1. MAORI POETRY
UNFAMILIAR TEXT

2. OVER VIEW Look at how to analyse and attack a poem.
Start glossary of Maori cultural terms.
Analyse “To a Maori figure cast in bronze outside the Chief Post Office, Auckland.” (Hone Tuwhare).

3. MONDAY
Class split into four groups. Each group will be given a poem with a series of questions.
Groups will work together (possibly in computer lab) to answer the questions and analyse the poem.

4. TUESDAY
Each group will recite their poem and present their analysis in a seminar for the rest of the class.
Seminars will be recorded on microphone and put on knowledge net.
Students will annotate copies of the poem during seminars.

5. THE GOLDEN RULES Attack the question. Quote the best example.
Explain it clearly.
Unpack the information in more detail.

6. ANALYSING LANGUAGE FEATURES.
State specifically the language feature and quote it. Use correct terminology.
state what quotation means .
State what the quotation suggests// why the writer chose that technique// what is implies// connoted//hinted at// alluded to// why it is effect.

7. EXAMPLE “They (poets) can amaze us like a thunderstorm.” Analysis:
The phrase “like a thunderstorm” is a simile. It means that poets can invent phases that get our attention. It is effective because “thunderstorms” suggests something powerful and sometimes violent. It can refer to a bright flash, something sudden that grabs our attention. It implies that there is a “wow factor” in poetry.

8. Read through and annotate poem
Words you do not understand
Striking features
Colloquial language
Maori words
Language features
Anything that sticks out to you

9. Answer the first two questions
Compare answers with person next to you.
Chose one of the last two questions and
attempt to answer it.
Compare answers with someone else in class.
Share ideas in class discussion.

10. Example answer.
In line 25 Tuwhare uses the words “Mere” and “Taiaha” to emphasise the proud tone of the persona. By mentioning these traditional Maori weapons, Tuwhare reminds the reader of the figure’s warrior culture, which as a consequence of being “glaciated” has been deprived from him. While trapped on his “bloody pedestal” the Maori figure is unable to embrace his fearsome ancestry and longs to “show the long hairs how to knock out a tune on the souped-up guitar.” The persona is empowered by the thought of his ancestral weaponry, which he sees as a means to intimidate the “long hairs.” Moreover Tuwhare’s phrase “Taiaha held at the high port” connotes sexual dominance, the long weapon resembling a phallic symbol, which is significant as the figure expresses his desire to “fix the ripe kotiro too with their mini-piupiu-ed bums twinkling.” Additionally the persona’s pride and confidence has grown throughout the poem, from a self-degrading “Hori-in-george” to a dominant Maori figure.

11. RESEARCH Step one Annotate poem. Words you do not understand
Striking features
Colloquial language
Maori words
Language features
Anything that sticks out to you

12. Step two Answer attached questions.
Use these as ideas to develop for your seminar.
Use the internet to research any Maori or other words you do not understand (

13. Step three
Discuss in your group who will recite your poem to the class on Tuesday.
Organise which role each member of the group will play in the seminar. E.g.
1.Recites poem.
2.Discusses the different language features used in the poem and their effects.
3. Discusses the poets choice of language and structure of the poem.
4. Outline the major themes explored in the poem.

14. Alternatively
You could base your seminar around discussion of the attached questions.
Note
Poems will be displayed on the whiteboard during seminars. Utilise this and annotate poem by underlining language features, key quotes or relevant aspects of structure during your seminars (could be a members role).

15. SEMINARS Annotate poem Attempt to answer questions
Write down anything striking about the poem that may not have been discussed in the seminar
Questions

16. “Sad Joke On a Marae” Apirana Taylor.
Tihei Mauriora I called
Kupe Paikea Te Kooti
Rewi and Te Rauparaha
I saw them
grim death and wooden ghosts
carved on the meeting house wall
In the only Maori I knew
I called
Tihei Mauriora.
Above me the tekoteko raged.
He ripped his tongue from his mouth
and threw it at my feet.
Then I spoke.
My name is Tu the freezing worker.
Ngati DB is my tribe.
The pub is my marae.
My fist is my taiaha.
Jail is my home.
Tihei Mauriora I cried.
They understood
the tekoteko and the ghosts
though I said nothing but
Tihei Mauriora
for that is all I knew.

17. “Whakatu” Keri Hulme They like us in the pubs we drink up large
Eh man!
They like us on the chains
we do a good killing job
and we look so happy
Hei tama tu tama
tama go away
They like us in the factories
cleaning floors and shifting loads
hei tama tu tama
they like us driving trucks and dozers
and working on the roads
Hey boy!
They like us in the pubs
we drink up large
and we look so happy
Hei tama tu tama
tama go away
E tama!
They like us
they like us
drinking shouting singing
when it’s someone else’s party
or swinging plastic pois
in a piupiu from Woolworths
and thumping hell outa an old guitar
Because we look so happy
Aue, tama go away.

18. “Patches Hide No Scars”, Haare Williams.
They bear patches
on their jackets
hiding scars and wounds
finding their own
direction, discipline
orders
How do we prosecute
those already punished
how do we fine
those lost in the streets
of no direction
How do we heal
those slashed
in the flesh
when they are
slashed in spirit
To a fish in the sea
to a bird in the sky
to a deer in the forest
all men are dangerous,
brutes, intruders
vagrants
Gone the steady
roar of the sea
the echo of the hills
the voice of the elder
invoking the ancestors
rebuking the young
the tracks that cling to the hillside
where barefooted
they walked out
and rode away
on bikes
Gone
the tohunga
who healed from within
with his remedy of aroha
Their boots
their jackets
no longer hide
their scars

19. “A Gift Of Words From My Grandmother”, Hori Tait.
My beloved grandchild,
inheritor from my ancestors,
let me speak in your ear
in hope you may be inspired.
You were created by the unseen,
yes, the unseen,
therefore what you see and hear,
what you say –
let them well from the unseen,
your inner being.
My child, base your mana
on the mana handed down to you.
Pay heed to the dignity of the people,
people made in His image,
His excellent image.
Care for them in body,
care for them in spirit,
so that body and spirit will be in harmony.
Wrap them in the warm cloak of wisdom.
My child, you are only a moment
between two eternities – past and future,
so hasten, and come to terms
with the circumstances
of your time,
Seek the knowledge of the Pakeha,
consume it
as an appetiser for your true course
which is the wisdom of your ancestors.
Let your deeds be
as wide as the earth
to justify a place in the sky.
A gift of words indeed, grandmother –
I weep for you and for you all.

20. QUESTION
Apirana Taylor's, “Sad joke on a Marae” and Kerry Hulme’s, “Whakatu” both deal with the idea of displacement. Discuss how these poems explore this theme and comment on their effectiveness.