Rabindranath Tagore: Short Stories Lesson Plan

Imagery and symbolism in The Living and the Dead

Kind of Activity:

Artistic Response

Objective:

Students will use art to examine opposites in The Living and the Dead

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.1, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.5

Structure:

The Living and the Dead is rich with symbolic imagery, and Tagore uses these literary tools to explore opposites in the story. Assign each student one of the following pairs of opposites to examine within the story:

Darkness vs. Light

Uncertainty vs. Seeing

Dead vs. Alive

Disconnection vs. Love

Have students identify a symbols relating to their assigned pair of opposites. Then have them create two small collages...