Class Two

Class Two

Part 1:

Interpretation (Day 2)

When you interpret a poem, you can ask any questions you want to ask.

However, if you focus your questions on SPEAKER, AUDIENCE, and SITUATION, you will almost always come up with some useful questions and answers.

Speaker: Who is speaking?
Audience: Who is the poem speaking to?
Situation: What is going on in the poem?

Speaker:

The speaker is not necessarily the author.

They are not necessarily the same person.

For example, Seth Green is not Peter Griffin from The Family Guy.

Sylvester Stalone is not Rocky Balboa.

These are just characters these people play.

For example, Emily Dickenson is not the speaker of “I’m nobody, who are you?”

Who is it, then?

We find out by paying attention to the specific details in the poem.

Let’s Read the Poem

1) What are some questions we might have about the speaker?

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ect...

Let’s watch a video of the poem

2) How was this interpretation of the speaker different from what you came up with?

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3
ect...

Different people will come up with different interpretations,
which is fine as long as they can find a way to justify their interpretations.

Let’s consider another poem: Edward Arlington Robinson’s Miniver Cheevy

Let's Read the poem

3) What are the specific details that tell us something about the speaker?

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3
ect...

4) How can they tell us something important about the speaker?

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3
ect...

Now let’s watch this video

5) How is this interpretation different than your own?

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ect...

Again, different people will have different interpretations of the speaker.
That’s okay, as long as you can defend your interpretation.

Let's read Walt Whitman's "I hear America Singing"

6) What are the important details here that relate to the speaker?

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3
ect...

7) Again, what can we tell from this information?

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ect...

Now let's watch watch this video

8) How is this a different interpretation of the speaker than the one you came up with?

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2
3
ect...

Read For Next Class:

William Carlos Williams’ “Danse Russe”
Alfred, Lord Tenneyson ‘s “Ulysses"
William Butler Yeats’ “The Second Coming”

Watch These YouTube Videos For Next Class:

Video 1


Listen to these Podcasts For Next Class:

William Carlos Williams’ “Danse Russe”
Alfred, Lord Tenneyson’s “Ulysses”
William Butler Yeats’ “The Second Coming”