Lesson 7 and 8 and 9
(darn 2-hour delays)
OB JECTIVE: Students will determine
common themes in assigned epitaphs.
Today’s Agenda – Lesson 7
1. Collect “We Real Cool” poems
2. SAT – Critical Reading practice test
3. “The Hill”
1. Read and annotate the poem
2. Complete questions
DUE NEXT CLASS
Today’s Agenda – Lesson 8
• Check and discuss “The Hill”
– Refrain
– Tone
• Epitaph
– Defined
– Assign individual epitaphs
“The Hill”
• What is the meaning of the poem?
– No matter what success or failure one experiences
during his lifetime, he will be equal to all in death.
• What is the evidence?
– “the boozer” is buried next to the “Major”
“The Hill”
WHERE are Elmer, Herman, Bert, Tom and Charley,
The weak of will, the strong of arm, the clown, the boozer,
the fighter?
All, all are sleeping on the hill.
One passed in a fever,
One was burned in a mine,
One was killed in a brawl,
One died in a jail,
One fell from a bridge toiling for children and wifeAll, all are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on the hill.
Who are these people?
Ordinary men
Where are Ella, Kate, Mag, Lizzie and Edith,
The tender heart, the simple soul, the loud, the proud, the
happy one?—
All, all are sleeping on the hill.
One died in shameful child-birth,
One of a thwarted love,
One at the hands of a brute in a brothel,
One of a broken pride, in the search for heart’s desire;
One after life in far-away London and Paris
Was brought to her little space by Ella and Kate and Mag—
All, all are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on the hill.
Who are these people?
Unhappiness and discontent
Why NOT love????
Where are Uncle Isaac and Aunt Emily,
And old Towny Kincaid and Sevigne Houghton,
And Major Walker who had talked
With venerable men of the revolution?—
All, all are sleeping on the hill.
They brought them dead sons from the war,
And daughters whom life had crushed,
And their children fatherless, crying—
All, all are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on the hill.
Where is Old Fiddler Jones
Who played with life all his ninety years,
Braving the sleet with bared breast,
Drinking, rioting, thinking neither of wife nor kin,
Nor gold, nor love, nor heaven?
Lo! he babbles of the fish-frys of long ago,
Of the horse-races of long ago at Clary’s Grove,
Of what Abe Lincoln said
One time at Springfield.
What is an epitaph?
Epitaph
Definition of EPITAPH
1: an inscription on or at a tomb or a
grave in memory of the one buried
there
2: a brief statement commemorating
or epitomizing a deceased person or
something past
Here are examples of some
famous epitaphs
LOOKING INTO THE PORTALS OF ETERNITY
TEACHES THAT
THE BROTHERHOOD OF MAN IS INSPIRED BY
GOD'S WORD;
THEN ALL PREJUDICE OF RACE VANISHES
AWAY.
- George Washington
THE BEST IS
YET TO
COME.
- Frank Sinatra
THAT’S ALL FOLKS
- Mel Blanc
(creator of
“Looney Toons”)
FREE AT LAST,
FREE AT LAST,
THANK GOD
ALMIGHTY, I’M
FREE AT LAST!
- Martin Luther
King, Jr.
MOTHER OF
THE CIVIL
RIGHTS
MOVEMENT
- Rosa Parks
EXCUSE MY DUST
- Dorothy Parker
(my favorite poet)
Now, here are some
unusual/funny/silly
epitaphs…
"I told you I was sick!"
In a Georgia cemetery
He called
Bill Smith
A Liar
- Cripple Creek, CO
Here lies the body
of Jonathan Blake
Stepped on the gas
Instead of the brake.
-Uniontown, Pennsylvania cemetery
Gone Underground For Good
- On a Coal-miner
Jedediah Goodwin
Auctioneer
Born 1828
Going!
Going!!
Gone!!!
1876
Today’s Agenda – Lesson 9
• Check homework
– Did you annotate your assigned epitaph?
• Work with groups to come up with common
themes.
• Write your own epitaphs
Spoon River Anthology
• Spoon River is a book of
epitaphs by Edgar Lee
Masters.
• Characters speak from
the grave
• Captured the essence of
people’s personal lives in
rural Illinois
• Dramatic monologue
– speaker addresses a silent
listener
“Amanda Barker”
Henry got me with child,
Knowing that I could not bring forth life
Without losing my own.
In my youth therefore I entered the portals of dust.
Traveler, it is believed in the village where I lived
That Henry loved me with a husband's love
But I proclaim from the dust
That he slew me to gratify his hatred.
Assignment
1. Take turns. Share your epitaphs with your
groups.
1. While one student is presenting, the rest of you
should be taking notes on your own packets.
2. Discuss literary devices used by Masters in
his epitaphs.
Write Your Own
• Things to Consider
– Name (This would be the Title.)
– Cause of Death (Usually, Masters makes his
readers INFER cause of death. You should to.)
– Notable characteristics or habits
– People left behind