Boundary : Poetry Analysis


​When we fail to set boundaries 
and hold ​people accountable,
​we feel used and mistreated.  

​Brené Brown.
Big Questions:  
  1. What is gaslighting?
  2. What are some of the red flags in an abusive relationship?
  3. What are the Stand Your Ground Laws?
  4. ​How do you leave an abusive relationship?
The assignments that have activities are in red.
Drowning
Directions:
​Read the four articles below:
 1) 11 Warning Signs of Gaslighting,
 2) Early Warning Signing: Identifying DV Red Flags,
3) Why Men are Aggressive Against Women, and
4) How Can We Love an Abuser or Narcissist and Stay.
 Read the poem Drowning (p.4)  from Sirens in Her Belly.
​Discuss either in conversation or in writing, the questions for the poem.
Poem Analysis & Discussion: Drowning (p.4)
  1. ​​Identify the objects (nouns) in the poem. What do the items reveal about the relationships and the emotions of both partners?
  2.  Using the articles you read, and other reliable source information and observations, where do you see manipulation and objectification?
  3. ​How might both partners be considered victims and how might both partners feel trapped? ​
Discussion Questions
Marissa Alexander
1. Complete the Lesson for the Stand Your Ground Law. 
2. Read the article on survivors and violence.
3. Read the three articles about Marissa Alexander.​
  1. From what you learned about the Stand Your Ground Law, why wasn't Marissa able to use it in her defense?
  2. Do you think she should have been sentenced to 20 years in prison?
  3. Do you think she should have served any prison time?
  4. If you were her lawyer how do you think you might have done a better job of defending her?
  5. What made it possible for her to be released early?
  6. Read the article: Chance at Freedom. Do you think a victim should be imprisoned for self-defense in an abusive altercation? 
Read and Discuss Three Poems
​Warning Shot(P.2),  Clemency(P.3)  and   First Code of a Dragon Slayer (P.36)
 1. Analyze the poems for the objects (nouns) used in the descriptions. How might they be applied to the concepts of objectification?

2. How do the poems describe fear, frustration and anger?
Analyze the resolution in each of the poems. What actions do the victims take, what are the consequences?

3. Read the poems and relate them back to the articles on leaving an abuser. What information from the articles relate with the poems?
Object Lessons & Connections
Instructions: Choose one of these prompts and write a two-page paper. 
​
Object Lesson Prompt

​At the beginning of this unit you responded to a prompt inspired by a quote by Fyodor Dostoevsky: 
The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he’s in prison. 
  • From that prompt, you identified an object, artistically created a representation of the object and wrote about it.  
  • Relate the object to the information you read and learned in this unit on domestic violence.
  • Discuss if the object you wrote about might go through changes to acknowledge and free itself.​
Connection - Letter Writing Prompt

​We have read a variety of strategies an aggressor might use to keep the victim in an abusive situation. 
We have also read about the motives for abusers staying in a relationship. 
a) Write about a scenario with two fictional people. Describe the situation in great detail. 
b) You have been invited to write a letter to the aggressor and the victim. 
What type of detailed letter would you write to both parties? 
Write two letters, one to the aggressor and one to the victim.
​
Healthy Boundaries
​for healthy relationships
Boundaries
​that need to be set or mended.
Photo credit: Freedom: David Simmons. Antelope Canyon: Kristin Smith
Siren's Lessons
Content in Sirens Lessons is free and for educational purposes. Lessons may be used to compliment poetry books by Romaine Washington or as stand alone lessons or with other writing.
© 2023 Romaine Washington