1. AQA Anthology – Relationships
LQ: How does imagery, form and structure impact on the poet’s message?

2. rise warm bold grained replenishing mantling Starter:Adjectives pull
Read these adjectives.
What are the connotations of these words individually and collectively?
Starter:Adjectives
warm
bold
streaming
replenishing
grained
pull
fathoming
mantling
deep
rise
EXT: These poems are from the collection Relationships – what relationship might this adjective group describe?

3. Praise Song for My Mother
Listen:Imagery
Praise Song for My Mother
Listen to the reading of the poem.
Make a list of the images used by the poet when describing the relationship with her mother.
Look at the images you have collected.
How do the words relate to one another?
Reflect on time, location and colour.
What is the purpose of this poem?
Grace Nichols wrote this poem following the death of mother.

4. What is the purpose of this poem?
Reflect on time, location and emotion.
What is the purpose of this poem?

5. Info blast:Praise song
How does form effect our interpretation of the poem?
The praise song is one of the most widely used poetic forms in Africa; a series of laudatory epithets applied to gods, men, animals, plants and towns that capture the essence of the object being praised.
Professional bards, who may be both praise singers to a chief and court historians of their tribe chant praise songs. The praise song is not part of western cultures though the eulogy is a similar form.
EXT: How does your knowledge of form enhance your understanding of the poets relationship with her mother?

6. Annotate:Form and Structure
Praise Song for My Mother
You were
water to me
deep and bold and fathoming
moon’s eye to me
pull and grained and mantling
sunrise to me
rise and warm and streaming
the fishes red gill to me
the flame tree’s spread to me
the crab’s leg/the fried plantain smell
replenishing replenishing
Go to your wide futures, you said
Annotate:Form and Structure
In your anthology, annotate the poem for the following things:
Repetition
Punctuation
Tense
Rhythm

7. Video:Context
Grace Nichols talks about her poem 'Praise Song for my Mother'. Using strong visual images of Guyana, she explores how the poem reflects her family life, cultural background and approach to writing poetry and reads extracts from the poem.

8. Plenary:Pick your plenary
In pairs, pick a plenary question to answer. How many can you prepare to share?
This poem is circular. What is the impact on meaning of this effect?
The lack of punctuation is a comment on the poet’s feelings for her childhood. How?
Why choose such a regular form for this poem?
The poem is also about her motherland. How does this shift our understanding?
The changes in tense suggest there is life after death. How so?
This poem has similar form and purpose to the haiku. Why might this be so?
What is the effect of the poet using the mother’s voice in the last line?