An+Introduction+to+this+Anthology

TEP424 - ENGLISH IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS II: Assignment 3
= **Kelly Heaton: 30257581** =

=__Technology and Poetry Anthology: Introduction and Rationale__=

The title of this anthology is "Twisted Poetry" and the poems have been selected based on the common theme of //The Darker Side of Humanity//. The title has a dual meaning in that many of these poems contain a "twist" in the narrative or perhaps relate details from or of a twisted perspective and in some cases both. Each of the included poems presents the reader with some of the starker realities of the human condition, such as madness, murder, revenge, execution and the dreadful consequences of human folly or bad behaviour. However although the content of the poems is confronting, the poems themselves are all stylistically theatrical and use heavy-handed imagery which should be accessible to lesser-able high school students of English (even if some scaffolding is required to compensate for differences in cultural background). Furthermore, the poems hold a certain macabre fascination for many people and have achieved a measure of popularity over the years and are the source of many expressions used in everyday language. For instance; "The time has come the walrus said" from //The Walrus and the Carpenter,// "Women and elephants never forget" from //Ballade of Unfortunate Mammals// and "Quoth the raven, "Nevermore" from //The Raven.//

The target audience for the anthology is a Stage 6: Preliminary Standard English class of lower ability; specifically Year 11 students who struggle to identify and describe the more basic poetic techniques and hence poorly articulate how the use of language in various forms and contexts shapes meaning. In an effort to address this issue, the anthology includes a variety of closed forms which use imagery and techniques that can be identified and dissected readily. It is also expected that these students find the study of poetry onerous and disengaging and so the poems that have been chosen each reflect on a reasonably accessible theme, on a literal level at least, that can be used to springboard into more inferential and applied questioning. Also the macabre nature of the poems is a hook to engage the interest of these otherwise disengaged students in an effort to show them that poetry can be dark and irreverent and like prose, can tell a coherent and gripping story.

The poems have been presented on the wiki in a manner that allows students to engage in the three aspects of responding to poetry as defined by the Board of Studies (2007) in the Stage 6 Syllabus;

“** Responding **is the activity that occurs when students read, listen to, or view texts.”

Along with the text of each poem are included visual stimuli which relate in some way to the main theme or content of the poem and a recording of a reading of the poem. The recording will help students to hear the lyrical and metrical qualities of the poem which might be missed on a silent reading and they will also help students learn the correct pronunciation of unfamiliar words. Finally, each poem page has a series of discussion questions or background information that relates to the poem, which would form the basis of ongoing dialogue between the teacher and the class and provide an avenue for further clarification on unfamiliar themes, cultural references and words.