English 9 / Semester 2 Final Examination Preparation Handout Part I: ​
The Hunger Games Question: How does Suzanne Collins’ use of figurative language/literary devices (e.g. symbolism) effectively develop a major theme of the novel? Part II: ​
Romeo and Juliet Question: How does Shakespeare use figurative language and structure to develop meaning? Excerpt #1: PROLOGUE Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star­cross'd lovers take their life; Whole misadventured piteous overthrows Do with their death bury their parents' strife. The fearful passage of their death­mark'd love, And the continuance of their parents' rage, Which, but their children's end, nought could remove, Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. 1 Excerpt #2: 1.5.104­122 ROMEO If I profane with my unworthiest hand
104 This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss. JULIET Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
108 Which mannerly devotion shows in this; For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss. ROMEO Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
112 JULIET Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer. ROMEO O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do. They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair. JULIET Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.
116 ROMEO Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take. He kisses her. 2 Part III: Poetry Question: How does the poet use poetic devices and structure to communicate theme? Poem #1: Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide or press an ear against its hive. I say drop a mouse into a poem and watch him probe his way out, or walk inside the poem’s room and feel the walls for a light switch. I want them to waterski across the surface of a poem waving at the author’s name on the shore. But all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it. They begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really means. 3 Poem #2: Boys Build Forts by Roger Fanning Petrified teeth from some fierce­osaurus, the rocks my friend Donny and I piled up in the middle of a field to build a fort. The wind through its chinks made a desolate sound I loved. We could have been out on the tundra, bone­tired from tracking musk oxen all day. It thrilled me to crouch in a cow pasture and dream I could live here. I pictured a cook fire, a skillet, two fried eggs agog at my good fortune… Years later, during puberty, I saw Charles Atlas ads in the back of my comic books and thought those muscles would look fine on me. It was the same idea of building a fort, the same ideal of self­sufficiency…. Of course it’s a crock. My parents are gone. They left me a furnished house, everything I pictured for my fort, and more: mildew that wears marching boots, a roof that leaks. I see how things stand. I see how people get sick. Every body that walks this earth and all the ways we try to feel safe: all are bound to fall apart. My sweet father and mother, both dead. That cold creeps in and I feel as though a bear has torn my chest open, and ravaged the frail honeycomb built there by my folks, and left me in a field to fill with snow. 4 Supplemental Handouts: 5 SPEC/SLIMS ­ A Template for Analyzing a Poem Subject­matter What event, situation, or experience does the poem describe or record? Purpose (Theme) Also means theme or message of the poet. What is the poet’s purpose in writing this – what message does he/she want to communicate? Emotion (Mood) What is the predominant emotion/feeling/mood of the poem? Does the mood change during the poem? What emotions or feelings does the poet seek to evoke in the reader? Craftsmanship: Structure: Language: Imagery: Movement: Sounds: Or technique: How does the poet achieve his/her effect? What specific techniques has he or she used in the making of this poem, and what is their effect? How is the poem structured? Does it have a conventional structure such as sonnet, or an ode? Does it have stanzas with a regular number of lines, or any other interesting features of structural design? Is the language appropriate to subject and/or theme? What effect does the language have on the poem’s achievement? Are there any striking examples of similes, metaphors, personifications or symbols in the poem? What is their effect? Or rhythm: Does the poem have a regular (slow or fast) rhythm? What is the effect of any rhythmic qualities? Does the poem have any significant sound features? Is it musical? Does the poet use onomatopoeia, alliteration, or assonance? Does the poem rhyme? 6 What are the effects of these features of sound on the achievement of the poem? Summary What is the impact of the whole poem for you? How successful is it as a work of art? Does it successfully achieve the poet’s purpose? Notes on Poetic Devices (take from packet): 7 8