INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE
Poetry (I): Family Relationships

 
Li-Young Lee
 Robert Hayden
Theodore Roethke
Walt Whitman
Adrienne Rich

*On-line Journal for Ray's class
*On-line Journal for Kate's class
Li-Young Lee

--biography

"I Ask My Mother to Sing"
            --Leading Questions

--Relevant Web Sites
 


Photograph Paul Elledge
from the city in which i love you
 "I Ask My Mother to Sing"(1986)--Questions for
*Understanding & Analysis *Application & Wild Association
    Understanding & Analysis
  1. This poem presents some family members together, sharing their sense of loss and dislocation from their past.

  2. After looking at the suggested websites below about the poet's family history, discuss how knowledge of Lee's family background makes this poem even more meaningful.  ( Lee's parents left China because of the political turmoil there and then began a life on the run that eventually ended with the family living in the United States.)
  3. In what ways are the speaker of this poem and his family like the picnickers?
  4. Are there any similarities between the speaker's family and the rain-filled waterlilies?
  5. More about literary techniques.
Application & Wild Association
  1. Most families have rituals or stories that they perform together to help them know and remember their past experiences, including experiences that happened even before some of the family members were born. What stories, songs, rituals does your family do to memorialize your past? What is the family in the poem doing to help them remember their past? Why are the mother and grandmother crying?
  2. Can you guess which song the women in the poem sing?  Does it matter if we know it or not?
  3. In both this poem and "Musical Key" by Cowboy Junkies we have (grand)parents "singing," whose significance is understood by their son or daughter(the I-narrator).  Try to analyze the significance of each "singing."
  4. Why do we put popular songs with poetry?  What has poetry to do with "singing"?
    Relevant Web Sites
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Robert Hayden

"Those Winter Sundays"
         --Leading Questions 

Relevant Web Sites


Robert Hayden
rom Introduction to Poetry (Kennedy) p. 349
"Those Winter Sundays" (1962)
*Understanding & Analysis
  1.   Describe the speaker of this poem.  Is he a boy or a man?  Characterize his relationship with his father.
  2. What are "the chronic angers of that house" (line 9)?
  3. Explain what you understand by the last two lines. Why does the speaker repeat "What did I know, what did I know"? What has he learned about love from his father?
  4. Read the poem outloud. What do you notice about the sounds in the poem? How do those sounds relate to the meaning of the poem?

  5. Relevant Web Sites

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Theodore Roethke

"My Papa's Waltz"
(text and brief introd.) 
         --Leading Questions 

Relevant Web Sites
 


Theodore Roethke
from On the Poet and his Craft: Selected Prose of Theodore Roethke

 "My Papa's Waltz"(1948) ----Questions for
 *Understanding & Analysis

  1. Readers of this poem often give one of two very different interpretations of the poem. Explain how you would interpret the poem, focussing especially on the poem's tone.  Please pay attention to the expressions such as "hung on like death," "cling to" as well as descriptions of the father's hand.
  2. Describe the boy's father. How would you characterize the relationship between the boy and his father?
  3. How does the speaker's mother respond to the father and son dancing together? Why do you think the poet uses the word ¡§countenance¡¨ instead of the simpler word ¡§face¡¨? Is this a hint that suggests something about the boy's relationship with his mother?
  4. Would you say that the rhythm suggests lightness?  Does the rhythm parallel or ironically contrast with the episode described?
  5. What would you say is the function of the stresses in ll. 13-14?
  6. More about literary techniques.
Application & Wild Association
  1. "I Ask My Mother to Sing," "Those Winter Sundays" and "My Papa's Waltz" are all about the poet's (grand)parents.  Which do you relate to the most?  How is the poet's family or ethnic background related to his poem?
  2. Do you find the images of the fathers in these poems different from the mothers'?
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Walt Whitman

"I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing" 
         --Leading Questions 

Relevant Web Sites


Whitman (1819-1892) at  the age of 34
from Comprehensive Study Guide p. 9 .
 "I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing" (1867)
  •  *Understanding & Analysis
  • In his poems Whitman often presents a speaker who is reflected or mirrored in another living object. In this poem how does the oak tree mirror the speaker? In what ways is the speaker similar to the tree? How is he different from the oak tree?  How do we find out the symbolic meanings of the oak tree?
    1. What is the main idea that Whitman expresses in this poem?
    2. Why has the speaker in line 6 "broke off a twig with a certain number of leaves upon it, and twined around it a little moss"? How does this relate to the main idea?
    Relevant links:


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    Adrienne Rich


    "Aunt Jeniffer's Tigers"
             --Leading Questions 

    Relevant Web Sites


    Adrienne Rich
    from Introduction to Poetry (Kennedy) p. 402
      "Aunt Jeniffer's Tigers" (1951)
      *Understanding & Analysis *Application & Wild Association
    1. The poem gives clues about Aunt Jennifer's relationship with her husband. Describe their relationship.
    2. The poem also presents the image of Aunt Jennifer as an artist, sewing picture-tapestries. What does she sew on the ¡§screen¡¨?
    3. What are the characteristics of the tigers in the poem? How are they like or unlike her husband? How are they like or unlike Aunt Jennifer?
    4. More about literary techniques.
    Application & Wild Association
    1. What does this poem suggest about the role of women in marriage and in society?  Does sexual inequality still happen to you or to people around you?
    2. Please look at p. 621 of your textbook   Do you mark the poem as you read?
    Relevant Web Sites  back to the top