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English for Life Reader
Grade 8
Home Language
Compiled by Elaine Ridge
Best Books
| Strategies for reading poetry | |
| 1. | Preview the poem – notice the poem’s form: its shape, length, title (why did the poet choose that particular title?) length of its lines, and whether or not it has stanzas. |
| 2. | Visualise the images –in your mind’s eye, picture the images and comparisons the poem makes. Do the images remind you of feelings or experiences you have had? |
| 3. | Try to figure out the theme/main idea – ask yourself, “What’s the point of this poem? What message is the poet trying to send or help me create? Why did the poet write this poem in the first place?” |
| 4. | READ AND REREAD THE POEM UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND much “heavy reading” must be read thoroughly, considered and thought about over and over again until it is understood. If some of the most intelligent people in the world have to reread literature in order to understand it, don’t you think that you have to? |
| 5. | Above all: Enjoy and have fun! Put yourself in the “puzzle” mode trying to figure out what the poem’s message is. |
| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | How do you feel about mosquitoes? In this poem we are given the mosquito’s perspective. What is surprising about this? |
Mosquito’s viewpoint
Don Marquis
A man thinks he amounts to a lot
but to a mosquito
a man is
merely
something to eat.
| Post-reading | |
| 2. | The word “merely” is the only word in line 5. |
| a) | What does this suggest about the way you are meant to say it (tone of voice)? |
| b) | Explain why. Contrast what is said in the first two lines with what is said in the last two. |
| 3. | The poem is amusing but it makes a serious point. Say what you think the point is. |
| 4. a) | Shift the point of view. Make the poem start “A mosquito thinks …” How would you change the rest of the poem? |
| b) | Why is it not easy to make the ‘new’ poem funny in the same way as the Don Marquis poem? |
| 5. | Write a few lines about the main way in which an animal of your choice, such as a spider, a stray dog, or a leopard might see a person. |
| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | This poem comes from a fantasy called Alice through the looking glass. There are many words that you do not know in it. That is because Lewis Carroll is being playful and inventing words. This is a poem to enjoy! |
| During reading | |
| 2. | Although this poem is sometimes called “nonsense verse”, it has a clear story-line. See if you can work out what happens. Do not get stuck on the words you do not know. Use your imagination. Read the poem quickly aloud to yourself, using the punctuation and the words you do know to help you. Don’t expect it to make sense, it is intended to be just for fun. Enjoy the sound and the rhythm as you read. |
Jabberwocky
Lewis Carroll
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
And the mome raths outgrabe.
‘Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!’
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought —
So rested he by the Tumtum tree
And stood awhile in thought.
And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker — snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
‘And hast thou slain the Jabberwock!
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
He chortled in his joy.
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
And the mome raths outgrabe.
| Post-reading | |
| 3. | Describe the atmosphere of the first stanza. |
| 4. | The hero receives fatherly advice about the Jabberwock, the Jubjub Bird and the Bandersnatch. What is dangerous about each of them? |
| 5. | What kinds of movement are suggested by “whiffling” and by “galumphing”? Find other examples of onomatopoeia in the poem and say what they help you imagine. |
| 6. | Work out a possible meaning for: |
| a) | vorpal blade |
| b) | frabjous day |
| 7. | Choose the three coined (made-up) words you like the best and say why you like them. |
| 8. | The illustration gives us one interpretation of what the Jabberwock looked like. Do you think the drawing works or would you have drawn it in another way? |
| 9. | Now, use your imagination and describe one of the strange creatures that are referred to in this poem. |
| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | Many well-known words in English echo sounds. Here are some examples: |
| tick-tock, clang, hiss. | |
| Add some other common words to this list. | |
| During reading | |
| 2. | As you noticed in Jabberwocky, poets are not always serious when they write poetry. In this poem, the poet has had fun with sounds. Say the words aloud and enjoy the wordplay – in this case, onomatopoeia. |
TRIS-TRAS
Alastair Reid
Is scissors cutting paper.
kinclunk is a car
going
