Collections: Icarus’s Flight
Page 39
BY STEPHEN DOBYNS
Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem
 Learning Objective: The student will
understand how the elements of form and the
use of alliteration emphasize ideas and meaning
in a poem.
Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem
Academic Vocabulary- breaking the objective apart
1. Form:
2. Alliteration:
Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem
Academic Vocabulary
 Form: the way words are arranged on a page
 Alliteration: the repetition of consonant
sounds at the beginning of words.
Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem
1.
Identify: Look closely at how certain
sentences of the poem extend from one stanza
into the next one. What effect is created by
extending a sentence into the next stanza?
Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem
Answer
 1. It pulls the reader along, connecting the
stanzas and giving the poem an almost vertical
motion downward. This seems to suggest the
downward decent of Icarus’s flight.
Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem
 2. Analyze: Examine the question in lines 3-5.
Based on what you know about the Icarus myth,
where is the “exact point where freedom
stopped”? How would you answer this
question?
Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem
Answer
2. The exact point where freedom stopped in the
moment in which Icarus’s wings failed, and he
was about to begin his descent.
Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem
3. Analyze: Look at the third stanza and identify
the alliterative words. What idea does this
alliteration emphasize or draw attention to?
Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem
Answer
3. Flew and flutter are alliterative; the poet chose
those words to emphasize the contrast between
strong and weak flight.
Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem
 4. Interpret What does the poet mean by the
two sentences in lines 10 and 11?
Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem
Answer 4
The poet means that Icarus succeeded because by
flying to that point, he learned what freedom was.
He achieved “precisely” the “wisdom” of
understanding both freedom and mortality at the
same time.
Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem
 5. Analyze Find the sentence that begins within
line 18 and read it aloud. What examples of
alliteration do you see? Why do you think the
poet uses alliteration here?
Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem
Answer
5. Alliterative words: him, he, had, his
The poet uses there words to emphasize the idea
that Icarus has finally attained what he wanted.
Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem
 6. Compare: Consider what you already knew
about the mythological character, Icarus, before
reading this poem. How does this poem cause
your perception of Icarus to change? Explain.
Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem
Ready, Set Respond…..
Collections: Icarus’s Flight Poem
Mrs. Whiddon’s Answer
6. My perception of Icarus changed from thinking
of him as a young boy in the myth who forgot to
heed his father’s warning and loses his life to
someone who became fully aware of his actions
and in failure actually gained wisdom and
freedom. Icarus embraced his freedom as he took
“his downward plunge.”