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“Hesse uses free-verse poems to advance the plot, allowing the narrator to speak for herself much more eloquently than would be possible in standard.

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Presentation on theme: "“Hesse uses free-verse poems to advance the plot, allowing the narrator to speak for herself much more eloquently than would be possible in standard."— Presentation transcript:

1 “Hesse uses free-verse poems to advance the plot, allowing the narrator to speak for herself much more eloquently than would be possible in standard prose…The story is bleak, but Hesse’s writing transcends the gloom…during the dust storms of the 1930s…” taken from reviews of the book

2 A few classic photographs of the 1930s dust bowl
Be sure to look at and read the Afterwords at the end of the book. You could do this before you begin the book too…either way will work.

3 The Grapes of Wrath is an American novel by John Steinbeck centered on the Dust Bowl and the Joad family. Published in 1939, the book won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.  “A large drop of sun lingered on the horizon and then dripped over and was gone, and the sky was brilliant over the spot where it had gone, and a torn cloud, like a bloody rag, hung over the spot of its going. And dusk crept over the sky from the eastern horizon, and darkness crept over the land from the east.”  “Muscles aching to work, minds aching to create - this is man.”  ― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

4 The next 8 slides are arranged with an excerpt from the first and last poems of each section (in the tinted box) and an invitation to write your own poem. Each slide also lists the poem titles (i.e. chapter titles) for the section. Then you are prompted to do some review and sharing with your group. After seeing how this works, you may want to divide the poems among the group before you read each section so anyone who wants to be choosing lines to share can do that as they read. This is an engaging book about events that really happened. Imagine you are Billie Jo as you follow her story in her poetic voice. Please submit your poems on Google docs or in paper format to one of the teachers. Hopefully, some can be published next year in Creeks and Currents. Refer to your poetry editing handout as you write.

5 Mr. Hardly’s Money Handling Fifty Miles South of Home Rules of Dining
From Beginning: August 1920 Daddy named me Billie Jo. He wanted a boy. Instead, He got a long-legged girl With a wide mouth And cheekbones like bicycle handles… and a hunger for playing fierce piano. From Fields of Flashing Light The wind snatched that snow right off the fields, leaving behind a sea of dust, waves and waves of dust, rippling across our yard… If he[Daddy] had cried, his tears would have been mud too, but he didn’t cry. And neither did Ma Look at the excerpts from the first and last poems in this section. One describes a person, the other a scene. What specific things does poetry do that makes each image so strong? Consider diction as well as structure of the piece. Modeling on either (or each) section, write a poetic description(s) of a person or scene. Divide the other 15 poems among the group and find and share lines you like best from each and tell why. Winter, 1934 Beginning: August 1920 Rabbit Battles Losing Livie Me and Mad Dog Permission to Play On Stage Birthday for F. D. R. Not Too Much to Ask Mr. Hardly’s Money Handling Fifty Miles South of Home Rules of Dining Breaking Drought Dazzled Debts Foul as Maggoty Stew State Tests Fields of Flashing Light

6 Look at the excerpts from the first and last poems in this section.
From Tested by Dust I hope we get bonus points for testing in dust From On the Road with Arley Here’s the way I figure it. My place in the world is at the piano… The money doesn’t matter much to me. I’d play for nothing… We are flying down the road… laying our voices on top of the beat… It’s being part of all that… being somewhere new and interesting. We have a fine time. Look at the excerpts from the first and last poems in this section. This is another chance for a quick model poem from you. Write a two line “I hope” poem. Try to use some interesting diction. Or write a “My place in the world is…” modeling on the lines of Billie Jo’s poem. Divide the other 9 poems among the group and find and share lines you like best from each and tell why they are effective. Spring, 1934 Tested by Dust Banks Beat Wheat Give Up on Wheat What I Don’t Know Apple Blossoms World War Apples Dust and Rain Harvest On the Road with Arley

7 Look at the excerpts from the first and last poems in this section.
From Hope in a Drizzle She has nothing to say to anyone anymore, except how she aches for rain, at breakfast, at dinner, all day, all night, she aches for rain. From The Path of Our Sorrow Such a sorrow doesn’t come suddenly there are a thousand steps to take before you get there. But now, sorrow climbs up our front steps, big as Texas… Look at the excerpts from the first and last poems in this section. The first one uses a repetitive rhythm which is often effective in poetry and in speeches. Think Dr. Martin Luther King. Try your hand at this. What do you ache (wish, long) for? Use rhythm to your advantage as you write. The last poem is a historic capsule of what led to the catastrophe of the Dust Bowl. Poetic summaries of news or history have been used for millennia. Think of something from NEWSELA that is important to you and try to write it modeled on what Mrs. Freeland told the class pp Divide the other 9 poems among the group and find and share lines you like best from each and tell why. Summer, 1934 Hope in a Drizzle Dionne Quintuplets Wild Boy of the Road The Accident Burns Nightmare A Tent of Pain Drinking Devoured Blame Birthday Roots The Empty Spaces The Hole Kilauea Boxes Night Bloomer The Path of Our Sorrow

8 Look at the excerpts from the first and last poems in this section.
From Hired Work It’s hard to believe I once brought money in too, For playing piano Now I can’t hardly stay in the same room with one. Especially Ma’s. From Art Exhibit I feel such a hunger to see such things. And such an anger because I can’t. Look at the excerpts from the first and last poems in this section. These show loss, frustration, anger. How would you write a short poem about this? Try it. Divide the other 5 poems among the group and find and share lines you like best from each and tell why. Autumn, 1934 Hired Work Almost Rain Those Hands Real Snow Dance Revue Mad Dog’s Tale Art Exhibit

9 Look at the excerpts from the first and last poems in this section.
One is a wishing and longing poem and the other is a “keeping on keeping on” Write your own I Wish poem or else a Now I See poem. You can find many models for writing here and on other sites. Divide the other 23 poems among the group and find and share lines you like best from each and tell why. This is quite a load of poems; good thing you are becoming skilled at this sharing. Winter, 1935 State Tests Again Christmas Dinner Without the Cranberry Sauce Driving the Cows First Rain Haydon P. Nye Scrubbing Up Dust Outlined by Dust The President’s Ball Lunch Guests Family School Birth Time to Go Something Sweet from Moonshine Dreams The Competition The Piano Player No Good Snow Night School Dust Pneumonia Dust Storm Broken Promise Motherless Following in His Steps From State Tests Again Wish I could run home and tell Ma and see her nod and hear her say, “I knew you could.” It would be enough. From Following in His Steps Now that I see that one day comes after another and you get through them one measure at a time

10 Sunday Afternoon at the Amarillo Hotel
From Heartsick I’m so restless… I storm up to my room… and we don’t know how to talk anymore if we ever did From Old Bones Once dinosaurs roamed… bones showing in the green shale, ribs the size of plow blades, hip bones like crank phones… A chill shoots up my spine imagining a dinosaur slogging out of an Oklahoma sea, with turtles swimming around its legs… sunning itself on the swampy banks Spring, 1935 Heartsick Skin Regrets Fire on the Rails The Mail Train Migrants Blankets of Black The Visit Freak Show Help from Uncle Sam Let Down Hope The Rain’s Gift Hope Smothered Sunday Afternoon at the Amarillo Hotel Baby Old Bones Look at the excerpts from the first and last poems in this section. Write a restlessness poem or else an imagining poem. Or…titles are important in hooking a reader in. Look at these titles; pick one and write a short poem (not related to Billie Jo’s story…just whatever you want). Divide the other 16 poems among the group and find and share lines you like best from each and tell why.

11 Something Lost, Something Gained
From The Dream I play songs that have only the pattern of my self in them… You are the companion to myself. The mirror with my mother’s eyes From Met As we walk together, side by side, in the swell of dust I am forgiving him, step by step… side by side I am forgiving myself… These are excerpts for the first and last poems in this section. How do they make you feel? Look at the whole poem, The Dream, pp 193-4, and talk about the arrangement of the lines. Why might the poet have done this? “The Dream” is a poem of address, an ode. The person, Billie Jo, is speaking to (praising) the piano. This is an often-used and effective format in both serious and humorous poetry. Try it sometime. Divide the final 9 poems among yourselves (includes the last one this time) sharing lines you love and why you chose them. Summer, 1935 The Dream Midnight Truth Out of the Dust Gone West Something Lost, Something Gained Homeward Bound Met

12 I dreamed of running off too, though I never did
From Cut It Deep I dreamed of running off too, though I never did I didn’t have half your sauce, Billie Jo, he says. And it’s the first time I ever knew there was so much to the two of us… From Finding a Way And I’m learning, watching Daddy, that you can stay in one place and still grow Lots of information and memory is packed into these last poems. The model to write from could be “I dreamed…” or “And I’m learning…” Again, divide the final 9 poems (including Finding a Way) among the group sharing best lines and why you like them. Autumn, 1935 Cut It Deep The Other Woman Not Everywhere My Life, or What I Told Louise After the Tenth Time She Came to Dinner November Dust Thanksgiving List Music Teamwork Finding a Way

13 As is everything Ken Burns does, this is excellent and well worth digging into.
I’ve also included a link to Shmoop, which leaves no stone unturned when it comes to learning about literature and many other things.

14 How is Langston Hughes’ famous poem like and how different from Billie Jo’s story and the Okie migrants’ stories?


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