“I’M AFRAID �OF DEATH”

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KATHLEEN OSSIP

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INSTRUCTIONAL

NOTE

Feel free to modify, add, or select specific questions from this bellringer to best fit your instructional goals and available time. Adjust as needed to align with your lesson focus or classroom pacing.

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Also, some of the materials in these bellringers contain sensitive subject matter and/or language. Please preview the resources beforehand and make any alterations as needed.

BELLRINGER FOCUS: SYNTAX

• Read “I’m afraid of death” by Kathleen Ossip
• Go to http://bit.ly/4lJUA9F to access the poem.
• Answer the following question(s):
• How does the repetition of the phrase “I’m afraid of death” at the beginning of each stanza shape the poem’s rhythm and tone?
• Examine the poem’s use of enjambment (when a sentence flows past the end of a line). How does this technique affect the pacing or emotional impact of the poem?
• Notice how the poem often breaks sentences into short, isolated lines. What effect does this fragmentation have on how we experience the speaker’s fear?

CREATIVE WRITING EXTENSIONS

• Begin a poem with “I’m afraid of…” and repeat it throughout to explore one specific fear.
• Write a poem in which each stanza introduces a new metaphor for the same feeling.
• Create a poem made entirely of fragmented thoughts or unfinished sentences that circle around a single emotion.