Post on 31-May-2020
transcript
Hyena.notebook
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April 08, 2014
Feb 609:16
HYENA
This poem, like Slate and Winter, deals with nature, or the natural environment.
Getting in Before you read the poem, think about these questions:
1. What is your favourite animal? What do you like about it?
2. Which animals do you find frightening? Why do you feel this way about them?
3. Are there any animals you find disturbing or disgusting? Why do you feel this way about them?
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April 08, 2014
Feb 709:25
Narrator
Describe the narrator's
Strengths
Appearance
Surroundings
Food
Sound
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April 08, 2014
Feb 709:38
Setting
Describe the setting's
appearance
comfort
heat
resources
inhabitants
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April 08, 2014
Feb 709:41
Dramatic monologue
All those uses of the word ‘I’ help us to realise that ‘Hyena’ is a dramatic monologue narrated in first person. The word monologue tells us that there is only one person – or rather, in this case, one hyena talking. The speaker carries on uninterrupted, rather than taking part in a conversation. The word dramatic means that the speaker is not on his own and talking to himself, but that someone else is supposed to be there listening.
We are never meant to think that the speaker in a dramatic monologue is the voice of the poet. The speaker is a distinct character that the author has invented. This kind of character is sometimes called a persona. The difference between an author and his persona is like the difference between an actor and his character.
One feature of dramatic monologues is that their speakers often let slip some of their nastier or more unpleasant thoughts, habits or actions.
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April 08, 2014
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Poem of Address
Who is the hyena speaking to?
Find evidence to support your answer.
In this poem the hyena is talking directly to us, the readers. We know this from the very first line,
‘I am waiting for you.’
However he’s going a little bit further too. It is as if we, the readers, are standing in for and representing the whole of humanity. So, by talking to us, the hyena can say what he wants to say to all humans, and can show what he thinks of all humans. You may have noticed already that he does not
seem to have a very high opinion of us.
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• Many cultures have historically viewed the hyena in a bad light. Negative associations have generally stemmed from hyenas' tendency to scavenge graves for food. They are one of the few creatures naturally suited for this, due to their ability to devour and digest every part of a carcass, including bone. As such, many associate hyenas with gluttony, uncleanliness and cowardice.
• The haunting laughterlike calls of the Spotted Hyena inspired the idea in local cultures that they could imitate human voices and call their victims by name. Hyenas are also associated with divination and sometimes thought of as tools of demons and witches. In African folklore, witches and sorcerers are thought to ride hyenas or even turn into them.
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April 08, 2014
Feb 709:46
Stanza One
I am waiting for you.
I have been travelling all morning through the bush
and not eaten.
I am lying at the edge of the bush
on a dusty path that leads from the burntout kraal. 5
I am panting, it is midday, I found no waterhole.
I am very fierce without food and although my eyes
are screwed to slits against the sun
you must believe I am prepared to spring.
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April 08, 2014
Feb 709:49
Stanza Two
There are three similes in this stanza. (Remember, a simile is when one thing is compared to another using the word like or the word as.)
Find the three similes and write them down
What do all these similes have in common?
What do you think of me? 10
I have a rough coat like Africa.
I am crafty with dark spots
like the bushtufted plains of Africa.
I sprawl as a shaggy bundle of gathered energy
like Africa sprawling in its waters. 15
I trot, I lope, I slaver, I am a ranger.
I hunch my shoulders. I eat the dead.
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April 08, 2014
Feb 710:03
Stanza Three
‘veldt’ = an area of open grassland.
Do you like my song?
When the moon pours hard and cold on the veldt
I sing, and I am the slave of darkness. 20
Over the stone walls and the mud walls and the ruined places
and the owls, the moonlight falls.
I sniff a broken drum. I bristle. My pelt is silver.
I howl my song to the moon up it goes.
Would you meet me there in the waste places? 25
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April 08, 2014
Feb 710:03
Stanza Four
It is said I am a good match
for a dead lion. I put my muzzle
at his golden flanks, and tear. He
Is my golden supper, but my tastes are easy.
I have a crowd of fangs, and I use them. 30
Oh and my tongue do you like me
When it comes lolling out over my jaw
very long, and I am laughing?
I am not laughing.
But I am not snarling either, only 35
panting in the sun, showing you
what I grip
carrion with.
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April 08, 2014
Feb 710:13
Stanza Five
I am waiting
for the foot to slide, 40
for the heart to seize,
for the leaping sinews to go slack,
for the fight to the death to be fought to the death,
for a glazing eye and a rumour of blood.
I am crouching in my dry shadows 45
till you are ready for me.
My place is to pick you clean
and leave your bones to the wind.
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April 08, 2014
Feb 710:30
Interpretation One
Some readers think that the hyena himself has delusions of grandeur.
He thinks he is an awesome beast, and something to be terrified of. He is a legend in his own mind.
However, he is only fierce when his enemy is dead.
The poem finally condemns the hyena for thinking he’s wonderful when he’s just a cowardly scavenger
Interpretation Two
Some readers think the poem warns us humans not to have delusions of grandeur.
The hyena is there to remind us that in the end we’ll all be dead, and all our achievements come to an end.
His references to human violence when he mentions the burnt out kraal warn us not to have too high an opinion of ourselves because humans are basically destructive and violent.
The poem finally condemns us for thinking we are the pinnacle of evolution when we’re just vicious and violent.
Interpretation Two
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April 08, 2014
Feb 710:33
1. Using at least two quotations from the poem to support what you say, write a paragraph to explain how the hyena comes across as an unnerving character, a character who unsettles or disturbs us.
2. Using at least two quotations to support what you say, write a paragraph to explain how the hyena comes across as a figure of death.
3. Now work with a partner if you can. Try to prove, again using at least two quotations from the poem, that Morgan does have at least something positive to say about the hyena.
4. Still working with your partner, prove that Morgan can also make the reader feel sympathy for the hyena.
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April 08, 2014
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