Teaching poetry analysis through rap: Eminem - Love the way you lie: language and structure

WHAT CAN EMINEM TEACH US ABOUT LANGUAGE AND STRUCTURE IN POETIC TEXTS?

GRADE 3: pupils will make some detailed comments on how language is used in the text. (some analysis)

GRADE 4: pupils will explore the language in a detailed and precise way. (some detailed analysis)

GRADE 5: pupils will show a clear understanding of how the writer controls language in order to achieve the purpose of the text. (competent detailed analysis)

Pupils demonstrate a sustained and developed understanding of how language and techniques are used in the text. GRADE 5

Pupils will be able to identify various language features and techniques with some relevant explanation. GRADE 3

Pupils demonstrate a detailed understanding of how language and techniques are used in the text (with relevant terminology). GRADE 4

Learning Objectives: Explain suggested meaning in the text. Explain and comment on the writer’s use of language and literary techniques.

IN WHAT WAYS IS POETRY DIFFERENT

TO RAP?

EMINEM – LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE





Context Title What is it about?

LanguageStructure

Mes

sage/

feel

ing

1.

2.

2.

3.

4.

5.

UNDERSTANDING POETRY





Love the Way You Lie

TITLE – WHAT COULD THE TITLE SUGGEST ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP IN THE POEM?





1. Dysfunctional

A relationship that is not working normally and is bad for the people in it.

2. Love-hate

When people in a relationship keep switching from liking to disliking each other, then back again.

3. Mutually destructive

A relationship that is hurting or destroying both the people in it.

WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP ABOUT?: which of the three words/phrases in the list best describes the relationship in

the poem?





1. Repetition

2. Simile

3. Violent/Negative

language

4. Sibilance

LANGUAGE: match each language feature with its definition

A. Using /s/ sounds in a series of words

B. Words suggesting something harmful or bad

C. Comparing one thing with another using ‘as’ or ‘like’

D. Repeating words or phrases

Pupils demonstrate a sustained and developed understanding of how language and techniques are used in the text. GRADE B

Pupils will be able to identify various language features and techniques with some relevant explanation. GRADE D

Pupils demonstrate a detailed understanding of how language and techniques are used in the text (with relevant terminology). GRADE C


Love the way you lie (extract) - Eminem

Love the way you lie (extract) by Eminem

[Eminem's Part]

It's morning, you wake, a sunray hits your face

Smeared make-up as we lay in the wake of destruction

Hush baby, speak softly, tell me you're awful sorry

That you pushed me into the coffee table last night

So I can push you off me.

Try and touch me so I can scream at you not to touch me

Run out the room and I'll follow you like a lost puppy

Baby, without you, I'm nothing, I'm so lost, hug me

Then tell me how ugly I am, but that you'll always love me

Then after that, shove me, in the aftermath of the

Destructive path that we're on, two psychopaths but we

Know that no matter how many knives we put in each other's backs

That we have each other's backs, 'cause we're that lucky.

Draw arrows to label: Repetition

Draw arrows to label:Violent or Negative language

Draw arrows to label:

a Simile

Draw arrows to label:

Sibilance

1. Is there rhyme at the ends of the lines?

2. Is the rhyme regular? (Does it form a pattern?)

3.Are there any other techniques (repeating patterns in the words) that link lines or parts of lines together?

4.What words or phrases does the pattern emphasise?

(emphasise means ‘make stand out’)

STRUCTURE: what details or features in the poem are used to link it together?





STRUCTURE – what are the different techniques used in the colour code?

Love the way you lie (extract) by Eminem

[Eminem's Part]

It's morning, you wake, a sunray hits your face

Smeared make-up as we lay in the wake of destruction

Hush baby, speak softly, tell me you're awful sorry

That you pushed me into the coffee table last night

So I can push you off me.

Try and touch me so I can scream at you not to touch me

Run out the room and I'll follow you like a lost puppy

Baby, without you, I'm nothing, I'm so lost, hug me

Then tell me how ugly I am, but that you'll always love me

Then after that, shove me, in the aftermath of the

Destructive path that we're on, two psychopaths but we

Know that no matter how many knives we put in each other's backs

That we have each other's backs, 'cause we're that lucky.

Techniques

BLUE =

RED =

GREEN =

FEELINGS AND MESSAGE ‘follow you like a lost puppy’ ‘two psychopaths’

1. What does this description suggest about how the character feels?

.

.

2. What does this description suggest about the characters and how they treat each other?

.

.





Questions on the text Love the Way You Lie - EminemWhat background story is suggested by the poem?

What does the poem’s title suggest about the relationship?

What do the language features add to the poem?

What are the main features in the structure of the poem, and what do they add to the meaning?

What kinds of emotions are expressed in the poem, and what do they tell the reader about the people in the relationship?

Th is sugge s ts…because

OR POINT

QUOTE

EXPLAIN WHAT THE QUOTE TELLS US.

ADD A SECOND COMMENT THAT IS

LINKED WITH THE POINT OR QUOTE.

1. 2.

3.

4.

5.

FIVE STEPS TO WRITING A PERFECT PARAGRAPH

How does Eminem present the man in the poem?(1) The man in the poem is presented as being confused and mixed up. (2) This is evident where it says, ‘scream at you not to touch me’ and ‘follow you like a lost puppy’ (3) Eminem uses quite negative and violent language: ‘scream’ and contrasts this with the emotive simile: ‘like a lost puppy’. (4) This suggests that the man is torn between two very different kinds of feelings towards the woman. (5) This contrasting description intrigues the audience, because we partly sympathise with the man, but we also want to find out why he has such a conflicted attachment to the woman.

EXEMPLAR PARAGRAPH

Assessment Question

How does Eminem use language techniques and structure in the poem to make different parts of the couple’s relationship stand out?

Assessment Paragraph 1: language paragraph

Step 1: Choose two adjectives to describe the way that the couple’s relationship is presented in the poem. Write the adjectives into a sentence that describes the relationship.

Step 2: Choose two quotes from the text that contain a language technique, and also support the point that you made in step 1. Write a sentence that includes the two quotes.

Step 3: Write a sentence that gives details of the language techniques in your two quotes.

Step 4: Write a sentence explaining what the quotes suggest about the relationship (Don’t use the adjectives that you used in step 1, you have to find other words to explain them.)

Step 5: Write a sentence explaining how the language techniques add impact or detail to the description of the couple.

Assessment Paragraph 2: structure paragraph

Step 1: Write a sentence explaining which structure techniques are used in the poem.

Step 2: Choose two quotes from the text that contain an example of two of the structure techniques (don’t use any of the same quotes used in paragraph 1), Write a sentence that includes the two quotes.

Step 3: Write a sentence that gives details of how the structure techniques in your quotes make certain details about the relationship stand out.

Step 4: Write a sentence explaining what the quotes suggest about the relationship (Don’t say the same things that you wrote in the first paragraph).

Step 5: Write a sentence explaining why you think Eminem chose to use a variety of structure techniques and what they add to the poem.

WHAT CAN EMINEM TEACH US ABOUT LANGUAGE AND STRUCTURE IN POETIC TEXTS?

How have you done? Read through your own or someone else’s paragraph on the language and decide which level you would give to your/their analysis.

GRADE 3: pupils will make some detailed comments on how language is used in the text (some analysis)

GRADE 4: pupils will explore the language in a detailed and precise way(some detailed analysis)

GRADE 5: pupils will show a clear understanding of how the writer controls language in order to achieve the purpose of the text (competent detailed analysis)





Now write your own poem, rap or song that uses the techniques that we have been studying. Your writing can be on any topic as long as it isn’t about sex, violence, and has

no swearing in it.

You will get a point for each of the different techniques that you use:oOnomatopoeiaoContrastoMetaphoroSimileoSymbolismoRepetitionosibilance





Education

Teaching poetry analysis through rap: Eminem - Love the way you lie: language and structure