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Séquence 6 · The other half and the deep heart's core: Jacob Riis and W. B. Yeats

How do migrants and exiles build a home in a city that is not theirs?

Bonjour !

Dans cette séquence de langues, littératures et cultures étrangères (anglais), tu vas chercher à répondre à la grande question écrite en haut de la page. Elle se fait en 2 séances. Pour chaque séance : lis la consigne, étudie les documents, réponds aux questions sur ta feuille ou sur l'ENT, puis recopie l'essentiel dans ton cahier. Tu peux imprimer cette page avec le bouton « Imprimer ».

À la fin, je serai capable de :

Les mots importants

immigration, tenements, Lower East Sidephotojournalism, social reform, muckrakingstereotype, generalisation, critical reading of sourcesnostalgia, pastoral, the Celtic Revivalinternal rhyme, long lines, rhythm

Ressources de la séquence

Les notions, les repères et les pistes pour aller plus loin, utiles pour toutes les séances.

Les notions à maîtriser

Tenement
Overcrowded rental building of the poor districts of New York, often without light or ventilation.
Photojournalism
Riis used flash photography (magnesium powder) to show the slums to middle-class readers.
Muckraking
Investigative journalism exposing social scandals (term popularised in 1906).
Stereotype
Simplified image of a group: Riis's « colors » for nationalities reveal the prejudices of his time.
Pastoral
Literary idealisation of simple rural life, opposed to the city.
Celtic Revival
Movement of renewal of Irish culture and identity at the end of the 19th century, led among others by Yeats.

Repères

DateÉvénement
1870Jacob Riis emigrates from Denmark to the United States.
1888Yeats, then living in London, writes « The Lake Isle of Innisfree ».
1890How the Other Half Lives; « Innisfree » published in The National Observer.
1892Ellis Island immigration station opens.
1901New York State Tenement House Act.

Pour aller plus loin

Sources et bibliographie

Mon parcours : je choisis mon rythme

Séance 1 · How the other half lives: immigrants in the tenements

65 min

Séance approfondie : cours développé, documents sourcés, activités exigeantes avec coups de pouce.

La question du jour

Does Riis give a voice to immigrants or speak in their place?

Mon plan de travail

Le cours à lire · Riis and the tenements

Jacob Riis, himself a Danish immigrant, became a police reporter in New York. How the Other Half Lives (1890) combines text and flash photography to show middle-class readers the tenements where most immigrants lived. The introduction opens with a saying: « one half of the world does not know how the other half lives », because « it did not care ». In chapter 3 Riis defends the immigrant's ambition (« to better himself ») and blames the lack of opportunity, not the poor. His image of a map of nationalities, « more stripes than on the skin of a zebra », shows a mosaic city. But he also uses national stereotypes of his time: the document must be read critically.

Document 1 · Jacob A. Riis, How the Other Half Lives (1890), introduction

Social reportage, 1890 (public domain).

Long ago it was said that "one half of the world does not know how the other half lives." That was true then. It did not know because it did not care. The half that was on top cared little for the struggles, and less for the fate of those who were underneath, so long as it was able to hold them there and keep its own seat. […] the boundary line of the Other Half lies through the tenements. It is ten years and over, now, since that line divided New York's population evenly. To-day three-fourths of its people live in the tenements, and the nineteenth century drift of the population to the cities is sending ever-increasing multitudes to crowd them.

Source : J. A. Riis, How the Other Half Lives, introduction, 1890 (full text on Wikisource).

Pour bien lire ce document :

on top: en haut (de la société) ; keep its own seat: garder sa place ; tenements: immeubles insalubres ; drift: mouvement.

Document 2 · Jacob A. Riis, How the Other Half Lives, chapter 3 « The Mixed Crowd »

Same book.

The poorest immigrant comes here with the purpose and ambition to better himself and, given half a chance, might be reasonably expected to make the most of it. To the false plea that he prefers the squalid houses in which his kind are housed there could be no better answer. The truth is, his half chance has too long been wanting, and for the bad result he has been unjustly blamed. […] A map of the city, colored to designate nationalities, would show more stripes than on the skin of a zebra, and more colors than any rainbow. The city on such a map would fall into two great halves, green for the Irish prevailing in the West Side tenement districts, and blue for the Germans on the East Side. But intermingled with these ground colors would be an odd variety of tints that would give the whole the appearance of an extraordinary crazy-quilt.

Source : J. A. Riis, How the Other Half Lives, ch. 3, 1890 (full text on Wikisource).

Pour bien lire ce document :

plea: argument ; squalid: sordides ; wanting: absent ; intermingled: entremêlées ; crazy-quilt: patchwork disparate.

Activité 1 · Understand

12 min
Essentiel

Supports : Documents 1 and 2

Consigne :

Read the documents and answer in English.

  1. Why did one half of the world not know how the other half lived?
  2. Where does « the boundary line of the Other Half » lie?
  3. What is the immigrant's real problem, according to Riis?

Ce qui est attendu (6 pts) : Comprehension

Activité 2 · Analyse

18 min
Essentiel

Supports : Documents 1 and 2, lesson

Consigne :

Analyse Riis's writing and point of view.

  1. What does the image of the map suggest about New York?
  2. Which words show that Riis defends the immigrants?
  3. What limits can a modern reader find?

Ce qui est attendu (7 pts) : Analysis

Activité 3 · Speak

15 min
Travail à rendre

Supports : Documents and lesson

Consigne :

Record 2 minutes: present one of Riis's photographs (for example Bandit's Roost, 1888) as if it were a document of your oral dossier.

Ce qui est attendu (7 pts) : Oral production

Trace écrite · document à compléter (papier ou ENT)

Complète la trace écrite avec les mots de la banque, puis recopie-la dans ton cahier.

halfquiltstereotypestenements

Jacob Riis shows how « the other ______ » lives in the _________ of New York. He defends the immigrant's ambition but uses ___________; the city looks like a « crazy-______ » of nationalities.

Séance 2 · I will arise and go now: exile in the heart of the city

65 min

Séance approfondie : cours développé, documents sourcés, activités exigeantes avec coups de pouce.

La question du jour

Can one be in exile without crossing a border?

Mon plan de travail

Le cours à lire · Nostalgia and the pastoral

W. B. Yeats wrote « The Lake Isle of Innisfree » in 1888 in London, far from the west of Ireland where he spent his childhood summers. The speaker dreams of a simple life on a small island of Lough Gill: a cabin, « Nine bean-rows », bees, peace. The poem is a pastoral and a song of nostalgia. Long lines with a strong pause, repetitions (« I will arise and go now ») and sounds (« lake water lapping with low sounds ») make it musical. The last stanza reveals the situation: the speaker stands « on the roadway, or on the pavements grey ». He lives an internal exile: the city around him, Ireland in « the deep heart's core ».

Document 1 · W. B. Yeats, « The Lake Isle of Innisfree » (1890)

Poem, 1890 (public domain).

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made: Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee, And live alone in the bee-loud glade. And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings; There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow, And evening full of the linnet's wings. I will arise and go now, for always night and day I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey, I hear it in the deep heart's core.

Source : W. B. Yeats, « The Lake Isle of Innisfree » (full text on Wikisource).

Pour bien lire ce document :

arise: se lever (biblique) ; wattles: clayonnages ; glade: clairière ; glimmer: lueur ; linnet: linotte ; lapping: clapotant.

Activité 1 · Understand

12 min
Essentiel

Supports : Document 1

Consigne :

Read the poem and answer in English.

  1. What life does the speaker want at Innisfree?
  2. Where is the speaker actually?
  3. What does he hear « night and day »?

Ce qui est attendu (6 pts) : Comprehension

Activité 2 · Interpret

18 min
Approfondissement

Supports : Documents of the learning journey

Consigne :

Write a paragraph (about 180 words): « For Riis's immigrants and for Yeats, the city is a place of exile. » Discuss.

Ce qui est attendu (8 pts) : Written production

Activité 3 · Translate

15 min
Travail à rendre

Supports : Document 1

Consigne :

Translate into French the last stanza (« I will arise and go now … in the deep heart's core »).

Ce qui est attendu (6 pts) : Translation

Trace écrite · document à compléter (papier ou ENT)

Complète la trace écrite avec les mots de la banque, puis recopie-la dans ton cahier.

coregreynostalgiapastoral

« The Lake Isle of Innisfree » is a ________ poem of _________. The speaker, standing « on the pavements ______ » of London, hears lake water « in the deep heart's ______ »: an internal exile.

Fiche à trous · je complète

Complète le texte avec les mots de la banque (sur papier ou dans le document de l'ENT).

corehalfpavementsquilt

Riis quotes the saying « one half of the world does not know how the other ______ lives ».

A map of New York's nationalities would look like « an extraordinary crazy-______ ».

Yeats, standing « on the _________ grey », hears lake water « in the deep heart's ______ ».

Ce que j'ai appris

Les 3 idées que je retiens :
Une phrase en anglais que je veux retenir :
Ce qui reste difficile pour moi / ma question pour le professeur :