The Living Photograph: SPM English literature
Part One
Poem is not an easy subject to master or learn. It is challenging because a poem uses figurative language instead of simple or plain English. However, I can share with you some tips that I have used with my own students.
The first tip is you can never understand a poem if you fail to relate the poem to your own experiences or other's experiences. Poem is basically about feelings. If you don't try your best to feel every word and every sentence in the poem, you will never be able to understand the poem.
The second tip is you have to eat the poem bit by bit. You cannot swallow the poem. In other words, you have spend quality time to understand a poem. You have to be patient. You have to analyze the poem slowly. If you are too quick to judge, you will miss the messages that the poet is trying to tell you because every poem comes with meaningful messages.
Let us try with this poem entitled The Living Photograph by Jackie Kay
Part One
Let us study the title first.
"The Living Photograph"
Let us play with these questions.
What come to your mind when you look at the title?
What are the circumstances that op up in your mind you look at the title?
What if I change the title to "The Dead Photograph" ?
What if I change the title to "The Living Legend", "The Living Diary", The Living Actor" or "The Living Mother"?
In this title, the most important is the word "Living". Why is the word living so important? What does the word "living" mean in this poem?
What if I change the word "living' to the word "dying"?
Try to answer these questions first.
The next discussion will written in the next article.
Related blogs/websites about this poem"
Click here: more notes on the living photograph
