Starter quiz
- Match each method to its definition ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou').
- commands⇔orders ✓
- repetition⇔the purposeful recurrence of a word or phrase ✓
- stanza⇔a group of lines in a poem ✓
- sentence structure⇔the order of all the parts of a sentence ✓
- Why might someone use an exclamation mark in their poem? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')
- to show they are asking a rhetorical question
- to express anger, passion or surprise ✓
- to express excitement ✓
- to show the poem is finished
- to intrigue the reader
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- Which sentences are commands? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')
- Please let me sit down.
- I don't want to stand up.
- Pass me that walking stick. ✓
- Don't make assumptions about me. ✓
- I want to sit quietly.
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- Which of these sentences are similes? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')
- I really like sitting quietly as I am introverted.
- My legs creaked like a squeaky door hinge. ✓
- My stomach rumbled like a gently bubbling volcano. ✓
- My feelings boiled inside me, a bubbling kettle of emotions.
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- Maya Angelou's third collection of poetry was called 'And Still I ______' ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou').
- 'Rise' ✓
- Which of these sentences use the word defiant (or its forms) accurately? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')
- My teacher told me to sit down, but I defied her and went outside. ✓
- I defiant, so I often don't do what I'm told.
- Many of Angelou's poems have a defiantly voice.
- I did what I was told because I love being defiant.
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Exit quiz
- Maya Angelou wrote a poem called 'On ______'. ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')
- 'Aging' ✓
- How old was Angelou when 'On Aging' was first published? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')
- 28
- 50 ✓
- 78
- 83
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- Which word means critical, often in a humorous way? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')
- depreciating
- self-departing
- self-deplorable
- self-deprecating ✓
- deposing
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- In 'On Aging', how does the speaker describe herself at the start of the poem? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')
- as "phenomenal"
- as a "sack" ✓
- as "lonely"
- as "self-deprecating"
- as "chattering"
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- In 'On Aging', how does the speaker describe herself at the end of the poem? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')
- as "sympathetic"
- as a "chattering"
- as "lonely"
- as "lucky" ✓
- as "lazy"
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- 'On Aging' was published in 1978 in Maya Angelou's collection called 'And Still I Rise'. What other poems were published in this collection? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')
- 'Woman Work' ✓
- 'Equality'
- 'Phenomenal Woman' ✓
- 'Caged Bird'
- 'Still I Rise' ✓
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Worksheet
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Presentation
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Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- 'On Aging' was first published in Maya Angelou's 1978 collection of poems, 'And Still I Rise'.
- In 'On Aging', the speaker admits that she has many of the stereotypical signs of aging in a self-deprecating way.
- Although the speaker admits to getting older, she rejects sympathy and help.
- Angelou's use of commands and her sentence structures help create a defiant voice.
- Arguably, the poem has a wider message about not judging others by their age or appearance.
Common misconception
The speaker in 'On Aging' doesn't think aging affects you.
The speaker lists some of the things that happen to you physically when you get older - she faces the reality. However, what she does want to change are people's reactions and perceptions of what these changes mean.
Keywords
Stereotype - a simple, general view of a particular category of people
Defiant - boldly disobedient
Self-deprecating - critical of yourself, often using humour
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