Literature: Poetry: Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

Introduction

                                          Click here to see the full size image!

Hello grade 9's welcome to my brand new Web quest!!!

Okay we all know the rules right? If you feel there is anything you do not understand and need help and for some queries you immediately message me the teacher.

This lesson is to help you in describing the features of a poem, reading/ viewing for comprehension

At the end of the lesson you  should be able to identify, understand and interpret the use of: lines, stanzas, rhyme, rhythm, punctuation, refrain, repetition, alliteration. Be able to interpret the use and meaning of poetic and stylistic devices in the poem and accomplish tasks and answer questions in a logical way.

For today's literature lesson we are first going to read the letter below then after reading try answering the questions following:

Dear Agony Aunt

Please give me some advice. I am a decent girl and I go to church every Sunday. I have never had a boyfriend, but the ladies at church say bad things about me because I come from a poor family. I do very well at school, but people say it must be because I cheat at my exams or get favours from the male teachers. They say that poor girls like me can’t do so well by themselves. I also recently had a very bad experience when I was walking home from school. Two of the boys from my school assaulted me. They said I was asking for it because I was always drawing attention to myself by doing well, dressing nicely and answering questions in class. What should I do? Should I stop being myself because other people don’t like it? Do I deserve this abuse because I am too self-confident?

Thank you for your advice

Worried from Gauteng
  • What can you tell about the writer from the letter? Name at least three things.
  • Have you ever experienced something similar?
  • What advice would you give the letter-writer?

 

Task

On WhatsApp I had sent you guys a document with the poem that we will be doing today it was also posted on BB so I hope everyone has it.

 

  Image result for still i rise maya angelou                                                                                                                     25 May 2021

What I will need you to do is to try interpreting the poem by looking at the title and also make predictions of what you think the poem is about, I will provide a glossary of unfamiliar words:  haughtiness, trod, sassiness, leaping, swelling, wondrously, welling

 

Process

                                                                                     Image result for still i rise maya angelou

For this part of the lesson I will need you to answer the following questions:

1. Who is the speaker?

2. Who is the speaker addressing?

3.  What has happened to the speaker in the past?

4. How has the speaker reacted to what happened/ how s/he was treated?

After you are done with the questions, I need you to look at the column; read the term(s) and match it with the correct definition:

Term Definition

1. Stanzas (verses)

 G) A figure of speech that draws an indirect comparison between two things

2. Rhyme

 A) Consists of a number of lines
3. Metaphor D) A word or concept is said more than once
4. Alliteration C) Sets the pace of the poem, and can be divided into metric feet and syllabic beats
5. Refrain E) A phrase is repeated throughout the poem
6. Repetition B) When the last sound of two or more lines are the same
7. Rhythm F) Repletion of a consonant sound in one line

When you have done matching the columns, I need you to do the following:

  • Number the lines of your poem
  • Number the stanzas using roman numerals
  • Identify the rhyming scheme

Lastly I want you to annotate your poem

Evaluation

The questions and activities will not be evaluated, but here are the correct answers:

1. It is a first person speaker, It is a black female.

2. Their oppressor(s)

3. They have been oppressed and kept as slave.

4. She is taking charge of her life, she sees her African heritage as positive, she is not shameful she is hopeful and reclaiming her identity.

Term Definition
1. Stanzas  A
2. Rhyme  B
3. Metaphor  G
4. Alliteration  F
5.  Refrain  E
6. Repetition  D
7. Rhythm  C

After the completion of your poem annotation it should look be something similar to this:

                                                                              Image result for still i rise maya angelou annotation

 

 

 

Conclusion

We have unfortunately come to the end of our lesson :-(

I am going to ask that you really do go through the poem, it might be one of the poems that will be in your exams we don't know yet so it is much better to be prepared than surprised :-)) 

Take care of yourselves wash your hands regularly, don't forget to sanitize and wear your marks. Keep well and safe.

Finish the questions and do not copy the annotation!!!!!!!!!!!!!