1. Warm-up: Get out Friday’s cool-down. Choose one word that you wrote a + next to and one that you wrote a – next to and write a 2-3 sentences to explain why you think this word has a positive or negative connotation (i.e. what comes to mind when you hear this word that makes it positive or negative). SunsetCalmDuty DesertWatchfulPitiful Savory PassionateDear Sweet Fair Nasty Pleasant Furious Self-respecting * While you’re doing this, I’ll stamp “The Rattler”.

2.  Have I not stamped anyone’s “The Rattler”?  If you are interested in traveling this spring, sign up by the end of the month!  For help, see me after class.  Homework: Read and annotate “The Perils of Indifference” (due Thursday).

3. Reading 1.1: Identify and use the literal and figurative meanings of words (and understand word derivations).

4.  The words that we covered for our warm-up are word choices (diction) that the speaker of The Rattler uses to describe 1) the setting, 2) the snake, and 3) his action towards the snake.  After going over these words, what would we say that the speaker’s tone is in this passage?  Remember, there can be more than one tone.

5.  Poets are usually great masters at diction; since their compositions are so much shorter than a novel or short story, every single word is necessary for achieving the desired emotional effect.  We will read Roethke’s poem “My Papa’s Waltz” to find out how diction can shape the meaning of a work.  Focus: Is this a joyous or unpleasant event in this child’s life? How do you know?

6. The whiskey on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy; But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy. We romped until the pans Slid from the kitchen shelf; My mother’s countenance Could not unfrown itself. The hand that held my wrist Was battered on one knuckle; At every step you missed My right ear scraped a buckle. You beat time on my head With a palm caked hard by dirt, Then waltzed me off to bed Still clinging to your shirt.

7.  Let’s make a list of important diction that is found in “My Papa’s Waltz”.  After listing the diction, we will discuss the connotations and implications of the diction used.

8.  Fill out the diction worksheet on the back of “My Papa’s Waltz”.  Start by going through and finding important diction  Then, put the diction in the box for #1  Choose three pieces of diction to closely analyze for connotation and associations.  Find the TONE, based on diction  Write a paragraph about the tone, using diction to prove the tone.