Name: Miss.

Dilley

Double- Entry Journal Sample

Directions:
Students will fully read specified poems found on the poetry foundation website. This assignment will
consist of 4 different poems that students will be responding to. In order to receive full points on this
assignment students will individually need to react to each poem in the response section as well describe
the deeper meaning in the “Poem” box under each title, each deeper meaning should be about one to two
sentences. Each poem response needs to be at least three sentences or longer to receive full credit as well
as incorporate a quote in your response. The URL below will take you to the poetry foundation site where
you will find Caroline Kennedy on learning poems by heart page. Scroll down to the bottom of the page until
you see grades 7-12. There will be four poems by different authors, and you will need to read each poem
and respond to it in the corresponding box.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/69986/caroline-kennedy-on-learning-poems-by-heart

POEM
“Theme for English B” by Langston Hughes
The deeper meaning is the man writing the
poem is African American going to an all-
white school, living in an all-white world. He
reminiscence’s about how easy life is for his
white teacher, which sheds a little light on
how hard life is for the author since he was
born with colored skin.
RESPONSE
This poem reiterates how difficult the world is
for people of color, and it’s especially
powerful since our world hasn’t gotten much
better in terms of accepting people from other
races. The quote “I guess being colored
doesn’t make me not like the same thing other
folks like who are other races” really pushed
my button because many people in our
modern world and even in the past think
people of color are not equals, and that other
races are drastically different from one
another. In reality all people are the same, we
should all be treated equally because the color
of our skin does not define who we are.
 “Bilingual/ Bilingue” by Rhina Espaillat
The deeper meaning is the author and her
family moved to a place where Spanish is not
normally spoken, and how scared the author
is of being caught speaking another language.
It’s almost as if the family is divided from the
world due to a language barrier.
“If---” by Rudyard Kipling
Becoming a man is not the deeper meaning,
that’s only scratching the surface; instead the
meaning in my perspective would be a guide
to becoming an amazing human being. To be
self-assured and know you are doing
everything right, you need to check off
everything in the poem.
“Ballad of Birmingham” by Dudley Randall
The meaning would be how people of color
can listen to police officers and follow the
law, but they will still be hurt and arrested for
unfair claims made against them.
This poem is very powerful with the authors
use of Spanish words mixed in the with the
English, it portrays how the author is
bilingual but at the same time it illustrates
how scared the author is to speak her native
language outside the household. It seems to
me the author is writing this in her home
where she feels safe which is why she utilizes
Spanish phrases in her poem, is she were in
the outside world she may be too scared to
write or speak in Spanish. “My father liked
them separate, one there, one here”, reiterates
the idea of Spanish only being spoken in the
home out of fear of being caught.
Obviously, this poem demonstrates all the
qualities a man needs in order to move from
boy to man, but it’s interesting how in a way
this poem is also demonstrating how every
person should act. I feel like this poem
illustrates how a mentally stable, and self-
assured person act’s throughout their daily
life; maybe this poem is about becoming a
man but there is more hiding under the
surface. I noticed the poem title is “if” but
also every other sentence in each stanza starts
with if which illustrates how the author
questions or doubts the conditions he’s
setting; “If you can trust…If you can wait…If
you can dream…”.
“No, baby, no, you may not go, for the dogs
are fierce and wild”, the dogs refer to the
policemen and how they have no restraint
when it comes to hurting people of color. It’s
interesting though because the child was good
and listened to her mother, yet she still got
hurt and probably ended up dead. This whole
poem portrays how hard life is for African
Americans and how hard they have to work
every day just to survive in a world that
doesn’t accept them.