Poetry Notes (Pages 570-575)

Poetry Collection 3: Name: ______Hour: ______“Life”, “Loo-Wit”, and “The Courage That My Mother Had”

1. BEFORE READING: Fill in the blanks below and explain WHY you made that comparison.

a. Life can be like a/an p. 600-608 ______because______.

b. A volcano can be like a/an ______because______.

c. Courage can be like a/an ______because______.

2. Read “Life” by Naomi Long Madgett (p.604)

3. AFTER READING “LIFE”: Poets use figurative language when they write poetry. The four most commonly used types are simile, metaphor, personification, and symbol (review page 574 OR your poetry notes if you don’t remember what those are).

In “Life”, the poet uses a ______to describe life when she compares life to a ______(but doesn’t use the words “like” or “as”).

4. Read “Loo-Wit” by Wendy Rose (p.606-607)

5. Reread lines 1-8 of “Loo-Wit”. How does the old woman’s “black tobacco” spitting connect to something with a volcano? ______.

6. Personification is when an inanimate object is given human characteristics. In “Loo-Wit”, the volcano is being personified as an ______.

7. CIRCLE at least five examples of personification that show the volcano acting as a person.

8. Read “The Courage That My Mother Had” by Edna St. Vincent Millay (p.608)

9. Summarize the last stanza (lines 9-12) in your own words.

10. CIRCLE the SIMILE that the poet used in the last stanza. AFTER READING: Answer the Critical Thinking questions from page 608, plus the Vocabulary and Word Study questions (p.609). Use the space below or a separate sheet of paper for this.