1. Elizabeth Bishop – Prodigal Date
Objectives:
Introduce and annotate the poem
Explore the theme of hope.

2. Elizabeth Bishop – Prodigal Date
Warm-up: complete one of the following
Write what you know of the ‘prodigal son’ parable.
Or I think I see..... I wonder

3. Context before reading poem (read)
The ‘prodigal son’ was about a son who wasted all his inheritance or all his money. His father forgave and welcomed him back home.
The poet had a problem with alcoholism.
She would often end up in shameful situations after drinking.
This is her looking for redemption or hope, like the prodigal son.

4. Let’s read - Prodigal
The brown enormous odor he lived by was too close, with its breathing and thick hair, for him to judge. The floor was rotten; the sty was plastered halfway up with glass-smooth dung. Light-lashed, self-righteous, above moving snouts, the pigs' eyes followed him, a cheerful stare-- even to the sow that always ate her young-- till, sickening, he leaned to scratch her head. But sometimes mornings after drinking bouts (he hid the pints behind the two-by-fours), the sunrise glazed the barnyard mud with red the burning puddles seemed to reassure. And then he thought he almost might endure his exile yet another year or more.
But evenings the first star came to warn. The farmer whom he worked for came at dark to shut the cows and horses in the barn beneath their overhanging clouds of hay, with pitchforks, faint forked lightnings, catching light, safe and companionable as in the Ark. The pigs stuck out their little feet and snored. The lantern--like the sun, going away-- laid on the mud a pacing aureole. Carrying a bucket along a slimy board, he felt the bats' uncertain staggering flight, his shuddering insights, beyond his control, touching him. But it took him a long time finally to make up his mind to go home.

5. Note this down: Form 2 sonnets
A sonnet introduces a problem, thinks about and gives a solution.
The man here lives in a barn, is unhappy and wants to go home.
How do you feel when you see a homeless person? On the way to West Street, by the river, there is often a man sleeping at the entrance to a building.

6. Note this down: Sonnet 1, lines 1-8 (A sonnet is a 14 line poem)
The poem is set in an unpleasant pig sty. The prodigal has hit rock bottom and it in a pitiful environment.
The pigs are judging him and think they are better than the man. He is still happy for the pigs companionship though.
Did you know female pigs can eat their young? Knowing and seeing this, would you consider a pig to be a friend?

7. Note this down:
Lines 9-14
Despite his awful existence, he finds comfort and hope in the sunrise.
He does not want to face reality and that he is living with pigs though. Considers staying.
This is the most dangerous thing in the world – to normalise what is not normal. Think about this in relation to drink driving, alcoholism or even something simpler like failure.

8. Note this down: Sonnet 2. Lines 15 – 20
As night approaches, the prodigal is unsure he can endure. Nights are tough and he has to face his demons.
The animals, in contrast, are shut away together, “safe and companionable”.
Have you ever been envious of an animal?

9. Note this down:
Lines 21-28
He is alone and afraid in the darkness. The sun has abandoned him.
A bat attacks him, which is the last straw. As a last resort, he goes home.
Home is a difficult concept for the poet, who didn’t really have a mother or father or home.

10. Note this down: Techniques Simile, metaphor, personification.
Sounds – alliteration, assonance, sibilance (s words)

11. Questions on back of page
Complete questions for homework.
Cooldown - finish the following sentences.
I think......
I know
I want to know