As part of the bridge between the paintings and the novel, I’ve decide to use the short poem, “Oh Captain, My Captain” written by Walt Whitman because of its use of extended metaphor. For my purposes, the extended metaphor is an intermediary step I have chosen to use to transition my students from the visual arts to the literary arts. It is my hope that they will see that this selection has multiple layers of meaning, preparing them to see that
Animal Farm
is yet a longer literary version called allegory. This particular poem was also chosen because the class does an extensive study of slavery, the Civil War, and Lincoln in their social studies class. I will present them with a hard copy of this poem so that they can work at their own pace to complete the graphic organizer below. Adding to our word wall, I will introduce the concept of extended metaphor, through which two people, places, or things are compared at some length without the use of like or as.
After asking students to read the poem silently as well as to listen to it read aloud with the whole class, I will ask them to record, on a two column graphic organizer, what they envisioned Whitman was trying to say. (It is helpful to include an example of how the organizer should be completed)
Typical answers might include the fact the Captain led the ship through dangerous waters and how strong he was to be able to do so, how upset the speaker was that the man he considered as his father was now dead, how proud everyone was of the returning hero, and how he looked pale and still at death. As a refresher of their studies of the Civil War period, students will then be presented with a brief history of Lincoln’s time, informing them that Whitman was a contemporary of Lincoln.With this, they should be able to return to the poem and see that it is actually an extended metaphor written as a tribute to Lincoln. The second column of their organizer could then be filled in with the understanding that Lincoln was, in fact, the Captain. This one-day exercise should lead me nicely to the exploration of the different critical approaches to literature and also the introduction of allegory.