Author: Kasey (---.treca.org)
Date: 05-10-04 14:11

I need to find a theme(s) (and an explaination as to why that is the theme) for the poem The Leader of the Synagogue, by MIchael Ventura. Thanks for your help!

Kasey, the poem is probably under copyright. But it is available in SUN magazine, December 2001.

Here's a discussion and excerpt from the poem:

[home.emnet.org] />

Les

START by reading the passages from THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK that are being retold in the poem:

The woman who touches Jesus' robe: MARK 5:25-33.

The little girl recalled to life: MARK 5: 38-42.

("Talitha, cumi" is translated as "Little girl, arise." But I'll tell you something you can use in your paper: CUMI isn't as formal as "arise." It just means "come to me." It's what you would say to a baby who was learning to walk.)

THEN ask yourself WHY the poem tells the story in this particular way:
WHY is it in the present tense?
WHY is it written in the second person: "you" and "your daughter," etc.?
WHAT PURPOSE is served by the lines that are NOT re-tellings of Mark. WHY are those lines there?

And that's pretty much your paper.