What a reader is asked to KNOW:
About Life
- What is a lamb?
- Distinguish that white is a color and how the color white relates to snow.
- How unlikely it would be for a lamb to follow a child (Mary) to school in reality.
- The significance of rules at an institution.
- How a companionship may be formed between child and animal.
About Language
- Basic understanding of the English Language
- Why “Mary” is capitalized within the poem.
- The significance of punctuation within the poem.
About Literature
- How admiration and embarrassment can be expressed through words.
- The importance of repetition within the poem.
- The key differences between a poem and another form of literature.
What a reader is asked to DO:
- Have an understanding of how the words come together to create a story.
- Understand that the text is imaginative
- Understand that this is a poem, and the characteristics that make this text a poem, (Rhyme scheme, stanzas, etc.)
Who is the implied reader?
The implied reader of the nursery rhyme, “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, is a child. Based off of the simplicity of the poem, the implied reader will have a common understanding of the importance of companionship and that there are times and places suitable for one. The nursery rhyme highlights the different emotions we face. Excitement, admiration and embarrassment are all clearly felt in certain stanzas of the poem. The implied reader will be able to correlate the emotion with the action and vice versa, (cause and effect).
Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell, and Bruce McMillan. Mary Had a Little Lamb. New York: Scholastic, 1990. Print.