Review our knowledge of tone and take notes on how to identify tone. Identify tone within a selection of poems.

We are going to read Life Doesn’t Frighten Me At All by Maya Angelou again. This time I want you to consider the speaker. Does she sound confident or anxious?

VOICE Who is talking? Is it directly addressing you or someone else? Is their judgement reliable? LANGUAGE Is it formal or informal? Old-fashioned or modern? Conversational? Descriptive? CONTENT Which details are mentioned? Is there a picture building? SOUND What kinds of sounds can be heard? Are any emphasised or repeated? Is there a rhyme pattern? What effect does this have? STRUCTURE How are the words presented? How long are the lines? What effect does this cause?

Shadows on the wall Noises down the hall Life doesn’t frighten me at all Bad dogs barking loud Big ghosts in a cloud Life doesn’t frighten me at all. Mean old Mother Goose Lions on the loose They don’t frighten me at all.

I go boo Make them shoo I make fun Way them run I won’t cry So they fly I just smile They go wild Life doesn’t frighten me at all. Tough guys in a fight All alone at night Life doesn’t frighten me at all. Panthers in the park Strangers in the dark No, they don’t frighten me at all.

That new classroom where Boys all pull my hair (Kissy little girls With their hair in curls) They don’t frighten me at all. Don’t show me frogs and snakes And listen for my scream. If I’m afraid at all It’s only in my dreams.

I’ve got a magic charm That I keep up my sleeve, I can walk the ocean floor And never have to breathe. Life doesn’t frighten me at all Not at all Life doesn’t frighten me at all.

VOICE Who is talking? Is it directly addressing the reader or someone else? Is their judgement reliable? LANGUAGE Is it formal or informal? Old-fashioned or modern? Conversational? Descriptive? CONTENT Which details are mentioned? Is there a picture building? SOUND What kinds of sounds can be heard? Are any emphasised or repeated? Is there a rhyme pattern? What effect does this have? STRUCTURE How are the words presented? How long are the lines? What effect does this cause?

Task – Using the Tones Checklist that you have written out I would like you to find answers to the 5 sections on the checklist. Write out: VOICE – e.g. “I” and “me” tell us... LANGUAGE – CONTENT – SOUND – STRUCTURE – Make notes under these subheadings with reference to the poem (QUOTE!!!) arguing a specific tone for Maya Angelou’s poem.

Shadows on the wall Noises down the hall Life doesn’t frighten me at all Bad dogs barking loud Big ghosts in a cloud Life doesn’t frighten me at all. Mean old Mother Goose Lions on the loose They don’t frighten me at all.

I go boo Make them shoo I make fun Way them run I won’t cry So they fly I just smile They go wild Life doesn’t frighten me at all. Tough guys in a fight All alone at night Life doesn’t frighten me at all. Panthers in the park Strangers in the dark No, they don’t frighten me at all.

That new classroom where Boys all pull my hair (Kissy little girls With their hair in curls) They don’t frighten me at all. Don’t show me frogs and snakes And listen for my scream. If I’m afraid at all It’s only in my dreams.

I’ve got a magic charm That I keep up my sleeve, I can walk the ocean floor And never have to breathe. Life doesn’t frighten me at all Not at all Life doesn’t frighten me at all.

On page 14/ 15 there is the poem ‘England Nil’ and the poem ‘Base Details’. Read this poem through – to a partner if you prefer. Decide whether you think it is positive or negative tone. Answer the questions below the poem.

With a partner, write a definition of tone which will help you to remember what to look for when analysing poetry. An example: TONE: The ‘feeling’ or ‘emotion’ behind the text. Sometimes this is the poet’s feelings about a subject, or the character/narrator’s feelings.

Sarcasm (sarcastic tone): harsh or bitter derision or irony. 2. a sharply ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark: a review full of sarcasms. Irony (Ironic tone): an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been, expected. the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning: the irony of her reply, “How nice!” when I said I had to work all weekend.

Satirical: the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc. 2. a literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule.

One thing you feel you have learned over the last week in ENGLISH. One thing you want to learn about poetry.