Simile : Willow and Ginkgo by Eve Merriam

1. Simile: Willow and Ginkgo by Eve Merriam Page 584

2. Background Knowledge Willow and Ginkgo Trees Willow trees, with their graceful, drooping branches, generally grow near water. These deciduous trees have narrow, pointed leaves. Ginkgo ginkgo[ging-koh, jing-] trees can be traced to prehistoric times with stubby stems and fan shaped leaves, the deciduous ginkgo has a very different appearance from the willow. Ginkgo trees may be male or female. A nut with a foul-smelling seed coat grows from the female ginkgo.

3. Simile: Willow and Ginkgo The willow is like an etching. Fine-lined against the sky. The ginkgo is like a crude sketch, Hardly worth to be signed. (5) The willow’s music is like soprano. Delicate and thin, The ginkgo’s tune is like a chorus With everyone joining in. The willow is sleek as a velvet-nosed calf; (10) The ginkgo is leather as an old bull. The willow’s branches are like silken thread; The ginkgo’s like stubby rough wool. The willow is like a nymph with streaming hair; Wherever it grows, there is green and gold and fair. (15) The willow dips to the water, Protected and precious, like the king’s favorite daughter. The ginkgo forces its way through gray concrete; Ike a city child it grows up in the street. Thrust against eh metal sky, (20) Somehow it survives and even thrives. My eyes feast upon the willow, But by heart goes to the ginkgo.

4. Metaphor and Simile The willow is sleek as a velvet-nosed calf; (10) The ginkgo is leather as an old bull. The willow’s branches are like silken thread; The ginkgo’s like stubby rough wool. • What similes are used to describe the willow? • What similes describe the ginkgo?

5. Key Ideas: Words The willow is like an etching. Fine-lined against the sky. The ginkgo is like a crude sketch, Hardly worth to be signed. (5) The willow’s music is like soprano. Delicate and thin, The ginkgo’s tune is like a chorus With everyone joining in. The willow is sleek as a velvet-nosed calf; (10) The ginkgo is leather as an old bull. The willow’s branches are like silken thread; The ginkgo’s like stubby rough wool. The willow is like a nymph with streaming hair; Wherever it grows, there is green and gold and fair. (15) The willow dips to the water, Protected and precious, like the king’s favorite daughter. The ginkgo forces its way through gray concrete; Ike a city child it grows up in the street. Thrust against eh metal sky, (20) Somehow it survives and even thrives. My eyes feast upon the willow, But by heart goes to the ginkgo. Which words in this poem appeal to the sense of sound?

6. Your Turn • With a partner you will write your own simile poem comparing and contrasting two animals, places, or things.

7. Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins Page 586

8. Background Knowledge Billy Collins was born in 1941. Some of his famous quotes include: “Usually I try to create a hospitable tone at the beginning of a poem. Stepping from the title to the first lines is like stepping into a canoe. A lot of things can go wrong.” “One of the ridiculous aspects of being a poet is the huge gulf between how seriously we take ourselves and how generally we are ignored by everyone else.” For most of his career, Collins led a dual life as a professor and poet, teaching at the City University of New York and composing verse in his spare time. Collins published his first book of poetry, Pokerface, in 1977. Some interesting facts: In 1999, Collins received a six-figure advance from his publishing company for his next three books. This was the largest advance a publisher had ever offered for poetry. During his tenure as Poet Laureate from 2001–2003 (A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events ), Collins launched a program called “Poetry 180” to promote the enjoyment of poetry in America’s high schools. As part of this program, Collins developed a web site that enables students to hear or read a poem on each day of the school year. Collins also developed a poetry channel for an airline that combines poetry and jazz. He believes firmly that poetry should be brought out of the classroom and into public spaces.

9. Introduction to Poetry I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide or press an ear against its hive. I say drop a mouse into a poem and watch him probe his way out, or walk inside the poem's room and feel the walls for a light switch. I want them to waterski across the surface of a poem waving at the author's name on the shore. But all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it. They begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really means. Let’s Discuss in order to understand the poem’s message and speaker: CONNECT: The speaker asks that people do various things with a poem. What do you do with a poem when you read it? ANALYZE: What metaphor does the speaker introduce in lines 5-6? SYNTHESIZE: Think about the poems title. What job might the speaker have? Whom does the speaker want to approach poetry differently? CRITIQUE: Why do you think the poets chose to dives the stanzas the way they did?

10. Comprehension In order to show that you understand both poems write the following answers on a sheet of paper to hand in: • Recall: In “Simile: Willow and Ginkgo,: Which tree does the speaker think is more beautiful? • Recall: What does the speaker in “Introduction to Poetry” want readers to do on the surface of a poem? • Literary Analysis: Visualize: Select two examples (one from each poem) that were especially effective in helping you make visualizations. What specific words helped you “see” (visualize) images in your mind?

11. Comprehension • For each poem identify as many figurative comparisons as you can. Use a chart like the one shown, list what is being described and what it is being compared to. Then identify whether the comparison is a simile or a metaphor.

12. Literary Criticism Billy Collins has described his poetry as “reader-friendly, hospitable, congenial, welcoming.” Do you agree? Use details form the “Introduction to Poetry” to support your opinion.

13. Your Turn Write your own short poem describing what the experience of reading poetry is like for you. Include at least one metaphor and one simile.