Reflection of “Drowning”

To begin our Shakespeare unit, Mrs. Jamison had the class use phrases and words from Shakespeare’s writings, mainly from the Tempest, to create poems about certain pictures that we were shown. Most of the pictures included water and tragedy, which I realized were actually of the Tempest after finishing the story. Personally, I chose a picture of an old man tied to the floor of the ocean while being viewed by two mermaids/sirens. After seeing the word bank for what phrases and words we could use, I decided on that one because I had seen so many negative words and phrases about drowning and being kept in the ocean. It was easy and fun to do, and although we had to have 20 lines, it was very nice to be able to learn what Shakespeare meant with his words in an opening to a huge unit.

Although none of these words were my own, I believe I understood all of what I used in my poem. Through doing this, I found I could “determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases” (ELAGSE9-10L4), which was extremely helpful while reading Shakespeare. Most of the text in Shakespeare is hard to understand and read as he uses ornaments and fancy words to say things that only take about one sentence to say. Another standard of education that I found I was able to master in this unit, and specifically with this poem, was ELAGSE9-10L3, which was to “apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts...to comprehend more fully when reading or listening”. It was mainly due to these standards, and most other standards in the language section of the Standards of Excellence, that helped me most in reading Shakespeare.