Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Student Worksheet
Allusion: A reference to someone or something that is known from
history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or some other branch of culture.
SojournerTruth's poem is filled with allusions. Identify what the author refers to in lines:
Line I: Who is the uman"to which the author refers?
Line 6: What is the author alluding to, uor over mud puddles"?
Line I 0: What does the author mean, ul have plowed and planted"?
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Line 12: Explain the line, uAnd no man could head me."
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Line 24: Who is the ulittle man in black, to which the author refers?
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Line 30, 3 I & 32: To what other famous moment is the author alluding?
Line 33 & 34: What ucall to action" is the author putting forth for all women to embrace if the
world is to be turned ..right side up again"?
What is your impression of the author of this poem after exploring some of the allusions in her
poem ..Ain't I a Woman?"
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Some will grow to be old women, some will die bef(ne they born,
They'll be mothers and lovers who inspire and make songs,
But me, my skin is brown and my manner is tough,
Like the love I give my babies when the rainbow's enufi:
I aint got time to lie, my life has been much too rough,
Still running with bare feet, I aint got nothin' but my soul,
Freedom is the ultimate goal,
Life and death is small on the whole, in many ways
I'm awfully bitter these days
Because the only parents God gave me, they were slaves,
And it crippled me, I got the destiny of a casualty,
And I live through my babies and I change my reality
Maybe one day I'll ride back to Georgia on a train,
Folks 'round there call me Peaches, I guess that's my name.
Student Worksheet
Allusion: A reference to someone or something that is known from
history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or some other branch of culture.
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line 15: What is the poet referring to in the line, "when the rainbow's enutf'?
2. Do you feel that the work of contemporary Hip-Hop poets in general get the positive
recognition they deserve? Why or why not?
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9/10 W&O 1.3, 1.4; LRA 3.7,11/12 W&O 1.1, 1.2; W 2.2
This worksheet.
See below.
Loot
School
Food
Your neighborhood
Yourself
Your friends
Basketball
Kissing
Sleep
Work
Cars
Music
I use
_______ as a slang name for
(example: loot= money)
I usc
___ __ _ __ as a slang name for
(example: Echo Park= my neighborhood)
I use
as a slang name for __ _
(example: gran= grandmother)
I usc ____________ as a slang name for ____________
(example: ride = car)
Now take the four slang names from the list (i.e., you have just crafted a list of personal
allusions) and use them to construct a four-line, rhyming poem, using your own voice.
For example:
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