Week Eight
Part One: Reflection
Write a strong TEA paragraph in which you summarize and compare how all three authors use an extended metaphor to write about life or growing up.
Extended metaphors can be seen in the three poems, "The Writer" by Richard Wilbur, "Packing for the Future:Instructions" by Lorna Crozier and "Miracle" by Harry Thurston with the general theme of life and growing up. In "The Writer" the author used the extended metaphor to explain his daughter as a writer and compares her to the bird that was trapped in the room years ago. At the end of the poem he says "It is always a matter, my darling, / Of life or death," summing up his comparison by showing that his daughter and the bird were both alike in the fact that the writer needed the writing to survive, it was a passion. The bird simply needed to escape the room and survive in its true environment. Crozier's poem uses the extended metaphor by taking a simple object to pack and applying it to life and the journey a person has in their life. You can see this when Crozier says "Take the thickest socks. / Wherever you're going / you'll have to walk." In Harry Thurston's poem, "Miracle", he uses the extended metaphor in the title and shows through the simple actions of a child how quickly life moves, as people grow up and time goes on. Although all three authors use an extended metaphor to get their idea across, they use it in different forms.
Part Two: Looking Ahead
Find out something about Sylvia Plath's life and death. Identify areas where there is overlap with "Daddy." Are the details always accurate? Why would an author choose to write her life in this way? Jeanette Winterson wrote: "There is no autobiography; there is only art and lies." Do you think Plath would agree with her?
Sylvia Plath was an American poet and began her writing career at the age of eight, shortly after the death of her father. She continued her studies at Smith College and later Newnham College. In 1953, Plath attempted suicide the first time and more attempts would follow until her death in 1963. Her fathers death and failed marriage no doubt contributed to her unhappiness and eventual death.
Write a strong TEA paragraph in which you summarize and compare how all three authors use an extended metaphor to write about life or growing up.
Extended metaphors can be seen in the three poems, "The Writer" by Richard Wilbur, "Packing for the Future:Instructions" by Lorna Crozier and "Miracle" by Harry Thurston with the general theme of life and growing up. In "The Writer" the author used the extended metaphor to explain his daughter as a writer and compares her to the bird that was trapped in the room years ago. At the end of the poem he says "It is always a matter, my darling, / Of life or death," summing up his comparison by showing that his daughter and the bird were both alike in the fact that the writer needed the writing to survive, it was a passion. The bird simply needed to escape the room and survive in its true environment. Crozier's poem uses the extended metaphor by taking a simple object to pack and applying it to life and the journey a person has in their life. You can see this when Crozier says "Take the thickest socks. / Wherever you're going / you'll have to walk." In Harry Thurston's poem, "Miracle", he uses the extended metaphor in the title and shows through the simple actions of a child how quickly life moves, as people grow up and time goes on. Although all three authors use an extended metaphor to get their idea across, they use it in different forms.
Part Two: Looking Ahead
Find out something about Sylvia Plath's life and death. Identify areas where there is overlap with "Daddy." Are the details always accurate? Why would an author choose to write her life in this way? Jeanette Winterson wrote: "There is no autobiography; there is only art and lies." Do you think Plath would agree with her?
Sylvia Plath was an American poet and began her writing career at the age of eight, shortly after the death of her father. She continued her studies at Smith College and later Newnham College. In 1953, Plath attempted suicide the first time and more attempts would follow until her death in 1963. Her fathers death and failed marriage no doubt contributed to her unhappiness and eventual death.