Pride Omar Meza Bryan Marquez Anthony Hernandez Ivan Heredia

Dahlia Ravikovitch Ravikovitch was born in Ramat Gan, Israel on November 27, She was the Daughter of a Russian-Jewish engineer named Levi and her mother Michal Her mother was a teacher by profession. She learned to read and write at the age of three

Ravikovitch In her early life she lost her father at the age of 6 when he was ran over by a drunken driver. At age 13 she moved into a foster home in Haifa which was the first of several foster homes. Ravikovitch married at the age of 18 but she got divorced only 3 months after. She married twice later on but divorced again and only had one son by the name of Ido Kalir.

Ravikovitch In mid life she was heavily involved in the Israeli Peace Movement and served in the Israel Defense Forces. She went to The Hebrew University of Jerusalem where she studied Literature and worked as a journalist and High School teacher. Ravikovitch’s poems began to appear in the 1950’s and was the only recognized female Hebrew poet of her generation. Her influences were WB Yeats, Edgar Allan Poe, TS Eliot, and Mary Poppins as she would translate there work into Hebrew poems

Her Last Moments In the last years of her life she suffered from severe Depression. She was found dead In her apartment on August 21, 2005 originally was believed to have been a suicide, but was later on attributed to be heart failure.

About the Poem Originally this poem was written in Hebrew. Chana & Ariel Bloch are the ones who translated this poem to English. This poem is a 20 lined stanza. No iambic is used. The rhyme scheme is not consistent. Making this a free verse poem

Structure The poem uses apostrophe in the first line of the stanza for she is talking to someone who is not there Throughout the poem this is using conceit. By comparing the rocks pride to a persons pride, this does not tell you until the, but surly not directly. Ravikovitch uses personification by giving this rock a steady life. I tell you even rocks crack, And not because of age For years they lie on their backs in the heat and the cold so many years, It almost seems peaceful They don’t move, so their cracks stay Years pass over them, waiting Whoever is going to shatter them hasn’t come yet And so the moss flourishes, the seaweed Whips around, the sea pushes through and rolls back the rocks seem motionless. Till a little seal comes to rub against them, comes and goes away. And suddenly the rocks has an open wound. I told you, when rocks break, it happens by surprise And people too.

Poems diction I tell you even rocks crack, And not because of age For years they lie on their backs in the heat and the cold so many years, It almost seems peaceful They don’t move, so their cracks stay Years pass over them, waiting Whoever is going to shatter them hasn’t come yet And so the moss flourishes, the seaweed Whips around, the sea pushes through and rolls back the rock seem motionless. Till a little seal comes to rub against them, comes and goes away. And suddenly the rocks has an open wound. I told you, when rocks break, it happens by surprise And people too. The tone to the poem seems to have a negative tone for the poem’s diction has more negative words then positive. This is because what inspired this poem was the depressing times during WWII.

Questions 1.What is the Author talking about in the first stanza? A. a seal B. a rock C. the ocean D. Life 2. Ravikovitch died in what year? A B C D Who divided the Jewish homeland in 1948? A. Germany B. U.S.A C. Russia D. Nazis 4. What happens to the rock physically as it ages? A. florishes B. rolls C. dies D. cracks 5. What emotions does the rock represent? A. life B. happiness C. pride D. sadness 6. What pushes through and rolls back? A. a seal B. the sea C. the moss D. a seagel 7. On a rock, what stays hidden? A. a crab B. the moss C. the cracks D. the water

Questions 8. True/False; Ravikovitch never got married and so she did not have any children. 9. How sudden does a rock break? A. it doesn’t B. not sudden C.slowly D. By surprise 10. What causes the rock to have an open wound? A. its pride B. the sea C. the moss D. the seal