Because I could not stop for Death

1. Because I could not stop for Death By Emily Dickinson Literary Skills Focus: Irony

2. Standards • Reading 2.4 Make reasonable assertions about the author’s arguments by using elements of the text to defend and clarify interpretations. • Reading 3.3 Analyze the ways in which irony, tone and mood achieve specific rhetorical (concerned with effect or style) or aesthetic (relating to pure beauty) purposes or both. • Reading 3.4 Analyze ways in which poets use imagery, personification, figures of speech, and sounds to evoke (bring out) readers’ emotions.

3. Objectives • Students will work on warm-up taking notes and practicing pronoun/antecedent agreement. • Students will understand irony by taking notes. • Students will show comprehension by completing sentence frames. • Students will use “Think Pair Share” to formulate a response to the question “What is happening in this poem?” • Students will demonstrate understanding of the poem by completing a thinking map which requires them to summarize stanzas.

4. Pre-reading • What stories do you know in which death comes to take a soul or person? • What are some emotions and adjectives associated with death?

5. Vocabulary • Immortality (n) • Use context clues to guess at the meaning: Because his image would live on in his films, the movie star is assured immortality after his death. • Unending life • Civility (n) • Use context clues to guess at the meaning: He showed civility when he opened the door for his friends. • Courtesy; politeness • Surmised (v) • Use context clues to guess at the meaning: After seeing how much it was raining, Joel surmised that his friends would not want to go for a bike ride. • To infer or guess

6. Academic Vocabulary • Irony – Using words to say something different from (and sometimes opposite of) their actual meaning. • Tone– A particular style of writing that conveys emotions to the reader • Summary –a brief restating of facts • Personification– a literary technique that gives human characteristics to nonhuman things

7. Literary Skills Focus: Irony Questions or Phrases Notes • What is irony? • What are the three types of irony? • Irony = contrast between appearance and reality • Three kinds • Verbal: saying one thing and meaning another • Situational: when what happens is the opposite of what was expected • Dramatic: when the reader knows more than the characters in the story

8. Irony in “Because I could not stop for Death” Question or Phrase Notes • How is irony used in the poem? • What is the tone of the poem? • What kind of irony is used in the poem? • Poem contrasts the serious subject of death with a light-hearted tone (attitude) • Death = a typical carriage ride through eternity • Situational Irony

9. As we read… • As we read pay close attention to details that differ from your expectations and create an ironic twist. Complete the following sentence frames after reading each stanza. • In the first ___ the carriage ___. • In the ___ stanza it ___. • It ___ in the ___ ___ and ___ things. • In the fourth ___ the ___ passed the ___. This implies that the day is ___. Continued on next slide.

10. As we read… • In the ___ ___, the phrase “Since then—’tis Centuries” tells the ___ that hundreds of ___ have ___. • On the next slide work with your partner to summarize (1-2 sentences) each stanza of the poem.

11. Summarizing Chart Stanza What happens? • Stanza 1 • Stanza 2 • Death stops for the speaker, who gets in the coach.

12. What is happening in the poem? • Read the poem again silently and think about the question. • Work with your partner to listen, discuss, and formulate a shared response to the question. • Share responses with the class.

13. Check for Understanding • Does life always turn out the way you expect? What are some ironic situations you have encountered that would make an interesting story or poem? • Work with your group to answer the questions. Choose your best example and share your experiences with irony with the class.