Response to Poetry

Response to Poetry:

Respond to the Poem "Forgotten Language" by Shel Silverstein by answering the following questions:

1. What is it that the speaker can no longer do?

2. Do you think the speaker enjoyed knowing the secret language? How do you know?

3. "How did it go?" What do you think?

Forgotten Language by Shel Silverstein

Once I spoke the language of the flowers,
Once I understood each word the caterpillar said,
Once I smiled in secret at the gossip of the starlings,
And shared a conversation with the housefly
in my bed.
Once I heard and answered all the questions
of the crickets,
And joined the crying of each falling dying
flake of snow,
Once I spoke the language of the flowers. . . .
How did it go?
How did it go?

Respond to the Poem "One Inch Tall" by Shel Silverstein by answering the following questions:

1. What examples does the speaker give of what it's like to be one inch tall?

2. What do we learn about the speaker at the end of the poem? What is interesting about his or her perspective?

3. Write your own version of "one Inch Tall."

One Inch Tall by Shel Silverstein

If you were only one inch tall, you'd ride a worm to school.
The teardrop of a crying ant would be your swimming pool.
A crumb of cake would be a feast
And last you seven days at least,
A flea would be a frightening beast
If you were one inch tall.

If you were only one inch tall, you'd walk beneath the door,
And it would take about a month to get down to the store.
A bit of fluff would be your bed,
You'd swing upon a spider's thread,
And wear a thimble on your head
If you were one inch tall.

You'd surf across the kitchen sink upon a stick of gum.
You couldn't hug your mama, you'd just have to hug her thumb.
You'd run from people's feet in fright,
To move a pen would take all night,
(This poem took fourteen years to write--
'Cause I'm just one inch tall).