One way out of a million…

THEME What is the Big Issue of life that the author is addressing? What is his or her specific statement about this issue? To find the theme, dissect the fiction and/or poetic elements the author uses…

I’m Nobody! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too? Then there’s a pair of us! Don’t tell! they’d banish us – you know! How dreary – to be – Somebody! How public – like a Frog – To tell your name – the livelong June – To an admiring Bog!

Character: what are the major facets of a certain character?: actions, speech, physical appearance, name, reactions of other characters to the character Setting: how does the location affect the story?: regional influences, historical aspect, props, probability, topographical features Symbolism: what are the significant props or repeated images and ideas?: function for the characters (secondary function), function in the larger world (usual function), color, actions or occurrences surrounding

I’m Nobody! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too? Then there’s a pair of us! Don’t tell! they’d banish us – you know! How dreary – to be – Somebody! How public – like a Frog – To tell your name – the livelong June – To an admiring Bog!

Point of View: who is telling the story and why?; 1 st, 2 nd, 3 rd person, major/minor/innocent eyes, shifts in POV Tone: why are these specific words chosen and how are they used?; overall mood, connotation and denotation, repetition, dialect Structure: what particular parts and pieces is the story assembled from and why?; chapters/acts/stanzas – how do these pieces compare? Plot: what are the driving forces of the story; conflicts, character motivations, forces impacting the result

I’m Nobody! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too? Then there’s a pair of us! Don’t tell! they’d banish us – you know! How dreary – to be – Somebody! How public – like a Frog – To tell your name – the livelong June – To an admiring Bog!

Rhythm/Meter: patterns of syllables and emphasis Iambic: one unstressed followed by one stressed syllable Trochaic: one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable Anapestic: two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable Dactylic: one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables Meter: number of stressed/unstressed sets in a line Therefore, iambic pentameter = 5 sets of unstressed then stressed syllables per line

I’m Nobody! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too? Then there’s a pair of us! Don’t tell! they’d banish us – you know! How dreary – to be – Somebody! How public – like a Frog – To tell your name – the livelong June – To an admiring Bog!

Sound: patterns of repeated sounds or words with unusual sounds Rhyme Alliteration Assonance Consonance Onomatopoeia

I’m Nobody! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too? Then there’s a pair of us! Don’t tell! they’d banish us – you know! How dreary – to be – Somebody! How public – like a Frog – To tell your name – the livelong June – To an admiring Bog!

Figures of Speech: comparing two unlike things Simile Metaphor Apostrophe Metonymy: substituting the name of something for another thing to which it has some relationship (“I am reading Joyce) Synecdoche: using an essential part of something to represent the whole (“this rhyme” to refer to a whole poem or song)

I’m Nobody! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too? Then there’s a pair of us! Don’t tell! they’d banish us – you know! How dreary – to be – Somebody! How public – like a Frog – To tell your name – the livelong June – To an admiring Bog!

Personification Imagery- description using the five senses Capitalization- calling attention to specific words Shape- words shaped on a page

Read to figure out the SO WHAT of the figurative language and the poem as a whole (synthesize). What does the poet “mean” by these words?

Annotating all the while…. Background Knowledge Literary Terms Overview Theme Understanding/Interpretation