Post on 27-Mar-2015
The Circus Within Me
1st YearRMPS
Mr. Francis
Knox Academy RMPS Department
The Circus Within Me
Lesson Aims and Objectives:- Find out about our different
behaviours.- Develop our creative writing skills.
Knox Academy RMPS Department
The Circus Within Me
Within all of us is a zoo! All of us have different personalities. Some of us are very shy. Some of us are very loud. Some of us like to joke around. Some of us are very serious.
Knox Academy RMPS Department
The Circus Within Me
However, its not that simple. Sometimes our personalities change in different situations.
For example, think back to your first day at high school. Even if you were usually a loud person, on that day you might have been quiet and shy.
Knox Academy RMPS Department
The Circus Within Me
A man named Carl Sandburg has written a poem describing all of the different characteristics he has.
To do this he uses the example of a circus - Within him are many different animals.
Knox Academy RMPS Department
The Circus Within Me
There is a wolf in me…fangs pointed for tearing gashes… a red tongue for raw meat….and hot lappings of blood.
Knox Academy RMPS Department
The Circus Within Me
There is a fox in me…a silver grey fox…I Sniff and guess…I double pick things out of the air…I nose in the night…I circle and loop and double cross.
Knox Academy RMPS Department
There is a hog in me…a snout and a belly…a machinery for eating and
grunting…a machinery for sleeping satisfied…in the sun.
The Circus Within Me
Knox Academy RMPS Department
There is a baboon in me…clambering clawed…dog faced…yawping a gallot’s hunger…hairy under the armpits…ready to snarl and kill.
The Circus Within Me
Knox Academy RMPS Department
The Circus Within Me
There is an eagle in me and a mocking bird…
and the eagle flies among the Rocky Mountains of my dreams…
and the mocking bird warbles in the early afternoon before the dew is gone.
Knox Academy RMPS Department
The Circus Within Me
Look at the following animals. What sort of person do you think
they would be?
Knox Academy RMPS Department
The Circus Within Me
A Mouse
Knox Academy RMPS Department
The Circus Within Me
An Elephant
Knox Academy RMPS Department
The Circus Within Me
A Tiger
Knox Academy RMPS Department
The Circus Within Me
A Cheetah
Knox Academy RMPS Department
The Circus Within Me
A Sea Lion
Knox Academy RMPS Department
The Circus Within Me
A Squirrel
Knox Academy RMPS Department
The Circus Within Me
A Lion
Knox Academy RMPS Department
The Circus Within Me
A Snake
Knox Academy RMPS Department
The Circus Within Me
TASKS1. Take each stanza (portion) of the
poem and write, in your own words, what the author is saying about the kind of person he is.
2. Write four other animals that are not mentioned in the poem. Draw a cartoon/picture of them and write what sort of characteristics they have.
Knox Academy RMPS Department
The Circus Within Me
TASKS3. Write two lists. One should
contain the animals you would like to be. The other should contain the animals you would not want to be.