An aside.
This image reminds me of an attic record shop in Ormskirk where I used to buy records every week with my Saturday job money and first saw this memorable double gate cover sleeve to Pink Floyd’s now legendary Dark Side of the Moon.
As I recall, my dad bought the album and I kept playing it for days, staring at the prism and imagining floating up to heaven as listened to The Great Gig in the Sky…
Something about the way the light split into all these wonderful colours seemed magical and exciting.
This excitement is conjured by the sense of wonder we feel when the first ‘light’ becomes many!
A rainbow!
Miraculous perception!
Thus One initial/first impression expands into many different forms of light…
But now let’s see how prisms can help us understand texts and even understand ourselves too.
Let’s try reading prismatically!
So here we are reading our AQA Anthology poem, ‘ Give’ by Simon Armitage.
Read it aloud or certainly hear it in your head. We are being talked too after all!
Give
Simon Armitage
Of all the public places, dear
to make a scene, I’ve chosen here.
Of all the doorways in the world
to choose to sleep, I’ve chosen yours.
I’m on the street, under the stars.
For coppers I can dance or sing.
For silver-swallow swords, eat fire.
For gold-escape from locks and chains.
It’s not as if I’m holding out
for frankincense or myrrh, just change.
You give me tea. That’s big of you.
I’m on my knees. I beg of you.
Reading Prismatically
- How was that?
- What did you notice and pay attention to?
- Repeat the reading.
Now Ask yourself these THREE QUESTIONS:
1) What am I noticing about this poem?
2) Where am I noticing this ?
3) How am I noticing this?
All these questions are about ATTENTION.
And if we apply them to ourselves as well as the poem we get some very interesting feedback.
Remember we are reading a text or a person but we are also being READ too!
We all pay attention to ‘things’ because of where and who we are.
This is a process that can be wonderful as we may be in a curious frame of mind.
Or we may notice very little. For a 1001 reasons!
Do you hear the voice of the speaker? Is his tone ironic? Slightly ‘camp’ or theatrical perhaps?
Is he somehow performing himself?
So when he asks for money it is as if both he and the audience are subscribing to a certain series of expectations?
The reference to the Three Wise Men is revealing too?
What/who is charitable here?
As we read into the poem the different threads of interest become clearer.
Our initial reading expands as we begin to shed more light on our understanding.
And like a prism, be aware that some light is invisible.
So what may be important may be implied at a deeper level than the simple straightforward interpretation.
As soon as an example of the prismatic thinking image becomes available I will reveal it on this blog.
It will help understand any text.
Even our own behaviour as we interact with others.
