Starting Out ELA 20
“(I Remember) Back Home”
By Clifton Joseph
CR20.4d
Before Reading:
Discuss: How do societies and various cultures attend to the needs of their children and
youth? How is caring for children and youth honoured? How do societies demonstrate their
attitudes to children and adolescents? How do the treatment and expectations of children and
adolescents vary throughout the world and across cultures?
Dub Poetry: a form of performance poetry. It has its origins in the Caribbean. It has a musical
quality to it, although it does not have background music. The poets usually chant with
dramatic rhythmic accents. Often it has been used as political protest. Clifton Joseph was one of
the founding poets.
1) With a partner(s), read the poem aloud together.
a) Read poem together.
b) Make a list of unfamiliar words /5
c) In one-two sentences, summarize the main idea of each stanza /10
d) Record signs that indicate a change of mood from beginning of the poem until the end
/3
2) From the poem, fill in a table. You need to include twelve for each column. /12
Sources of Happiness
Sources of Oppression
 “joyness of the sun” (2)
 ”sweeping the yard” (33)
 “crickets crackling” (3)
 “carrying water” (34)
Starting Out ELA 20
Poetry Terms to Review:
Poetry Term
Definition and Examples from the Joseph Poem
Stanza:
A group of lines in a poem which forms a metrical/thematic unit.
No example
Meter/Rhythm:
Regular pattern of stressed/unstressed syllables.
No regular metre in this poem.
Alliteration
Repetition of the same initial consonant sounds in words close together.
“sea/sand/sun”
Cacophony
Harsh and unpleasant sounding language, usually emphasizing consonants
such as b, c, d, g, k, p, t.
“crickets crackling”; “donkey trots”
Synaesthesia
A kind of image which mixes the experiences of the physical senses; one type
of image-sensation is referred to in terms more appropriate to another.
“steelband’s bright blue blasts of joy”
A repetition of the same vowel sounds in a series of words close together.
“donkey-trots of thoughts”
“from mother to brother”
Author’s word choices: why does the author choose these words?
“tourism’s boom”
Vivid descriptions which evoke the physical senses, i.e., I see, I hear, I smell, I
taste, I feel (texture, not emotionally)
“crickets crackling”
“fresh-baked spiced buns”
“bloomed bougainvilleas”
“marbles”
Assonance
Diction
Imagery
After Reading:
CC20.3 In groups of four, you will give a choral reading of one or two stanzas of the poem:
Stanza One: George, Syndey, Haley
Stanza Two-Three: Taylor, Kaegan, Miranda
Stanza Four (bottom of column one and top of column two): Mataya, Jordan, Josh
Stanza Five: Emma, Justin, Dylan