Tovani Reading Activity

For the reading activity I chose to do "Tips for Reading a Poem" on page 122.

1. Read the poem all the way through, twice.

2. Think about any background knowledge that you have that will help you connect to the people, animals, or objects in the poem.

3. Try to make a picture in your head of what's happening in the poem.

(insert poem)

Woman Work

I've got the children to tend
The clothes to mend
The floor to mop
The food to shop
Then the chicken to fry
The baby to dry
I got company to feed
The garden to weed
I've got shirts to press
The tots to dress
The can to be cut
I gotta clean up this hut
Then see about the sick
And the cotton to pick.

Shine on me, sunshine
Rain on me, rain
Fall softly, dewdrops
And cool my brow again.

Storm, blow me from here
With your fiercest wind
Let me float across the sky
'Til I can rest again.

Fall gently, snowflakes
Cover me with white
Cold icy kisses and
Let me rest tonight.

Sun, rain, curving sky
Mountain, oceans, leaf and stone
Star shine, moon glow
You're all that I can call my own.

Maya Angelou

 

 

4. What do you think the poem is about?

 

I think the beginning part of this poem is about a woman who has a lot to get done. It's as if she is reading aloud a mental checklist of things she has to get done. The first part is very fast past rhythm and she uses couplet rhyming and musical devices: "tend, mend, mop, shop, fry, dry..". I think the second part is much calmer and slower because she is fantasizing about a fantasy world where she can relax. I think the second part is like her daydreaming about somewhere else where she wants to go. Also you can tell this is told from the point of view of an African American woman when she says "And the cotton to pick".
My background knowledge comes from knowing Maya Angelou is African American.