Selection Focus Transparency 1-1

Literary Elements Transparency 1-1

Before 1-1 Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information. To read and analyze two poems: one a brief image; the other about poetic influence  To identify and analyze juxtaposition

Before 1-2 Ezra Pound was born in 1885 and died in Click the Speaker button to hear more about Ezra Pound.

Before 1-3 BACKGROUND Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information. Artistic Influences Pound was influenced by the poems he read, as well as the paintings he saw and the music he heard. He was impressed with the brief but evocative Japanese haiku poetry. One poet who particularly inspired Pound was Walt Whitman, whom Pound considered an original genius, but also “an exceedingly nauseating pill.” The Time and Place These poems were written in 1913, a year after Pound joined Poetry magazine and a year before he edited the first anthology of imagist poetry, Des Imagistes. 

Before 1-4 FOCUS ACTIVITY Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information. Journal In your journal, describe the essence of that moment in two to three sentences.  Think about a moment in time that captured your attention.  Setting a Purpose Read to find out how one poet captures a moment in time.

Reading 1-A Navigation Toolbar A BA B A Active Reading Visualize Read the poem and visualize Pound’s image. The image could be visualized in different ways. Describe the image you see.

Reading 1-B Literary Elements B Apostrophe Apostrophe is a device used by a writer to address someone or something as though that person or thing were present and able to respond. Explain the apostrophe in “A Pact.” Pound addresses Walt Whitman. Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer. Why might Pound have used this figure of speech? The apostrophe makes the poem more personal.

Responding 1 Contents Personal Response Analyzing Literature Literary Elements Click a hyperlink to go to the corresponding content area.

Personal Response 1 PERSONAL RESPONSE Which poem do you think reveals more about the poet?

In the first line, what word does the speaker use to describe how the faces look to him? What might that word suggest about the faces? Analyzing 1-1 The word apparition suggests the faces are ghostlike, hazy, spectral. RECALL AND INTERPRET Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer.

To what image does the speaker compare the faces? From this image, how do you think the speaker feels about the faces? Explain. Analyzing 1-2 Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer. The faces are compared to “petals on a wet, black bough.” Pound sees them as standing out, almost floating, and in sharp contrast to their surroundings. RECALL AND INTERPRET

Analyzing 1-3 EVALUATE AND CONNECT Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer. Pound once wrote, “Painters realize that what matters is form and color. The image is the poet’s pigment.” In what ways is this poem like a painting? It creates a mental picture, an image that shows the idea the poet wants to show without telling about it.

Analyzing 1-4 EVALUATE AND CONNECT In this poem, Pound focused on faces. What would you focus on if you were trying to capture the essence of a moment that captured your attention?