Grandmoter

Basic Understanding

1. who are the two characters in the poem?

2. What do they talk about?

3. Name two chores the grandmother has done.

4. Which adjective phrase shows us how the grandmother feels?

5. Where is the grandmother during this conversation? Whuch words tell us this?

Image: A word picture that we can see/ hear/ smell/ taste/ touch/ feel in our imaginations.

1. Name two images you can find in this poem/

2. What is their purpose?

3. What did the speaker think the grandmother wanted and needed?quote from the text to support your answer.

Bridging text and context

Born in 1967, Saneeneh Shirazie grew up in Pakistan in extended family. ( not only parents and children, but also grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins live in the same building or very close to each other.

How does this information help you understanding of the relationship between the speaker and the grandmother in this poem?

Post reading activity

1. Imagine you are the grandchildin this poem.  Write a letter to a friend, describing this conversation and how you felt afterwards.

2. Creat a picture of the scene of this poem.

Reflection

Did you like the atmosphere the poet created in this poem? why?

GRANDMOTHER by Sameeneh Shirazie

I hadn’t asked her much,
just how she felt,
and she told me all about her day,
and how she’d washed the sheets,
and how she could not understand
why the towel got so heavy
when it was wet.
She’d also sunned the mattresses,
such tired bones and so much to do,
and my eyes filled with tears
when I thought of how I was simply
going to say “Salaam” and walk away
and so many words would have been
trapped inside her.
I would have passed by as if
what lay between those bedclothes
was just old life
and not really my grandmother.

SUMMARY

The poem takes place in the grandmother’s room possibly later in the day when she has finished her chores.

In the poem, a young woman/girl describes a meeting with her grandmother. She hasn’t planned on having a long conversation with her (“I was simply/ going to say ‘Salaam’ and walk away”‘). However when she asks her grandmother how she feels, her grandmother’s unexpected but honest answer causes the speaker to come to an important realization (understanding). She becomes emotional and filled with guilt because she realizes that she was going to walk away, ignoring her grandmother without giving her the opportunity to share her thoughts and feeling with someone. She realizes that her grandmother wanted to share her experiences with someone even if they were simple and insignificant.  Her eyes fill with tears because she feels guilty that she did not intend to give up any of her time to have a real conversation with her grandmother.  The speaker realizes that a routine greeting is not sufficient, and that elderly people, in this case her grandmother, may be lonely, and need someone to listen. She realizes that she has to take the time to relate to her grandmother as a human being who deserves time attention respect and appreciation

Vocabulary

bedclothes –  מצעים

mattress-  מזרן

pass by – לחלוף מבלי להתייחס

sheet- סדין

towel- מגבת

trapped-  לכוד