Tasks: Flood as Redemption. by Clare Shaw
In the tasks below you are asked to read the poem "Flood as Redemption". by Clare Shaw several times in order to get a fuller understanding of the text.
- Read the poem.
- Write down your impression of what the poem is about.
- Read through the poem again, stopping after each stanza, and write down one or more keywords about what you think each stanza is about.
- Read the poem aloud with a partner.
- Share your notes: Do you have the same impression of the poem? If there are differences in your understanding of the poem find out why.
Discuss the following questions with one or more partners.
- The poem "Flood as Redemption". by Clare Shaw uses a full stop in the title. Why do you think the poet has chosen to use a full stop? What is achieved by using a full stop in the title?
- Look at the way full stop and capital letters are used throughout the poem: Is there anything unusual about it?
In this task you are going to rearrange the lines in the poem in order to get an impression of how structure affects our appreciation and understanding of poetry. Work with one or more partners.
- Rearrange the lines in the poem so that one full sentence with a full stop at the end makes one stanza.
- Once the poem has been restructured, read it aloud.
- Discuss if restructuring the poem made it harder or easier to read.
- Discuss if restructuring the lines affected the rhythm of the poem.
- Discuss if rearranging the lines affected the meaning of the poem.
- Did you prefer one version over the other? Give reasons for your answer.
In the box below you will find a definition of the literary device enjambment. Study the definition carefully, ask the teacher if you don't fully understand it, or look it up on the internet.
- Once you understand what enjambment is, study the poem "Flood as Redemption". to find examples of it.
- Write a text where you explain how enjambment is used in the poem, and discuss what using this literary device achieves.
Enjambment:
Enjambment is a literary device where a line of poetry runs across a line break or across stanzas. Allowing a thought to run across several lines makes a poem seem more like a prose text, and creates more complexity in the narrative of a poem.
Below you see a painting called A Flood by the Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais. The painting is from 1870. Study the painting and answer the questions.
- What do you think this work of art tries to say about what a flood is like?
- The poem and the painting each tries to tell us something about floods: Are there any similarities between what the painting expresses and what the poem expresses?
- What can works of art like a poem or a painting tell us about dramatic events that we don't get from a news broadcast or a photograph?
