Collections: Icarus’s Flight Page 39 by Stephen Dobyns

Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem Learning Objective: The student will understand how the elements of form and the use of alliteration emphasize ideas and meaning in a poem.

Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem Academic Vocabulary- breaking the objective apart Form: Alliteration:

Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem Academic Vocabulary Form: the way words are arranged on a page Alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.

Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem 1. Identify: Look closely at how certain sentences of the poem extend from one stanza into the next one. What effect is created by extending a sentence into the next stanza?

Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem Answer 1. It pulls the reader along, connecting the stanzas and giving the poem an almost vertical motion downward. This seems to suggest the downward decent of Icarus’s flight.

Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem 2. Analyze: Examine the question in lines 3-5. Based on what you know about the Icarus myth, where is the “exact point where freedom stopped”? How would you answer this question?

Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem Answer 2. The exact point where freedom stopped in the moment in which Icarus’s wings failed, and he was about to begin his descent.

Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem 3. Analyze: Look at the third stanza and identify the alliterative words. What idea does this alliteration emphasize or draw attention to?

Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem Answer 3. Flew and flutter are alliterative; the poet chose those words to emphasize the contrast between strong and weak flight.

Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem 4. Interpret What does the poet mean by the two sentences in lines 10 and 11?

Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem Answer 4 The poet means that Icarus succeeded because by flying to that point, he learned what freedom was. He achieved “precisely” the “wisdom” of understanding both freedom and mortality at the same time.

Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem 5. Analyze Find the sentence that begins within line 18 and read it aloud. What examples of alliteration do you see? Why do you think the poet uses alliteration here?

Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem Answer 5. Alliterative words: him, he, had, his The poet uses there words to emphasize the idea that Icarus has finally attained what he wanted.

Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem 6. Compare: Consider what you already knew about the mythological character, Icarus, before reading this poem. How does this poem cause your perception of Icarus to change? Explain.

Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem Ready, Set Respond…..

Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem Mrs. Whiddon’s Answer 6. My perception of Icarus changed from thinking of him as a young boy in the myth who forgot to heed his father’s warning and loses his life to someone who became fully aware of his actions and in failure actually gained wisdom and freedom. Icarus embraced his freedom as he took “his downward plunge.”