JARRETT M. BELL

Introduction:

Students will learn the meaning of narrative and persona, in order to draw inferences about a poems speaker, based on evidence in the poem. We will do this through the context of the poetry of Robert Frost, in order to write narratives and inferences in a journal that will explore inferences about Frost as a writer, and then next for the next week, perform a group reading of the poetry. Through this exercise, students will be better equipt to make literary conclusions about a speakers’ character and motive to support said inferences.

Target Age Group: Grade 6.  UEN Core: RL.6.6

Background:

Have you ever created or thought of a character that seems to have a mind of it own? In previous study, students have already determined themes and narrator perspective from drama, stories, or text. The themes in Frosts’ poetry are very simple: usually about nature, isolation, or youth. Today we want to move past that and dive into using literary analysis to create inferences based on persona, or the character’s perspective that the author has created, separate from the author. We will start with a brief introduction on who Robert Frost is with a quick bio and multimedia video: video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2stTH-rtq8

Assignments and Materials Needed:

• Selected works of Robert Frost

• “The Narrative poetry of Robert Frost” worksheet

• Writing Journals

WEEK 1: Who is Frost and What is persona?

Monday Class:

Objective: Students will develop and understand the purpose of persona by writing about the emotional and pschological effects of imagery. 

Background: On the board, provide students with definitions for the basic literary terms you will be using in this lesson. The central concept taught here is the distinction between Frost-the-poet and the speaker, or persona, that he creates to tell the narrative in the poem. (Related terms you might be or might already have discussed in class are narrative, perspective, point of view, persona, speaker, character, motives, and conflict.) 

Persona is a term of Latin derivation, and originally denoted a mask made of clay or bark that was worn by actors. It has come to refer to an author's alter ego, the "person" who speaks in a poem or work of fiction. The persona in a poem is like a character in fiction; and, just as in fiction, we can draw inferences about the motives and personality of this character by hints and clues in the poem. Persona can be defined as:

The person created by the author to tell a story. Whether the story is told by an omniscient narrator or by a character in it, the actual author of the work often distances himself from what is said or told by adopting a persona--a personality different from his real one. Thus, the attitudes, beliefs, and degree of understanding expressed by the narrator may not be the same as those of the actual author. Some authors, for example, use narrators who are not very bright in order to create irony.

Activity: Read "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" aloud in class.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

BY ROBERT FROST

Whose woods these are I think I know.   

His house is in the village though;   

He will not see me stopping here   

To watch his woods fill up with snow.   

My little horse must think it queer   

To stop without a farmhouse near   

Between the woods and frozen lake   

The darkest evening of the year.   

He gives his harness bells a shake   

To ask if there is some mistake.   

The only other sound’s the sweep   

Of easy wind and downy flake.   

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.

Tuesday Journal:

Begin by asking students about the emotional and psychological effects of the imagery in this poem. You may need to read the Poem again. What effect do the images of darkness, coldness, and stillness have on readers? Next, ask the class to briefly paraphrase the narrative of the poem: what events are actually described? What are the speaker's motives for taking the actions that he does? Does the speaker move on by the end of the poem? Do we know? What effect do the darkness and cold and snow seem to have on him? What is the role of his "little horse" in the poem--what perspective does the speaker attribute to his horse? Help students to distinguish between the narrative details directly described, and those that we infer. (edsitement.neh.gov)

Explanation: It is vital that we start to anaylze feelings from effects of text as part of how they affect our psyche in order to grasp a logical inference of the persona of the speaker. This is a major skill of literary anaylsis. What features of this poem encourage us to make such inferences--what is the evidence, in other words, for our inferences?

Wednesday Class:

Obejective: students will evaluate inferences and claims about narriative through writing extension narratives

Activity: Hand out copies of the worksheet on Robert Frost. In the left-hand column of the first chart are a series of claims about the motives of the speaker in "Stopping by Woods." Work through the first chart as a class, filling in the appropriate boxes with quotations from the poem. The aim of the exercise is to evaluate inferences and claims about the narrative and speaker in this poem. As you discuss the different claims listed in the first chart, make sure that you give students sufficient time to reread the poem themselves, and to mark any phrases or lines that might help to answer this question. Discuss the question with the class, and write your findings on the board below the guiding question. 

On the board, you may wish to write a version of the guiding question for this lesson (above): What does the speaker of "Stopping by Woods" reveal about himself through the story he tells and through the narrative details he includes, implies, or omits? 

Thursday Journal:

Ask students to write their own narrative extending or revealing hidden aspects of the story told in their assigned poem, using the blank chart on the second page of the worksheet, working in groups of 6. Their stories should be based upon the facts and inferences they found in the group exercise; their stories should not contradict those facts and inferences, but may stretch them a bit. To give them a place from which to start, you may wish to provide students with a question about the poem. Some suggestions are 
 

• In "The Road Not Taken," is the speaker young or old?

• In "The Runaway," who has left a young horse to stray in snowstorm on a mountainside?

• In "Mending Wall," does the poem's speaker get along his neighbor?

• In "The Wood Pile," where is the person who left the mysterious pile of wood "to warm the frozen swamp"?

• In "Birches," what do we learn about the speaker's childhood?

• In "Out, Out," does the speaker think that the accident could have been prevented?

Explanation: Now that we have made inferences based on evidence collected from our literary anaylsis skills, it is vital that we foresee the writers next move. What will Frost use next in his poetic narrative? This helps our writing skills to use the craft of the author in our own writing, and combines our learning as writer with the craft of the author. Students will need this to explain thier group presentations, in order to develop thier own voice. 

Friday Class:

In order to prep for the next weeks poetry performance, students will present in groups to the class of the inferences they drew from their given texts. This is not a performance, simply a set up to get them comfortable with getting in front of the class using the language of poetry.

WEEK 2:  Poetry Performance with Persona

Monday:

Objective: Students will divide into groups to make collaborative decisions on dramtic readings. 

Activity: Divide the class into small groups selected to balance the talents of the students within each group, and provide each group with copies of one of the following poems (sources described in step 1, above): "The Road Not Taken," "Birches," "The Runaway," "Out, Out--," "Mending Wall," or "The Runaway." If they do not have a copy already (from Activity 2 or 3), provide students with the worksheet.

Background: If you have not done so already, ask groups to discuss the character, or persona, of the speaker of their assigned poem; you can use the activities in Activities 2 and 3, as well as the blank chart on the worksheet, as guides to these discussions. Next, ask each group to brainstorm ways that the speaker's character can be reflected in a dramatic reading of the poem. What lines will their speaker emphasize? Should the poem be read read quickly or slowly? What kinds of emotions will be expressed in different portions of the poem?

Tuesday Journal:

Now that they have brainstormed, students will write in their journals about the persona they have created from their poem. By voicing a poem in a certain way, students give their audience an opinion on what type of person they have created. Who is this persona? What is he like? What are his characteristics?

Wednesday:

Groups should be given enough time to practice their dramatic readings of the poem before presenting to the class. Introduce how to have good flow with effective transitions between class members, and how to end.

Thursday Journal:

The class will “picture” in their minds how they want their performance to go. From Covey’s “Begin the end in mind” we will write about how they see their performance actualizing. Then members will compare. Are there any discrepancies? Do all the group members agree?

Friday:

After discussing their assigned or chosen poem, each group will present a dramatic reading of the poem to the class and to share with the class the groups' ideas on how the speaker of the poem reveals aspects of himself through the narrative details he includes or omits. Again, reiterate to students that each member of the group should take part in the reading or presentation in some way. A group can perform a poem simply by dividing the reading among group members. Besides reciting the poem, group members can also contribute by sharing with the class some of the ways that their group applied the guiding question to their poem: What does the speaker of Frost's poem reveal about himself through the story he tells?