Because I could not stop for Death By Emily Dickinson Literary Skills Focus: Irony

Standards Reading 2.4 Make reasonable assertions about the author’s arguments by using elements of the text to defend and clarify interpretations. Reading 3.3 Analyze the ways in which irony, tone and mood achieve specific rhetorical (concerned with effect or style) or aesthetic (relating to pure beauty) purposes or both. Reading 3.4 Analyze ways in which poets use imagery, personification, figures of speech, and sounds to evoke (bring out) readers’ emotions.

Objectives Students will work on warm-up taking notes and practicing pronoun/antecedent agreement. Students will understand irony by taking notes. Students will show comprehension by completing sentence frames. Students will use “Think Pair Share” to formulate a response to the question “What is happening in this poem?” Students will demonstrate understanding of the poem by completing a thinking map which requires them to summarize stanzas.

Pre-reading What stories do you know in which death comes to take a soul or person? What are some emotions and adjectives associated with death?

Vocabulary Immortality (n) Civility (n) Surmised (v) Use context clues to guess at the meaning: Because his image would live on in his films, the movie star is assured immortality after his death. Unending life Civility (n) Use context clues to guess at the meaning: He showed civility when he opened the door for his friends. Courtesy; politeness Surmised (v) Use context clues to guess at the meaning: After seeing how much it was raining, Joel surmised that his friends would not want to go for a bike ride. To infer or guess

Academic Vocabulary Irony – Using words to say something different from (and sometimes opposite of) their actual meaning. Tone– A particular style of writing that conveys emotions to the reader Summary –a brief restating of facts Personification– a literary technique that gives human characteristics to nonhuman things

Literary Skills Focus: Irony Questions or Phrases Notes What is irony? What are the three types of irony? Irony = contrast between appearance and reality Three kinds Verbal: saying one thing and meaning another Situational: when what happens is the opposite of what was expected Dramatic: when the reader knows more than the characters in the story

Irony in “Because I could not stop for Death” Question or Phrase Notes How is irony used in the poem? What is the tone of the poem? What kind of irony is used in the poem? Poem contrasts the serious subject of death with a light-hearted tone (attitude) Death = a typical carriage ride through eternity Situational Irony

As we read… As we read pay close attention to details that differ from your expectations and create an ironic twist. Complete the following sentence frames after reading each stanza. In the first ___ the carriage ___. In the ___ stanza it ___. It ___ in the ___ ___ and ___ things. In the fourth ___ the ___ passed the ___. This implies that the day is ___. Continued on next slide.

As we read… In the ___ ___, the phrase “Since then—’tis Centuries” tells the ___ that hundreds of ___ have ___. On the next slide work with your partner to summarize (1-2 sentences) each stanza of the poem.

Summarizing Chart Stanza 1 Stanza 2 What happens? Stanza 1 Stanza 2 Death stops for the speaker, who gets in the coach.

What is happening in the poem? Read the poem again silently and think about the question. Work with your partner to listen, discuss, and formulate a shared response to the question. Share responses with the class.

Check for Understanding Does life always turn out the way you expect? What are some ironic situations you have encountered that would make an interesting story or poem? Work with your group to answer the questions. Choose your best example and share your experiences with irony with the class.