stops her song.

Close Read

Imagery: Reread the highlighted lines. How is the speaker able to describe images of a place he’s never seen? Describe the emotions evoked by the images.

Make Inferences: Why do the speaker’s mother and grandmother start to cry during their song?

Poem #3: Grape SherbetListen to the Poem @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNyT3ouLpWE / Poet Rita Dove recites two poems, Singsong and Fox Trot Fridays @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnWd72uFK9A Watch an interview with poet Rita Dove @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwdMXj2p1TQ

Ice Cream Dessert (1959) by Andy Warhol

The Day? Memorial.After the grillDad appears with his masterpiece –swirled snow, gelled light.We cheer.  The recipe’sa secret and he fightsa smile, his cap turned upso the bib resembles a duck.

That morning we gallopedthrough the grassed-over moundsand named each stonefor a lost milktooth.  Each dollopof sherbet, later,is a miracle,like salt on a melon that makes it sweeter.

Everyone agrees – it’s wonderful!It’s just how we imagined lavenderwould taste.  The diabetic grandmotherstares from the porch,a torchof pure refusal.

We thought no one was lyingthere under our feet,we thought itwas a joke.  I’ve been tryingto remember the taste,but it doesn’t exist.Now I see why

Close Read

Reread the highlighted portion of the poem. What does the image of the grandmother indicate about her grandmother?

Lyric Poetry: What emotion is the

you bothered,father.

speaker communicating in this poem?

After Reading Questions

Common Core Standards: RL.1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. RL. 4 Analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone.

1. Recall: In “My Papa’s Waltz,” why is the speaker’s mother frowning?2. Clarify: In “I Ask My Mother to Sing,” what is the mother’s song about?3. Summarize: Describe the setting of “Grape Sherbet” as you imagine it.4. Make Inferences: Review the chart/graphic organizers you created while reading the three poems. What essential

inferences assisted you understand the poems? What hints did you use to formulate these inferences?5. Compare and Contrast: In “My Papa’s Waltz,” and “Grape Sherbet,” the speakers recall childhood memories. How are

their experiences with their fathers similar? How do they differ? Cite evidence from each poem to validate your answers.6. Interpret Imagery: Reread the lines below from the poem “I Ask My Mother to Sing.” What idea is alluded to by the

image of the water lilies filling with water, spilling it into the lake, and filling up again. Think about the event explained in the first stanza.

But I love to hear it sung;how the waterlilies fill with rain until

they overturn, spilling water into water,then rock back, and fill with more.

7. Analyze Lyric Poetry: Review the definition of a lyric poem from your notes. Then find the characteristics of a lyric poem in “I Ask My Mother to Sing.”

8. Come to Conclusions: In “My Papa’s Waltz,” how do you judge the father’s behavior toward the speaker? Consider the diction used in the descriptions as you cite evidence to support your answer.

9. Text Criticism: In writing about “My Papa’s Waltz,” one critic commented that Roethke discloses “something of his own joy, bafflements, as the victim of his father’s exuberant energy.” Do you consider victim too harsh an explanation to describe the boy’s part in the evening waltz? Explain your answer.

10.Enduring Understanding: Reread the essential questions. Do you think your favorite memory could be best shared in a poem? After reading these poems, do you think poetry is an effective way to share memories with others? Why or why not?