Poetry AnalysisREFUGEE IN AMERICA

Journal

What does freedom mean to me?

Review

Review these poetic elements and devices with your shoulder partner: Speaker Stanza Rhyme scheme Figurative Language (simile, metaphor, personification) Alliteration Sensory Language and Imagery Symbol Mood and Tone Theme

Read the poem

Read the poem aloud to your shoulder partner.

The partner whose birthday is coming up the soonest goes first.

The second partner then reads the poem aloud again to the first partner.

Discuss

Discuss the poetic elements and devices in this specific poem with your shoulder partner: Who is the speaker? What do we know about him/her? How many stanzas are in the poem? What is the rhyme scheme? What does the title mean? What figurative language does the author use? Does the author use alliteration? What sensory language does the author use? What symbols does the author use? What is the mood of the poem? What is the tone? What is the theme of the poem?

Write

Based on your discussion, fill in the Poetry Chart.

Discuss

The speaker says that the word liberty “almost make(s) me cry.” Why might this be true?

What might the sad feelings in the second stanza say about the possibilities and the reality of liberty based on the perspective of the speaker?

Why might the speaker choose to repeat the phrase “there are words” in lines 1 and 5?

Freedom and liberty are words often associated with each other, but they do not mean exactly the same thing. How is liberty different from freedom?

Describe in a sentence or two what you think the theme, or message, of “Refugee in America” is. What evidence in the text helps convey the theme or message?

What is a refugee? (Look up the word in a dictionary if you’re not sure of its meaning.) How can someone be a refugee in his or her own country? 

Why did Hughes name his poem “Refugee in America” and not “Words Like Freedom,” as it is often called?

Extension Question

How does Hughes’s poem make you feel about being an American? In what ways is the poem’s message still relevant today? 

Add to your journal

Add to your journal any evidence you could use from the poem to support or modify the ideas about freedom about which you have already written.

Use direct quotes from the poem and line numbers. NOTE: Your ideas about freedom should be evolving

and maturing as you read these poems. The purpose is for you to refine your understanding of freedom, not simply gather evidence to support your initial idea.  Your journal should reflect this evolution.

Exit Slip

Explain how your idea of freedom has changed and evolved as a result of reading this poem.

If it has not, explain how this poem supports your initial idea. In that case, you should attempt to find something in the next poem that will refine your original idea about freedom.

Summative Assessment

Read the poem “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Fill out the other half of the Poetry Chart on your own.

Discussion

What is Stanza #1 about? What sounds do you notice in stanza #1? What

feeling does this stanza give you and how do the sounds of the words in this stanza create this mood?

What is Stanza #2 about? What sounds do you notice in stanza #2? What

feeling does this stanza give you and how do the sounds of the words in this stanza create this mood?

Compare and contrast stanza #1 and stanza #2.

Discussion Questions, Continued

What is stanza #3 about? In the third stanza, what do you notice in the language and

word choice? Does the tone change in this stanza? How would you describe the tone? How could the song of the bird be compared to the

sorrowful songs that originated in slavery? Why might the speaker use the pronoun “I” in the poem? Why is “Sympathy” an appropriate title for this poem?

Extension Questions

Why do you think the poem is not titled “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”?

Maya Angelou titled her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and Alicia Keyes has a song titled “Caged Bird.” Why do you think this poem has had such an effect on other authors and artists?

Add to your journal

Add to your journal any evidence you could use from the poem to support or modify the ideas about freedom about which you have already written.

Use direct quotes from the poem and line numbers. NOTE: Your ideas about freedom should be evolving

and maturing as you read these poems. The purpose is for you to refine your understanding of freedom, not simply gather evidence to support your initial idea.  Your journal should reflect this evolution.

Exit Slip

Explain how your idea of freedom has changed and evolved as a result of reading this second poem.

If it has not, explain how this poem supports your initial idea.

If nothing from either poem has affected your initial idea about freedom at all, please conference with a shoulder partner, other classmate, and/or your teacher to try to discover ideas that expand your thinking.