Before Reading
Analysis of Baseball
Video link at
thinkcentral.com
Poem by May Swenson
Alone in the Nets
Poem by Arnold Adoff
What can
SPORTS teach us?
RL 5 Analyze how a particular
sentence or stanza fits into the
structure of a text. RL 7 Compare
and contrast the experience of
reading a poem to listening to
the text.
Many people consider sports an important part of their life, whether
they play sports or just watch. Athletes enjoy being part of a team
and competing with their peers. Fans enjoy watching games to see
the skill and endurance of the athletes. The following poems present
two views of sports.
LIST IT Think about the sports that are part of your life. With a small
group, pick one sport and come up with a list of what the sport
teaches you about life. Compare your list with the lists of other
groups in the class.
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Meet the Authors
text analysis: the structure of a poem
One of the first things you will notice about poems is that
they are made up of lines. A line of poetry can be a complete
sentence, part of a sentence, or even a single word.
• Short lines might give a poem a fast, choppy rhythm, or
beat. Long lines might give it a smoother, slower rhythm.
• Poets use line breaks, or the places where lines of poetry
end, to add emphasis to certain words or phrases.
• Some poets use other stylistic elements for effect—
unusual punctuation, unusual word breaks, and unusual
spacing.
reading strategy: reading poetry aloud
Usually, poetry is meant to be heard as well as read. Many
poems have rhyming words, or repeated sounds at the ends
of words, that are easier to notice when the poem is read
aloud. The emphasis on certain words or phrases is also
easier to notice when you use the poet’s punctuation and
line breaks to pace your reading and choose your intonation,
or pitch. Poets might also include onomatopoeia, words
that sound like what they mean, such as bang or thump. In
addition to helping you hear sounds, these elements can
emphasize a poem’s meaning.
Read “Analysis of Baseball” and “Alone in the Nets” aloud.
In a chart like the one shown, record places in the poems
where you notice rhyming words or repeated words and
phrases. Also record any onomatopoeia, or “noise” words,
you find.
“Analysis of
Baseball”
Rhyming Words
“Alone in
the Nets”
hits/it/mitt
Repeated Sounds,
Words, and
Phrases
Onomatopoeia
May Swenson
1919–1989
Poet of Daily Life
May Swenson has been praised for
her ability to make readers “see what
they had only glanced at before.”
A native of Utah, Swenson moved to
New York City after college. In New
York, she worked as a secretary and an
editor to make ends meet
while writing poetry. She
won many awards for
her writing, including a
MacArthur Foundation
“genius grant.” Most of
Swenson’s poems focus
on everyday life.
Arnold Adoff
born 1935
Word Musician
At the age of 16, Arnold Adoff took
up two new hobbies: writing poetry
and listening to jazz. The free forms
of jazz influence much of his poetry.
“Writing a poem,” he says, “is making
music with words and space.” Adoff
is known for writing in unusual forms,
arranging his words
in unique ways on
the page, and using
punctuation creatively.
He was married
to writer Virginia
Hamilton before her
death in 2002.
Authors Online
Complete the activities in your Reader/Writer Notebook.
Go to thinkcentral.com. KEYWORD: HML6-585
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ANALYSIS OF
May Swenson
5
10
15
20
25
30
586
It’s about
the ball,
the bat,
and the mitt.
Ball hits
bat, or it
hits mitt.
Bat doesn’t
hit ball, bat
meets it.
Ball bounces
off bat, f lies
air, or thuds
ground (dud)
or it
fits mitt.
Bat waits
for ball
to mate.
Ball hates
to take bat’s
bait. Ball
f lirts, bat’s
late, don’t
keep the date.
Ball goes in
(thwack) to mitt,
and goes out
(thwack) back
to mitt. a
Ball fits
mitt, but
not all
the time.
35 Sometimes
ball gets hit
(pow) when bat
meets it,
and sails
40 to a place
where mitt
has to quit
in disgrace.
That’s about
45 the bases
loaded,
about 40,000
fans exploded.
It’s about
50 the ball,
the bat,
the mitt,
the bases
and the fans. b
55 It’s done
on a diamond,
and for fun.
It’s about
home, and it’s
60 about run.
a
READING POETRY
ALOUD
What noise words, or
onomatopoeia, are used
in the poem so far? Find
at least five rhymes.
Find at least five lines
in the poem that use
alliteration.
b
STRUCTURE
What is the effect of all
these short lines?
unit 5: the language of poetry
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Alone
in the Nets
Arnold Adoff
I
am
alone
of course,
in the nets, on this cold and raining afternoon, c
5
and our best defending fullback1
is lying on the wet ground out of position.
Half the opposition is pounding
down the field,
and their lead forward 2 is gliding
10
so fast, she can just barely keep
the ball in front of her sliding
foot. d
3
Her cleats are expensive,
and her hair bounces
15
neatly
like the after
girls
in the shampoo commercials.
There is a big grin
on her face.
20
c
STRUCTURE
Reread lines 1–4. Why
do you think the poet
chose to place the first
two words of the poem
on their own lines?
d
READING POETRY
ALOUD
What words or phrases
would you emphasize if
you were to read lines
1–12 aloud? Explain.
Now: In This Frozen Moment On This Moving World Through Space
is the right time to ask
why am I here just standing
in my frozen place?
Why did I get up on time this morning?
Why did I get up at all?
25 Why did I listen to the coach and agree to play
this strange position in a r e a l game
in a strange town on this wet and moving world?
1. defending fullback: In soccer, this refers to a player whose position is near the defensive goal
or goal line.
2. lead forward: the primary, or main, player on the offensive line in the game of soccer.
3. cleats: shoes with pieces of metal or hard rubber sticking out from the soles.
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unit 5: the language of poetry
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30
Why is it raining?
Why is it raining so h a r d ?
Where
are all of our defenders?
Why do all of our players
do all of the falling
down?
Why am I here?
35
But Frozen Moments Can Unfreeze
and reach for the ball
e
e
STRUCTURE
Reread lines 28–35. How
does the arrangement
of the words and
letters help convey the
meaning in these lines?
And I Can Stretch
f lying to the corner of
our
goal.
40
45
I can reach
and jump
and d ive
into the s p a c e
between my out
stretched
hands
and the outside poles
of the nets.
My fears evaporate
50
55
like my sweat in this chilling
breeze,
and I can move with this moving world
and pace my steps
like that old
movie
high
noon sheriff in his just
right
time.
f
60
That grinning forward gets her shot away too soon,
and I am there, on my own time, in the air,
to meet the ball,
and fall on it
for the save.
I wave my happy ending wave and get up.
The game goes on. f
READING POETRY
ALOUD
What words are
repeated in this poem?
Find at least three
places in the poem
where words or lines
are spaced to enforce
meaning. How would
you read the poem
aloud?
alone in the nets
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Reading for Information
MAGAZINE ARTICLE The poems “Analysis of Baseball” and “Alone in the Nets”
give you a sense of two different sports. In the following article, you will read
about the challenges and benefits of becoming a professional athlete.
TEEN ATHLETES:
Many Kids Dream of Playing in the
Big Leagues. But at What Cost?
Victor Landauro
Becoming a famous athlete may look
easy, but it’s not. Just ask an Olympic
gold medalist or a pro soccer player.
They will tell you that playing sports well
means hard work and discipline.
“I’ve made a lot of sacrifices,”
gymnast Carly Patterson told Junior
Scholastic.
The 16-year-old won Olympic gold in
the all-around competition, her sport’s
premier event. Despite achieving
Olympic glory, Carly is actually jealous
of her 14-year-old sister’s “regular”
life. “[Jordan] goes to public school,
has sleepovers with friends, and eats
junk food,” says Carly. “I can’t do that
because I need to rest and eat healthy.”
Freddy Adu, who plays forward for the
D.C. United soccer team, knows firsthand
what Carly is talking about. “I love
playing, but I work very hard at soccer,”
the 15-year-old told JS. “I hear fans cheer
for me, and it definitely makes me train
harder.”. . .
Not Fun Anymore
Almost everyone agrees that athletics are
good for most kids. Several studies
590
show that playing sports can lead to
better physical and emotional health.
Through athletics, children learn
important lessons in sportsmanship,
discipline, teamwork, and leadership.
But critics worry that those benefits
are getting lost in the chase to become
the next star. Too many kids are either
pushing—or being pushed by coaches
and parents—to reach the top of their
sport.
“Many kids who quit sports typically
say, ‘It’s not fun anymore,’ ” says Avery
Faigenbaum, a professor of exercise
science and physical education at the
College of New Jersey. “They would
rather play on a losing team than sit on
the bench of a winning team.”. . .
Life Beyond Sports
Upon retirement, many professional
athletes seek new challenges. There is
even a Baseball Hall of Famer on Capitol
Hill: Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning.
Other athletes have become judges,
lawyers, business leaders, and teachers.
“It’s important to have multiple
dreams,” says Jay Coakley, a sociologist
who studies sports. “Dream of a life that
is outside of sports, too.”
That advice weighs heavily on Carly
Patterson. “I want to go to college, and
maybe become a singer,” she says. “I’m
going to keep on working and see what
happens.”
unit #:
5: the
unitlanguage
title
of poetry
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After Reading
Comprehension
1. Clarify According to lines 49–60 of “Analysis of Baseball,” what is
baseball about?
2. Clarify What happens to the forward’s shot at the end of “Alone in the
Nets”?
RL 5 Analyze how a particular
sentence or stanza fits into the
structure of a text. RL 7 Compare
and contrast the experience of
reading a poem to listening to
the text.
Text Analysis
3. Make Inferences Could these poems be about more than baseball and
soccer? Support your interpretations with evidence from the texts.
4. Evaluate Structure In a
chart like the one shown,
record places in “Alone
at the Nets” where the
poet arranges letters
and words in unusual
ways. How do these
arrangements contribute
to the meaning of the
poem?
Word, Phrase,
or Line
Shape
Effect of the
Shape
a r e a l
game
stretched out,
made to be long
makes me read
the line more
slowly and put
emphasis on real
5. Read Poetry Aloud Look at the chart you completed as you read aloud
to find places where you noticed sound effects in these poems, including
rhyming words, repeated words and phrases, and onomatopoeia. How do
the sound effects connect with the action in the poems?
Extension and Challenge
6. Creative Project: Writing Rewrite “Alone at the Nets” as an article for your
school newspaper. You may want to review the magazine article on page
590 to see an example of sports writing. Be sure to include team names,
player names, the date of the game, and the final score.
What can SPORTS teach us?
According to these poems, what can sports teach us about life? Do you
share these feelings?
analysis of baseball / alone in the nets
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