Introduction+to+yr+11+Poetry+Anthology

//Tep 424 Assign 3 - Part 1// //Due 2nd November, 2011//

//Kylee Brooke - 40894169//

//Introduction to Yr 11 Poetry Anthology//

I have compiled this Poetry Anthology for a lower ability all girls Yr. 11 Advanced English class. Although these students have a demonstrated ability in English and a desire to do Advanced this class consists of students who speak English as a second language, some with home difficulties and others who require extra support to complete the tasks. The focus of the anthology is ‘Relationships’. There are several reasons why this focus is engaging and stimulating for this particular class. Primarily they, as a class will relate to the focus and find it an attractive topic of which they have personal experience with. This will encourage engagement and provide opportunity for less able students to enter the discourse of the unit. Also examining relationships as a conceptual framework will enhance their understanding of these and other texts as they continue their preparation for the HSC. The poems in the anthology all represent the focus of relationships between individuals, between individuals and society and between culture and society. The poems selected represent the rich diversity of the concept of relationships as well as exploring traditional experiences of love and connection. Students will be able to identify the points of comparison, or relationships, between poets, their poems and the students own experience. The poems connect to the focus of relationships on many levels that are accessible to the Senior English classroom. Each poem speaks explicitly to the focus through its themes and language. Poems such as ‘Barn Owl’ and ‘Ballad of the Totems’ speak directly to familial relationships while ‘Mending Wall’ and ‘The Chimney Sweeper’ interrogate the nature and importance of friendship at different stages of life. Many of the poems however speak to intimate relationships but address the focus from many points of view. Through the texts ‘Sonnet 116’, ‘A Song of Despair’, ‘How do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways’, ‘The Drovers Sweetheart’, ‘Night Ride’, ‘One Flesh’ and ‘ I am dead but I know the dead are not like this’ explore diverse themes of relationships including idyllic, young, colonial Australian, flawed and aging perspectives. The composers use a range of tone, voice, and perspectives to express the intimacy and individuality of the focus. The poems as arranged in this anthology are able to read in relation to each other as meaning is constructed by the individual through the exploration of texts in combination with the focus. The rationale behind the selection of poems is multifaceted. For this class I wished to provide a dynamic selection that would supply both accessible and challenging poems. I wanted to include poems that were linguistically accessible while exploring challenging and topical conceptual spaces about the significance of relationships. As per the outline for the anthology it contains four pre 20th century poets from both genders and one Australian text to ensure students read widely. Similarly in the remaining poems there are representatives form indigenous and non-indigenous Australia, South America, both genders and from a range of genres and styles to create an anthology that speaks to all students.