Page 40 - SpringBoard_CloseReading_Workshop_Grade7_Flipbook

Synthesizing your Understanding
Now that you have read the poem three times and studied its vocabulary and sentences, synthesize your understanding by responding to the following questions as a way of bringing all your knowledge together.
1. Shift: It is rare that a poem begins and ends with the same emotion or idea. When reading poetry, watch for the following markers that may indicate a shift: • key transitional words, such as but, yet, or however
• punctuation that indicates a change, such as dashes, periods, colons, or ellipses • stanza divisions
• differences in line and/or stanza length
• changes in the subject, emotion, or setting of the poem
What shift(s) can you identify in this poem? Record each line number at which you believe a shift occurs, and describe what kind of shift is occurring.
2. Attitude/Tone: An author’s attitude in a piece of literature is expressed through its tone. The tone conveys the emotion that a speaker or writer wants to communicate about a subject. It is common for works of literature, including poetry, to involve more than one attitude and/or tone.
What attitudes can you identify in this poem? What evidence helps you identify these attitudes?
3. Theme: A theme in any work of literature can be described as an idea, message, or perspective on the topic that the speaker or writer wants to communicate
to the audience. What possible themes can you identify in this poem? What evidence helps you identify these themes?
Writing Prompt: Based on your current understanding of the poem, explain how Emily Dickinson uses extended metaphor to convey a theme. Be sure to:
• Identify a theme in the poem.
• Provide textual evidence regarding the poet’s use of extended metaphor.
• Include commentary explaining how the details in the poem support the theme.
Close Reading Workshop 3 • Close Reading of Poetry 39
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