TOUCHSTONES 1 ‘The Eagle’ by Alfred, Lord Tennyson He clasps the crag with crooked hands; Close to the sun in lonely lands, Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.
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The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls; He watches from his mountain walls, And like a thunderbolt he falls.
READING
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1 Summarise the poem in six words. The words do not have to make a sentence.
2 What perspective is the poem written from? Explain how you know this.
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ACTIVITY
3 Go to your activity book (see page 65) to practise annotating this poem. 4 Using your inference skills (see page 83), what do you think a crag is? 5 If you were to edit this poem and replace the word ‘azure’, what word would you replace it with and why? 6 The poet uses a semi-colon twice in the poem. What is a semi-colon? Explain why you think the poet chose to use this punctuation?
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7 How do you think the poet wants you to feel about the eagle? How do you know this?
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8 What does the poet compare the eagle to in the last line of the poem? Is it an effective comparison? Explain why.
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9 Create a set of notes for this poem in your activity book (see page 66).
COMMUNICATING
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1 Watch a performance of the poem: edco.ie/7xrt
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2 An actor’s performance can change based on the tone they use and the purpose of their performance. Prepare your own dramatic performance of this poem. Begin by choosing a purpose and then match that to a suitable tone. Then perform the poem. You could choose from the purposes below or select your own. Purpose A voice-over for a… nature documentary
horror movie
superhero movie
You could choose from the tones below or select your own. Tones amazed and in awe
unsettling and cold
extremely enthusiastic
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