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Sources of inspiration for a short story

There Will Come Soft Rains

1. Whatdoyouassociatewiththetitle“ThereWillComeSoftRains”?

2. Describethepicturebelowandexplainthelinktothetitle.

3. ReadthepoembyAmericanpoetSaraTeasdale(1884–1933)andanswerthefollowingquestions:• Whatisthesituation?Describethesettingandexplainitshistoricalcontext.• Whathashappened/willhappen?Howrealisticdoyoubelievesuchasituationtobe?• Whatisthelinktothepaintingabove?• Analysetheimageryusedinthepoem.

There Will Come Soft Rains (by Sara Teasdale, 1920)

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There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools, singing at night, And wild plum trees in tremulous white,

Robins will wear their feathery fire, Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

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And not one will know of the war, not one Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree, If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn, Would scarcely know that we were gone.

2 swallow Schwalbe – 4 tremulous shivering, trembling – 5 robin Rotkehlchen – 6 whim mood, dream – 10 to perish to die (out) – 10 utterly completely – 12 scarcely hardly

4. Imaginethatyouareafamousshortstorywriter.YouhavebeeninspiredbySaraTeasdale’spoemandthe

pictureabove.Discusswithapartnerapossibleplotoutlineforashortstoryonthesametheme.

© Ernst Klett Sprachen GmbH, Stuttgart 2016 | www.klett-sprachen.de | Alle Rechte vorbehalten Kopieren für den eigenen Unterrichtsgebrauch gestattet. ISBN 978-3-12-534643-7

Modul 1 – What is a short story?1.5a