HELLO

My name is

Mr. Dunne

Poetry

Learning Objectives

• Examine 'A Room in the Past', an unseen poem in last years Leaving Cert paper.

• Understand what to look for and what will answer questions when reading a poem.

• Understand the importance of rhyme, simile and imagery.

Important

• Read the question first.• Why?

•Because you might not like the questions? No.•Because you have a choice

of unseen poems? No.

Answer any TWO of the following questions.• Select a line or phrase from this poem that

you find appealing. Explain why you found it to be so.

• Look at the picture that accompanies this poem. Do you think it is a suitable picture to illustrate this poem? Explain your answer.

• In your opinion, is this a happy poem or mainly a sad poem? Explain your answer by reference to the poem.

No wrong answers.

Now read the poem

I love YouTube.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6ObJDj_-eU

Five minutesWrite down

initial reactions.

http://www.online-stopwatch.com/countdown/• I wonder. Does a timer help or hinder the

opinions you’re writing down?

Here’s some ideas Do you like it?

What images stands out for you?What is the poem trying to tell

you (what is the theme)?What did you not understand?

A Room in the Past

• It’s a kitchen. Its curtains fill with a morning light so bright (?)you can’t see beyond its windowsinto the afternoon.

(First - imagine the bright room)

A Room in the Past

• It’s a kitchen. Its curtains fill with a morning light so bright (assonance)you can’t see beyond its windowsinto the afternoon.

(Then look at the questions again)

• A kitchen (repetition)falling through time with its things in their places, the dishes jinglingup in the cupboard, the bucketof drinking water rippled as if (?) a truck had just gone past, but that truck was thirty years.

(What do you see here?)(What do the words ‘falling’ and ‘gone past’ mean to you?)(Thirty years - the fact that 'ago' is missing - does that throw you

off at all, does it seem odd, is it meant to?)

• A kitchen (repetition)falling through time with its things in their places, the dishes jinglingup in the cupboard, the bucketof drinking water rippled as if (Simile) a truck had just gone past, but that truck was thirty years.

(What do you see here?)(What do the words ‘falling’ and ‘gone past’ mean to you)(Thirty years - the fact that 'ago' is missing - does that throw you

off at all, does it seem odd, is it meant to.)

• A kitchen (repetition)falling through time with its things in their places, the dishes jinglingup in the cupboard, the bucketof drinking water rippled as if (Simile) a truck had just gone past, but that truck was thirty years.

(A bucket of drinking water?)

Drinking Bucket

• No one’s at homein this room. Its counter is wiped,and the dishrag hangs from its nail,a dry leaf.

(No one’s at home in this room – how does that make you feel)

(Dry leaf – what does that mean?)

• In housedresses of mist,blue aprons of rain, my grandmothermoved through this life like a ghost,and when she had finished her years,

(What is the grandmother compared to and why?)

(how does a ghost move through life?)

• In housedresses of mist,blue aprons of rain, my grandmothermoved through this life like a ghost,and when she had finished her years,

(What is the grandmother compared to and why?)

(how does a ghost move through life?)

• She put them all back in their placesand wiped out the sink, turning her back on the rest of us, forever.

(Put them all back in their places, this was said before)

(Turned her back on them forever?)

• She put them all back in their placesand wiped out the sink, turning her back on the rest of us, forever.

(Put them all back in their places, this was said before)

(Turned her back on them forever?)

NowBack to the questions.

A line you find appealing. Why would you find a line appealing?

(personal experience, an annecdote)(what it makes you think of)(how it makes you feel)Make comparisons with rest of poem but focus on that ONE line or phrase.

Look at the Picture. What makes it suitable?

(describe the picture)(does it connect with the poem?)(HOW, WHY – what they are lookingfor is evidence you have read thepoem. Give it to them.

Happy or Sad. Happy – could argue about the‘light’, ‘jingling’, everything in itsplace.Or sad – a dark room, death, thewords ‘gone’, ‘falling’, ‘turning her back’. There is no wrong answer, just one wasn’t argued for.

Homework

• Answer any TWO of the following questions.• Answers should have: A clear statement at the

beginning about where you stand on the question.

Two to Three points supporting the statement.

A conclusion, such as: ‘Because of a,b and c, x is y’.