ENGLISH 11

May 17 & 20, 2013

• Collect Original Poem

• Guided Notes: Poetry

• The Harlem Renaissance

• Read Langston Hughes’s poem “I, Too Sing America” (Yellow Book Pg. 925)

• Complete worksheet

• Homework: Compare “I, Too” to Walt Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing”

Agenda - 5/20/2013

• Literal language refers to words that do not deviate from their defined meaning.

• Figurative language refers to words, and groups of words, that exaggerate or alter the usual meanings of those words. Figurative language may involve analogy to similar concepts, and may involve exaggerations. These alterations result in figures of speech.

• May contain similes, metaphors, hyperbole, or personification

Literal and Figurative Language

• A figure of speech is a use of a word or phrase diverging from its usual meaning. Figures of speech often provide emphasis, freshness of expression, or clarity.

• Examples:

• Walking on eggshells.

• Forty winks.

• The coast is clear.

• Down in the dumps.

• Ears are burning.

Figures of Speech

Language that appeals to the senses

Often involves figurative language

1. Imagery

•Ask if the image appeals to one of the five senses

Identifying Images

The bright yellow sun hurt our eyes.

The soft glow of the candle flickered like a firefly dancing in the wind.

Sight

The loud roar of the crowd sounded like a beast.

The soft whisper of her dainty voice tickled his ears.

Sound

The room reeked of month old rancid milk.

The smell of spring filled our nostrils as the freshly cut flowers were placed on the mantle.

Smell

The sweet bread was laden with thick honey.

The tarts and sweet pies tantalized the tongue with a myriad of tangy flavors.

Taste

The smoothness of the bird's feathers reminded him of rose petals.

He considered that the volcano's heat on his skin was the equivalent of being inside of an oven.

Touch

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Daffodils (Extract) by William Blake

Simile: narrator

uses “as” to

compare himself

to a cloud. The

image is a lone

cloud floating

above hills.

Metaphor:

compares the

daffodils to a

crowd. The

image is a thick

layer of yellow

flowers covering

the ground.

Personification: The

daffodils are

described as

“dancing” to create

an image of

fluttering flowers.

The writer’s attitude as revealed by diction

– word choice

2. Tone

The effect of the writer’s use of tone on the reader

3. Mood

Riches I hold in light esteem,

And Love I laugh to scorn;

And lust of Fame was but a dream

That vanished with the morn -

And if I pray, the only prayer

That moves my lips for me

Is - „Leave the heart that now I bear,

And give me liberty.‟

The Old Stoic (Extract) by Emily Brontë

The speaker uses a

mocking tone. He

purposely points his

disregard for things

that people

normally value.

The identity and character of the text

The persona is the speaker as revealed through the voice (determined by tone and diction).

4. Persona

Ask these questions:

Who is speaking?

What can we tell about the speaker’s situation or point of view?

What types of words or images are being used?

What is the general tone of the piece?

Determining a poem’s persona…

IDEAS ABOUT THE WORLD…

Theme

• The general idea about life that is revealed in the text.

The lesson to be learned

• A theme of a story about suffering might be: hard work pays off.

• A theme of a love story might be: love can conquer any obstacle.

1. Theme

• Themes that can be found in stories in any culture, place or period.

• Example

Be kind to others if you want them to be kind to you.

2. Universal Themes

• A statement that a piece of writing makes about a subject.

3. Literary themes

• The subject is the topic of the text; what the text is about

• Usually the subject can be stated in a single word such as: love, war or innocence.

4. Subject

• A generalization is a statement that applies to many people or situations. They do not have to be true all of the time, but they are normally true.

Ex. Studying hard generally leads to good grades.

• Themes are expressed as generalizations.

5. Generalization

• Genres are different forms of texts.

• Examples of Literary Genres:

Drama - plays

Fiction - Novels

Poetry - Sonnets

Non-fiction – Newspaper articles

6. Genres

• An analogy compares the relationship between two pairs of words.

Examples

Big : Small :: Happy : Sad

Puppy : Dog :: Kitten : Cat

Ice : Cold :: Fire : Hot

7. Analogy

Opposites

Age

Defining Qualities

AN IDEA ABOUT LIFE…

How to Find the Theme

• The subject is just the topic (which can be stated in a single word, such as love).

• The theme is the lesson about the subject. A theme should be expressed in a statement.

1. The Theme is not the subject

• Does the main character change?

• Does the main character realize something that he did not know before?

• Example

How does Ebenezer Scrooge change in A Christmas Carol?

2. Think about how the Protagonist changes

• The way a conflict is resolved often gives hints or clues about the theme.

• Example

How is the conflict resolved in The Tortoise and the Hare?

3. How is the conflict resolved?

• Is there a clue in the title of the story?

• Example:

What is a possible theme in The Boy Who Cried Wolf?

4.Think about the Title

• Does your statement of the theme apply to the whole work and not just one part of it?

5. Test your statement of the theme

• Different people often express the same theme in different words.

• People might have different opinions about the main theme.

• The best literary works often have more than one theme.

6. Remember that there are different ways to state a theme.

• Spanning the 1920s to the mid-1930s, the Harlem Renaissance was a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement that kindled a new black cultural identity. Its essence was summed up by critic and teacher Alain Locke in 1926 when he declared that through art, "Negro life is seizing its first chances for group expression and self determination." Harlem became the center of a "spiritual coming of age" in which Locke's "New Negro" transformed "social disillusionment to race pride." Chiefly literary, the Renaissance included the visual arts but excluded jazz, despite its parallel emergence as a black art form.

The Harlem Renaissance

• James Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri.

• Hughes, who claimed Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Carl Sandburg, and Walt Whitman as his primary influences, is particularly known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America from the twenties through the sixties. He wrote novels, short stories and plays, as well as poetry, and is also known for his engagement with the world of jazz and the influence it had on his writing.

• His life and work were enormously important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Hughes refused to differentiate between his personal experience and the common experience of black America. He wanted to tell the stories of his people in ways that reflected their actual culture, including both their suffering and their love of music, laughter, and language itself.

Langston Hughes