ADVANCED ENGLISH 3-4
Ms. LeCren, La Jolla High School Name:________________________________________
Period:____ Date:______________________________
Writing Assignment: Found Poem Project for Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Directions: In order to explore the existence of one of the nine themes we have been tracking in European
and African literature, you will write a found poem with an explanatory paragraph. Follow these directions:
p Title
First, create a title for your poem that reflects what you have observed about one of the nine themes. Which
of the nine themes from our thematic investigation would you like to explore and display for others?
Remember that a theme is not a topic. We may have called one of the themes: Parental Advice. But the
real theme is a "bumper sticker" statement about that thematic topic. Your title must include a phrase that
describes the theme, not just a word to indicate which of the nine themes you picked.
Example: When I explore the idea of parental advice in Things Fall Apart, I may come up with the idea that
relationships between fathers and sons are cyclical. In other words, what goes around, comes around--as in
Unoka is lazy and passive, so Okonkwo reacts to that by being organized and prosperous; yet Okonkwo is
violent and controlling, and Nwoye reacts to that by being sensitive and giving up his culture for Christianity.
Thus my theme might be: Parental advice is sometimes a learned behavior passed from father to son who
end up doing the opposite of what the previous generation "taught" them to do by example. Once I figure out
what my theme is, I need to create a title that will reflect that theme. For instance, my title might be: Shown
Not Spoken: Advice from Father to Son.
p Content
Poems don't have to rhyme. But this poem has to use lines from Things Fall Apart and from "The Second
Coming." The definition of a found poem is that it uses "found" text. Arrange the phrases in a meaningful
order. Your arrangement should help the reader understand your theme. And, just for fun, try using at least
one Ibo word in your poem. There may be a dictionary of Ibo words in the back of your novel. You may use
some of your own words and phrases too. You have permission to adjust verb tenses (the novel is written in
past tense; the poem in present tense.) The meaning of your found poem should reflect the thematic aspect
of the novel that your title represents. The lines that you take from the novel should be followed by page
numbers (parenthetical references). The lines taken from the poem should also have a parenthetical reference
(Yeats).
Checklist: p
includes phrases from the novel
p
includes phrases from the poem by Yeats
p
includes at least one Ibo word (from the Glossary on pp. 172-173)
p
the "found" text is cited; the Ibo word is italicized
p Format of the Poem
The poem must be typed, or artistically presented
(suitable for posting on the bulletin board.) Try to
keep the poem to one side of one page.
p Format of the Explanatory Paragraph
On a separate page, using full MLA format, type
a paragraph that explains how your poem reveals,
illustrates, provides examples, etc. of one of the
nine themes that we have been exploring. Include
how significant a role this theme played in the novel
(major or minor).
Scoring Rubric: (10 points)
Found Poem and Explanatory Paragraph
❐ title reflects a theme in the novel
❐ uses lines from the novel in the poem
❐ uses lines from "The Second Coming"
❐ uses at least one Ibo word (in italics)
❐ follows the directions exactly
❐ is creatively and insightfully written
❐ includes an explanatory paragraph (separately)
❐ MLA format is used correctly
Shown Not Spoken: Advice from Father to Son
Unoka
Quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow (4)
Loved the good fare and the good fellowship (4)
Turning and turning (Yeats)
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity (Yeats)
His son watches and learns
What lesson does he teach?
efulefu
Okonkwo
A young man whose father had no yams (20)
At a very early age
Fending for his father's house (20)
Okonkwo's prosperity was visible in his household (13)
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun (Yeats)
Vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle (Yeats)
His son watches and learns
What lesson does he teach?
inyanga
Nwoye
He watched and learned his father
Always wondered (31)
His father wanted him to be a man (46)
Burst into tears (49)
Something had given way inside him
It descended on him again, this feeling, when his father walked in,
that night after killing Ikemefuna (53)
Surely some revelation is at hand (Yeats)
The Second Coming is at hand...a vast image (Yeats)
What lesson did he learn?
osu
Fathers and sons
what widening rough beast[s] (Yeats)
umunna
by Carole LeCren
This is an example
of a found poem
that includes:
a title that states
the theme,
lines from the
novel,
lines from the
poem "The Second
Coming,"
Ibo word(s),
citations for the
"found" text, and
a byline.
This is an example
of an explanatory
paragraph that
explains the found
poem's approach
to presenting the
theme.
Carole LeCren
Ms. Teacher's Last Name
Advanced English 3-4
21 April 2016
The Theme of Parental Advice in Things Fall Apart
In my poem "Shown not Spoken: Advice from Father to Son," the theme
of parental advice is explored as it is presented by the characters in Things Fall
Apart. The relationships between fathers and sons are cyclical. In other words,
what goes around, comes around--as in Unoka is lazy and passive, so Okonkwo
reacts to that by being organized and prosperous; yet Okonkwo is violent and
controlling, and Nwoye reacts to that by being sensitive and giving up his culture
for Christianity. The theme may be summed up as: Parental advice is sometimes a
learned behavior passed from father to son who end up doing the opposite of what
the previous generation "taught" them to do by example.