Early song – by Gogisgi/ Carroll Arnett

As the sun rises

high enough to[M1] 

warm the frost[M2] 

off the pine needles,

 

I rise to make

four prayers of

thanksgiving for

this fine clear day,[M3] 

 

for this good brown

earth, for all

brothers and sisters,

for the dark[M4]  blood

 

that runs through me

in a great circle

back into this

good brown earth

 

1.      Theme: the cycle of life and the connection between man and the earth

2.      Four quatrains – unrhymed 

3.      Tactile and visual images

4.      Enjambment – the entire poem is just one sentence – first letter of each line is simple

5.      use of repetition – this good brown earth.

6.      Use of colour adjectives – dark and brown – connection between the dark people and the brown earth – not white people

Questions:

1.      How doe speaker connect to the earth in both poems?

2.       “Tone” refers to the way a writer feels about a subject. Tone is communicated by word choice, including figures of speech. What words tell you how the two poets feel about the earth?

3.      What words in the poem tell you Walters personifies the earth as her mother?

4.      What message or feeling about our world does this comparison convey?

5.      What does Arnett mean by the “great circle”?

6.      How does Walters illustrate the same idea?

7.      Do you think that people are always grateful children of the earth?

8.      How do some people show that their feelings about the earth are very different from the feelings of the two poets?

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 [M1]A visual image

 [M2]Tactile image

 [M3]Visual

 [M4]Native American blood /culture – not the blood of the white people = she implies that those with white blood might not be thankful to the bounties of the earth as those with dark blood are