1a. What "blossoms gorgeously above our heads"?
2a. What do the clouds look like?
3a. Identify the senses that the speaker refers to in the poem.
4a. Which aspect of the storm has the most impact on the speaker?
1b. What does the speaker think of the thunder clouds?
2b. Why does the rain "bleed"?
3b. Why does the speaker pay more attention to how the storm looks than to how it sounds?
4b. If you were the speaker, would you seek shelter from the storm or stand out in it?
Personification. How is personification used in the poem? How are these examples of personification connected?
Metaphor and Simile. Review the chart you made in Literary Tools. Which figure of speech is amplified in the poem?
1. Write a paragraph describing in your own words what the storm looks like.
2. Write a dialogue in which two people discuss the weather on the day of the storm.
3. Images in the poem evoke the senses of sight and sound. Write two new lines to the poem that add another sense—touch, taste, or smell.
Semicolons and Dashes. Rewrite the following sentences, adding semicolons and dashes where needed. (Note: Recall that semicolons can be used to combine two sentences into one.)
1. Jean Toomer was a delivery boy, soda clerk, salesman, shipyard worker, and librarian assistant however, he did not let his jobs interfere with his writing.
2. The Gurdjieff doctrine taught unity through group interactions transcendence through meditation and mastery of self through yoga.
3. Toomer eventually left Harlem to live above the boundaries of race.
4. While he was searching for answers, Toomer expressed the cry of one caught in the modern human condition. His work was a reminder of modern man's isolation.
5. Later he insisted on dogmatically pointing the way his way.
Researching Artists of the Harlem Renaissance.Select an artist from the Harlem Renaissance and research his or her contributions to the movement. Then write a composition outlining what you have learned.
There are many differences between this painting and Johnson's later painting, Sowing, found on page 649. One is the way Johnson applied the paint with his brush. A thick buildup of paint that leaves visible brushmarks is called impasto. Looking carefully at the way the paint was applied, can you identify which of the two paintings exhibits impasto? How do Johnson's different choices affect the way you feel about each painting?
