11ENG-Unfamiliar Texts, Poetry

Unfamiliar Texts, Poetry


In English, we are studying unfamiliar text and how to unwrap and delve into an unfamiliar poem. Below is my interpretation of the following three poems, and what I take away from them in how to unlock a poem. In the end, I made a collage showing the meaning of poem number 1 in a visual form of art.

Poem 1:
How to Eat a Poem
by Eve Merriam (1916–1992)
Don’t be polite.
Bite in,
Pick it up with your fingers and lick the juice that
may run down your chin.
It is ready and ripe now, whenever you are.
You do not need a knife or fork or spoon
or plate or napkin or tablecloth.
For there is no core
or stem
or rind
or pit
or seed
or skin
to throw away.

What does this poem suggest about the way we should approach poetry?
Answer: This poem tells us that we should be looking at all of the external parts to a poem (language features) and not at the core, for there is no core. In the text, it says that there is nothing to "throw away", meaning that everything is important in a poem.


Poem 2:
Eating Poetry
by Mark Strand (1934– )
Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.
There is no happiness like mine.
I have been eating poetry.
The librarian does not believe what she sees.
Her eyes are sad
and she walks with her hands in her dress.
The poems are gone.
The light is dim.
The dogs are on the basement stairs and coming up.
Their eyeballs roll,
their blond legs burn like brush.
The poor librarian begins to stamp her feet and weep.
She does not understand.
When I get on my knees and lick her hand,
she screams.
I am a new man.
I snarl at her and bark.
I romp with joy in the bookish dark

What does this poem suggest about the way we should approach poetry?
Answer: This poem tells us that poems are full of metaphors and similes-things that don't literally mean what they say. In the text, the narrator is the dog, where he says "When I get in my knees and lick her hand".

Poem 3:
Unfolding Bud
by Naoshi Koriyama (1926– )
One is amazed
By a water-lily bud
Unfolding
With each passing day,
Taking on a richer colour
And new dimensions.
One is not amazed,
At first glance,
By a poem,
Which is tight-closed
As a tiny bud.
Yet one is surprised
To see the poem
Gradually unfolding,
Revealing its rich inner self
As one reads it
Again
And over again.

What does this poem suggest about the way we should approach poetry?
This poem shows us that "at a first glance" a poem is not amazing to the reader. However, the poem eventually begins to "gradually unfold", revealing its inner self. This shows that it takes time and effort to fully understand the concepts and meaning behind a poem.

I will be making a visual collage about the first poem. This can be seen below:

11ENG- Unfamiliar Texts: Workbook

Unfamiliar Texts: Workbook

Pre-reading activities

Vocabulary Work

a. inherited: I inherited my grandmother's engagement ring. I can't wait to try it on!
b. expelled: The kid who was always rude got expelled from school. We won't be seeing him for a while
c. persuaded: He persuaded me into helping him with a task. Hopefully, I can do it right!
d.transferred: We had just transferred our bag of vegetables to the market, it is now in their hands.
e.atmosphere: It is hard for rockets to leave earth's atmosphere, therefore copious amounts of fuel are required.
f.armament: The military always has a generous stack of armament. I guess they have more weapons than people!
g.pouting : I saw her pouting at me when I walked past. She either hates me or likes me...
h.apprentice(s): My apprentice is attempting to follow in my footsteps, I think he may even be greater than me one day.
i.Cavalier: A Cavalier is someone who supported King Charles 1 during the English Civil War.
j.holy orders: Holy orders are the orders that are accepted as important in Christianity.

The Title

Title: Friendly Persuasion

Definition of Friendly: kind and pleasant.

Definition of Persuasion: the action or process of persuading someone or of being persuaded to do or believe something.

Connotations of Friendly: Kind, Helpful, Easy to talk to

Connotations of Persuasion: Bring to a side, Bias, Tell the truth, change someone's mind

I think this story is about two people, where one tries to inform or persuade someone in a kind way to become a supporter of King Charles 1. This is because persuasion is the act of telling someone to do or believe something, and friendly turns this into a positive thing.

Words I relate with school:
-Joyous
-Stressful
-Friends
-Achievement
-Study
-Learning

My first impression of this extract is that it suddenly takes a sad turn at the end, and it changes emotions a little too fast. I think that it was actually quite different from my original thoughts because the text did not focus on the 'friendly' part too much.

I was correct when I predicted that this text relied on the theme of persuasion and that this is what affected the parents' thoughts. This is seen where the text says: "Alan's parents were easily persuaded into most things; they found it a lot less trouble than having to make their own decisions".

I was incorrect when I predicted that it was ultimately about friendly persuasion because, in the text, it followed a negative track, where persuasion practically turned into a forced decision.

I think this is because the text used a lot of the words to mean the opposite or a different thing. For example, there was nothing really 'friendly' about the persuasion as it became a forced decision upon the parents.

One thing that surprised me about the story was the fact that words were used to mean a different thing than the definition. The words were used in metaphors to over-exaggerate certain sentences.

I think that the intended audience is for people in secondary schools. This is said in the biography of the author David Hill. Also, the fact that he was a high school teacher means that he could put in personal experience.

I think that "people were upset by Alan's behavior", and that this statement is true. This is true because Alan always seemed to be up to some mischief, such as where he would drive his car onto property that was owned by other people. Also, to support my answer, the teachers at the school "sighed with relief" when he left. This indicates that tension was taken off of their shoulders and that they are now in a relaxed and calm state.

I can see a point of change in the 5th paragraph "Alan's mini". The change that separated this from the previous paragraphs, is that it brings up the main subject to the story, Alan's car. The paragraph switches from an introduction to Alan to the topic of his car. This change helps us understand the purpose of this piece of writing because it brings in what everything was leading up to beforehand. It puts purpose into the introductory paragraphs as we now know who Alan is, to foreshadow that this car may not be the best gift for a boy like him.

I think that the title of the story (Friendly Persuasion) is appropriate because the story does revolve around the decisions that are made by others regarding Alan (i.e. the persuasions). Also, friendly does somewhat fit in with the story, as it covers over his 'friendly smiles' that never do work out to his benefit.

I think that the title relates to the author's attitude towards the characters in his story because it shows that he stresses the importance of the friendly persuasion that affected the decisions of the characters. He makes the characters sound controlled and unable to make decisions, and this is why the 'persuasion' in the title fits in with the characters.

If I were to write a different title for this story, I would name it "Not my decision". This is because of the parents, and the way in which they simply let the decision be made up for them. This is because "they found it a lot less trouble than having to make their own decisions". These 'persuaded decisions' end up making bad choices for Alan and his life, and in the end, even cost him his life.

I think that the title and the point of change work nicely together because they both cover over the main points to the story. They cover over persuasion and the consequences that come with persuasion. The word 'friendly' in the title also fits in with the group of friends that Alan has (or 'apprentice Romeos') which were a changing point in his life.

Language Features
repetition-totally charming and totally irresponsible
adjective-slim
adverb-hastily
metaphor-
compound word-
parallel construction-The girls all wanted to mother him; the boys all wanted to smother him.
onomatopoeia-
question-
listing-Slim, tanned, black-haired, and hazel-eyed
simile-made him look like a Cavalier on holiday
alliteration-similar scarves
euphemism-Alan and his Mini were unrecognizable

An example of a metaphor that is used in this text is: "He'd gathered a small following of apprentice Romeos". It is significant because it implies that he was the leader and that he had apprentices/followers.

Euphemism example one:

Euphemism example two:

11ENG-How to: Unfamiliar texts assessment

How To Get E8 (High Excellence) in Unfamiliar Texts Writing

In order to get a High Excellence, the student who is getting assessed must:
-Identify certain aspects within the text that reinforce and provide concrete evidence to back up the thesis of the text.
-Add in a personal voice, to strengthen your ideas and examples submitted in the answers.
-Talk about the effect, and not simply about, the language features
-Add in the authors' purpose

The differences between Achieved, Merit and Excellence

In order to get achieved, the student must show some basic understanding of the text provided, and follow the directions carefully. Also, the student must quote or identify certain aspects that are important in the text as a whole. To make the step up to Merit, the student must draw conclusions based off of the test, and develop each answer thoroughly and logically, as well as follow the steps above. In order to reach the highest step of an Excellence, the student must add in personal input, and link some examples/aspects to the outer world (apart from the text).

Let's be honest here, it does not seem too hard to get achieved in this assessment if you put in the right amount of time and effort, however, the difficulty steps up the higher you aim for. To really aim for a grade, you should aim for the grade above (e.g if you want to get a merit, aim for excellence etc). To aim for excellence, aim for high excellence (e.g. add in extra info that would support your ideas).

In summary, short answers tend to aim towards an Achieved, whereas longer answers that are more in depth tend to aim towards an Excellence. The NZQA provides a whole page per answer, which is enough to begin an answer then cross it out if it was a mistake. It is recommended to fill up the page in order to aim for a high score, as the more that is inputted, the more likely it is for you to receive excellence or somewhere thereabouts.