The old prison
How to teach the poem, ‘The old prison’ is discussed here. This is a plan for teachers to teach the poem in a face-to-face mode in senior secondary or degree classes, taking two hours in two days.
The rows of cells are unroofed,
a flute for the wind's mouth,
who comes with a breath of ice
from the blue caves of the south.
O dark and fierce day:
the wind like an angry bee
hunts for the black honey
in the pits of the hollow sea.
Waves of shadow wash
the empty shell bone-bare,
and like a bone it sings
a bitter song of air.
Who built and laboured here?
The wind and the sea say
-Their cold nest is broken
and they are blown away-
They did not breed nor love,
each in his cell alone
cried as the wind now cries
through this flute of stone.
a flute for the wind's mouth,
who comes with a breath of ice
from the blue caves of the south.
O dark and fierce day:
the wind like an angry bee
hunts for the black honey
in the pits of the hollow sea.
Waves of shadow wash
the empty shell bone-bare,
and like a bone it sings
a bitter song of air.
Who built and laboured here?
The wind and the sea say
-Their cold nest is broken
and they are blown away-
They did not breed nor love,
each in his cell alone
cried as the wind now cries
through this flute of stone.
Objectives of the teaching of the poem:
a) Students make an attempt to write a poem representing their emotions over a lonely prison on sea shore
b) They examine the richness of the imagery of the poem, the old prison.
c) They analyze the poem to trace out the message/s of the poem
Day 1 (one hour)
Shall we have a trip to Australia?
We are now at Trail Bay.
The teacher points out Trail Bay on the map of Australia.
Showing the photograph of the prison teacher says;
Now we are in the prison.
We are visiting the prison.
The prison is on the shore, facing the sea.
The prison has no roof, it was to give more miseries to the prisoners.
What one can see now are the walls, pillars and cells.
(Pointing out the photograph) Now, this is a monument.
About 500 prisoners were put in this prison.
They were soldiers arrested from the battlefield in World War II.
Once put in the prison, that was the end of the prisoner.
As the prison is isolated near the sea, there is no way to run away.
In the sea, there were sharks and other wild fish.
Life was ended in the cells of the prison.
The cruelty of man upon man.
What are your feelings and emotions?
Can’t you transcribe those feelings on a sheet of paper?
Or type it on your keyboard.
While they try to write one or two stanzas, the teacher asks some more questions.
What images will you use?
What messages will you give through the stanzas?
When they complete at least two stanzas they present their creations in small groups.
Two or three students present their creations to the whole class.
You wrote some stanzas on the basis of the feelings you had when you saw the prison, didn’t you?
Here is a poem ‘The old prison’ written by Judith Wright with almost similar feelings.
Read the poem.
They read the poem on the screen or on the pages of the textbook.
Are there any new words?
If there are any new words, get the help of your friends or use your dictionary.
But I think that almost all words are familiar to you.
Think beyond the literal meaning of the objects.
For example, what is the meaning of black honey?
They try to examine the poem in-depth.
What are the images used in the poem?
The poem has two parts;
The first part describes the prison, and the second part shows the dissatisfaction of the poetess on the heartless approach towards the prisoners.
The class ends with assigning the following home-task.
a) Write a summary of the poem.
b) Refer any sites and write about the poetess and her area of interest.
Day 2 (one hour)
Please take out the home works done.
Share your homework with a friend.
One or two summaries are presented in the whole class.
This poem is rich with images.
The poetess is drawing several pictures on the mind of the readers.
As well as, there are lots of comparisons of different things.
How are the cells compared?
The wind is compared with different things. What are they?
The skeleton of the prison is also compared with something. What is that?
Next attempt of the teacher is to take the initiative that the students analyze the entire poem.
For that, teacher shows certain models;
a) Judith Wright had an outlook against the war. She was harsh towards war.
What are the sentences that show the harshness of the writer?
b) Has the poem any messages? What are they?
c) Critics are of opinion that the poem is questioning human rights violation.
What were the human rights annihilated in the prison?
d) The poem is rich with symbols. What are the symbols used in the poem? What do they symbolize?
e) Though the poem was written five or six decades ago, has it any relevance in the modern times? Why?
Class answers the above questions in their own ways.
Students take an opportunity to frame some analytical question like the above ones and exchange them in the class.
Don’t you like to write a letter congratulating the poetess for writing such a beautiful and provocative poem? Let the relatives and well-wishers of Judith Wright read that letter. Write it.
Testing the learning of literature (poem)
Read another prison poem. Compare this with “the old prison’ written by Judith Wright.
(Courtesy: https://www.scrapbook.com/poems/doc/42997.html)
THE PRISON WALLS OF LIFE
four walls of bars with no doorsis this what life is made of
days get harder and the walls starts to close in
and one thing comes to mind
why did i take this path
nights of sorrow and days of shame
i just want the sunshine and not all the rain
my heart is black and my flesh is cold
i seek for the truth and happiness
but all i get is the lies and sadness
tell me why this happens
im no longer in control
i gave up some years ago
as life passes me by and people come and go
i search and i look but i can’t find the door
i can’t change my past
but i try to change my future
the life beyond the bars is the one i hope to live
i am a prisoner who wants to be free
Author: Brittany M.
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