Grade 11 Poetry Booklet Assignment:
Your booklet is to include your four best poems written during this unit of study. Three of these must be the poems we have "workshopped" in class, modelled from what I am calling the "Mentor" poems. These are as follows:
I.
SEEN FROM ABOVE
—Wislawa Szymborska
On a dirt road lies a dead beetle.
Three little pairs of legs carefully folded on his belly.
Instead of death's chaos—neatness and order.
The horror of this sight is mitigated,
the range strictly local, from witchgrass to spearmint.
Sadness is not contagious.
The sky is blue.
For our peace of mind, their death seemingly shallower,
animals do not pass away, but simply die,
losing—we wish to believe—less of awareness and the world,
leaving—it seems to us—a stage less tragic.
Their humble little souls do not haunt our dreams,
they keep their distance,
know their place.
So here lies the dead beetle on the road,
glistens unlamented when the sun hits.
A glance at him is as good as a thought:
he looks as though nothing important had befallen him.
What's important is valid supposedly for us.
For just our life, for just our death,
a death that enjoys an extorted primacy.
Consider Szymborska's use of imagery and view of the mundane to present a deep or perhaps even sacred message. What is her commentary or insight about the human experience? Choose a simple or everyday observation and reflect on it with poetic language. Using imagery, sound and perhaps contrast or paradox, present your readers with a way of seeing that makes them ponder.
I.
Seen From Above — by Wislawa Szymborska
SEEN FROM ABOVE
—Wislawa Szymborska
On a dirt road lies a dead beetle.
Three little pairs of legs carefully folded on his belly.
Instead of death's chaos—neatness and order.
The horror of this sight is mitigated,
the range strictly local, from witchgrass to spearmint.
Sadness is not contagious.
The sky is blue.
For our peace of mind, their death seemingly shallower,
animals do not pass away, but simply die,
losing—we wish to believe—less of awareness and the world,
leaving—it seems to us—a stage less tragic.
Their humble little souls do not haunt our dreams,
they keep their distance,
know their place.
So here lies the dead beetle on the road,
glistens unlamented when the sun hits.
A glance at him is as good as a thought:
he looks as though nothing important had befallen him.
What's important is valid supposedly for us.
For just our life, for just our death,
a death that enjoys an extorted primacy.
Consider Szymborska's use of imagery and view of the mundane to present a deep or perhaps even sacred message. What is her commentary or insight about the human experience? Choose a simple or everyday observation and reflect on it with poetic language. Using imagery, sound and perhaps contrast or paradox, present your readers with a way of seeing that makes them ponder.
Comments
Jelena and Allegra