ELA6, CSS, Sferrazza

Before we begin this lesson, I would really like to tell you about breakfast today.

French toast, smothered with honey,

Delicious to taste and munch,

Taste of cinnamon, light and sunny,

Dances in my mouth with each crunch.

(Source: https://ericarosenblum.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/quatrain-poem2.pdf)

Can't you just picture the delicious breakfast? The imagery (sight of the toast smothered with honey, sound of the munch and crunch, taste of cinnamon dancing in the mouth) creates a tantalizing quatrain poetry dish!

A quatrain is a stanza (also know as verse) with four lines and a rhyme scheme. Although a quatrain is only one stanza, a quatrain poem can have any number of stanzas (including one). As a bonus, the rhyme schemes can be extremely varied.

But what is a rhyme scheme? A rhyme scheme is the rhyming pattern in a poem. 

A poem might rhyme every line.	My family has a crazy cat That's really very very fat. One day he sat on papa's hat, Now papa's hat is very flat! (http://www.poetry4kids.com/blog/lessons/how-to-write-funny-poetry-chapter-2/)
A poem might rhyme every second line.	Hercules avoided baths and showers all week long. Though it left him awfully dirty, no one ever smelled so strong! (http://www.poetry4kids.com/blog/lessons/how-to-write-funny-poetry-chapter-2/)
A poem might rhyme the first and third line one way, and the second and fourth line another way. In this poem, blue rhymes with new (lines one and three) and sun rhymes with outdone. (lines two and four)	A hummingbird necklace of gold and blue, Sparkled beautifully in the sun. No matter if it were old or new, Its beauty could not be outdone!

The theme in a story, movie, or poem is its underlying message, or big idea. It is the critical belief about life that the author is trying to convey. Through themes, a writer tries to give his readers an insight into how the world works or how he or she views human life. Here is an example of theme (from http://literaryterms.net/theme/):

A man, fueled by an urge for power and control due to his own pride, builds a supercomputer. That supercomputer then takes over the world, causing chaos and struggle galore. 

This sci-fi style story contains many common themes. A few of its themes include:

• Danger of excessive pride 
• The risky relationship between humankind and developing technology

Read through the following poem to get the gist of the poem. What is it about? What important message does the author have for the reader? What is the theme?

Before you read, here are a few words to know:

• scorn -  belief that someone is worthless or despicable
• avarice - extreme greed for riches
  
• blights - something that frustrates plans or hopes
• wretchedness - extreme misery

I Dream A World
By Langston Hughes

I dream a world where man
No other man will scorn,
Where love will bless the earth
And peace its paths adorn

I dream a world where all
Will know sweet freedom's way,
Where greed no longer saps the soul
Nor avarice blights our day.

A world I dream where black or white,
Whatever race you be,
Will share the bounties of the earth
And every man is free,

Where wretchedness will hang its head
And joy, like a pearl,
Attends the needs of all mankind-
Of such I dream, my world!

(Source: http://www.learningfromlyrics.org/Langstons.html)

Go to your Learning Guide and complete the First Read response to this poem.

The perspectives of authors is often influenced by family, friends, gender, and life experiences. Messages sometimes reflect the society or culture around them.

Langston Hughes (pictured here) was an American writer who lived from 1902 - 1967. He lived during a time when African American people were striving for equality. Hughes' father was a wealthy man who was half African - half White. Despite African American history of capture from Africa and slavery in America, Langston Hughe's father had strong beliefs and blamed African Americans for their troubles. 

Langston Hughes, the author of I Dream A World, was not pleased with his father's attitude or beliefs of blaming the African American's themselves and wrote this poem to share his dream of a peaceful and just world.

Second Reading: 

Remember, this is a slower read, to try to understand the poem better. Explore the poem again using your reading powers! 

• Make connections. (Think: This poem reminds me of....) If you can connect to what you already know, it will be easier to understand what you are reading.
• Question the text. (Think: I wonder..., What if..., What was the author really trying to say?
• Infer. (Think: Probably, Most likely, It seems as though...)
• Visualize. (Think: What would this look or be like? What does the author want me to picture?)

Annotating the poem can help readers to collect their thoughts, inferences, connections, questions, and ideas. Remember, annotating looks like this (the blue text beside the poem). 

In your Learning Guide, complete the Second Read by annotating the poem, I Dream a World. This means that you can record your connections, questions, inferences, visuals, and even ideas about the poem. Then, complete the Third Read to find the theme.