1. AS90055 1.4 Read, study and show understanding of short written text

2. What is Short Written Text?
Short written text includes:
Poetry
Short Stories
Print media (newspaper articles etc)
We will be looking at poetry this year.

3. An External Standard
Short Written Text is assessed at the end of the year in the external examinations.
You will need to be able to write a 200-word essay about the short written texts that we will study in class. You will have 25 minutes in the final exams for this essay.
You will write practice essays in both the mid-year and Term 4 mock exams.

4. Achievement Criteria:
Achievement with Merit
Achievement with Excellence
Show understanding of specified aspect(s) of at least two short written texts using supporting evidence.
Show convincing understanding of specified aspect(s) of at least two short written texts using supporting evidence.
Show perceptive understanding of specified aspect(s) of at least two short written texts using supporting evidence.

5. Read the poem on the next page
Read it through once to get an idea of what it is about.
This is a simple poem – what do you think it is about?

6. The rose that grew from concrete
Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete? Proving nature's law is wrong it learned to walk without having feet. Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams, it learned to breathe fresh air. Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else ever cared.

7. Analyse the poem… The poem is a metaphor for something. What is it?
The poet was Tupac Shakur. Does this help you to know what the metaphor might be?
Think about the kinds of things that would have been important to the poet.

8. Studying a poem
Studying a poem involves looking closely at three key areas:
Content
What the poem focuses on and says
Form
How the poet chooses to shape the content
Effect
What the reader sees, hears, considers, realises as a result of the content and form.

9. Content The content of a poem is what the poet focuses on:
Events
Scenes
Descriptions
Characters
The content is also the message of the poem.

10. Content – Title and Theme
The title can help you to understand what the poem is about.
The theme is the message or idea that the poet is trying to communicate. Think about why the poet has chosen to write the poem.

11. Example: What do each of the following poem titles suggest to you?
Seven ages of man
The General
The Highwayman
The Lesson
Loveliest of trees
Jabberwocky
On his blindness

12. They could be about… Seven ages of man – life? History?
The General – an army general?
The Highwayman – a highwayman?
The Lesson – a classroom? A teacher?
Loveliest of trees – a tree? With blossoms?
Jabberwocky – nonsense?
On his blindness – a man going blind?

13. From Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogroves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!

14. From The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes
The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon, tossed on stormy seas.
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding –
Riding – riding –
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

15. From The Lesson by Roger McGough
Chaos ruled OK in the classroom as bravely the teacher walked in the hooligans ignored him his voice was lost in the din "The theme for today is violence and homework will be set I'm going to teach you a lesson one that you'll never forget" He picked on a boy who was shouting and throttled him then and there then garrotted the girl behind him (the one with grotty hair) …

16. Form Form involves: The physical layout of the poem
The use of figures of speech
The use of sound devices
Word choice
Rhyme
Point of view

17. Poem Layout How many stanzas does the poem have?
How does the content develop through the stanzas?
Does it matter where one stanza ends and another begins?
Does it matter where the lines start and finish?

18. Poem Layout
A line of poetry can be either end-stopped or use enjambment.
End-stopped
The phrase or thought is complete at the end of the line
For example:
‘You are old, Father William, the young man said,
‘And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head –
Do you think, at your age, it is right?

19. Poem Layout Enjambment For example: He saw its shadow in his dream
The thought or idea continues on to the next line.
This allows the poet to maintain a rhyme scheme or end a line with an important thought.
For example:
He saw its shadow in his dream
Circle the house, as though it searched
For one it loved or hated. Claws
On gravel and a rabbit’s scream
Ripped the fabric of his dream.

20. Language Techniques There are different types of language techniques:
Sound techniques
Poetic techniques
General language techniques

21. Explanation of Example
Sound Techniques
We have covered these already in class.
Draw up a table like this and fill it in:
Language feature
Definition
General Effect
Example
Explanation of Example
Onomatopoeia
The use of words that create a sound
Writing is brought to life through sound and the sound is reinforced for the reader.
Whispering
‘Whispering’ creates a tone of secrecy and softness, as the word itself sounds like a whisper
Alliteration
Assonance
The repetition of vowel sounds across two or more words
The words are connected and therefore stand out
The moon loomed on the horizon.

22. Poetic Techniques Fill in the table… Language feature Definition
General effect
Example
Explanation
Simile
A comparison between two things using ‘like’ or ‘as’.
The reader’s understanding is increased by comparing the object to something they understand.
The baby’s eyes were as blue as the sky.
The reader visualises a clear blue sky, therefore understanding what the writer is saying more clearly.
Metaphor
The reader’s understanding is increased by the direct comparison.
Personification
The tree waved in the wind.

23. General Language Techniques
Language feature
Definition
General effect
Example
Explanation
Repetition
The repetition of a word or phrase throughout a text.
Puts emphasis on the phrase/word and makes the reader aware of it
We walked and walked and walked…
The repetition reinforces the idea that the walking went on for a long time.
Symbol
An object or word that represents another idea
The reader thinks of the things associated with the symbol
A dove
Colloquial language
Informal everyday language
Creates an informal atmosphere
He’s a good mate
Jargon
Specialised language associated with a particular group
Makes the writer sound knowledgeable
Can be exclusive
Cricket jargon – ‘out for a duck’

24. Word Choice Each word in a poem is carefully chosen for
This is something that you can also apply to your Creative Writing.
Each word in a poem is carefully chosen for
its subtlety of meaning. It is important to
consider the connotations of words.
A connotation is the meaning that we add to a word beyond its dictionary meaning.
For example, the word ‘nun’ means a female member of a religious order living under vows’, but the connotations extend to the ideas of purity, duty, generosity and calm.

25. Activity Write down the connotations of each of these words:
Fragrance vs. Smell
Dummy vs. Pacifier
Red vs. Crimson
Bossy vs. Assertive
Which of the words has more positive
connotations?

26. Rhyme Rhyme makes a poem easy to remember.
It also links the lines – they are connected by sound.
Rhyme is usually found at the end of a line
Eg. What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?
It can also be in a line – this is called internal rhyme.
Eg. I walked out in the rain, and back again

27. Effect The content and form that a poet uses are
all to create a particular effect.
You need to be able to comment on why
different effects have been employed and
what effect they have on the reader.

28. Example Identify the language technique below and
comment on its effect.
Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack
Butting through the Channel in the mad March days…
Language technique =
Effect =

29. Case Study – The Sea by James Reeves
The sea is a hungry dog,
Giant and grey.
He rolls on the beach all day.
With his clashing teeth and gnashing jaws
Hour upon hour he gnaws
The rumbling, tumbling stones,
And ‘Bones, bones, bones, bones!’
The giant sea-dog moans,
Licking his greasy paws.
And when the night wind roars
And the moon rocks in the stormy cloud,
He bounds to his feet and snuffs and sniffs,
Shaking his wet sides over the cliffs,
And howls and hollos long and loud.
But on quiet days in May or June,
When even the grasses on the dune
Play no more their reedy tune,
With his head between his paws
He lies on the sandy shores,
So quiet, so quiet, he scarcely snores.
Case Study – The Sea by James Reeves

30. Identify and explain For each of the following phrases:
Identify the poetic technique
Explain the image that is created
Explain what the image adds to the reader’s understanding of the sea.
‘Shaking his wet sides over the cliffs’
‘So quiet, so quiet, he scarcely snores’
With his clashing teeth and gnashing jaws

31. Questions about the poem…
Why is repetition used in the first stanza? What effect does it have?
What is the effect of the rhyme in the poem?
What happens in the final stanza?
How is this shown by the words chosen? Give examples.

32. Matching Exercise Line Technique
Match the line(s) of the poem with the correct techniques.
Line
Technique
‘The sea is a hungry dog’
Enjambment
‘And howls and hollos long and loud’
Repetition
‘He bounds to his feet and snuffs and sniffs’
Personification
‘With his clashing teeth and gnashing jaws/Hour upon hour he gnaws…’
End-stopped line
‘So quiet, so quiet, he scarcely snores’
Alliteration
‘Licking his greasy paws.’
Onomatopoeia

33. Activity For each of the lines and techniques on the previous slide:
Why do you think the poet chose to use this technique?
What is the effect on you, the reader?