Instruction
Mother to Son
BY LANGSTON HUGHES
Well, son, I’ll tell you:
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.
But all the time
I’se been a-climbin’ on,
And reachin’ landin’s,
And turnin’ corners,
And sometimes goin’ in the dark
Where there ain’t been no light.
So boy, don’t you turn back.
Don’t you set down on the steps
’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.
Don’t you fall now—
For I’se still goin’, honey,
I’se still climbin’,
And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
Two Videos / Langston Hughes (Read by Viola Davis)
https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=langston+hughes+mother+to+son+read+by+viola+davis+youtube#id=1&vid=d02cf5481974169b5ce074af32eb7a0a&action=click
(Read by Langston Hughes)
https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=langston+hughes+mother+to+son+read+by+viola+davis+youtube#id=2&vid=4e7cf41d71eb996b75e4f376ee32fee7&action=view
If We Must Die
BY CLAUDE MCKAY
If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursèd lot.
If we must die, O let us nobly die,
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!
O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!
Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!
Two Video Clips / Claude McKay’s “If We Must Die” below. Please view before class. The 2nd video is in McKay’s own voice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaGTw8xRkyQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_xpilVoWuo
Write one page for the poem by Langston Hughes
Discuss the difference between reading poetry and listening to poetry being read on video or by authors. Students should listen for any inflections/modulations in readers’ voices to help understand and write about the poems.
Write one page for the Langston Hughes poem, highlighting the differences between the poem and the video clip if any.
Write one page for the Claude McKay poem, highlighting the differences between the poem and the video clip if any.
Then write another page explaining how these two poems may, or may not, be related to each other. Integrate the citations you reference into your answer and emphasize any literary devices that the author has used.
MLA FORMAT. SHOULD BE A TOTAL OF 3 PAGES.Please make sure the sources match ( the video can be a source as well )