Exploring «Frog Prince» by Stevie Smith

Class objectives:

Explore a contemporary British poem taking a multidisciplinary approach

Answer (maybe) the question “Who Am I?” Share methods and techniques of teaching Encourage lively discussions and future

collaboration ???

Identity - is whatever makes an entity definable and recognizable

“Who am I?”

Identity

Ethnic

regional

national

cultural

Gender

personal online

social

Do you believe your eyes?

Do you see black dots? Do they exist in reality?

What does it mean? (for our life)…for poetry?

“Frog prince”

Remind the original story (2 min) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcgubqHwBwE

Brainstorm your ideas about the content of the poem. What is it about? (2 min)

Frog prince

Let’s read it now! Were your predictions right? (Question: what is the frog waiting for?)

I am a frog

I live under a spell

I live at the bottom

Of a green well

And here I must wait

Until a maiden places me

On her royal pillow

And kisses me

In her father’s palace

The story is familiar

Everybody knows it well

But do other enchanted people feel as nervous

As I do? The stories do not tell,

Ask if they will be happierWhen the changes comeAs already they are fairly happyIn a frog’s doom?

I have been a frog nowFor a hundred yearsAnd in all this timeI have not shed many tears,

I am happy, I like the life,Can swim for many a mile(When I have hopped to the river)And am for ever agile.

And the quietness,Yes, I like to be quietI am habituatedTo a quiet life,

But always when I think these thoughtsAs I sit in my wellAnother thought comes to me and says:It is part of the spell

To be happyTo work up contentmentTo make much of being a frogTo fear disenchantment

Says, It will be heavenlyTo be set free,Cries Heavenly the girl who disenchantsAnd the royal times, heavenly,And I think it will be.

Come then, royal girl and royal times,Come quickly,I can be happy until you comeBut I cannot be heavenly,Only disenchanted peopleCan be heavenly.

That’s how Stevie reads it herself…Let’s listen?

http://www.poetryarchive.org/poem/frog-prince

How are your readings different?

Poetic “likbez”

???dictionconnotationspeaker nursery rhymepoint of view

Comprehension check and summarizing a poem major ideas

What is the frog in the poem waiting for?

Summarize the major idea of each stanza in the chart: (in pairs)

“The Frog Prince”

Lines Major idea

1-9 Speaker identifies himself as prince- turned-frog who is waiting for princess to kiss him and break spell.

10-29  

30-42  

43-48  

Question time

Understanding the author

Read the biography of Stevie Smith and say what personal facts from her biography find their reflection in the poem.

Understanding the historical background

World War II

Fascism

Change of the monarch

New developments

Disappointment

Rebellion

Women’s rights

Who is the speaker of the poem?

What kind of speaker is that?

What does he feel?

How is he different from the original story frog?

What’s the relation between the author and the speaker?

What identity shows here?

What factors influence the content and the ideas of the poem?

Exploring the language of the poem

What is the diction like?

What connotations do words …. bear?

What is the rhythm like?

Exploring the ideas of the poem Basing upon the speaker’s and the author’s identities

and the background biographical, social, historical, cultural info, think of the ideas expressed in the poem and discuss the message of the story in your group and how it is revealed in the language of the poem.

message

family

women

death

Stevie Smith

A Russian who was born in a Russian city (Moscow?) and lived there all her/his life

A Buryat who was born and raised in Tunka (or other rural settlement of Buryatia)

Yourself as you are