JaeyoungJang

Jaeyoung Jang Native American Reading

1. Select one poem of the four provided and write another poem mimicking the style and syntax of the first poem. You can change the topic and words, but the rhythm, number of syllables, sentence structure and poetic elements (such as repetition and figurative language) have to be mirrored in your poem. You may write on any topic you like.

THE MAN GOES OUT

The man goes out The man bops, bops The man hangs out The man topes, topes The man hangs out The man dopes, dopes The man goes out The man stops, stops from the Jaeyoung Indians

2. Select two poems (must be different than the one you picked for #1) and write two short paragraphs that compare and contrast the poems. Your paragraphs can focus on different elements of the poems, including subject, theme, tone, use of poetic devices such as repetition, imagery, and any progressions that you notice in the poems (for example, you might notice that the images get stronger in each line, or the detail gets more specific). Be sure that (a) you explain how the elements contribute to the message or feeling of the whole poem and (b) that you don’t just talk about one poem and then the other. You have to first talk about the comparisons (similarities) and then the contrasts (differences). So you have to think about the structure of your paragraphs before you write them.

The poem The Song of the Sky Loom and the poem I Have Killed a Deer can be compared because I think both of the poems are poems about life. Both of the poems have a sense of repetition containing with The Song of the Sky Loom a repetition of “May the” and “That we may”. These techniques give let us be more connected with what the poems tell of, life.

There are also differences in between the two poems. First of all, the poem The Song of the Sky Loom is about life when I Have Killed a Deer tells about both life and death. Also, The Song of the Sky Loom is asking mother earth to give life while the other poem is just talking about how life is a cycle.

3. Read the short story called "The Navajo Origin Legend". Answer the following questions: a. What did you like about the story? I just liked the story because I heard a completely different view of how humans came to life, came to living. b. What did you dislike about the story? The story kind of confused me because it already said the people washed themselves well but in the end of the story it said thus created were First Man and First Woman. c. What was the image that was most powerful or interesting for you? It was when it said: the ears of corn had disappeared, a man and a woman lay there in their stead because I could imagine a man and a woman laying where buckskin, corn, feather of eagles were. d. The Native Americans who wrote this poem are similar to other pre- colonial societies in that they write about the materials of their everyday lives in their myths. Food, nature, and animals are some such materials. Identify all the specific materials that appear in the story that would be common in the everyday lives of the Native American culture. For each material that you identify, explain briefly what is happening to it in the story. Wind – something that gives life Ears of corn – what becomes a man or a woman Feathers of eagle – something else that is needed to help the ears of corn transform into human e. What can you tell about the culture of this people based on the materials that appear in this story and they way that these objects are used? Do you notice any patterns in how these materials are depicted? I can tell that god exists in these people’s culture and that god is the creator of man but nature has to cooperate with god to make human. The materials used are depict nature.

4. The speaker in "I Have Killed a Deer" talks about death and killing in an unusual way. How would you describe the way he talks about death and killing? Why does he talk about it this way? Do you think he feels sorry for killing living things? What single line is a turning point in the message of this poem? What is the overall message of this poem, in a single short sentence?

I feel that the narrator does not have mercy toward the organisms’ that he kills because he feels the way he kills, destroys and uses for his needs is a natural selection, and he knows soon he will payback for those he have done when his time arrives. I think the single line,” When I died I must give life” is the turning point in the message of this poem. On my opinion, the message of the poem is, if you take, you need to give back.