Analysing a text – Strange Fruit

LO: Can I write analytically using…

… accurately and appropriately?

What we’ve worked on so

far

Strange Fruit

Strange Fruit is best known as a song recorded and first performed by Billie Holiday in 1939. However it was originally written by the teacher Abel Meeropol as a poem. It exposes American racism and focuses on the horrific lynchings of African Americans which occurred chiefly in the South but also in all other regions of the United States. The writer set it to music and with his wife and the singer Laura Duncan, performed it as a protest song in New York venues, including Madison Square Garden.

Some of the active verbs you might use to describe some of these images…

AffectsAlludes toConnotesConveys

Demonstrates

DenotesDepicts

Emphasises

EstablishesHighlights

HintsIllustratesImpactsImplies

IndicatesManifestsPortrays

PresentsRepresents

RevealsShows

SignifiesSymbolisesSuggestsTypifies

Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit

Billie Holiday performing Strange Fruit

Southern trees bear strange fruit,Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,Then the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Strange Fruit by Abel Meeropol

Southern trees bear strange fruit,Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,Then the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Which words create violent and unpleasant images in our minds?

Southern trees bear strange fruit,Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,Then the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Which words or phrases suggest an appealing setting? How do they contrast with the rest of the poem?

juxtaposed / juxtaposition

Southern trees bear strange fruit,Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,Then the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Can you find examples of…

•Alliteration

•Personification

•Repetition

•Use of senses (particularly sight and smell) to create vivid images?

Mini-essay questionHow does the poet convey the horrors of

lynching in the Deep South?

An introduction, briefly explaining the poem (and song) and their importance. Talk about historical context, and show you know what the question is asking of you. *Which tense(s) will you use?

Main body paragraphs. Analysing the poem and answering the question. Here is where you’ll be using the skills and language you’ve been working on during this unit most of all.

How will you organise these?

A conclusion, summing up your ideas and answering the question.

*historical present tense, active verbs for analysis, nominalisations, modal verbs and modifiers*

Planning