Poem Analysis - Unfamiliar text practice.

 Today we've read the poem "Sad Joke On A Marae" by Apirana Taylor and coming with an analysis at the end. Link

Write the following questions, with their answers, in your English book:

• What senses does the poet mainly appeal to?

- Sight and sound

• Which images are most powerful or striking?

- The carvings, the teku teku rage.

• Which sounds are particularly memorable?

- The teku teku sound

• Which words do you find most striking/vivid/disturbing/moving?

- The tongue being ripped out,

• What are your first impressions of the speaker of the poem (if there is one)?

 -  Angry about not being able to remember urban Maori because of the decline of the Maori language back then.

1. Why do you think the Māori language is used in this poem? - Emphasizing that it's all he knows. Even lots of Maori people have lost their urban language but there's still hope.
2. Is this a rhyming poem, or a free verse poem? Why do you think that is? - Free verse because the man is just a simple man.
3. Who are:”Kupe Paikea Te KootiRewi and Te Rauparaha”? - They're all famous figures. 
4. In the third stanza, the poem uses a pepeha style. What is a pepeha, and why would it be important in this poem. It's to make sure that he knows more about his culture.

Find examples of the following techniques and explain why they have been included:

1. metaphor - I saw them, grim death and wooden ghosts. That something was gone.
2. personification - Above me, the Teko Teko raged. He ripped his tongue from his mouth. - Teku teku was disappointed because he doesn't really know the Maori language.
3. strong verbs - Teku teku raged, more impact.
4. the first-person pronoun - I, to show that this poem was about himself. 
5. repetition -Tihei Mauriora, to emphasise the knowledge he holds towards his urban language.

Author's purpose: The tragedy of a young Maori who can't speak his urban language and wants to learn more.