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I Lost My Talk
Transcript of I Lost My Talk
I Lost My Talk
I lost my talk
The talk you took away
When I was a little girl
At Shubenacadie school.
You snatched it away:
I speak like you
I think like you
I create like you
The scrambled ballad, about my word.
Two ways I talk
Both ways I say,
Your way is more powerful.
So gently I offer my hand and ask,
Let me find my talk
So I can teach you about me.
Theme
Symbols
"When I was a little girl"
helpless couldn't fight
"The scrambled ballad, about my word."
her history has now been altered or broken
she's being pushed aside by a need of uniformity
represents her native culture and heritage
"So gently I offer my hand and ask"
"gently" approaching something that is foreign to her
she's seeking acceptance
being polite despite the fact that she was victimized
"Let me find my talk"
wants to find who she is
"So I can teach you about me"
patient
want to teach her ways
feels no sorrow for conforming
Discussion Question 1
How would you react if your speech was taken away from you?
Discussion Question 2
Stanza Review
Stanza 1
Stanza 2
They have conformed her
The way we speak, write, and think was taught as the right way
Stanza 3
Stanza 4
cry for help
asking herself to stand up
shows courage
asking for patience to find her words to teach us about her
Overcoming Hardships
One must overcome hardships to express themselves
Courage
"Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live"
She was taken away from her family as a little girl and sent to a residential school
Lost who she was and how to speak her language
Knows two ways to talk but the white peoples way is more powerful
She knows 2 cultures and 2 languages
English is more powerful because it is enforced everywhere
Poetic Devices
Irony
This poem is ironic because she talks about her talk being taken away, but she wrote the poem in English
Repitition
"I speak like you, I think like you, I create like you"
used to emphasize what she was put through
What core value is Rita Joe trying to communicate in her poem?
I lost my talk
The talk you took away
When I was a little girl
At Shubenacadie school.
You snatched it away:
I speak like you
I think like you
I create like you
The scrambled ballad, about my word.
Two ways I talk
Both ways I say,
Your way is more powerful.
So gently I offer my hand and ask,
Let me find my talk
So I can teach you about me.
Theme
Symbols
"When I was a little girl"
helpless couldn't fight
"The scrambled ballad, about my word."
her history has now been altered or broken
she's being pushed aside by a need of uniformity
represents her native culture and heritage
"So gently I offer my hand and ask"
"gently" approaching something that is foreign to her
she's seeking acceptance
being polite despite the fact that she was victimized
"Let me find my talk"
wants to find who she is
"So I can teach you about me"
patient
want to teach her ways
feels no sorrow for conforming
Discussion Question 1
How would you react if your speech was taken away from you?
Discussion Question 2
Stanza Review
Stanza 1
Stanza 2
They have conformed her
The way we speak, write, and think was taught as the right way
Stanza 3
Stanza 4
cry for help
asking herself to stand up
shows courage
asking for patience to find her words to teach us about her
Overcoming Hardships
One must overcome hardships to express themselves
Courage
"Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live"
She was taken away from her family as a little girl and sent to a residential school
Lost who she was and how to speak her language
Knows two ways to talk but the white peoples way is more powerful
She knows 2 cultures and 2 languages
English is more powerful because it is enforced everywhere
Poetic Devices
Irony
This poem is ironic because she talks about her talk being taken away, but she wrote the poem in English
Repitition
"I speak like you, I think like you, I create like you"
used to emphasize what she was put through
What core value is Rita Joe trying to communicate in her poem?
