Exploring Poetic Analysis Using the S.P.I.T.S. System

2. An Army of Seagulls attacking. Warriors of the sea. Taking what they want. Pillaging the beach like... pirates.

3. We introduced the S.P.I.T.S. system. We used the system on two poems in class, and one for homework.

4.  We’re going to reinforce what you should be underlining and go over how you can discuss those lines at length.  We’re going to develop the T. of S.P.I.T.S. and examine some poetical techniques.  Then we’re going back to the papers (2008) to use S.P.I.T.S. again  on a more happy poem.

5.  Go back over the poem, what you wrote for homework.

6. Yesterday I knew no lullaby But you have taught me overnight to order This song, which takes from your final cry Its tune, from your unreasoned end its reason; Its rhythm from the discord of your murder, Its motive from the fact you cannot listen. We who should have known how to instruct With rhymes for your waking, rhythms for your sleep Names for the animals you took to bed, Tales to distract, legends to protect, Later an idiom for you to keep And living, learn, must learn from you, dead. To make our broken images rebuild Themselves around your limbs, your broken Image, find for your sake whose life our idle Talk has cost, a new language. Child Of our time, our times have robbed your cradle. Sleep in a world your final sleep has woken.

7. Yesterday I knew no lullaby But you have taught me overnight to order This song, which takes from your final cry Its tune, from your unreasoned end its reason; Its rhythm from the discord of your murder, Its motive from the fact you cannot listen. We who should have known how to instruct With rhymes for your waking, rhythms for your sleep Names for the animals you took to bed, Tales to distract, legends to protect, Later an idiom for you to keep And living, learn, must learn from you, dead. To make our broken images rebuild Themselves around your limbs, your broken Image, find for your sake whose life our idle Talk has cost, a new language. Child Of our time, our times have robbed your cradle. Sleep in a world your final sleep has woken.

8. Yesterday I knew no lullaby But you have taught me overnight to order This song, which takes from your final cry Its tune, from your unreasoned end its reason; Its rhythm from the discord of your murder, Its motive from the fact you cannot listen. We who should have known how to instruct With rhymes for your waking, rhythms for your sleep Names for the animals you took to bed, Tales to distract, legends to protect, Later an idiom for you to keep And living, learn, must learn from you, dead. To make our broken images rebuild Themselves around your limbs, your broken Image, find for your sake whose life our idle Talk has cost, a new language. Child Of our time, our times have robbed your cradle. Sleep in a world your final sleep has woken.

9. Yesterday I knew no lullaby But you have taught me overnight to order This song, which takes from your final cry Its tune, from your unreasoned end its reason; Its rhythm from the discord of your murder, Its motive from the fact you cannot listen. We who should have known how to instruct With rhymes for your waking, rhythms for your sleep Names for the animals you took to bed, Tales to distract, legends to protect, Later an idiom for you to keep And living, learn, must learn from you, dead. To make our broken images rebuild Themselves around your limbs, your broken Image, find for your sake whose life our idle Talk has cost, a new language. Child Of our time, our times have robbed your cradle. Sleep in a world your final sleep has woken.

10. Yesterday I knew no lullaby But you have taught me overnight to order This song, which takes from your final cry Its tune, from your unreasoned end its reason; Its rhythm from the discord of your murder, Its motive from the fact you cannot listen. We who should have known how to instruct With rhymes for your waking, rhythms for your sleep Names for the animals you took to bed, Tales to distract, legends to protect, Later an idiom for you to keep And living, learn, must learn from you, dead. To make our broken images rebuild Themselves around your limbs, your broken Image, find for your sake whose life our idle Talk has cost, a new language. Child Of our time, our times have robbed your cradle. Sleep in a world your final sleep has woken.

11. Yesterday I knew no lullaby But you have taught me overnight to order This song, which takes from your final cry Its tune, from your unreasoned end its reason; Its rhythm from the discord of your murder, Its motive from the fact you cannot listen. We who should have known how to instruct With rhymes for your waking, rhythms for your sleep Names for the animals you took to bed, Tales to distract, legends to protect, Later an idiom for you to keep And living, learn, must learn from you, dead. To make our broken images rebuild Themselves around your limbs, your broken Image, find for your sake whose life our idle Talk has cost, a new language. Child Of our time, our times have robbed your cradle. Sleep in a world your final sleep has woken.

12. Yesterday I knew no lullaby But you have taught me overnight to order This song, which takes from your final cry Its tune, from your unreasoned end its reason; Its rhythm from the discord of your murder, Its motive from the fact you cannot listen. We who should have known how to instruct With rhymes for your waking, rhythms for your sleep Names for the animals you took to bed, Tales to distract, legends to protect, Later an idiom for you to keep And living, learn, must learn from you, dead. To make our broken images rebuild Themselves around your limbs, your broken Image, find for your sake whose life our idle Talk has cost, a new language. Child Of our time, our times have robbed your cradle. Sleep in a world your final sleep has woken.

13. Yesterday I knew no lullaby But you have taught me overnight to order This song, which takes from your final cry Its tune, from your unreasoned end its reason; Its rhythm from the discord of your murder, Its motive from the fact you cannot listen. We who should have known how to instruct With rhymes for your waking, rhythms for your sleep Names for the animals you took to bed, Tales to distract, legends to protect, Later an idiom for you to keep And living, learn, must learn from you, dead. To make our broken images rebuild Themselves around your limbs, your broken Image, find for your sake whose life our idle Talk has cost, a new language. Child Of our time, our times have robbed your cradle. Sleep in a world your final sleep has woken.

14. Yesterday I knew no lullaby But you have taught me overnight to order This song, which takes from your final cry Its tune, from your unreasoned end its reason; Its rhythm from the discord of your murder, Its motive from the fact you cannot listen. We who should have known how to instruct With rhymes for your waking, rhythms for your sleep Names for the animals you took to bed, Tales to distract, legends to protect, Later an idiom for you to keep And living, learn, must learn from you, dead. To make our broken images rebuild Themselves around your limbs, your broken Image, find for your sake whose life our idle Talk has cost, a new language. Child Of our time, our times have robbed your cradle. Sleep in a world your final sleep has woken.

15. Yesterday I knew no lullaby But you have taught me overnight to order This song, which takes from your final cry Its tune, from your unreasoned end its reason; Its rhythm from the discord of your murder, Its motive from the fact you cannot listen. We who should have known how to instruct With rhymes for your waking, rhythms for your sleep Names for the animals you took to bed, Tales to distract, legends to protect, Later an idiom for you to keep And living, learn, must learn from you, dead. To make our broken images rebuild Themselves around your limbs, your broken Image, find for your sake whose life our idle Talk has cost, a new language. Child Of our time, our times have robbed your cradle. Sleep in a world your final sleep has woken.

16. Yesterday I knew no lullaby But you have taught me overnight to order This song, which takes from your final cry Its tune, from your unreasoned end its reason; Its rhythm from the discord of your murder, Its motive from the fact you cannot listen. We who should have known how to instruct With rhymes for your waking, rhythms for your sleep Names for the animals you took to bed, Tales to distract, legends to protect, Later an idiom for you to keep And living, learn, must learn from you, dead. To make our broken images rebuild Themselves around your limbs, your broken Image, find for your sake whose life our idle Talk has cost, a new language. Child Of our time, our times have robbed your cradle. Sleep in a world your final sleep has woken.

17. Yesterday I knew no lullaby But you have taught me overnight to order This song, which takes from your final cry Its tune, from your unreasoned end its reason; Its rhythm from the discord of your murder, Its motive from the fact you cannot listen. We who should have known how to instruct With rhymes for your waking, rhythms for your sleep Names for the animals you took to bed, Tales to distract, legends to protect, Later an idiom for you to keep And living, learn, must learn from you, dead. To make our broken images rebuild Themselves around your limbs, your broken Image, find for your sake whose life our idle Talk has cost, a new language. Child Of our time, our times have robbed your cradle. Sleep in a world your final sleep has woken.

18.  Child Of Our Time – S.  The poem is about a child but not just any child. It is the “Child Of Our Time”.  The word ‘our’ is very curious. We are given possession and thus responsibility for this ‘time’ in which the child lives.  Whoever reads this poem, whether they are in the past, present or future, is in charge of what happens next.

19.  Sleep in a world your final sleep has woken – P.  The “final sleep” the poem refers to is the child's death. This is very sad.  The death of the child has changed the world however, waking it up.  I believe the purpose of the poem was...  to make the reader sad and inspire change.

20. i. Identify emotion, mood or feeling Your final cry  taught me. Sleep. Should have known, must learn from you dead. These words or lines made me feel...

21. Technique – includes structure, language, imagery and movement.

22.  Structure.  This poem has three stanzas. Stanzas make a poem look structured or as if it were arranged with a plan in mind.  If a poem has stanzas, there is usually a sense of order in what is being said. The poet is trying to structure the topic of .... (war, death, etc.) to understand it.  The poet also wants me, the reader, to stop at the end of a stanza and consider the last line.

23.  Would everyone write down the last line of each stanza and what image they have in common.  The poet is stressing this image.

24. Yesterday I knew no lullaby But you have taught me overnight to order This song, which takes from your final cry Its tune, from your unreasoned end its reason; Its rhythm from the discord of your murder, Its motive from the fact you cannot listen. We who should have known how to instruct With rhymes for your waking, rhythms for your sleep Names for the animals you took to bed, Tales to distract, legends to protect, Later an idiom for you to keep And living, learn, must learn from you, dead. To make our broken images rebuild Themselves around your limbs, your broken Image, find for your sake whose life our idle Talk has cost, a new language. Child Of our time, our times have robbed your cradle. Sleep in a world your final sleep has woken.

25.  Structure.  On the other hand, there may not be stanzas.  This poem did not have stanzas. It was one big section of writing.  This is not like the poetry that children grow up with. There is no structure, no order, just like in the topic of.... (war, death, other chaotic things).

26.  Language  The sounds of: Rhyme, Repetition, Assonance, Consonance, Alliteration, onomatopoeia.

27.  Rhyme and Repetition  Both of these techniques structure a poem again. They also focus the reader on particular words.  Rhyme: Ask yourself what words rhyme and how are they related?  Repetition – Focus not just on single words, but concepts that are repeated. How many violent, sad or possessive words are there that are alike?

28.  Write down the last word of the first line.  Find the word at the end of one of the lines, in that stanza, that ‘supposedly’ rhymes with it.  Link the words  .....example  .....sample  Example – Sample  How are the words that rhyme connected?  Create an association between them.

29. Yesterday I knew no lullaby But you have taught me overnight to order This song, which takes from your final cry Its tune, from your unreasoned end its reason; Its rhythm from the discord of your murder, Its motive from the fact you cannot listen. We who should have known how to instruct With rhymes for your waking, rhythms for your sleep Names for the animals you took to bed, Tales to distract, legends to protect, Later an idiom for you to keep And living, learn, must learn from you, dead. To make our broken images rebuild Themselves around your limbs, your broken Image, find for your sake whose life our idle Talk has cost, a new language. Child Of our time, our times have robbed your cradle. Sleep in a world your final sleep has woken.

30. Yesterday I knew no lullaby But you have taught me overnight to order This song, which takes from your final cry Its tune, from your unreasoned end its reason; Its rhythm from the discord of your murder, Its motive from the fact you cannot listen. We who should have known how to instruct With rhymes for your waking, rhythms for your sleep Names for the animals you took to bed, Tales to distract, legends to protect, Later an idiom for you to keep And living, learn, must learn from you, dead. To make our broken images rebuild Themselves around your limbs, your broken Image, find for your sake whose life our idle Talk has cost, a new language. Child Of our time, our times have robbed your cradle. Sleep in a world your final sleep has woken.

31. Yesterday I knew no lullaby But you have taught me overnight to order This song, which takes from your final cry Its tune, from your unreasoned end its reason; Its rhythm from the discord of your murder, Its motive from the fact you cannot listen. We who should have known how to instruct With rhymes for your waking, rhythms for your sleep Names for the animals you took to bed, Tales to distract, legends to protect, Later an idiom for you to keep And living, learn, must learn from you, dead. To make our broken images rebuild Themselves around your limbs, your broken Image, find for your sake whose life our idle Talk has cost, a new language. Child Of our time, our times have robbed your cradle. Sleep in a world your final sleep has woken.

32. Yesterday I knew no lullaby But you have taught me overnight to order This song, which takes from your final cry Its tune, from your unreasoned end its reason; Its rhythm from the discord of your murder, Its motive from the fact you cannot listen. We who should have known how to instruct With rhymes for your waking, rhythms for your sleep Names for the animals you took to bed, Tales to distract, legends to protect, Later an idiom for you to keep And living, learn, must learn from you, dead. To make our broken images rebuild Themselves around your limbs, your broken Image, find for your sake whose life our idle Talk has cost, a new language. Child Of our time, our times have robbed your cradle. Sleep in a world your final sleep has woken.

33. Yesterday I knew no lullaby But you have taught me overnight to order This song, which takes from your final cry Its tune, from your unreasoned end its reason; Its rhythm from the discord of your murder, Its motive from the fact you cannot listen. We who should have known how to instruct With rhymes for your waking, rhythms for your sleep Names for the animals you took to bed, Tales to distract, legends to protect, Later an idiom for you to keep And living, learn, must learn from you, dead. To make our broken images rebuild Themselves around your limbs, your broken Image, find for your sake whose life our idle Talk has cost, a new language. Child Of our time, our times have robbed your cradle. Sleep in a world your final sleep has woken.

34. Yesterday I knew no lullaby But you have taught me overnight to order This song, which takes from your final cry Its tune, from your unreasoned end its reason; Its rhythm from the discord of your murder, Its motive from the fact you cannot listen. We who should have known how to instruct With rhymes for your waking, rhythms for your sleep Names for the animals you took to bed, Tales to distract, legends to protect, Later an idiom for you to keep And living, learn, must learn from you, dead. To make our broken images rebuild Themselves around your limbs, your broken Image, find for your sake whose life our idle Talk has cost, a new language. Child Of our time, our times have robbed your cradle. Sleep in a world your final sleep has woken.

35.  Rhyme and Repetition are related to assonance, consonance and alliteration.  Assonance – vowels repeating or  An internal vowel rhyme.  Consonance – consonants repeating or  An internal consonant rhyme.  Alliteration – repetition of consonants at the beginning of words.  Onomatopoeia - The word sounds like the action.  We’ll have better examples and exercises in the next poem.

36.  Assonance, Consonance, Alliteration and Onomatopoeia.  All meant to sound nice.  All meant to focus your attention to particular words.

46. Seagull by Brian McCabe

47.  Seagull  We are the dawn marauders.  We prey on pizza. We kill kebabs.  We mug thrushes for bread crusts  with a snap of our big bent beaks.  We drum the worms from the ground  with the stamp of our wide webbed feet.  We spread out, cover the area -  like cops looking for the body  of a murdered fish-supper.  Here we go with our hooligan yells  loud with gluttony, sharp with starvation.  Here we go bungee-jumping on the wind,  charging from the cold sea of our birth.  This is invasion. This is occupation.  Our flags are black, white and grey.  Our wing-stripes are our rank.  No sun can match the brazen  colour of our mad yellow eyes.  We are the seagulls.  We are the people.

48. Seagull We are the dawn marauders. We prey on pizza. We kill kebabs. We mug thrushes for bread crusts with a snap of our big bent beaks. We drum the worms from the ground with the stamp of our wide webbed feet. We spread out, cover the area - like cops looking for the body of a murdered fish-supper. Here we go with our hooligan yells loud with gluttony, sharp with starvation. Here we go bungee-jumping on the wind, charging from the cold sea of our birth. This is invasion. This is occupation. Our flags are black, white and grey. Our wing-stripes are our rank. No sun can match the brazen colour of our mad yellow eyes. We are the seagulls. We are the people.

49.  Example She sells sea shells by the sea shore. The shells she sells are surely seashells. So if she sells shells on the seashore, I'm sure she sells seashore shells

50.  Exercise  Write down any words that are near each other which begin with the same letter.  P  K  B