I’ve added a Google search feature to the bottom of the e-rudite.resources Home page and each module home page for both Advanced and Standard as well as the Area of Study Home page.
I will be adding a similar feature enabling you to access the Oxford Dictionary online.
I’m also investigating a message board for interaction between students as well as with me.
Judy
I’m not a big fan of the song lyric because they tend to be short on meaty language features. However Bob Dylan is one you could try:
“Blowin’ in the Wind” http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/blowin.html
“Bob Dylan’s Dream” http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/dream.html
” Ol’ Man River”, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, is about the Mississippi if you are doing Huck Finn. It’s from the musical, Showboat.
Reflection on the role of the past and the experiences of the persona and his parents prompted by the arrival of a simple post card. The speaker is asked to share it with his parents. The image stirs reflection on the inescapable hold of the past on the speaker and his bond with his parents. The bond also examines issues that exist for parents whose youth has been lived in another country and their children who have grown up in a different country. Reflection after time on a post card sent to the persona, the sender requesting it be shown to his parents. Awakens thoughts of past and present and the difference between generations.
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Structural features of texts |
Deconstruction |
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3 sections Section 1 – verses 1 and 2 Section 2 – verses 3, 4 and 5 Section 3 – verses 6 and 7
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Section 1 – literal reflection on the post card Section 2 – reflection on Warsaw of his parents and the war; repetition of “I never knew you’ Section 3 – reflection on significance of the experience of the war and his parents for himself |
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7 verses
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Verse 1 – Context; introduces the narrating persona Verse 2 – identifies the images in the post card Verse 3 – Defines the persona’s relationship to the town of the post card; moves from the past to the impact of the experience on others Verse 4 – Defines the relationship between parents and the persona to the war experience and the town of Warsaw Verse 5 – Moves into the inescapable relationship between the persona and the past Verse 6 – Persona reacts personally to the post card Verse 7 – Inevitability of connection |
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Each section starts with the post card
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Title of the post card
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Invites memories of the past; World War II experiences
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Significance of the concluding statement
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Defines the inevitability of a return to Warsaw despite the apparent denials of connection in previous verses |
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Language features of texts |
Analysis |
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The details that define the city in the post card
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Simple; domestic; memory prompters |
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Personification of Warsaw
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Details in the post card speak to the persona; reflects the irrepressible bond between the persona and past experiences |
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Interior monologue: persona and the city
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Reflects the strong ties that exist for the persona despite the protestations of a lack of knowledge |
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Use of rhetorical questions |
Part of the interior monologue; answers are implicit |
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Metaphor: rivers |
Symbolic of movement and life. |
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Personification of the tree |
Tree represents life; tied to Warsaw; inescapable that he return to Warsaw at some stage of his life |
Reflection on life in a migrant hostel from a mature perspective. As with other poems there is reference to the natural world to reinforce ideas.
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Structural features of texts |
Deconstruction |
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4 verses
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Language features of texts |
Analysis |
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Reference to nature
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Image in words of immigrants waiting to take a train to an unfamiliar destination. A stage in their ongoing journey from their homeland. Carry their worldly possessions in their luggage. Also a humanist image of a time in post war history.
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Structural features of texts |
Deconstruction |
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5 Verses
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Verse 1 – description of time and the atmosphere Verse 2 – descriptive of the migrants waiting; time waits with them Verse 3 – description of family groups Verse 4 – Impact of the whistle, referred to at the beginning Verse 5 – |
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Begins with the train’s whistle
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Poem captures a brief moment in time, from the whistle announcing it’s arrival to the prospect of leaving with it. |
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Ends with the train moving off.
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Language features of texts |
Analysis |
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Atmosphere
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Rain Dampness Silence Cold |
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Mood
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Sad – repeated Dampness and thoughts Cattle simile
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Simile: cattle
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Suggests numbers; muteness and a herd like movement of numbers Dehumanising |
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Simile: guillotine
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Suggests: finality; being cut off; a kind of death; loss of the known |
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Personification: time
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Suggests time or the future lies in the journey they will take; their destination |
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Personification: the whistle |
The whistle is in charge of their movements and, by implication, their futures |
Portrait
Memorial
PaeanA son reflecting on the father he deeply loves and respects. As a mature man he looks back on the father’s strength and reflects on his lack of understanding as a child but has developed as a man. He also recognizes in maturity that his father understood the gap that existed between them because of their different life experiences as migrants and that the son would come to value his heritage in later years.
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Structural features of texts |
Deconstruction |
Supporting evidence |
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Language features of texts |
Deconstruction |
Supporting evidence |
Describes the journey from Naples of a migrant ship like the one Skrzynecki sailed on with his parents to Australia although the poem is not this specific.
The poet makes strong metaphorical reference to the journey of the Israelites to the Promised Land, hence the significance of the Red Sea in both journeys.
Also describes war shattered individuals who begin to open up to share their experiences. The journey has a cathartic effect and ends on a not of promise.
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Structural features of texts |
Deconstruction |
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5 sections Section 1 – verses 1 and 2 Section 2 – verse 3 Section 3 – verses 4, 5, 6 and 7 Section 4 – verse 8 Section 5 – verses 9,10 and 11
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Section 1 – immediate context Section 2 – places the reader in an historical context Section 3 – beginnings of articulation Section 4 – impact of memory and time Section 5 – prospect of a new life |
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11 verses
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Verse 1 – describes migrants/refugees sleeping on the deck Verse 2 – beginnings of shared experiences Verse 3 – voyage represents the beginnings of a new life Verse 4 – voyage places people in a position to express their shared experiences Verse 5 – snatch of experience Verse 6 – snatch of experience Verse 7 – reference to Lazarus Verse 8 – connection between the night and the movement of the ship and time and memory Verse 9 – the next morning Verse 10 – one topic not addressed: death Verse 11 – Equator as a dividing line; big changes yet to come |
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Movement throughout the poem away from port/Europe to the Equator
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Journey away from the past and history to a new beginning. Equator represents a dividing line. |
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Language features of texts |
Analysis |
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Use of colour – red
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Red: life, passion, blood, death and martyrdom White: light, purity, truth, resurrection |
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Imagery
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Section 1 Natural elements: landscape, caves, shorelines, mountains, rivers, storms Section 2 Metaphoric reference to the Israelites traveling to the Promised Land Section 4 The movement of the sea as a stimulus to dialogue |
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Personification of time
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The passing of time The effect of time The effect of the journey on time and memory |
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Use of monologue
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Lends authenticity Reinforces the idea of people beginning to talk Significance of the chosen snatches of dialogue? |
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Reference to night and day
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Section 4 – night and the slow revelations of memories
Section 5 – day and the crossing of the Equator to a new life, a promised land? |
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Biblical references
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Section 2 – The Promised Land Section 3 – Lazarus Section 5 – Resurrection |
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