This set of slides is a lesson that will introduce learners to the formal study of literature focusing on poetry for enrichment and pleasure. This lesson is based on poetry reading and installation of reading, evaluation, and response to the aesthetic qualities of literary text skills.

1. POETRY
“TO BE IN LOVE” BY GWENDOLYN BROOKS

2. Introduction to poetry
WHAT IS POETRY?
• “Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has
found words.” – Robert Frost
• Language that has been shaped artistically to express an
idea or emotion
WHAT SHOULD WE LOOK OUT FOR WHEN ANALYSING A POEM?
When you have read the poem:
• First important question: what is the poem about?
• Try to paraphrase the poem to understand it clearly
Paraphrasing the poem might make you realise the importance of the unusual use of language in
poetry!

3. FURTHERMORE, WHEN YOU CAN ASK YOURSELF GENARAL QUESTION SUCH AS:
What is the poem about?
We need to consider three aspects of the poem to answer this question:
Subject- TITTLE OF THE POEM TO DISCOVER WHAT THE WHOLE PIECE IS ABOUT
Themes- THE IDEA OR EMOTION THE POEM EXPRESSES
Context- WHO WROTE THE POEM? AND WHEN?
THIS MAY REQUIRE SOME INVESTIGATION ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE WRITER AND
SOCIAL CONTEXT. aspects of the poem to answer this question:

4. HOW DO WE READ POETRY?
• poem is a message
• First read through the poem in its entirety to get a sense of its meaning.
• TAKE NOTE OF THE ASPECTS USED TO PORTRAY THE MESSAGE.

5. GWEMDOLYN BROOKS(1917-2000)
• Brooks was one of the earliest female African American writers to be published. A
university teacher, she wrote a number of novels and collections of poetry. She won
the Pulitzer Prize in 1949 for Annie Allen

6. “TO BE IN LOVE”

7. WHAT IS THIS POEM ABOUT?

8. WHAT IS THIS POEM ABOUT?
• THE POEM IS ABOUT TO BEING IN LOVE WITH FEAR OF DECLARING IT TO YOUR
LOVE ONE BECAUSE IT MIGHT KILL THE “SPARK”
• IT COULD BE ABOUT FEARING TO BE IN LOVE OR LETTING SOMEONE IN TO BE A
PART OF YOU
• THE JOY AND CONFUSION THAT LOVE COMES WITH
• LOOK AT THE POEM AND IDENTIFY A STANZA THAT SUPPORTS THESE
STATEMENTS…..

9. “Oh when to declare
Is certain Death!”
The poet says to declare your love is certain death. Not literally the death of a person but
figuratively the death or end of the relationship.
“To see fall down, The Column of Gold,
Into the commonest ash.”
When you declare that love, the Column of Gold is destroyed.
The Column of Gold refers to the feeling of being in love.
The moment you declare your love the relationship becomes something common.
The gold is turned into ash, common ash.
It becomes nothing

10. POETIC TECHNIQUES USED?
• THE ELEMENTS OF WRITING THAT THE POET HAS USED TO ENHANCE THE POEM
• TO GIVE AN EFFECTIVE MEESAGE OR THEME ABOUT BEING IN LOVE
• TECHNIQUES TO IDENTIFY THE SPEAKERS SITUATION
• THE VOCABULARY THE WRITER HAS USED TO PRESENT THE POEM
• LET’S LOOK AT EACH STANZA TO MAKE MEANING AND IDENTIFY THE
ELEMENTS USED IN THIS POEM BY BROOKS

11. HOW DOES THE WRITER PRESENT THE
WORD “LIGHTER”?
WHAT IMPLICATION DOES IT GIVE?
THE MOOD CREATED?
“To be in love
Is to touch things with a lighter hand”
When you are in love you touch things with a
lighter hand.
To touch things with a lighter hand could
mean that you are more relaxed, less
serious, more gentle.

12. When you are in love you stretch. This is a metaphor. You don’t stretch physically but
figuratively. You don’t just focus on your own desires. You accommodate somebody
else’s feelings and ideas. You become less selfish. You grow because you learn more
about someone else.
You are well. You experience a general feeling of happiness.
W
“In yourself you stretch, you are well.”

13. “When he
Shuts a door –
Is not there –
Your arms are water.”
If you are not in the presence of the other person: your arms are water
Metaphor: Your arms become like water. Useless, unable to do
weak.

14. “Oh when to declare
Is certain Death!”
The poet says to declare your love is certain death. Not literally the death of a person but
figuratively the death or end of the relationship
“To see fall down, The Column of Gold,
Into the commonest ash.”
When you declare that love, the Column of Gold is destroyed.
The Column of Gold refers to the feeling of being in love.
The moment you declare your love the relationship becomes something common.
The gold is turned into ash, common ash.
It becomes nothing.

15. SUMMARY
• THE POEM IS ABOUT TO BE IN LOVE WITH FEAR OF DECLEARING IT TO THE PERSON YOU LOVE BECAUSE IT WILL END YOR
RELATIONSHIP AND YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT THEM THUS YOU RISK NOT TELLING THEM EXACTLY HOW YOU FEEL.
• THE POEM HAS USED A VARIETY OF POETIC TECHNIQUES TO EXPRESS IT’S MOTION SUCH AS:
1. METAPHOR IN LINE 3, 20
2. POETIC LANGUAGE TO GIVE AN UNUSUAL DICTION OF WORDS
3. IT USED FIGURATIVE SPEECHES TO EXPRESS THE FEELINGS OF JOY AND CONFUSION OF LOVE
• THESE ELEMENTS ENHANCE THE MESSAGE OF THE POEM MAKING AN EMPASISE OF THE SPEAKERS FEELINGS OF LOVE AND
HER FEAR TO DECLARE IT, WITH REASON.