Before Reading
Make a Cluster Chart
What comes to mind when you think of the sea? Do a quickwrite in response to this question. Then read about a symbol in Literary Tools on page 813. In your notebook, create a cluster chart like the one shown there. Use the chart as you read to note what the sea stands for in the poem.
During Reading
Fill in the Chart
1. Listen as your teacher reads the first stanza aloud. What does the speaker say about the sea in this stanza? What mood does the sea create in the speaker? How is the sea used symbolically in this stanza?
2. Continue reading the selection on your own. Pay attention to references to the sea. Add symbolic meanings of the sea to your chart.
Fix-Up Idea: Think Aloud
If you are having trouble with this selection, work with a partner to read and think aloud. Read a stanza aloud. Stop and think aloud about what you read. You might ask questions or try to answer your partner's questions, wonder about what the speaker means, make a prediction, or discuss related experiences. Then have your partner read the next stanza aloud. Again, stop and do a think aloud. Keep doing this until you have read and discussed the whole selection.
After Reading
Summarize What You Wrote
With a partner, review the information you recorded in your cluster chart. Then discuss the Symbol questions in Understanding Literature on page 816. How do the speaker's ideas about the sea relate to you own connections to the sea?