1500 Van Ness
Port Townsend, WA 98368
360.379.4520
Language Arts 9 assignment
Due Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Mrs. Marston
1. WRITE: a 3 paragraph biography of Langston Hughes. Include major times in his life, his accomplishments, and your understanding of the importance of his work. Write about one of his poems and why you think it speaks to all humanity.
2. WRITE: In The Negro Speaks of Rivers Langston Hughes uses the metaphor of rivers to represent the experience of African Americans through history. In what ways is culture like a river?
3. WRITE: about Langston Hughes’s poem Snail. Include your thoughts on the purpose of the poem. Discuss in your writing the rhyme scheme and meter. In what ways does the meter mirror the snail’s pace?
If you were the snail in Langston Hughes’s poem Snail, what mysteries would you discover in the dewdrops?
4. WRITE: In Sea Calm and The Long Trip Langston Hughes writes of the sea. In what ways is a calm sea strange and “not good”? In what ways is the sea like a desert?
5. WRITE: A Negro woman is old, tired, and has poor eyesight. Natchez is a long way off. But she has to make the journey. The sun is hot, the road treacherous. As she walks, she encounters at least three obstacles. Write about her journey, why she has to make it, and whether she reaches her goal. Include a detailed description of this woman.
Include 2 characters, 2 actions, 3 settings, 1 theme
C old Negro woman buzzard ghost scarecrow white hunter
dozens of little black children lady receptionist nurse grandson
A quivering trembling stooping march creep crawl dance nodding
whisper stealing staring straight ahead waiting
S thicket deep, still woods path hill thorny bush log across the creek
clearing cotton field field of dead corn maze wagon track
cabins with doors and windows boarded shut ditch shadows of live oak trees
on the sidewalk big building tower of steps doctor’s office
T duty, racism, guilt, symbolism, conflict, love
inspired by “Worn Path” by Eudora Welty
Writing tips:
Make the paragraph the unit of composition Use the active voice.
Put the statements in positive form. Use definite, specific, concrete language.
Omit needless words. Avoid a succession of loose sentences.
Express coordinate ideas in similar form. Keep related words together.
In summaries, keep to one tense. Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end.