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Lesson 5

We will examine the author’s use of repetition in “If They Should Come for Us.” We will then describe the impact of this repetition on our understanding of the author’s perspective about community.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I analyze how Asghar’s use of repetition in “If They Should Come for Us” impacts the meaning of the poem?

Texts

Core

  • Digital Access
    • “If They Should Come for Us,” Fatimah Asghar, Poetry, March 2017
    • “‘Where I’m From’: A Crowdsourced Poem That Collects Your Memories of Home,” Casey Noenickx, Kwame Alexander, and Rachel Martin, National Public Radio, August 28, 2019

Materials

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Discuss – Read – Write

We will reread “If They Should Come For Us,” focusing our attention on the author’s use of repetition.

Step 1

We know that in "If They Should Come for Us," the speaker’s community is made up of individuals who have some things in common. As you reread the poem, imagine that you are walking down the streets of the speaker’s city. Keep a tally of every time the speaker repeats the phrase "my people."

Step 2

With a partner, compare your tallies of “my people.” Then work together to respond to the following questions:

  1. What is the significance of the phrase "my people," and what does its repetition reveal about the speaker and the poem’s setting? What other details from the poem support your thinking?

  2. Location is only one aspect of setting. What other aspects of the setting can you infer based on the author’s repetition of the phrase? Make inferences about the poem’s time or social context. What details can you find in the poem to support your thinking?

  3. Why does the speaker keep repeating the phrase "I claim"? What do the people who she claims have in common?

  4. In Lines 23 and 25, the speaker repeats the phrase "my compass." What is a compass symbolic of here, and what does the phrase’s repetition reveal about the speaker and the poem’s setting?

  5. According to the text, how do people come to belong to the speaker’s community? What lines or phrases can you find that reinforce that idea?

Step 3

As a class, discuss the following question to further develop your understanding of the poem:

  1. Who is not a part of her people? How do you know?

Activity 2: Discuss – Write

We will synthesize what we have learned about community from the poems we have read.

Step 1

As a whole group, discuss the use of repetition in "Where I’m From" and "If They Should Come for Us." What does the repetition suggest to the reader about community?

Step 2

Respond to the following questions in a quick-write in your Learning Log:

  1. Considering what we have learned about the community in "If They Should Come for Us" and its members, what are the rules for belonging or being claimed by this community?

  2. Do all communities have rules for belonging? Explain your answer using support from either the text, your personal experiences, or both.