Jackie Kay National 5 Poetry Jackie Kay Fact

Jackie Kay National 5 Poetry Jackie Kay

Fact Finding Mission: About the Poet Before we dive into the poems, it is important to understand the poet and her life. Working in groups you will read about Jackie Kay and participate in a quiz to test your knowledge. 1. As a group read the information. 2. Decide on what you think is important and write this down in your jotters. 3. As a group learn the information as best you can. (divide it, quiz each other etc. ) 4. I will collect your information sheets when the buzzer goes off.

The Quiz Working as a group, try to answer the questions correctly. Write your answers down to be peer marked.

Quiz 1. In what location and year was Jackie Kay born? (2) 2. What were the nationalities and occupations of her parents? (4) 3. What challenge did she face during her childhood? (1) 4. What caused her to search for her birth mother? (1) 5. ‘All writers draw on their own ______ and a lot of my ______ has been heightened' Fill in the blanks. (2) 6. What career did she first pursue? (1) 7. What made her change her mind? (2) 8. What country does Kay claim inspired her poetry? In what ways? (3) 9. Name at least one prize that Kay was awarded for her writing. (1) 10. Name at least one other voice that Kay has used in her poetry (1) 11. What has influenced her poetry? (1) Final question: Name as many themes in Kay’s work as possible. (4)

Marking Trade your answers with another group. 1. Edinburgh; 1961. (2) 2. Mother – Scottish, nurse; Father – Nigerian, student. (4) 3. Racial bullying. (1) 4. The birth of her own son. (1) 5. Experience. (2) 6. Acting. (1) 7. Car accident; recognition by Alasdair Gray. (2) 8. Scotland; language and speech rhythms. (3) 9. Any of: Saltire First Book Award, Somerset Maugham Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize. (1 + extra if they have more than one correct) 10. Any of: mother, daughter, old woman, lover or child. (1 + extra) 11. Her awareness of her complex genetic inheritance (coming from a mix of backgrounds). (1) Final question: Racism, family relationships, misogyny, homophobia and human love. (possible 5 points) Give them a final mark out of 24.

What’s in a name? In pairs discuss the following questions: What do the names of the six poems we will study suggest to you? What do you think the poems will be about? What themes might they explore? Keeping Orchids Divorce Bed Gap Year Lucozade My Grandmother’s Houses

Learning Intentions 1. Read and understand the main ideas of the poem ‘Divorce’. 2. Learn how to annotate the poem with analysis of poetic techniques. 3. Explore and analyse the poetic voice used.

‘Divorce’ Pre-reading: What does the title of the poem suggest that the subject matter of the poem will be about? What are your associations with the term ‘divorce’? Write down at least 5 words that come to mind. Divorce Reader associates with a marriage breaking apart /parents splitting up

1 st Stanza married couple – supports expectations I did not promise Looking at the first till 5 lines only discuss make to stay with you death do usand part, ornotes with the person next to you: anything like that, do you and think isquickly. talking? There are things so 1. part. Who I must, I cannot 2. Howsuffer do they talk? (language, register, tone etc. ) any longer: high, formal language – gives impression that an adult is speaking

1 st Stanza role reversal; something parents might complain about any longer: Mother, you never, ever said a kind word or a. After thank-you all the tedious chores I have done; reading for the rest of the stanza…. Father, you breath Discuss: is actually Whatthe evidence have – for smells like a. Who camel’s andtalking? gives me hump; do youpun play on this? all you ever say is: words ‘Are you off in the cream puff, Lady Muck? ’ haughty or In this day and age? pretentious woman. I would be better off in an orphanage. Suggests the a parent speaker is being OTT; theatrical. ‘Teenager’ talk might say to dramatic a child – Pun: a joke exploiting the different possible meanings of grown up a word or the fact that there are words which sound alike language but have different meanings.

2 nd Stanza In pairs or groups of 3, you will be a given line(s) of the stanza. Write down your line in your jotter and annotate around it following my example. Look for word choice, tone, sentence structure etc. Think about why certain words may have been used and what it says about the speaker. Be prepared to share your notes with the class on the board so that we can finish annotating the poem.

Enjambment: the continuation of a sentence without a Enjambment pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza. In French, the word means ‘straddling, ’ which is a perfect way to envision an enjambed line. When you read an enjambed line, the sense of it encourages you to keep reading on to the next line, without stopping for a breather. 1. Look at the first stanza. Where do you see enjambment in use? 2. Read the stanza out loud to the person next to you. 3. What might the use of the run on lines show about the way the speaker feels?

Dramatic Monologue https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=0 KFVL WX 7 e. EY Watch the following clip. Dramatic Monologue: also known as a persona poem. Shares many with a theatrical The poem and the video arecharacteristics about very different subjects, but they monologue: an audience is implied; there is no use a similar technique. dialogue; and the poet speaks through an assumed voice—a character, fictional identity, a persona What things do they have ina common? (thinkorabout presentation rather than content) What effect does the clip have on the audience? How is this different than the poem?

Create a mind map that shows who the speaker is, what they are like and what they think, feel and desire. Have at least 2 for each category. Find and record quotes to back up your ideas. Who they are (age, gender, occupation) The speaker in ‘Divorce’ What they think What they are like (personality, voice) • Dramatic: ‘all you ever say is: / ‘Are you off in the cream puff, Lady Muck? ’’ What they feel What they desire Now decide: Do you feel sympathy for the speaker?

Theme: Parent and Child Relationship Working in pairs, answer these questions: 1. Do you think the speaker actually has a reason to complain. Why or why not? 2. What do you think the relationship is really like between the parents and the speaker in this poem? What clues tell you this? 3. What message do you think the poem has about families and the relationship between parents and children?

‘Divorce’ Finally, think back over what we have looked at in the poem and on your post-it note write down one thing that you think is important. This might be a theme, a technique used, an important word or phrase or anything that might be important when revising the poem. We’ll look back at these when we revise the poem later in the year.

Review Questions Answer the questions about the poem on a separate sheet of paper. You can use bullet points or a paragraph structure, but write in full sentences. Due: 1. Who is the narrator? (2 marks) 2. What tone does the poem have? (2 marks) 3. Summarise the ways in which the speaker’s parents are an irritation to her. (4 marks) 4. How is imagery used to create an idea of the perfect parents in lines 1624? (4 marks) 5. How does the language in lines 24 -28 show the speaker’s anger? (4 marks)