Now that you have spent two quarters looking at various American idioms and how authors use figurative language, you will spend the rest of the year analyzing how people use words to express feelings, moods and beliefs.

Each week, you will read and analyze a poem. You will be looking for two components of each poem: theme and figurative language. Because poetry is interpretive, I expect all answers to be unique based on your own beliefs. You will have one week from Monday to complete your response sheet. We will first look at modern poems (a.k.a. song lyrics)and then we will read some of the American classics. Your response sheet will be written in the following format:

Name

Date

POW #_____

 

Title of Song

 

I. Imagery/Figurative Language: Find examples of figurative language used by the author. Some weeks you will find only a few. Other weeks you can find as many as ten. You will put the word or phrase in quotes, write the type of figurative language, and write what you believe is the author's intended meaning.

 

Types of Imagery/Figurative Language

 

II. Rewrite Verse: Take one verse/stanza from the poem and rewrite it in standard prose using your own words.

 

III. Theme: In two or more sentences write down what you believe the author is saying about life. You make quote the author to substantiate your argument.

 

You will be graded based on the effort and depth of thought you put into this assignment. The above are the minimum requirements.

 

 

See an Example