"Levitate" by Rives

Watch and listen to this spoken word poem by the poet Rives. (Use the link above to get to the YouTube video.)

1. What is your reaction to this poem?

2. Does Rives use any figurative language or poetic devices in his poem?

3. How would you characterize the boy in the poem?

4. Rives said the boy levitated. Is this to be taken literally or figuratively? If figuratively, then what might it really mean to "levitate"?

5. What do you think Rives wants us to take away from this poem (or story)?

Have any suggestions?

Maybe you're the kind of person who doesn't always like to do what you're told. Maybe you like to wear what you want to wear, listen to what you want to listen to, and do what you want to do sometimes. Well if you want us to consider a poem or song of your choosing, simply offer up a suggestion in the form of a comment to this post. Once I make sure it passes as being "appropriate", I will turn the comment into a post on this blog to be analyzed, argued about, and illuminated by our many points of view.

So satisfy your desire to be in the driver's seat, while also pushing your critical thinking skills a little further. I await your input.

"Between the Traveller and the Setting Sun"

"Between the Traveller and the Setting Sun"

By Henry David Thoreau


Between the traveller and the setting sun,
Upon some drifting sand heap of the shore,
A hound stands o'er the carcass of a man.



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"Jumper Cable" Questions:

1. Why is the deceased person referred to as "the carcass of a man" and not "a dead man", or "a man's body"?

2. Why is the author showing us this scene?

3. Is the location of the poem notable for any reason?

4. There are three "characters" in this poem: the traveller, the hound, and the "carcass of a man". How do they relate (or can they relate) to each other?

5. What is the tone or mood of this poem?

(TRY TO BACK UP YOUR COMMENTS WITH EVIDENCE FROM THE TEXT!)