Task

Tasks: The Art of Teaching II by Hannah Lowe

A young boy is sitting by a school desk, looking frustrated and bored. There are two other students in the background, working. Photo. — Image: Peopleimages / CC BY-NC 4.0

Talk:

Have you ever experienced a situation like the one described in the poem?
What do you think is needed in order to create a good learning environment?
In your opinion, how can a teacher best inspire students to learn?
How can students help teachers become inspiring teachers?

Literary devices:

Hannah Lowe cleverly uses several literary devices to describe the mood and the message of the poem.

Definition of four literary devices

Metaphor:

A metaphor is a statement where two objects, often unrelated, are compared to each other.

Example:
- Love is a battlefield.
- Her tears were a river flowing down her cheeks.

Simile:

Like metaphors, two unrelated objects are being compared to each other, but the comparison relies on the words 'like' or 'as'.

Example:
- Life is like a box of chocolates.
- My mother is as busy as a bee.

Personification:

Personification is giving human attributes to non-human objects.

Example:
- I like onions, but onions don't like me.
- My alarm yelled at me this morning.

Imagery:

This is the use of figurative language to evoke a sensory experience or create images in the mind of the reader. Imagery can appeal to all five senses - sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell.

Example:
- The tree bark was rough against her skin.
- Glittering white, the blanket of snow covered everything in sight.

Start by reading the definitions of the four different literary devices.
Try to identify these literary devices in the poem.
As an experiment, rephrase the poem. Remove all literary devices that you can find and write it in plain English. For example, instead of 'Boredom hangs like a low cloud in the classroom', you could write 'The class is boring'.
When you have finished, read the poem aloud to a partner.
What is the effect of the literary devices used in the poem?

A modern sonnet:

Sonnets are often linked to William Shakespeare and the poetry of the Renaissance. However, many poets still write sonnets - Hannah Lowe being one of them.

'The Art of Teaching II' is a modern sonnet. Lowe uses the basic structure of the sonnet, but she breaks with many of the rules that normally define this type of poem.

First, read the definition of a traditional sonnet and the description of different forms of sonnets. Then go through the poem again and answer the questions in the box.

What is a sonnet?

The sonnet is one of the oldest, strictest, and most enduring poetic forms we have. It arrives from the Italian word 'sonetto', meaning little song and dates back to the thirteenth century and the Italian court. The form was enthusiastically adopted and embraced by the English during the Elizabethan period, and many of the most famous sonnets we have today were written by Shakespeare during this period. The most popular aim of the sonnet was to praise someone or something beloved.

We usually distinguish between the Petrarchan sonnet (Italian) and the Shakespearean sonnet (English). The basic requirements of a traditional sonnet are the following:

fourteen lines
rhyme scheme:
Petrarchan: ABBA ABBA CDECDE or ABBA ABBA CDCDCD
Shakespearean: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
rhythm: iambic pentameter was especially favoured by Shakespeare.
iambic = an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
pentameter = five iambic feet in a row (penta = five)
This rhythm feels much like a heartbeat:
da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM.

The sonnet consists of two parts: usually a problem or a question is presented in the first part (a ‘proposition’), while in the second part we are given a new perspective or an answer to the question (a ‘resolution’). The two parts are divided by a volta, or a turn. In the Italian sonnets, the turn occurs between the eighth and ninth line, and in the English sonnet between the twelfth and thirteenth line.

Tasks:

How does 'The Art of Teaching II' compare to the traditional sonnet? What are the similarities and differences?

How may lines does 'The Art of Teaching II' have?
Does 'The Art of Teaching II' use iambic pentameter? How would you describe its rhythm?
Does the poem have a particular rhyme scheme?
The original sonnet consists of two parts: first a presentation of a problem or a question, then a solution. With this in mind, how is this sonnet different from the original sonnets?
Most sonnets were written to praise someone or something you loved. Do you find any traces of praise in this poem?

Write:

Step 1:

Think of a specific situation you have been in where strong feelings were involved: perhaps you were ecstatic, inspired, or extremely joyful - or maybe the feelings were negative and you were frustrated, livid, and teeming with anger. Try to conjure the feelings you had at that time.

Write a short personal text (200-250 words) where you describe this situation using literary devices to help express the very strong feelings you had at the time. You have already seen examples of metaphors, similes, personifications, and imagery in the poem, but you could also expand your use of literary devices. Use the list provided in: NDLA resource 'Common Poetic Devices'

If you can't think of a specific situation, you could always draw inspiration from the poem and write about the least - or most - inspiring class you've ever had.

Step 2:

Try to scale down your text and turn it into a sonnet.
Your sonnet should have 14 lines and a turn (a volta) at the end. As 'The Art of Teaching II' has shown you, rhyme and rhythm can be fairly flexible.