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Poetry Circle Literary Functions
form-finder
- This job involves identifying the style or pattern of the poem.
Is there a particular rhyme scheme?
Is the piece, for example, a terza rima like Dante's Inferno or a sonnet
like Shakespeare's? How does the
meter affect the mood of the poem? Does
the poet employ alliteration?
theme-finder
- This position requires the circle member to identify important general ideas
or, even better, to explain how some specific ideas progress through the piece
to arrive at a universal idea. For
example, in "To an Athlete Dying Young," could this be written about
an ancient Greek or about Flo-Jo?
background-finder
- This historian's job is
to put the poem in context related to time (when it was written, when it takes
place, and how it relates to
today). He or she would also check
out obscure references in the poem and might also include a brief biography of
the poet or historical background to put the poem's theme into context.
For example, Tennyson's Lady
of Shalott alludes to Arthurian Legend (Middle Ages), was written by Alfred Lord
Tennyson about 1895 during the reign of Queen Victoria, an age struggling with
the idea of imprisoning women by "pedestaling" them (dressing them in
beautiful but tight corsets, locking them in towers (beautiful homes) and making them do embroidery or look to the affairs of home, not the
outside world.
image-finder
- This circle worker would identify images, metaphors,
similes and symbols.
Are there animals? What
kind? In Frost's "Stopping By
Woods on a Snowy Evening," there is a horse. What do we associate
horses with? (Perhaps, taking a
journey?) In Auden's Shield
of Achilles, what do we think of when we think of a great warrier's shield?
What would we expect to find on it?
Are there references to weather
in the poem? What ideas do we
associate with cold, snow, ice? What
about Spring? Do we think of
rebirth?
Thanks to the NCTE-Talk
list serv member who posted this information in 1999.
For discussion, Post on the Forum!
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