1. Recognize mood and the poet’s claim or argument.
Poetry
Recognize mood and the poet’s claim or argument.

2. Daily Learning Target
By the end of class today I will be able to express my analysis of a poem (figurative language, mood, and the poet’s claim) as evidenced by my written and oral discussion .

3. Reading Strategy Recognize mood in poetry.
What do you think is the mood of the poem?
Give examples of words and phrases from the poem that create this mood.

4. Rita Dove, poet
Rita Dove served as Poet Laureate of the United States. This means she was the official poet for all of the US.
Ms. Dove was born in
Akron, Ohio in 1952.
Rita Dove is Commonwealth
Professor of English at the
University of Virginia in
Charlottesville, North Carolina.

5. Rita Dove’s poem, “The First Book”
Open it. 1
Go ahead, it won’t bite. 2
Well…maybe a little. 3
More a nip, like. A tingle. 4
It’s pleasurable, really. 5
You see, it keeps on opening. 6
You may fall in. 7
Sure, it’s hard to get started; 8
remember learning to use 9
knife and fork? Dig in: 10
You’ll never reach bottom. 11
It’s not like it’s the end of the world– 12
just the world as you think 13
you know it. 14

6. Figurative Language Metaphor is a direct comparison.
What is a metaphor?
A_______________ is a _____ ________.

7. Personification
Personification is comparing a thing to a human, giving the thing human qualities or characteristics.
In this poem what is a book compared to?
The book is compared to _______________
Something you eat, taste, enjoy.
What does the poet ask a reader to do with the book?
The poet says to___________________

8. The Poet says to: Open the book—dig in like using a knife and fork.
The reading the book is like getting a little bite—a little taste.
The more you dig in the more the book opens.
The world opens up—the information in books has no bottom or end.

9. Mood The mood in a poem or text can be angry or happy or sad, etc.
The mood is the overall feeling of the poem.
The mood can be created by the tone or by the language choices of the poem.
Word Choice makes the _____________
The mood of this poem is __________________________________

10. Mood
What is the mood?
The tone of the poem is the "voice" you imagine the poem is read in.
When you read the poem “The First Book” how do you feel?
When I read the poem “The First Book” I feel______________.

11. Claim or Argument
What is the true meaning the poet is trying to get across to her reader?
The true meaning is__________________.
The poet’s claim is that reading a ________
can be________________.
claim argument chapter book difficult

12. Claim or argument
What is the true meaning the poet is trying to get across to her reader?
It is often hard for a person who doesn’t normally read to start reading chapter book for the first time.
The point the poet is trying to make is that a person will never know if they like the book they are reading if they stop after the first couple of pages.
The person needs to jump into the reading and get lost in the words.

13. Summary of the poet’s claim
When I read the poem, “The First Book,” by Rita Dove, I feel_____________ about reading books.
When I read the poem_____________ by___________________ I feel _________ about _______________.