4.

3 Finding evidence

MAKING CONNECTIONS b ‘Phenomenal Woman’ is divided into four main stanzas, with the following
To learn more about
refrain separating them:
how the structure of a I’m a woman
poem affects its deeper
meaning, look at Unit
Phenomenally.
5 on ‘Island Man’ by Phenomenal woman,
Grace Nichols. That’s me.
– In pairs, reread each stanza, one at a time. In no more than 12 words, sum
up what each stanza is about. Write this down.
– Share your ideas with a larger group or the whole class.
Key terms
Stanza: A group of lines in a poem, similar to a paragraph in a prose text; common stanza
lengths are two, three, four, six or eight lines – in popular music, we often call stanzas ‘verses’
Refrain: A short part of a poem (or song) that is repeated between stanzas, like a chorus

4.3 Finding evidence

Exercise 4
a i In each stanza, the speaker takes four lines to describe ways in which she
is attractive to men.
In pairs, look at one of the four descriptions below. Write down what the
speaker is telling us about herself that makes her so attractive. What do
you think is the most important word on each line in conveying why she
feels so positive about herself? What does it convey to you and how does it
link to the word ‘phenomenal’ in the title?
Stanza 1 Stanza 2
It’s in the reach of my arms It’s the fire in my eyes,
The span of my hips, And the flash of my teeth,
The stride of my step, The swing in my waist,
The curl of my lips. And the joy in my feet.
Stanza 3 Stanza 4
It’s in the arch of my back, It’s in the click of my heels,
The sun of my smile, The bend of my hair,
The ride of my breasts, the palm of my hand,
The grace of my style. The need for my care.
ii One of you should read your four lines of the poem out to the class. The
other should read out your answers to the question ‘What makes the
speaker so attractive?’. Ask your class members if they agree with you and
whether they have any further ideas that you could add to your worksheet.
MAKING CONNECTIONS
Language that appeals to our senses is often referred to as an image or imagery. For a
more in-depth exploration of the way that poets use images in their work, see Unit 6 on Ted
Hughes’s ‘Thistles’.

39