To my Valentine – Ogden - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

To my Valentine – Ogden Nash Date:

ObjectivesIntroduce the poem.Examine the images and themes of Love:(Be careful not to use this for ‘celebrating a person as no one person is named.)

Spend one minute writing as many words describing or connected to LOVE as you can. Parents Chocolate Slide2

To My ValentineMore than a catbird hates a cat,Or a criminal hates a clue,

Or the Axis hates the United States,That's how much I love you.I love you more than a duck can swim,And more than a grapefruit squirts,I love you more than a gin rummy is a bore,And more than a toothache hurts.As a shipwrecked sailor hates the sea,Or a juggler hates a shove,

As a hostess detests unexpected guests,That's how much you I love.I love you more than a wasp can sting,And more than the subway jerks,I love you as much as a beggar needs a crutch,And more than a hangnail irks.I swear to you by the stars above,And below, if such there be,As the High Court loathes perjurious oathes,

That's how you're loved by me. Ogden NashSlide3

To My ValentineMore than a catbird hates a cat,Or a criminal hates a clue,

Or the Axis hates the United States,That's how much I love you.I love you more than a duck can swim,And more than a grapefruit squirts,I love you more than a gin rummy is a bore,And more than a toothache hurts.As a shipwrecked sailor hates the sea,Or a juggler hates a shove,

As a hostess detests unexpected guests,That's how much you I love.I love you more than a wasp can sting,And more than the subway jerks,I love you as much as a beggar needs a crutch,And more than a hangnail irks.I swear to you by the stars above,And below, if such there be,As the High Court loathes perjurious oathes,

That's how you're loved by me. Ogden Nash

Exercise 1: First Impressions

Having read the poem once, write down one sentence in response and share it.

Try using: I think, I know, I don’t know, I want to know.Slide4

This poem is overflowing with images, none of which are traditionally used to describe love. You could say that the poet is making fun of regular love poems by using these words.

What have these 3 lines in common?

Notes – notes copy – stanza one

More than a catbird hates a cat,

Or a criminal hates a clue,

Or the Axis hates the United States,

That's how much I love you.Slide5

The poet tries to portray the strength of his love. It is natural. It is confusing. It is so strong that it hurts.

(Nash told his students that he wrote this when he was lovesick? Can you see his frustration?)

Notes – stanza 2

I love you more

than a duck can swim,

And more than a grapefruit squirts,I love you more

than a gin rummy is a bore,And more than a toothache hurts.Slide6

Notes – Stanza 3

‘

Hate’ is very powerful emotion which is easy to understand. Describing how strong these different forms of hate are helps us to understand the level of love he feels in comparison.Do you find it easier tosay what you hate?As a shipwrecked sailor hates the sea,Or a juggler hates

a shove,As a hostess detests unexpected guests,That's how much you I love.Slide7

Notes – Stanza 4

There are many images from nature used, showing how natural, animal or primal his love is. The image of the beggar also portrays that he “needs”

this love. If his love was a crutch (metaphor) what nice things could we say about

her? What would she be doing?

I love you more

than a wasp can sting,

And more than the subway jerks,

I love you as much as a beggar needs a crutch,And more than a hangnail irks.Slide8

Notes – Stanza 5

Love is as complex as law and has as many possibilities as there are stars. The poet almost ends on a simple promise to above that he is in love, but to describe it so simply does not do love justice.

I swear to you by the stars above,And below, if such there be,As the High Court loathes

perjurious oathes,That's how you're loved by me. Slide9

Questions: Remember “quotes”.The poet gives 15 examples to compare with his love in this poem. What are the most powerful three in your opinion and why?

How serious do you think Nash is in this poem? Did you enjoy reading this poem?Slide10

Homework part 2Learn the first 2 stanzas

More than a catbird hates a cat,Or a criminal hates a clue,Or the Axis hates the United States,That's how much I love you.I love you more than a duck can swim,And more than a grapefruit squirts,I love you more than a gin rummy is a bore,And more than a toothache hurts.Slide11

To My ValentineMore than a catbird hates a cat,Or a criminal hates a clue,

Or the Axis hates the United States,That's how much I love you.I love you more than a duck can swim,And more than a grapefruit squirts,I love you more than a gin rummy is a bore,And more than a toothache hurts.As a shipwrecked sailor hates the sea,Or a juggler hates a shove,

As a hostess detests unexpected guests,That's how much you I love.I love you more than a wasp can sting,And more than the subway jerks,I love you as much as a beggar needs a crutch,And more than a hangnail irks.I swear to you by the stars above,And below, if such there be,As the High Court loathes perjurious oathes,

That's how you're loved by me. Ogden NashSlide12

Part 2Slide13

To my Valentine 2 – Ogden Nash Date:

ObjectivesTo examine the poetic techniques of To my Valentine, including:RepetitionRhyme (Alliteration, assonance and consonance) Simile

Tone Warm-up next slide.Slide14

To My ValentineMore than a catbird hates a cat,Or a criminal hates a clue,

Or the Axis hates the United States,That's how much I love you.I love you more than a duck can swim,And more than a grapefruit squirts,I love you more than a gin rummy is a bore,And more than a toothache hurts.As a shipwrecked sailor hates the sea,Or a juggler hates a shove,As a hostess detests unexpected guests,

That's how much you I love.I love you more than a wasp can sting,And more than the subway jerks,I love you as much as a beggar needs a crutch,And more than a hangnail irks.I swear to you by the stars above,And below, if such there be,As the High Court loathes perjurious oathes,That's how you're loved by me. 

Ogden Nash

Warm-up exercise

Certain words are repeated multiple times in the poem. Write in your copies the words and how many times they appear.

....... X5

....... X7....... X8

....... X8 ( one with ‘‘re’)Leave out ‘I’, ‘a’, ‘or’, ‘and’ ‘than’Slide15

To My ValentineMore than a catbird hates

a cat,Or a criminal hates a clue,Or the Axis hates the United States,That's how much I love you.I love

you more than a duck can swim,And more than a grapefruit squirts,I love you more than a gin rummy is a bore,And more than a toothache hurts.As a shipwrecked sailor hates

the sea,Or a juggler hates a shove,As a hostess detests unexpected guests,

That's how much you I love.

I love you

more than a wasp can sting,And more than the subway jerks,

I love you as much as a beggar needs a crutch,

And more than a hangnail irks.I swear to you

by the stars above,

And below, if such there be,

As the High Court loathes

perjurious

oathes

,

That's how

you

're

loved

by me. 

Ogden Nash

Warm-up exercise

Certain words are repeated multiple times in the poem. Write in your copies the words and how many times they appear.

....... X5

....... X7

....... X8

....... X8 ( one with ‘‘re’)

Leave out ‘I’, ‘a’, ‘or’, ‘and’ ‘than’Slide16

Notes – repetition

The poet repeats the words “love” and “hate” throughout the poem, asking the reader to notice them. In each stanza, one emotion is dominant but the forth line brings in the other emotion. This back and fourth is like a passionate battle, with love winning in the end.Question: Let’s create some sport similes here. The stanzas go hate, love, hate, love, hate/love, back and fourth like a game of ........Slide17

Notes – Rhyme

This is a simple four line rhyme poem with a steady rhythm. There are at least two rhymes in every stanza which keeps the poem fun and creates lots of interesting images. There is also internal rhyme in the poem in the form of assonance, consonance and alliteration.Three Tasks:In stanza 1, how many words begin with ‘c’? (Alliteration)In stanza 2, how many ‘o’ and ‘a’ are there and is there a pattern? (Assonance)

In stanza 3, just how many letter ‘s’ are there? (Consonance)Slide18

Notes – Rhyme

Alliteration, assonance and consonance emphasise certain words, speed up the pace of a poem and most importantly here, they make the words sound good together?Question: ‘They sound good together’.... Are we going to let that simile slip by?Slide19

Notes – Simile

(Not looking at a simile is like not picking up a hundred euro note.... You’ll regret it.) To say that you are helpless against the overpowering force of love makes little sense. To compare how you feel to victims, including a shipwrecked sailor, makes it much clearer. This is the power of similes.

As a shipwrecked sailor hates the sea,Or a juggler hates a shove,As a hostess detests unexpected guests,That's how much you I love.Interesting challange:Can anyone make any positive comparisons or simile to describe love.... So that we end on a high note Slide20

HomeworkCopy the poem into your notes with images beside it.

There are MANY images here so choose the big ones or combine into one super image. (Nazi cat behind bars for stanza one for example.)Remember, the point is to help you learn the poem so choose images you see as being linked to the words.Slide21

To My ValentineMore than a catbird hates a cat,Or a criminal hates a clue,

Or the Axis hates the United States,That's how much I love you.I love you more than a duck can swim,And more than a grapefruit squirts,I love you more than a gin rummy is a bore,And more than a toothache hurts.As a shipwrecked sailor hates the sea,Or a juggler hates a shove,As a hostess detests unexpected guests,

That's how much you I love.I love you more than a wasp can sting,And more than the subway jerks,I love you as much as a beggar needs a crutch,And more than a hangnail irks.I swear to you by the stars above,And below, if such there be,As the High Court loathes perjurious oathes,That's how you're loved by me. 

Ogden Nash