“The Elder’s Drum” by Alberta writer Molly Chisaakay. Complete/Answer the questions below.
In this poem, the speaker weaves together images of her childhood—songs, drums, and her grandfather, who was a spiritual leader—to help the reader connect with the rituals and heritage of her people, the Dene Nation.
1. TPCASTT the poem. Fill in this graphic organizer as you go through this assignment. Submit this activity with your response to the next questions. If you need to review literary terms, you can check out the Class Handouts folder at the top of the course or the Glossary of Literary Terms under Course Resources.
2. How does Chisaakay feel about the rituals and heritage of her people, the Dene Nation? How do you know? Provide evidence from the poem.
3. Figurative language like imagery uses words that stimulate the reader's imagination by appealing to the senses. These help to make a literary work powerful. Instead of using ordinary language that readers may take for granted, the writer chooses words that make a vivid impression on our senses of sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. They need not be long or obscure in meaning. They should, however, be striking. Create a table to list the vivid verbs, adjectives, and nouns in Molly Chisaakay’s poem ‘”The Elder’s Drum” that appeal to the senses. Identify which of the 5 senses is being awakened with each word choice.
4. a) Listen to the audio recording of this poem below.
b) Then click here to read the poem in its printed format.
5. After you have read the poem, try listening to the audio again.
How did your second listen benefit from your on-the-page reading?
Which did you find easiest or most comfortable?
Consider how listening to a poem being read aloud is different from reading it silently.
Write a personal response of approximately 200 words that addresses your reactions to the oral presentation and to the written presentation. What made the experience different or similar for you? Reflect on the effect of either listening to or reading a poem. In a response, you go beyond "I like it," or "It's different," and give a thoughtful reaction to a piece of literature and the question. A personal response to literature is the reader's answer to the question: "What are my thoughts and feelings about the two different presentations of this poem? How do I connect to the poem and the question?"
