1. 10th April 2012 LO: - Examine the Poem Pied Beauty!

2. All Things Bright and Beautiful
WATCH
All Things Bright and Beautiful
The purpose of this song (like a poem) is to praise God because of all the beautiful creatures and plants in the natural world...
After analysing Pied Beauty by Gerald Manly Hopkins, you are going to be asked to compare his poem to All Things Bright and Beautiful.

3. This is a very short poem, with seemingly a very simple subject...
PIED BEAUTY
This is a very short poem, with seemingly a very simple subject...

4. Look at the poem “Pied Beauty”. Some very basic questions to begin:
1) What is the PURPOSE of this poem?
(Why has this poem been written – what message is the poet trying to convey?)
2) Who is the speaker?
3) Who is the audience?
4) What is the tone of the poem?
5) What is the narrative of the poem (what happens in the poem?)? (2 marks)

5. Look at the poem “Pied Beauty”.
Firstly, Annotate the poem to help you understand the it:
ACTIVITIES
1) Mark the Stanzas of the poem (how is the poem divided?)
2) Using ABC, Mark the rhyme scheme of the poem.
3) Circle and link the instances of alliteration.
4) At the end of each line, write the number of syllables in the line.
5) Next to each stanza, write down the subject of the stanza.
6) This poem uses many adjectives: Underline in red the adjectives that can be seen as negative.
Underline in green the adjectives that have positive connotations.

6. BIG QUESTIONS ACTIVITIES
7) In which stanza(s) do we see the most “negative words”?
8) You have previously counted the syllables in each line – now try and highlight the stressed and unstressed syllables in each line.
9) Highlight all of the hyphenated words (eg. “couple-colour”)
10) Highlight all of the punctuation (commas, colons, semi-colons,)
11) : Where does the metre become inconsistent (get messed up)?
12) WHY has Hopkins disrupted the metre through the use of hyphenated words and punctuation?
Does it emphasise what is being said in any particular places?
BIG QUESTIONS

7. So...keeping this in mind, what is the effect of the last line?
This initially appears to be a poem praising God for all the wonderful and beautiful creatures in the natural world…
But...Not quite...
Hopkins also acknowledges that nature is full of imperfect “creations” – not all in the natural world is perfect and beautiful...
(and this is emphasised by the uncomfortable and inconsistent metre)
So...keeping this in mind, what is the effect of the last line?

8. What is the difference between perfect and flawless?
Metaphysical/theological/emotional/relational deep question for the day...
What is the difference between perfect and flawless?

9. In summary...
Use green arrows in this direction underneath the text to show where the metre is being “sped up”. Draw little red “stop signs” where the metre is being slowed down...

10. Make sure you use these symbols to highlight the effect of: - the punctuation. - the long assonant vowel sounds - alliteration - the hypenated words

11. Genius Question:
How does the “stop-start” metre of Pied Beauty link with the overall topic and purpose of the poem?
(1 PEE Paragraph)
Hints:
What do the words “Pied” and “dappled” mean?
Is he saying that nature is “flawless”?
Is the poem still a (perfectly) complete poem, even though the metre is dappled?
What IS the purpose of the poem?

12. TASK
Imagine you are a designing an advertising poster for your hometown. Take Gerald Manly Hopkin’s approach to celebrating your town by showing both the positive and negative features. The overall conclusion should still be: “This town is amazing”.
Your advertising poster should list at least 5 features.
For each “good” feature, try to use consistent metre.
For each “negative” feature , try to use disrupted/inconsistent metre.
Also include a border and at least 3 images...

14. COMPARE
The Cockroach
The Woodspurge
Pied Beauty
A Birthday

17. CHECK HOMEWORK
ENG
Write a personal journal entry from the perspective of Thomas Hardy the day before he wrote The Voice ( words)

20. What is the most important line in the poem? Why? (2 marks)
What do you like or dislike about the poem? (1 mark)
Who is the speaker? (1 mark)
Who is the audience? (1 mark)
Where and when is the poem set? (1 mark)

21. POEM CONSTRUCTION Write in 2nd person (you are writing “to” someone).
Topic: someone or something that you miss.
Tone/mood: Reflective, sombre, wistful, sad.
Line One: Address the person, tell them how you feel.
Line Two: Describe what the person is saying back to you.
Line Three: Explain what you miss about them.
Line Four: Describe what the time was like when you were with them. A B C
Use alliteration somewhere in the line.
Use “internal rhyme” somewhere in the line.
Use “repetition” somewhere in the line (on an “important” word).
Use “assonance” somewhere in the line.

22. Reminder The themes of The Voice are quite clear: (What are they?)
We are going to compare this poem to another modern poem.
Read through the second poem “Biko” and annotate it to try and decode it.

23. Speaker Audience Tone Themes Voice Structure Metre Biko “The Voice”
Use this table to compare the following elements of The Voice and Biko
Biko
“The Voice”
Speaker
Audience
Tone
Themes
Voice
Structure
Metre
Any others?

24. How much of the poem’s tone is communicated by the sound of the verse and the arrangement of the words?
How does the poet communicate his eagerness to bring back the memory of his wife, when she was younger, as he wants to remember her?
How does the poet’s mood change and why in stanza 3?
How this is communicated so strongly to the reader?
What does the image of the breeze means to you?
Consider the third line of the third stanza and write down what, at the simplest level, the words mean to you.
Consider how the layout of the last stanza is completely different and what visual image is created.
Consider the very last line of the poem and its effects.

25. HOMEWORK
ENG
Essay – what similarities are there between Biko and The Voice? (3 paragraphs)

26. Grammatical Person 1st person – “I” – Speaker refers to themselves.
2nd person - “You” – Speaker is speaking to someone else
3rd person - “He/she” – Speaker is describing what other people are doing.
Activity: Put this first person poem into 2nd and 3rd person