A - LINGUISTIC APPROACH PDF

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A. LINGUISTIC APPROACH Who is the speaker in the poem, and what's the speaker's tone? Explain your answer by stating the evidence. Sumheir Hammad, the poet herself is the speaker in the poem and her tone is serious and vibrant. From the line “ I will not lend my soul nor my bones to your war drum ” ...

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A. LINGUISTIC APPROACH 1. Who is the speaker in the poem, and what's the speaker's tone? Explain your answer by stating the evidence. Sumheir Hammad, the poet herself is the speaker in the poem and her tone is serious and vibrant. From the line “I will not lend my soul nor my bones to your war drum ” the poet pertains to herself, defying what her culture may expect her to become. The speaker discusses how she will not give up her soul or life to something that takes it away from other people. 2. The poet uses a lot of imagery that makes the reader visualize what's going on. Aside from imagery, what are the other elements used to achieve the purpose of the poem? State at least two, and explain by stating the evidence. From the first lines of the poem " I will not dance to your war drum " the poet uses “war drum” as a metaphor pertaining to war, she also uses personification giving it human sense/characteristics. Repetition is also evident with the line "I will not dance to your war drum " to emphasize the strength of the meaning of that line. B. BIOGRAPHICAL APPROACH 3. What evident influences in the writer's life does the poem reflect? From the line “I will not pop spin break for you.” The poet’s American life is evident, influenced by Brooklyn's vibrant hip-hop scene. She is saying that she will not create a beat or do something a certain way for someone. Also from the lines “Life is a right not collateral or casual. I will not forget where I come from.” It shows that the poet values her life and rights, as life cannot come back once it is gone, it must not be taken lightly. She would not forget where she came from; where she acquired a sense of loss and knowledge that life can’t always be secured. 4. The poem's title is What I Will, but it actually expresses what the poet "will not do". Why is this so? And what essentially she will not do?

The poem does indeed express what the poet will not do for the people in her culture that expects her to, she will not partake in any kind of warm but instead what she will do is fight, promote freedom, demand justice and encourage peace as she has the will to do so. The poet will not give in and “dance to bombs” just because everyone else is, she will not do what it is expected from her as it results the loss of the lives of others. C. SOCIOCULTURAL APPROACH 5. What does the poem reveal about how innocent people suffer from the effects of war? “I know intimately that skin you are hitting. It was alive once hunted stolen stretched.” The poem expresses that numerous lives of innocent people have been stolen from them, being cruelly murdered and mistreated. The war has resulted genocide, a massacre, which led people to migrate to other places like the poet’s family or stay and experience the deadly effects of war. 6. What changes do you think the writer would like to make in society? Explain your answer by stating the evidence. The poet would like to make a change against repression and militarism. “I will craft my own drum. Gather my beloved near and our chanting will be dancing.” The poet is determined to create a voice and fight for the right and life of the people, emphasize that war and violence should not be the way for when it continues, more lives would be gone to waste. D. Have you watched Hammad's performance of “What I Will” at TEDWomen 2010? How the performance helped you in understanding and appreciating the text? It helped me understand and appreciate the poem more because I felt the emotion in the poet’s voice, the strength and power that her words hold. Her performance is inspiring and would greatly influence people of all backgrounds to think for themselves, value their own lives, and stop the war between everyone....