1. One way “into” a poem or a passage of literature
Threading
One way “into” a poem
or a passage of literature

2. First, read the poem aloud – twice.
Blackberry Eating
By Galway Kinnell
I love to go out in late September Among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries To eat blackberries for breakfast, The stalks very prickly, a penalty They earn for knowing the black art Of blackberry-making; and as I stand among them Lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries Fall almost unbidden to my tongue, As words sometimes do, certain peculiar words Like strengths or squinched, Many-lettered, one-syllabled lumps, Which I squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well In the silent, startled, icy, black language Of blackberry -- eating in late September.

3. Uncover the vocabulary you don’t know
Unbidden
Any others?

4. Uncover initial questions/ideas
“Black blackberries” – isn’t that redundant? Why the repetition?
“icy” is in there twice – why?
“Icy” also doesn’t seem to fit late September. “Icy” in January is negative, but in late September, might be refreshing.
“silent, startled, icy, black” – sounds liquid and kind of crisp

5. Identify words in the poem where ideas reappear.
Color
Mouth
black
Eat
Mouth
Tongue
Words
silent
Things you do
love go
eat
stand
fall do
Negative words
prickly
penalty
black art

6. See if you can break the poem into two “parts” – where?
Look for a shift –
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
As words sometimes do
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

7. An Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet has two parts, an 8-line stanza and a 6-line stanza.
There is a before/after
Or a question/response
Or a then/now
Or a this/that
Hint: Is it like a square?
It’s a Sonnet!

8. What’s the “this” and the “that?”
Poet loves
Poet loves
(Mouthing) many-lettered, one-syllable lumps (words)
Eating blackberries

9. The pivotal word is “tongue” – used
for both speaking and eating
“Penalty” and “prickly” – words are
dangerous, tempting, magical – can
create something out of themselves –
but pleasurable.
The poem doesn’t “announce itself”
as a sonnet because of rhyme scheme
and language, but the form is in
repetition and shift.

10. One way to analyze and write about literature
Do, Show, Mean
One way to analyze and write about literature

11. Do What is the author’s organizational purpose in the passage?
Is the author narrating?
describing?
Illustrating?
Exposing?
Mocking?

12. DO -- What is the author’s organizational purpose in the passage?
On a literal level -- What is HAPPENING?
Narrating
Describing
Illustrating
Exposing
Mocking
What is the tone of the passage?

13. RED = Do Blue = Mean Example:
“Blackberry Eating” by Galway Kinnell is a sonnet that connects the act of eating blackberries to the art of using language, suggesting both are tempting, delicious, and dangerous.
RED = Do
Blue = Mean