Classroom Activities
Activity #1: The concept of double-voicing; Maya Angelou's introduction to Shakespeare; the sonnet form.
The teacher will distribute copies of Lucy Terry's "Bars Fight" (available online) to the students with no introductory material. The students will be asked to read the poem and answer specific questions about the time, place, events, speaker and audience, perhaps on a teacher-made handout. They will share these observations first in pairs, then with the whole class. The teacher will then provide some historical material about Lucy Terry and the poem (as a handout, a power point, or a web search). Some questions that follow this may include: "How many of you thought Terry was black? A woman?" "Does anything about this poem surprise you now that you know the identity of the poet?" "Does this knowledge change anything about the meaning of the poem?" The students will be asked to re-read the poem, this time taking into consideration what they know about the author and the historical time and place of the poem. When they read it a second time, they are to look for any sort of "hidden message" they can find in the poem. They can enter this information in their notebooks or on the handout and then share it with a partner.
The partnered students will share their observations with the class, and the teacher or a designated student will chart a list of the "hidden messages" they found in the poem. After all of the students have shared, they will discuss the nature of these messages and what they are intended to do. The teacher may facilitate this discussion by asking questions such as: "What are the most effective lines in the poem?" "What is the cumulative effect of these lines?" "What other group of people have been attacked, killed, and kidnapped?" The students should see the parallels between what happened to the colonists at the hands of the Native Americans and what happened to the Africans at the hands of the slave traders. Then, the teachers will ask students to step back and think about the simple question, "Why?" Why did Terry write this poem, which had no hope of every being published? What was she doing writing something that was so very sympathetic to her captors? Students may want to discuss this in small groups of 3-5, or they may continue to do so in pairs. After a few minutes, the groups will share their ideas. At this point, the teacher can introduce the idea of "signifyin'."
The teacher would be advised to summarize the ideas presented by Henry Louis Gates in his book The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism. [Gates' preferred spelling of the term is "signifyin(g)." Other critical sources simply use the apostrophe to denote the missing "g".] Ideally, a handout could be made that includes Gates main ideas and Abrahams' list of elements that make up "signifyin(g"): 1) It is a black term and a black rhetorical device, 2) It can mean "the ability to talk with great innuendo," 3) It can mean "to carp, cajole, needle, and li,." 4) It can mean "the propensity to talk around a subject, never quite coming to the point. 5) It can mean "making fun of a person or situation," 6) It can "also denote speaking with the hands and eyes," 7) It is "the language of trickery, that set of words achieving Hamlet's 'direction through indirection,'" and 8) The Monkey "is a 'signifier,' and the Lion [the monkey's usual victim] is "signified upon" (Gates, 1988, and Abrahams, 1970). Combined, these elements form a lens for reading African American literature that opens the door to new meanings and a greater appreciation of the writers' craft
A few questions the teachers can ask for comprehension are: "How does the dictionary define the word 'signify'?" "How does this contrast to Gates' and Abrahams' definition?" "What are some reasons that African American slaves would resort to signifyin(g)?" "Can you think of other things you have read that use puns and word play to create several levels of meaning?" "How many of the elements in Abrahams' list have you encountered already in your study of poetry?" "How may the 'signifyin(g) lens' change the way you read African American writing?" Through class discussion, the students should infer that it is important to pay attention to the denotations and connotations of words, and that they should not assume that they have interpreted the author's entire message after only one reading. They should realize that, for many African American writers, particularly the early ones, voicing opposition or rebellion meant certain punishment, even death, unless it was stated in such a way that only other African Americans could understand it. Finally, they should conclude that "signifyin(g)" is not just a lens or a technique; it is a way of thinking on several levels at a time.
For the second part of this lesson, the teacher should ask students who is familiar with the work of Maya Angelou. Many of them will be familiar with her memoirs as well as her poetry. Students will be asked to recall the time Angelou was mute as the result of trauma. If necessary, the teacher can read or have a student read a longer excerpt from Chapter 15, the one in which Maya rediscovers her voice with the help of Ms. Bertha Flowers (Angelou, 1983). An important passage to quote is:
During those years in Stamps, I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare. He was my first white love. . . .it was Shakespeare who said, "When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes." It was a state of mind with which I found myself most familiar. I pacified myself about his whiteness by saying that after all he had been dead so long it couldn't matter to anyone any more. (Angelou, 1969)
In groups of three to five, students should read the quotation aloud and place it in the context of Angelou's autobiography. Then they should read the Sonnet 29 aloud, at least twice, looking up words they don't know and discussing what they think it means. The teacher can call on students from each group to contribute to a class "paraphrase" of the poem, clarifying misunderstood vocabulary or syntax as needed.
Once the students have a sound sense of the sonnet's meaning, they can answer the following three questions: 1.) What about this sonnet do you think appealed to young Maya? 2.) What "modern" ideas can you find in this sonnet? 3.) In later years, Maya Angelou was quoted as saying, "Shakespeare was a black woman;" explain what she means. Have the students share their answers with each other in small groups. Their responses will vary, and the teacher should encourage students to explore as many angles to the questions as possible. A short formative assessment would be to have each student select two lines from the sonnet that stood out to him or her and write a one-paragraph response explaining why. For additional material, the teacher may want to refer to Beth Dewhurst's lesson entitled "Shakespeare was a Black Woman," available at the Folger Shakespeare Library website (see Bibliography).
Following a class discussion or formative assessment, the teacher will ask students to list the kinds of patterns they found in the sonnet. These patterns should include rhyme scheme, rhythm, and the point at which the speaker's attitude shifts (the volta). There are many materials available that provide the literary elements of the sonnet. One of them is Michael J. Cummings' "Shakespearean Sonnet Guide," part of a series of free study guides available online, and Nelson Miller's "Basic Sonnet Forms" on his web page Sonnet Central (see Bibliography). Most literature books have a section describing the sonnet as well. Students should have a sufficient understanding of the sonnet form to be able to detect when the rhyme scheme, the type of rhyme (i.e., slant), the rhythm, and the volta are being manipulated for the purpose of signifyin(g).
Activity #2: The African American soldier during the Civil War; Natasha Trethewey's sonnet cycle, "Native Guard;" a comparison of historical perspectives
To prepare students for reading this series of sonnets, it will be necessary for them to do some historical research. This may be done in the literature class, or it may be done collaboratively with an American History or an African American History class. Suggested web sites for this research are listed after the works cited. In addition, students should research the following topics: parishes in Louisiana, Louisiana Native Guards, Ship Island (Mississippi), Fort Massachusetts, the East Pascagoula Raid, General Nathaniel P. Banks, Major Francis E. Dumas, the Battle of Fort Pillow, the Corps d'Afrique and the Battle of Port Hudson.
Students should be divided into groups of three to five, and given one of the web sites and one of the individual topics to research. This should take approximately two days. Then, each group will present its findings to the class by creating posters or using power point. Once every group has shared their information, they will respond to the following prompt in writing: "What information would you still like to know about African American soldiers who fought during the Civil War?" These responses can be collected for a formative assessment, and then combined to form a list of pressing questions. Some of these questions may have to do with how the soldiers felt themselves. If not, the teacher can give students a homework assignment asking each to imagine himself as one of the Black Soldiers. What would it feel like? What sorts of problems would he face? What would it be like to come face to face with a white Confederate soldier? Students can respond by either writing a short descriptive essay or a "letter home."
The next day, students will read "Native Guard" all the way through as a class. The teacher may read the poems or students may take turns reading them. After a first read, the teacher can check for understanding by asking students which research topics they heard mentioned in the sonnets. After the students have shared their responses, the teacher will divide the 10 sonnets among the students, making sure each poem has at least two students working on it. Each group of students will read the poem aloud again, and study it for the following: 1) historical information, 2) speaker, 3) basic meaning of the poem, 4) words with double meanings, 5) use of irony, 6) what the poem adds to the history they have studied for this unit, and 7) specific examples of signifyin(g) in the sonnet. These and other questions can be made into a group handout; each group should make a poster listing their responses to their assigned sonnet.
Following the order of the sequence, each group will present their assigned sonnet to the class, explaining the things they discovered. First, one student will re-read the sonnet to the class and then the group will share their findings. After each presentation, there should be time provided for students in other groups to ask questions or share additional observations. The posters should be hung so that students can study them in the proper sequence.
If students have difficulty identifying signifyin(g), a quick review of the basic elements of the sonnet should help to get them started. Trethewey's rhythm and rhyme are quite different from the traditional form. The volta is not traditionally placed. Yet, some elements are retained: there are 14 lines, and most lines have 10 syllables, although they are not iambic pentameter. The tradition of the sonnet as a political instrument is alive and well in this sequence. In addition, studying words with alternate meanings can lead to discovering alternate messages within the poem.
As an example, a study of the first sonnet, "November 1862", is provided below. This is by no means a comprehensive treatment of the poem; it is designed to show some possible approaches to analysis, discussion, and understanding.
1) Ascension Parish is located just outside of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is set alongside the Mississippi River.
2) The speaker is thirty-three years old, and was born in the fall. He has been whipped because there are scars on his back. He now knows how to read and write, and is setting down a record to preserve the "truth."
3) The speaker wants to remember his former life, which he describes in terms of powerful, though painful, natural images. He is confused at his conflicting thoughts: "want" of freedom could be either the desire for freedom or the lack thereof. He is an adult, newly literate, and hopes that language can place memory in a solid container, a book. He sees memory as being "flawed" and "changeful," giving as an example the way a master easily forgets the pain of the lash, but the slave remembers it all too well.
4) As previously mentioned, "want," has several meanings. Other words that play with meaning are "bondage" (bonded to the land, bonded by the land), "remembrance" (a memory, being remembered by someone, a ritual observing someone who has died), "recollection" (which depends entirely on who is doing the recollecting), "inscribed" (written on paper, or, in this case, "written" in scars left by whips on a slave's back), "closed book" (something which can contain the truth or exclude the truth).
5) "Truth be told" is ironic in that is can be used as a casual phrase meaning "I'm going to tell you something you should know," or it can be a command to tell the truth. It is the phrase that opens and closes the sonnet sequence. The speaker wishes to remember parts of his former life, even though he was a slave. This memory is painful, but his roots run deep into the land of his birth. He was born at harvest time — a specific time as well as a time to gather what has been produced during the year. Slaves, too, were seen as a product; they were bred like livestock. The speaker's birth was an addition to his parents' family as well as a potential valuable addition to the master's work force. The poem ends with an ironic reflection that "records" go into closed books and thus remain stable, while memory shifts with time, and events themselves are remembered differently by those who experienced them.
6) This poem gives the historical African American soldiers some complexity; perhaps they were not unequivocally "happy" to fight for the north. Many issues remained, including what exactly the status of a freed slave would be. A question this could raise is whether or not any writings by these soldiers ever made their way into history books. Another question could be how accurate history itself is since, most of the time, one group's perspective is given priority over another's. As Winston Churchill said, "History is written by the victors."
7) On one level, signifyin(g) is done with the form of the sonnet. There are fourteen lines, each with ten syllables. Other than that, the rhyme, rhythm, and placement of the volta follow patterns completely different from the traditional sonnet. Trethewey creates her own music with words, using assonance and consonance with words like "dirge" and "churns," and "churns" and "choked." She uses enjambment to emphasize irony and meaning, as when she ends one line "that dulls the lash" and begins the next "for the master." The other level of signifyin(g) has to do with meaning. The poem constantly plays against expectations. The slave-now-soldier does not want to forget the past, even though it would seem logical to do so. The landscape's "song of bondage" is the community of slaves working the fields. The river's "dirge" is the sad lament of those sold "down the river," to the most difficult field work and almost certain early death. The trees are "choked" with vines aswere the slaves who were hanged for their transgressions. Even now, the speaker speaks of "want" of freedom – does he mean the desire or the lack? He may not be sure – the next sonnet goes on to describe the similarity of being a soldier to being a slave. He winds up speaking of memory and its mutable, elusive nature. He carries one "story" on his back, told in scars, while he sets down in ink another "record." Yet, will this written record suffice? The story of the lash becomes dull for the master, while, for the slave, it remains sharp (both clear and painful). Whose "truth" is to be told? The Signifying Monkey might reply, "Neither," or "Both."
After the students have shared and discussed each sonnet in the sequence, the teacher will ask students to think back to the questions they had after researching the history of African American Civil War soldiers. Some questions the teacher may use include: "What additional information did you get when reading Trethewey's sonnet cycle?" "What insights did you gain into how the African American Civil War soldiers may have felt?" "What are the strengths of presenting this information using poetry?" "Is a poetic interpretation of history 'valid' in terms of presenting the facts?" "Can you think of any other stories in history that have probably gone 'untold'?" "What other (political) purpose can poetic interpretation of history have?" "Is there a particular audience Trethewey may have had in mind when writing this sonnet cycle?" "Does the concept of 'signifyin(g)' bring a different perspective to our understanding of history and its limitations?" These questions could be divided among small groups or discussed with the class as a whole.
For their culminating assignment, students will write a paper comparing their historical research to Trethewey's poetic interpretation of history. They will have available their charts from their research as well as the charts from each of the sonnets. They should be given the opportunity to get out of their desks and consult with these charts when necessary. The prompt itself may ask the student to focus on one sonnet or on the entire cycle. The teacher will need to determine what scope would enable the students to produce the best work. This paper can be a comparison essay, an analytical essay, or a persuasive essay. Emphasis should be placed on a close reading of Trethewey's poems, the appropriate use of quotations from the poems, and an accurate understanding of the historical context of the poems.
Activity #3: Researching the story of Emmet Till; Marilyn Nelson's A Wreath for Emmet Till; writing sonnets to interpret history
Marilyn Nelson's book of sonnets, A Wreath for Emmet Till, is a teacher's dream. It provides an author's introduction, historical material about Emmet Till, notes on each of the sonnets, a note by the illustrator, and recommended books and web site. The approach to teaching this "crown" of sonnets (which refers to a series of fifteen sonnets, the last one being made up of the first lines of the previous fourteen) is similar to the one used for Natasha Trethewey's "Native Guard." It is simpler, though, since the thrust of this activity is to encourage groups of students to write a short series of original sonnets about historical events they will select themselves.
The PBS American Experience website listed in the back of Nelson's book provides background information, timelines, links, and primary sources. One day spent in a library computer lab should be sufficient to gather enough information about Emmett Till, since there is so much material available online. After their research, students can discuss what they learned in small groups, and then share with the whole class. Some may find the images of the open casket difficult; the teacher may need to lead a discussion about Mamie Till Mobley's reasons for doing this. Also, emphasis should be placed on the timing of Till's murder and its importance to the Civil Rights Movement. If the teacher chooses, she can show the PBS film, which is available on DVD.
The importance of Emmett Till to the Civil Rights movement provides a perfect segue to reading the sonnets themselves. Students today would not necessarily be aware of how important the event was, since it occurred in 1955, before many of their parents were born. Nelson's purpose is to help ensure that people do not forget Emmett Till. In her introduction, Nelson talks about the Italian, or Petrarchan sonnet, but in the first line of the first sonnet, she invokes Shakespeare by quoting, "Rosemary for remembrance." Her sonnets, while appearing to be closer to traditional form, are actually quite innovative. Nelson sometimes uses slant rhyme, and uses typographical techniques such as italics and different fonts for emphasis and expression. The illustrations provide a terrific visual counterpoint to the sonnets. Students should be encouraged to read the illustrations as carefully as they do the sonnets. Philippe Lardy provides his rationale and a key to some of his images in his short essay in the back. The teacher may choose, however, to allow students to discover common images and patterns for themselves.
The teacher or student volunteers should read the sonnets aloud all the way through. One way to keep students engaged during this first reading is to have them keep track of the different perspectives presented in the series. These include the lynching tree, Till's mother, sometimes "I," sometimes "we." Once the sonnets have been read aloud completely, students can form larger groups of four to six and re-read the poems aloud. They can discuss what the addition of other perspectives does to the story of Till, and make a list of their observations to share with the class.
The class discussion will begin with shared observations, and may be directed further by questions such as: "What is the purpose of having, for instance, a tree as a speaker?" "Who is the speaker who goes by 'I'?" "Who is the 'we'?" "How do multiple perspectives affect a story?" "Which sonnet in this series comes closest to the way you feel about Emmett Till?" The teacher can also present students with a series of questions similar to those provided earlier to analyze Trethewey's sonnets. For formative assessment, the teacher may have the students write their responses to these questions in their journals or on a paper to be turned in for credit.
For homework, students are to research one or two historical events that could provide inspiration for a short series of sonnets. They may consult with their parents about this. The next day, they will share these events and make a class list. Some "popular" selections are likely to be September 11 or the election of President Obama. Have all students share their findings and discuss which ones would merit poetic treatment. The goal is to find enough events to distribute among the class, assigning four to five students to each event. The students can be assigned to selected events by drawing index cards with the topics listed on them. Students with the same topic will form a group that will create a series of three to four related sonnets about that topic, and a visual representation of the major images and themes found in those sonnets. Each group will determine how the work is to be accomplished. Students may work together or individually on the sonnets, and may assign one person to illustrate their work or have all contribute to the illustration. Jobs may be divided into categories such as: proofreader, researcher, poetic consultant, artist, etc. Students in each group will share the same grade, so everyone is a stakeholder in making sure the project is well executed. Logistically, the teacher can allot a portion of the class period over several days (up to a week) for students to meet as a group. They can work on their individual parts of the project at home.
The visual component of the piece can take many forms. Some students may want to create a collage, while others may choose to draw or paint their illustrations. They may create a digital piece on the computer, take a series of photographs, make a book, sew a quilt. If this part of the assignment seems to be intimidating, direct the students back to Nelson's book. Lardy's illustrations are quite simple; students could choose to simply use markers, tissue overlays, or even pencil drawings. The art work will draw its images from the poems, and will serve to visually highlight the ideas presented in the poems. Students should also be reminded that their selection of type fonts and effects could enhance their work.
Material for the sonnet format is, as noted earlier, available both online and in various literature and poetry textbooks. A quick review of the difference between the Shakespearean sonnet and the Petrarchan sonnet would be useful at this point; some groups might find the concluding couplet in the Shakespearean sonnet a useful tool, while others might prefer the eight-and-six structure of the Petrarchan sonnet. Rhyme, too, is a useful tool, and students should be reminded of the possibilities inherent in slant rhyme. Students may follow Nelson's lead by including references other historical events, to other poems, people, mythological references, popular songs, etc. Most of the emphasis should be placed on a) the event the students wish to preserve in poetry, b) the images used to deepen the meaning of this event, c) verbal "links," such as repeated lines, between the sonnets, and d) what their poetry will "add" to the understanding of this event. The teacher will monitor each group daily, making suggestions when necessary. The sonnets should be proof-read by the teacher before they are finalized.
Presenting the sonnets with their illustrations to the class should be treated as an event. It could range from an in-class activity followed by cake and ice cream to an evening presentation that parents could attend. The projects should be displayed somewhere that students in other classes can see them as well.
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