Student #
Poetry Recitation Template
Mother to son
by Langston Hughes
Well, son, I’ll tell you:
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
5And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor –
Bare.
But all the time
I’se been a-climbin’ on
10and reachin’ landin’s,
And turnin’ corners,
and sometimes goin’ in the dark
Where there ain’t been no light.
So boy, don’t you turn back.
15Don’t you turn back.
Don’t you set down on the steps
‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.
Don’t you fall now –
For I’se still goin’, honey,
20I’se still climbin’,
and life for me ain’t been no crystal stair
March 9, 2016
Student #
Poetry Recitation Template
Poem Title
by Poet Name
5
10
15
15
Well, son, I’ll tell you:
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor –
Bare.
But all the time
I’se been a-climbin’ on
and reachin’ landin’s,
And turnin’ corners,
and sometimes goin’ in the dark
Where there ain’t been no light.
So boy, don’t you turn back.
Don’t you turn back.
Don’t you set down on the steps
‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.
Don’t you fall now –
For I’se still goin’, honey,
I’se still climbin’,
and life for me ain’t been no crystal stair
March 9, 2016
Imagery
Metaphor
Symbol
Dialect
20
Paragraph Title
In “Mother to Son,” by Langston Hughes, the speaker is a mother talking or writing to her son. Throughout
the poem the mother describes how her life has been. Apparently, the mother had a hard life as she
describes her life as something far from a, “crystal stair.” She uses imagery to show how painful was her life.
On her way in the stare there were “splinters” and “tacks” wounding her feet and showing who hard she
tried. The speaker is telling her son that she has done a lot to get to this point in her life. She is trying to
make it clear that, “[sitting] down on the steps,” or turning back is a great mistake. She shows her
sun that life is not a place to stop working or procrastinating. Instead you should be always
moving because life is not a crystal stair.
Student #
Poetry Recitation Template
Siren Song
by Margaret Atwood
This is the one song everyone
would like to learn: the song
that is irresistable:
the song that forces men
to leap overboard in squadrons
even though they see the beached skulls
the song nobody knows
because anyone who has heard it
is dead, and the others can't remember
Shall I tell you the secret
and if I do, will you get me
out of this bird suit?
I don't enjoy it here
squatting on this island
looking picturesque and mythical
with these two feathery maniacs,
I don't enjoy singing
this trio, fatal and valuable.
I will tell the secret to you,
to you, only to you.
Come closer. This song
is a cry for help: Help me!
Only you, only you can,
you are unique
At last. Alas
it is a boring song
but it works every time.
March 9, 2016
Student #
Poetry Recitation Template
Siren Song
by Margaret Atwood
5
10
15
20
25
This is the one song everyone
would like to learn: the song
that is irresistible:
the song that forces men
to leap overboard in squadrons
even though they see the beached skulls
the song nobody knows
because anyone who has heard it
is dead, and the others can't remember
Shall I tell you the secret
and if I do, will you get me
out of this bird suit?
I don't enjoy it here
squatting on this island
looking picturesque and mythical
with these two feathery maniacs,
I don't enjoy singing
this trio, fatal and valuable.
I will tell the secret to you,
to you, only to you.
Come closer. This song
is a cry for help: Help me!
Only you, only you can,
you are unique
March 9, 2016
Hyperbole
Allusion
Alliteration
Metaphor
Imagery
At last. Alas
it is a boring song
but it works every time.
The Frog and the Scorpion
Aesop's ancient fable of "The Frog and the Scorpion" cleverly details that sometimes it is difficult for a
creature to resist its own innate nature. In the lyric poem, "Siren Song, that also containts elements of a
narrative, Margaret Atwood shows the depth that can be found when a mythical creature and its natural
abilities are viewed from a modern perspective. Atwood's use of allusion, through taking the first person
perspective of one of Ulysses' Sirens, reminds the listener/reader that these women from mythology and
fables were created by the male writers of those eras and are therefore enslaved by their nature and not by
their gender: whether they be gorgon, harpy, siren, sorceress, or shrew. Atwood, through alliteration,
allusion, imagery, and apostrophe, creates pathos for the Siren who is enslaved by her nature (just as the
fabled scorpion) and vilified as a result of her creator's own mysogyny. As the mythical Siren sings “the
song / that is irresistible” to men we are reminded of Homer’s ancient Greek myth Ullyses (2-3) These
birdlike creatures lured men to their deaths on the rocks as their “boring song…works every time” (26-27).
Atwood furthers this magical call of the siren by alluding to soldiers an invasion; even though the men can
“see the beached skulls,” they still jump to their deaths (6). By using these mythical and historical
references, the woman of the poem is given a deep pathos; she cannot resist her own abilities and nature
and is just as doomed as those she lures to their deaths, and just as much as the frog who was killed by the
scorpion.
Student #
Poetry Recitation Template
Sonnet 116
by William Shakespeare
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
March 9, 2016
Student #
Poetry Recitation Template
Sonnet 116
by William Shakespeare
5
10
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved
March 9, 2016
Paradox & Antithesis
Metaphor
Personification
Imagery
Alliteration
Hyperbole
Paradox
Love Knows No End
If one can fall in love, then is it possible for one to fall out of love? According to William Shakespeare's
immortal lyric "Sonnet 116," often better known by its opening line "Let Me Not to the Marriage of True
Minds," such an occurrence would only indicate that one was never in love at all. Shakespeare notes
through his continued use of the contradiction of paradox and antithesis that love does not change simply
because a person changes, but instead is "an ever-fixed mark" that will not be shaken by the storms that
can occur in life (2-3, 5). His clever metaphorical conceit is love can guide one to happiness just as the stars
in the sky can be used to guide lost ships,(7). However, Shakespeare is clear to note that falling out of love
simply because beauty has faded over time and "rosy lips and cheeks" have lost their blush, clearly
indicates love was never there at all; merely infatuation or, more likely, lust. Only true love is eternal, yet in
Shakespeare's whimsical and paradoxical style, he dares anyone to prove him otherwise: if such is the case
then he will have "never writ, nor no man ever loved" ; as any fool will ironically realize, Shakespeare
certainly wrote, and no one could truly deny that genuine love knows no end (14). Perhaps, if everyone
treated love with this level of reverence and respect, then there would probably be fewer marriages, yet
certainly fewer divorces as well.