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Literaturehomework.docxLesson 7: Mood
The emotional quality or atmosphere of a passage is its mood. In poetry, the choice of words, the length of lines, the rhythm, and other elements all contribute to creating a certain mood.
Summer
by Joan Bransfield Graham
3
1 Ring around
the seasons,
dilly-dally-dum,
feel the summer
5 coming,
beating on her
drum.
First, it’s only
tapping,
10 then it starts
to boom,
pounding
on the pavements,
marching
15 in your room.
Throw off
your blankets,
pile them
on the floor,
20 pull up
the windows
open up
the door.
No way
25 to stop her,
dilly-dally-dum,
when hot-blooded
summer
decides to beat
30 her drum.
1. Which of the five senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell) does the author use the most in this poem? What feelings is the author trying to evoke with each sense used? How do the senses create a mood for the reader?
2. The author has chosen to construct this poem with very short lines. How does this affect your reading of the poem? What feelings are conveyed?
3. Quote the lines or words that most convey the mood of the poem. Explain your choices.
Lesson 8: Theme
The theme of a story, a poem, or a play is the main idea that the author is trying to get across to the reader. Sometimes the theme is easy to discover because the author states it clearly. In most poems, though, it takes careful reading to discover the theme because the author communicates it in the poem’s imagery, or word pictures. The reader can discover the theme by paying close attention to the words that the poet uses.
DIRECTIONS: Read this poem to yourself several times. As you read or listen, focus on the images that the poet uses. Then answer the questions that follow.
1 The kite, kept Indoors, wears Dead paper On tight-
5 Boned wood, Pulls at the tied Cord only
By its weight—
But held
10 To the wind,
It is another thing, Turned strong, Struck alive,
Wild to be torn
15 Away from the hand Into high air:
Where it rides Alone,
Glad,
20 A small, clear Wing, having Nothing at all To do
With string.
Kite
by Valerie Worth
1. Compare the way the author describes the kite in the first stanza with the way she describes it in the second stanza. Fill in the chart below with any differences you can see.
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First stanza |
Second stanza |
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Summarize your findings in one or two sentences.
2. In poetry, we often find figurative language (language that compares one thing to something else). Find one example of figurative language in the poem, and explain why you think the author chose this particular image or phrase to describe the kite.
3. Explain what you think the theme of this poem is. Which lines of the poem most clearly state this theme?
