Warm-up

• Write: Think back to all of the times you were asking to analyze a poem. What were you asked to study? How do YOU analyze poetry? What are the keys to understanding poems?

• Turn and Share• Write: What could you add to your list?

Content Language Objective

• Explain in writing the theme of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and support citing textual evidence after completing text-dependent questions

Anotating Poetry

• Figurative Language- circle metaphors, similes, repetition, alliteration, etc.

• Tone/mood –Write one or two adjectives that describe the tone/mood. One for the beginning, one for the end

• Shifts- underline where the tone/mood of the poem shifts (guilt to acceptance)

• Theme- Write a thematic statement for the poem

Theme

• To find theme you first must find the subject/topic

• Subjects are usually non-tangible – Exs: love, hate, jealousy, greed, war

Thematic Statements

• After finding the subject, you need to infer and place what you believe the author’s opinion or judgment is about the subject

• Subject/Topic + Opinion/Judgment = THEME– Jealousy can destroy even the strongest

relationships– Love can be can dangerous when it appears in the

form of lust– Avoid cliché’s and morals: “Love hurts” or “Respect

your elders”

James Weldon Johnson• James Weldon Johnson (June 17, 1871 – June 26, 1938) was an

American author, educator, lawyer, diplomat, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Johnson is best remembered for his leadership within the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), where he started working in 1917, being chosen as the first black executive secretary of the organization, effectively the operating officer.[1] He served in that position from 1920 to 1930. He was first known for his writing, which includes poems, novels, and anthologies collecting both poems and spirituals of black culture.

• • • He was the first African-American professor at New York University.[2] Later in life he was a professor of creative literature and writing at Fisk University.

Lift Every Voice and Sing

• Read and Annotate: Tone, Fig Lang, Shift, Theme

• Answer text-dependent questions

• Explain the theme citing textual evidence