Introducing 

Prezi AI.

Your new presentation assistant.

Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.

Loading…
Transcript

The Boy Died in my Alley

By: Ciera Oldham

Matthew Castanon

Claudia Jimenez

Mifrah Hayath

Connection

This picture ties into “The Boy Died in My Alley” because there is obviously a man dead on the ground, but the police officers just turned their backs to the scene as if there was nothing to do. This is like when in the poem when the speaker heard gunshots but because they were used to it they did nothing, thus letting a boy die.

Thank you!

Small Quick Quiz

Have fun doing your homework :D

Homework

Write a one pager for every line of the poem and a 3 page essay.

1. When was Gwendolyn Brooks born?

a. June 7, 1917

b. January 8, 1962

c. June 26, 1945

2. What college did she graduate from?

a. UCR

b. Yale

c. Wilson Junior

3. What did she die of?

a. car accident

b. cancer

c. fell off a bridge

Just kidding

Real Homework

1 pager

1 quote

1 picture

1 reflection

Author's Background information

Figurative Devices

The Boy died in my alley

without my Having Known.

Policeman said, next morning,

"Apparently died Alone."

Policeman pounded on my door.

"Who is it?" "POLICE!" Policeman yelled.

"A Boy was dying in your alley.

A Boy is dead, and in your alley.

And have you known this Boy before?"

I joined the Wild and killed him

with knowledgeable unknowing.

I saw where he was going.

I saw him Crossed. And seeing,

I did not take him down.

"You heard a shot?" Policeman said.

Shots I hear and Shots I hear.

I never see the Dead.

He cried not only "Father!"

but "Mother!

Sister!

Brother."

The cry climbed up the alley.

It went up to the wind.

It hung upon the heaven

for a long

stretch-strain of Moment.

I have known this Boy before.

I have known this boy before, who ornaments my alley.

I never saw his face at all.

I never saw his futurefall.

But I have known this Boy.

The red floor of my alley

is a special speech to me.

The Shot that killed him yes I heard

as I heard the Thousand shots before;

careening tinnily down the nights

across my years and arteries

I have always heard him deal with death.

I have always heard the shout, the volley.

I have closed my heart-ears late and early.

And I have killed him ever.

the figurative Devices are:

  • Imagery
  • Alliteration
  • Metaphor
  • Simile
  • Rhyme Scheme
  • Hyperbole

Quick writing Assignment

Theme

The theme of Gwendolyn Brooks' "The Boy Died in My Alley" dramatizes the conundrum of individual responsibility in confronting evil, while obviously leaving it unresolved.

1. Why do you think the poet has capitalized the word "Boy" in the poem?

2. Are there any other words that have been capitalized (not just because they were at the beginning of a sentence)? How many could you find? List as many as you did in alphabetical order.

3. In the last stanza, what does the poet refer to by the "red floor"?

4. If you were to come up with one, what title will you give to this poem? Be as creative as you can.

5. Write a four to six line epitaph for the boy who died in the alley.

  • Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was born on June 7, 1917.
  • Brooks was the first child of her father (David Anderson Brooks) and her mother (Keziah Wims).
  • She grew up in a stable loving home.
  • She attended Hyde Park High School and graduated from Wilson Junior College.
  • Brooks published her first poem in a children's magazine at 13.
  • By age 16 she had published around 75 poems.
  • Her first book of poetry was called A Street in Bronzeville
  • She died of cancer at the age of 83 on December 3, 2000 and is buried in Lincoln Cemetery in Blue Island, Illinois.

Objective

Quick Facts

  • Langston Hughes was good friends with Gwendolyn Brooks
  • Brooks met John F. Kennedy
  • She was also born on the same day as Dean Martin
  • Her nickname was "Gwendie"

  • Helps students understand the poem and its theme as well as its figurative devices
Learn more about creating dynamic, engaging presentations with Prezi