"From the House of Yemanja" Review

"From the House of Yemanja" Review

by Morgan Wade

Poll

How would you rate your understanding of this poem?

(p.s. the picture is Yemanja)

• I think I have a strong understanding of the poem and could write about it.

• I have a good understanding of the poem, but would need help writing about it.

• I don't have a good understanding of this poem.

• We read a poem?

​Basics about the poem

​

• ​This poem is by Audre Lorde and is centered around a daughter that has a complicated relationship with her mother.

• Central ideas are:

  • ​Twoness or Double Identity for the mother and the speaker

  • ​A complicated relationship between the speaker and her mother.

Open Ended

With someone near you, summarize stanzas 1 & 2.

Open Ended

With someone near you, summarize stanzas 3-5.

Let's test your knowledge of the poem...​

Multiple Choice

What is the overall tone of the poem?

• Positive and happy

• Powerful

• Condescending

• Longing and Solemn

Multiple Choice

Why is the repetition of "Mother I need" important to the poem?

• Enforces idea of two mothers

• Reinforces the speaker's childish need for affection

• Enforces how selfish the speaker's family is

• Shows that the mother is overprotective

Multiple Select

How does the speaker convey the tense relationship with her mother? (multiple correct answers here!!!)

• Tone

• Repetition

• Imagery

• Rhyme

Multiple Choice

Lorde's central ideas most closely relate to which other author we read this semester?

• W.E.B. Du Bois

• Booker T. Washington

• Elizabeth Cady Stanton