V4 - week 10 - poetry A Martian Sends a Postcard Home / Hair Today Gone Tomorrow

• Middelbare school

Today's objectives

• Poetry 
  

 A Martian sends a Postcard Home 

Hair today, No Her Tomorrow

• Literature Test (Novels/Poetry) Period 3 - March 31st
  

• Grammar (nouns/relative clauses - chpt 8/6)
  

                                         

A Martian sends a postcard home

• Describes human behaviour and objects as if they are being seen for the first time by a visiting Martian. 

• Tone = detached,objective, but also quizzical. 

• Seventeen unrhymed couplets. 

• Series of riddles inviting  the reader to decipher them

• Original, evocative language / humourous

• Use of many metaphors to describe what a Martian would see if he came to earth.
  

What does the Martian refer to?

• Stanza 1:
  

 Caxtons are mechanical birds with many wings

• Stanza 2 & 3:  
  

they cause the eyes to melt ... body to shriek without pain / I have never seen one fly, ....they perch on the hand

• Stanza 4 & 5: 
  

Which 2 methaphors are used to exlain fog/mist?

• Stanza 6: 
  

Which methaphor is used for rain?

What does the Martian refer to?

• Stanza 7 & 8: 
  

What is meant by a model T? 

What is the "lock inside"?

What does the Martian mean with " a key is turned to free the world for movement, so quick there is a film to watch..."?

• Stanza 9: 
  

What is time tied to the wrist and kept in a box (2 things!)?

• Stanzas 10/11/12: 
  

What is the haunted apparatus that snores and is soothed to sleep or woken up "by tickling with a finger"?

What does the Martian refer to?

• Stanzas 13/14/15: 

What does the Martian mean by "Only the young are allowed to suffer openly"? 

What does "Adults go to the punishment room" mean?

What does " They lock the door ...everyone's pain has a different smell" mean?

• Stanzas 16/17:
  

"At night when all colours die, they hide in pairs" =

"and read about themselves - in colour, with their eyelids shut" = 

If you were a Martian, 

How would you describe a refrigerator?

How would you describe "taking a shower"?

How would you describe "falling in love"?

Hair Today, No Her tomorrow

1. What does "Hair today" mean? How does it lead to "No Her tomorrow"?

2. Who is speaking in the poem? 

3. Why is the poem written in this way?

4. Who has cheated on whom in this poem? When does this become clear?

5. "Guess who? she said" ..... "Your friend", she said ..... "And his friend", she said ...... "And the rest", she said 

      What did she do? 

6. Why does he say "Please don't" in reply to her saying "I'll stay?"

Hair Today, No Her tomorrow  -    Explanation

1  Hair today = She found a hair today, he cheated

    No her tomorrow = She will probably leave him, so she won't be there tomorrow 

2. I = the narrator / she = the girlfriend who found the hair -> in dialogue with each other

3. Shows how they both confess their affairs to each other, feeling awkward while doing so

4. He appears not to deny cheating when she accuses him after finding the black hair -> "I'll explain I said", 

    She then says "Time for truth" and says "Me too", confessing she also cheated

5. "Guess who?  she said" ..... "Your friend", she said ..... "And his friend", she said ...... "And the rest", she said -> she has cheated on him with his friend and several others

6. He confesses that he has indeed cheated on her and advises her to leave: "I lied", "The new cat .... It's white"  

Literature test Novel/Poetry - March 31st

D) Poetry:

•     Be able to give the definitions of all the literary terms in the back of the yellow booklet (p. 12/13)
  

•     Be able to apply these to each poem in the booklet
  

•      Be able to analyse each poem, what happens in the poem/what do the lines mean
  

•     Be able to explain things such as title, irony, symbolism, metaphor, simile, personification, alliteration etc.
  

Literature test Novels/Poetry - March 31st

A) Writing test on two novels, 200 words per novel

B) Be able to explain your novel, i.e.:

• title
  
• development of main characters (i.e. coming of age/resolving conflicts)
  
• symbolism (something in the story that is literally what it is and stands for sth. else) -> i.e. Lord of the Flies
  
• theme (universal idea about life such as: revenge, sacrifice, rebellion etc.)
  
• irony
  
• climax (the conflict is faced during the main, most dramatic event of the story.)
  
• personal recommendation 
  

C) Specific tasks for some novels,  related to symbolism, themes, plot, development of characters etc.

Grammar 

Nouns (chpt 8) & Relative Pronouns (Chpt. 6)

Review Homework

Chpt. 8 - ex. 9-16 even nos.

Chpt. 6 - ex. 4-10 even nos.

Homework Friday:

TEST YES/NO?

Study vocabulary txt 1 and 2 (Time to Score Against Racism / Mon Ami and Me) 

Alquin Magazine: 

Read: Sesame Street ...Young  &  Do Ex. C & D - WB p. 41