On whose shoulders do you stand? A lesson on poetry

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

Introduction

In this lesson you are going to watch and analyse the poem spoken by Amanda Gorman at the inauguration of the American president Joe Biden.

Goals

After this lesson, you can

• tell others about Amanda Gorman
• tell others about her inaugurational poem
• explain what occasional poetry is
• explain why poetry is political

Now let's first meet Amanda Gorman in the following video:

02:25

Why was Amanda terrified to speak up in public?

1. She didn't think she had something interesting to say
2. She had difficulties pronouncing words
3. She was never taught to speak up
4. She wanted to do other things in life

03:25

Poetry is always political. What explanation does she give here?

1. The choice to make yourself heard is political
2. White men don't want to hear political poems. That's political
3. She doesn't say so. It depends on the subject you are writing about

04:29

Why are tyrants terrified of poets?

1. They write about things they don't believe in
2. They always oppose the ideas of the leaders
3. Poets can unite the population by writing about their thoughts and feelings

Amanda describes herself

“I grew up at this incredibly odd intersection in Los Angeles, where it felt like the Black ’hood met Black elegance met white gentrification met Latin culture met wetlands. Traversing between these worlds, either to go to a private school in Malibu, or then come back home to my family’s two-bedroom apartment, gave me an appreciation for different cultures and realities, but also made me feel like an outsider. I’m sure my single mother, Joan Wicks, might describe me as a precocious child (=a child who developed an ability at an earlier age than is usual or expected) , but looking back in elementary school I often self-described myself as a plain ‘weird’ child. I spent most of elementary school convinced that I was an alien. Literally.”

What do you think when you read about Amanda's childhood?

What is occasional poetry?

Occasional poetry

• It's a very old tradition
• many kings and queens asked poets to write poems about their triumphs
• JF Kennedy and Barack Obama asked poets to write a poem for their inauguration
• Ms Gorman was asked in December 2020 

What elements would you put into this poem?

The hill we climb

Before listening, read part 1 of the poem by opening the link below, :

The hill we climb

Which two words describe this first part of the poem best?

1. differences and difficulties
2. grieving and growing
3. broken and healed
4. Unity and hope

The hill we climb

Now read part 2:

The hill we climb

Which word refers to the attack on the Capitol building on January 6th?

1. the hill
2. sow division
3. this effort
4. this faith

The hill we climb

Now read part 3

'this wounded world into a wondrous one'
What do we call this technique of repetition of sounds at the beginning of words?

1. rhyme
2. imagery
3. rhythm
4. alliteration

your opinion

Have another look at the poem and think back to the work we did on speeches. The examples below are speech rhetoric

Think of, for example:

- tricolon (rule of three)

- repetition

- connecting with the audience. 

What instances of speech rhetoric can you identify in the poem?