Poetry

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

A Portable Paradise

And if I speak of Paradise,

then I’m speaking of my grandmother

who told me to carry it always

on my person, concealed, so

no one else would know but me.

That way they can’t steal it, she’d say.

And if life puts you under pressure,

trace its ridges in your pocket,

smell its piney scent on your handkerchief,

hum its anthem under your breath.

And if your stresses are sustained and daily,

get yourself to an empty room – be it hotel,

hostel or hovel – find a lamp

and empty your paradise onto a desk:

your white sands, green hills and fresh fish.

Shine the lamp on it like the fresh hope

of morning, and keep staring at it till you sleep.

© Roger Robinson, from A Portable Paradise 

A Portable Paradise

And if I speak of Paradise,

then I’m speaking of my grandmother

who told me to carry it always

on my person, concealed, so

no one else would know but me.

That way they can’t steal it, she’d say.

And if life puts you under pressure,

trace its ridges in your pocket,

smell its piney scent on your handkerchief,

hum its anthem under your breath.

And if your stresses are sustained and daily,

get yourself to an empty room – be it hotel,

hostel or hovel – find a lamp

and empty your paradise onto a desk:

your white sands, green hills and fresh fish.

Shine the lamp on it like the fresh hope

of morning, and keep staring at it till you sleep.

© Roger Robinson, from A Portable Paradise 

1. The poem objectifies paradise so that it can become something, as the title says, ‘portable’ – able to be carried around. What is the connotation of this?

2. The poem embeds the speech of the grandmother within the speech of the narrator. Why do you think Robinson has chosen to construct the poem like this?

3. Robinson has chosen to include all types of imagery – smell, taste, touch, sound, and sight – in this poem. Can you find an example of each and explain what feelings it evokes?

4. Robinson is a Black British poet, writer, and performer. Who might be the ‘they’ referred to in line 6 that might want to ‘steal’ paradise? What does it mean to ‘steal’ paradise? What does it allude to in a historical or cultural sense?

Today

Autonomy Now! 

Come by my desk to present idea for approval, then work out your proposal.

Poetry

Work on your poetry file with the reader on Moodle

Make final product or do test in class on 24 January.

Check in for feedback on 17 January.

Poetry File

• 2 sonnets
  
• 4 haikus
  
• 1 carpe diem
  
• 2 name Poems
  
• 1 shape poem
  
• 2 limericks

• Onomatopoeia
• Metaphor
• Alliteration
• Hyperbole
• Personification
• Understatement

Autonomy now proposal in Word

 1. Write down what the topic is and what important knowledge and/or skills you would gain when you do your assignment. 

2. Describe how you’re going to do the assignment step by step. You have four classes. Think of what you’re going to do each class.

3. Include which research in English language sources you will use.

4. Clearly describe what the final product will be. Will you make a short film, do a presentation, sound file, or will it be in writing? Write down how many words or how much time you intend to use. You can only work on this in class. How will you prevent the use of ChatGPT? Write on paper in class?

Shape/Concrete Poem

conventional elements of a poem?

• meaning of words, rhyme, rhythm, etc.

shape poem

• typographical arrangement of words

Sonnet

• Shakespearean (English)
• Petrarchan (Italian)

Characteristics:

• 14 lines
• iambic pentameter
• strict rhyme scheme

• Onomatopoeia
• Metaphor
• Alliteration
• Hyperbole
• Personification
• Understatement

nosweatshakespeare.com

Lesson objectives

Poetry File

• haiku
• carpe diem

Graphic Novel Children's Book 

Autonomy Now!

Haiku

• unrhymed poem
• three lines
• five syllables in the first line, seven in the second and five in the third. 

• evoking imagery, usually of landscapes, seasons and the time of day.
• kigo

Haiku

An old silent pond . . .

A frog jumps into the pond,

splash! Silence again.

- Matsuo Bashō

New Year’s morning—

everything is in blossom!
I feel about average.

- Robert Hass

Carpe Diem

carpe diem quam minimum credula postero (Odes of Horace (Book 1, No. 11)

• seize the day and put no trust in the future

no specific form, but a topic
related to memento mori

Assignment

Write a carpe diem with at least 8 lines.

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Old time is still a-flying;

And the same flower that smiles today

Tomorrow will be dying.

poets.org

• Poetry File
• Graphic Novel Children's Book 
• Autonomy Now! 

Hand in on Moodle by this Friday 27 January.

Plan your work for these last three classes.

Poetry File

• 2 sonnets
  
• 4 haikus
  
• 1 carpe diem
• 1 shape poem
  
• 2 limericks
• 2 name poems

• Onomatopoeia
• Metaphor
• Alliteration
• Hyperbole
• Personification
• Understatement

Limerick

Characteristics:

• 5 lines
• rhyme scheme AABBA
• line 1, 2, 5 have three anapests - da dum da da dum da da dum
• line 3 and 4 have two anapests - da dum da da dum

 

There was an young man of Darjeeling

Endowed with such delicate feeling.

When he read on the door

"Do not spit on the floor",

He jumped up and then spat on the ceiling!

It's been told an old man had sent emails,

To some various dubious females,

He was asked what they said,

But he just shook his head.

I would rather not go into details.

Name poem

- 2 kinds of name poetry

Line 1 - your first name

Line 2 - "It means" then 3 adjectives that describe you

Line 3 - "It is the number" then any number you choose

Line 4 - "It is like" describe a color but don't name it

Line 5 - "It is " and name something you remember experiencing with family or friends that makes you smile to recall

Line 6 - "It is the memory of" and name a person who is or has been significant to you

Line 7 - "Who taught me" 2 abstract concepts (such as "honesty")

Line 8 - "When he/she" then refer to something that person did that displayed the qualities in line 7

Line 9 - "My name is" your first name

Line 10 - "It means" and in 1-2 brief sentences state something important you believe about life.

Name poem

acrostic

Give me your patience, sister, while I frame

Exact in capitals your golden name;

Or sue the fair Apollo and he will

Rouse from his heavy slumber and instill

Great love in me for thee and Poesy.

Imagine not that greatest mastery

And kingdom over all the Realms of verse,

Nears more to heaven in aught, than when we nurse

And surety give to love and Brotherhood.

- first stanza, John Keats