Week 10: November 2 through 9

This week we will discuss literature and many of its forms. We will learn about famous orators, poets, and writers whose work has impacted the world of literature in various ways.

Monday, November 2nd

Tickling Tigers

Twelve toed tigers

are ticklish you know Ten tiny fingers Tickle tiger tummies and toes ~D. Ross

You may notice that the poem above repeats one consonant sound more than others. The "T" sound is repeated and this poem is an example of alliteration. Alliteration means words in a phrase or work of literature have the same letter or sound repeating throughout the writing. Many times, these words have the same sound at the beginning.

Tongue twisters are the ultimate example of alliteration. Can you say these popular ones?

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

Betty Barter bought a bit of bitter butter.

She sells sea shells by the sea shore.

I thought a thought but the thought I thought wasn't the thought I thought I thought. If the thought I thought I thought had been the thought I thought, I wouldn't have thought so much.

Product: Create a tongue twister using alliteration. Record yourself reciting your work and share it in the comments below or on the Family World school FB Page.

Tuesday, November 3rd “Salvation” by Langston Hughes

Do you know what's ironic? No really, do you know what ironic means? Irony is a literary device often used by writers and is commonly misused in everyday speech. Irony means that the outcome is the opposite of what is expected. There are three types of irony; dramatic, situational, and verbal.

Examples of the 3 Types of Irony.

Dramatic Irony

You are watching Scooby Doo on television and Velma is on the ground searching for her eyeglasses. She blindly reaches out for them and grabs them out of the hand of a scary green monster.

Situational Irony

The fire station on the lake burns down.

Verbal Irony

The town is flooding and the water is entering Miko's house. He says, "Looks like we won't have to go to the beach to swim!"

So, now you know a bit about irony, let's see if you can tell why this picture is ironic.

What kind of irony are in these images? Situational or Dramatic?

In the first image you see a woman confidently swimming in the sea. She probably doesn't know that there is a giant, hungry-looking shark just beneath her. You know more than the character in the image knows. The first image is a great example of dramatic irony.

The second image shows a NO BIRDS sign. Yet, atop the sign, there is a bird. This is opposite of what one should expect when you see a NO BIRDS sign. Here you have an example of situational irony. Did you guess correctly?

Product:

Please read from Langston Hughes' writing in a chapter called Salvation. Tell what kind of irony is used in his work and why you think it is this kind of irony.

Write or record your answer and explanation in the comments below or on the Family World School group Facebook page.

Salvation

I was saved from sin when I was going on thirteen. But not really saved. It happened like this. There was a big revival at my Auntie Reed’s church. Every night for weeks there had been much preaching, singing, praying, and shouting, and some very hardened sinners had been brought to Christ, and the membership of the church had grown by leaps and bounds. Then just before the revival ended, they held a special meeting for children, “to bring the young lambs to the fold.” My aunt spoke of it for days ahead. That night I was escorted to the front row and placed on the mourners’ bench with all the other young sinners, who had not yet been brought to Jesus. My aunt told me that when you were saved you saw a light, and something happened to you inside! And Jesus came into your life! And God was with you from then on! She said you could see and hear and feel Jesus in your soul. I believed her. I had heard a great many old people say the same thing and it seemed to me they ought to know. So I sat there calmly in the hot, crowded church, waiting for Jesus to come to me. The preacher preached a wonderful rhythmical sermon, all moans and shouts and lonely cries and dire pictures of hell, and then he sang a song about the ninety and nine safe in the fold, but one little lamb was left out in the cold. Then he said: “Won’t you come? Won’t you come to Jesus? Young lambs, won’t you come?” And he held out his arms to all us young sinners there on the mourners’ bench. And the little girls cried. And some of them jumped up and went to Jesus right away. But most of us just sat there. A great many old people came and knelt around us and prayed, old women with jet-black faces and braided hair, old men with work-gnarled hands. And the church sang a song about the lower lights are burning, some poor sinners to be saved. And the whole building rocked with prayer and song. Still I kept waiting to see Jesus. Finally all the young people had gone to the altar and were saved, but one boy and me. He was a rounder’s son named Westley. Westley and I were surrounded by sisters and deacons praying. It was very hot in the church, and getting late now. Finally Westley said to me in a whisper: “God damn! I’m tired o’ sitting here. Let’s get up and be saved.” So he got up and was saved. Then I was left all alone on the mourners’ bench. My aunt came and knelt at my knees and cried, while prayers and song swirled all around me in the little church. The whole congregation prayed for me alone, in a mighty wail of moans and voices. And I kept waiting serenely for Jesus, waiting, waiting – but he didn’t come. I wanted to see him, but nothing happened to me. Nothing! I wanted something to happen to me, but nothing happened. I heard the songs and the minister saying: “Why don’t you come? My dear child, why don’t you come to Jesus? Jesus is waiting for you. He wants you. Why don’t you come? Sister Reed, what is this child’s name?” “Langston,” my aunt sobbed. “Langston, why don’t you come? Why don’t you come and be saved? Oh, Lamb of God! Why don’t you come?” Now it was really getting late. I began to be ashamed of myself, holding everything up so long. I began to wonder what God thought about Westley, who certainly hadn’t seen Jesus either, but who was now sitting proudly on the platform, swinging his knickerbockered legs and grinning down at me, surrounded by deacons and old women on their knees praying. God had not struck Westley dead for taking his name in vain or for lying in the temple. So I decided that maybe to save further trouble, I’d better lie, too, and say that Jesus had come, and get up and be saved. So I got up. Suddenly the whole room broke into a sea of shouting, as they saw me rise. Waves of rejoicing swept the place. Women leaped in the air. My aunt threw her arms around me. The minister took me by the hand and led me to the platform. When things quieted down, in a hushed silence, punctuated by a few ecstatic “Amens,” all the new young lambs were blessed in the name of God. Then joyous singing filled the room. That night, for the first time in my life but one for I was a big boy twelve years old – I cried. I cried, in bed alone, and couldn’t stop. I buried my head under the quilts, but my aunt heard me. She woke up and told my uncle I was crying because the Holy Ghost had come into my life, and because I had seen Jesus. But I was really crying because I couldn’t bear to tell her that I had lied, that I had deceived everybody in the church, that I hadn’t seen Jesus, and that now I didn’t believe there was a Jesus anymore, since he didn’t come to help me. “Salvation” from The Big Sea by Langston Hughes. Copyright © 1940 by Langston Hughes. Copyright renewed 1968 by Arna Bontemps and George Houston Bass. Reprinted by permission of Hill and Wang, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. www.fsgbooks.com

Wednesday, November 4th “Like I Said"

Simile-

compares two unlike things that is often introduced by like or as (as in cheeks like roses)

Metaphor-

in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness(as in drowning in money)

Analogy-

a) a comparison of two otherwise unlike things based on resemblance of a particular aspect

b) resemblance in some particulars between things otherwise unlike

A simile compares two things using like or as. For example: The waves were as big as dinosaurs.

A metaphor compares two things by saying they are the same thing. For example: The waves were dinosaurs, pounding the shore.

Metaphors often use fewer words and do not have the signals of “like” or “as.”

Identify the Similes and Metaphors in this Worksheet

Similes_and_Metaphors.pdf

Download PDF • 467KB

Product:

Find analogy, metaphor, and simile examples from around the world today. You could even create your own. FWS has provided two examples. Please add your examples to the padlet below.

Thursday, November 5th, 2020

"When the Pen is More Powerful than the Sword"

Today, we will discuss, Jack Mapanje. Mapanje (MAH PAH N JAY) Jack Mapanje was like most other Black or African children growing up in the 50s. However, his mother and father were a wealthier than many. They sent him from his home in Malawi to go to school in London, England. He was educated well. Later, he moved back home to Malawi and taught at the University of Malawi and was head of the Language and Linguistics Department. Due to the continued rule of European countries throughout Africa, by way of neocolonialism and foreign interference in African affairs by Western world countries, many early leaders in the African continent have been corrupt. They are often approved by the US and the UK to serve the interests of these two nations and their allies before they are placed in powerful positions. In the 80’s President Hastings was the leader in Malawi. President Hastings Kumuzu Banda was born under harsh oppression of colonizers and adopted the same methods to control his country when he became the first president of an ‘independent’ Malawi. His government was totalitarian, which means what he said goes. Although he was called a President, he acted like a ruler or dictator over his countrymen. In1987, Mapanje wrote and published a collection of poetry Of Chameleons and Gods.

Censor: to examine in order to suppress or delete anything considered objectionable

also : to suppress or delete as objectionable

The poems used metaphor to speak about things that were really happening in Malawi. However, Mapanje never used the name of President Hastings Banda. Instead, he talked about farmers and chickens or chameleons and gods. Banda recognized himself in the poems/stories and had Mapanje arrested without charging him with a crime. What crime could he charge him with? There was no law against talking about chickens. The "chameleon" of the title refers to the disguise of personal voice Mapanje deemed necessary in order to mount a criticism of the politics at the time. The book of poetry was never officially banned but instead was ‘withdrawn’ so that no one could read it. An international group called Amnesty International declared him a prisoner of conscience and called for his release. People protested in many ways including a public reading of selections from Of Chameleons and Gods outside the Malawian High Commission in London by UK Nobel laureate Harold Pinter. Mapanje was also awarded the 1990 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award during his imprisonment, which carried a US$3,000 cash award. Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka and UK playwright Ronald Harwood also campaigned for his release.

Mapanje was held for three-and-a-half years before being released in 1991. After was freed, he was told he needed to reapply for his previous professorship at the University of Malawi. After a lengthy delay in his application, he moved back instead to the UK. Where he wrote a memoir about the experience, And Crocodiles Are Hungry At Night, which was also adapted into a play.

Anthropomorphism= AN THRUH PUH MOR FIZ IM

Anthropomorphism is a big word that simply means to make an animal act like a human in a work of literature.

If we want to show anthropomorphism, we might make a mouse tiptoe across the kitchen floor in a story. We may have a snake spy on a napping cat. The acts of tiptoeing or spying are viewed human behaviors. In the poem, Song of Chickens, the chicken is questioning the behavior of the farmer. Chickens don’t really ask questions, do they? Of course not! The reason people use anthropomorphism in writing is to make the stories more memorable or to disguise an idea.

Product: use the images to create a short story or poem that describes them. Remember to focus on anthropomorphism

Friday, November 6th, 2020

"What Is Poetry?"

Poetry is a type of literature that conveys a thought, describes a scene or tells a story in a concentrated, lyrical arrangement of words. Poems can be structured, with rhyming lines and meter, the rhythm and emphasis of a line based on syllabic beats. Poems can also be freeform, which follows no formal structure. The basic building block of a poem is a verse known as a stanza. A stanza is a grouping of lines related to the same thought or topic, similar to a paragraph in prose. A stanza can be subdivided based on the number of lines it contains. For example, a couplet is a stanza with two lines. On the page, poetry is visibly unique: a narrow column of words with recurring breaks between stanzas. Lines of a poem may be indented or lengthened with extra spacing between words. The white space that frames a poem is an aesthetic guide for how a poem is read.

lyric, syllable, free form formal, subdivide, frame (in writing), aesthetic

Types of Poetic Forms Blank verse. Blank verse is poetry written with a precise meter—almost always *iambic pentameter*—that does not rhyme.

Rhymed poetry. In contrast to blank verse, rhymed poems rhyme by definition, although their scheme varies.

Free verse. Free verse poetry is poetry that lacks a consistent rhyme scheme, metrical pattern, or musical form.

Epics. An epic poem is a lengthy, narrative work of poetry. These long poems typically detail extraordinary feats and adventures of characters from a distant past. Learn more about epics here. Narrative poetry. Similar to an epic, a narrative poem tells a story. You can hear narrative poetry here.

Haiku. A haiku is a three-line poetic form originating in Japan. The first line has five syllables, the second line has seven syllables, and the third line again has five syllables. Try it out!

Pastoral poetry. A pastoral poem is one that concerns the natural world, rural life, and landscapes. These poems have persevered from Ancient Greece (in the poetry of Hesiod) to Ancient Rome (Virgil) to the present day.

Sonnet. A sonnet is a 14 line poem, typically (but not exclusively) concerning the topic of love. Sonnets contain internal rhymes within their 14 lines; the exact rhyme scheme depends on the style of a sonnet.

Elegies. An elegy is a poem that reflects upon death or loss. Traditionally, it contains themes of mourning, loss, and reflection. However, it can also explore themes of redemption and consolation.

Ode. Much like an elegy, an ode is a tribute to its subject, although the subject need not be dead—or even sentient.

Ballad. A ballad (or ballade) is a form of narrative verse that can be either poetic or musical. It typically follows a pattern of rhymed quatrains. It represents a melodious form of storytelling.

Today you have a choice between one of two products or both.

1) Create your own haiku

or

2) Read this poem by Langston Hughes. Learn one stanza and recite it. Share your audio recoded recitation with FWS in the section below or on the Family World School group Facebook page