In class: looking at two poems: Gwendolyn Brooks "Boy Breaking Glass" and Kendrick Lamar's "The Caterpillar" (class handout / copy below)
Please turn in your responses to The Highwayman and Annabel Lee from last Friday, if you have not already done so.
Of note: check your grades. There is a substantial amount of missing work!
What is a Pulitzer Prize?
The Pulitzer Prize is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine and online journalism, literature, and musical composition in the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of American Joseph Pulitzer who had made his fortune as a newspaper publisher. The Pulitzer Prize and is administered by Columbia University in New York City. Prizes are awarded yearly in twenty-one categories. In twenty of the categories, each winner receives a certificate and a U.S. $15,000 cash award.
“English.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Apr. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English.
Gwendolyn Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas, in 1917. She became the first black author to win the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for her writing and also the first black woman to hold the position of poetry consultant to the Library of Congress. As Poet Laureate of the State of Illinois, Brooks encouraged many aspiring poets, often funding prizes herself.
Her first poem was published when she was thirteen years old and by the time she was seventeen her poems were being published regularly. Many of her later poems deal with the civil rights activism of the 1960s and reflect her experience as an African‑American woman in a society largely dominated by white men.
Boy
Breaking Glass
To Marc Crawford
from whom the commission
from whom the commission
Whose
broken window is a cry of art
(success,
that winks aware
as
elegance, as a treasonable faith)
is raw:
is sonic: is old-eyed première.
Our
beautiful flaw and terrible ornament.
Our
barbarous and metal little man.
“I shall
create! If not a note, a hole.
If not an
overture, a desecration.”
Full of
pepper and light
and Salt
and night and cargoes.
“Don’t go
down the plank
if you
see there’s no extension.
Each to
his grief, each to
his
loneliness and fidgety revenge.
Nobody
knew where I was and now I am no longer there.”
The only
sanity is a cup of tea.
The music
is in minors.
Each one other
is having
different weather.
“It was
you, it was you who threw away my name!
And this
is everything I have for me.”
Who has
not Congress, lobster, love, luau,
the
Regency Room, the Statue of Liberty,
runs. A
sloppy amalgamation.
A
mistake.
A cliff.
A hymn, a snare, and an exceeding sun.
An existential crisis is a moment at which an individual questions if their life has meaning, purpose, or value. It may be commonly, but not necessarily, tied to depression or inevitably negative speculations on purpose in life. (e.g., "if one day I will be forgotten, what is the point of all of my work?")
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An existential crisis is a moment at which an individual questions if their life has meaning, purpose, or value. It may be commonly, but not necessarily, tied to depression or inevitably negative speculations on purpose in life. (e.g., "if one day I will be forgotten, what is the point of all of my work?")
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KENDRICK LAMAR
Educational Background and Location
Centennial High School - Straight A
Student, Compton CA
Brief Personal Bio
Lamar's parents had moved from
Chicago to Compton (where Lamar was born) to escape Chicago's gang culture even
though Lamar's father was associated with the Gangster Disciples gang. Lamar
was a good student (straight A's) and he enjoyed writing, he first wrote
stories and poems and then moved on to lyrics. His writing/lyrics are inspired
by the gang violence he observed and saw in the streets of Compton.
These are a Few of his Favorite
Things
·
Favorite Food – Fruity Pebbles
·
Favorite Rappers – Jay-Z, Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Nas
·
Favorite Color – Black
·
Favorite Song – Theme song to DuckTales
·
Common Literary
Elements/Structure/Themes in their Work
Lamar's music (in his album To Pimp A Butterfly) adds unique
presence and dimension as well as a old-school vibe. Lamar also incorporates
personal issues into his music. His album "has more sophisticated devices
that weave the tracks of this album into one seamless package" and "at
the end of every track on this album, Kendrick adds one line to a poem...each
added line smoothly transitions into the next song and new theme".
The caterpillar is a prisoner to the streets that conceived it
Its only job is to eat or consume everything around it, in order
to protect itself from this mad city
While consuming its environment the caterpillar begins to notice
ways to survive
One thing it noticed is how much the world shuns him, but praises
the butterfly
The butterfly represents the talent, the thoughtfulness, and the
beauty within the caterpillar
But having a harsh outlook on life the caterpillar sees the
butterfly as weak and figures out a way to pimp it to its own benefits
Already surrounded by this mad city the caterpillar goes to work
on the cocoon which institutionalizes him
He can no longer see past his own thoughts
He’s trapped
When trapped inside these walls certain ideas take roots, such as
going home, and bringing back new concepts to this mad city
The result?
Wings began to emerge, breaking the cycle of feeling stagnant
Finally free, the butterfly sheds light on situations that the
caterpillar never considered, ending the internal struggle
Although the butterfly and the caterpillar are completely
different, they are one and the same."
Accompanying questions for the above poems.
Accompanying questions for the above poems.
Name__________________________
Accompanying questions to “The Caterpillar” by Kendrick Lamar and
“Boy
Breaking Glass” by Gwendolyn Brooks
“Boy
Breaking Glass”
1. To whom is the poem addressed?_____________________________________
2. To what is the “commission”
referring?_________________________________
3. What act has Marc
committed?____________________________________
4. What does Marc wish to do?
_________________________________
5. Why rearrange “pepper” and Salt in
the couplet? ___________________________________________
6. Carefully read through the poem and
list all the words associated with music.
1._________________________________2. ______________________
3.__________________
4.___________________________5.______________________
7. An “amalgamation” (24 )is a
combination, a blend, a mixture of things. What mistake has Marc made and how
is he handling it?
___________________________________________________________
“The Caterpillar” by Kendrick Lamar
8. Identify the metaphor in line
1._________________________________________________
9. What is the irony expressed in line
5? ________________________________________________________________________________
10. What does the butterfly represent?
________________________________________________________________________________
11. Using textual evidence, explain how does the caterpillar exploit the butterfly?
__________________________________________________________________________________
12. How is the “internal struggle”
between the butterfly and the caterpillar resolved?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
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