Poster Making

Poster Making / Poster Writing / Designing a Poster

What is a Poster : 

Posters are to be displayed in a public place. They are drafted to announce, appeal or advertise some event/idea/issue/cause.

Purpose :

Posters are generally made to spread a social message or to create awareness about issues related to social problems among the general public.

It also serves the purpose to advertise some event of common interest or even to extend public invitations and display notices. Posters fulfil the purpose of a notice, advertisement and even an invitation.

It can be used to promote a product, event, cause or sentiment such as patriotism, eye-donation, tree plantation, water harvesting, health hazards, etc.

Key features of a good poster:

·        It is visually attractive/eye catching/appealing.

·        Write a catchy title/heading.

·        Include slogan, quotation, proverb, phrases or short verse using persuasive language.

·        Make an appropriate sketch or drawing

·        Use variety of fonts in terms of size, style and shape

·        It should be appealing enough to fulfil the purpose towards which it is targeted.

·        It must be creative in terms of language, content and expression.

·        It aims to test the ability to present the theme through a significant message and a relevant slogan.

·        Follow the word limit (usually 50)

     Put the poster in a box.

Content Points:

·        Mention clearly the theme, topic or subject of the poster

·        All the prominent information related to the theme/topic needs to be included/highlighted. Include all the important details in case of event such as time, date, venue, any special programme/guest.

·        Mention the name of issuing authority/organisation at the bottom.

·        Captions and slogans must highlight the features/dangers/benefits of theme as needed.

·        Convey the message with clarity of language and thoughts.

·        All the value points must be organised in a proper layout and presented in a sequencing and cohesive manner.

 

Language Specifications :

1. They must be written in a language prominent enough to attract the attention of the readers, and strong enough to excite their imagination and influence their minds.

2. Posters are read from a distance. Do not write too much of text and long sentences. Write short catchy sentences.

3. Use phrases, slogans, proverbs and short sentences.

4. Use present tense, future tense for warnings/consequences.

5. Use direct language/imperative sentences such as Don't use plastic, Don't miss the opportunity, etc.

Categories:

On the basis of its purpose it is divided in two categories –

I. Event Posters

Event posters include events such as school fetes, book fairs and blood donation camps. Such a poster deals with events that are to take place. 

Some of its feature are:

Slogan

Name of the organiser

Statement of appeal/invitation

Date

Venue

Other important information/point/attraction

Special offer / points

II. Non Event Posters (For Awareness)

Non-event posters  include posters on social issues and social evils. 

Key features are :

Slogan

Statement

Name of the person or organiser who has issued the poster.

List of reasons/cause and effect relationship/measures

Sample Posters

Q. As the Director of National Agriculture Organisation, Rajasthan design a poster to be published in the newspaper making the people of Rajasthan aware of the necessity of conserving water and also how to do it. (50 words)

Q. You are student in charge of Science Club of Modern School, Sarita Vihar, New Delhi. Design a poster for the Science Exhibition to be organised in your school by Science Club. Include all the necessary details. (50 Words)

Deep Water

Deep Water

                               By William Douglas

 

Analysis :

§  The chapter ‘Deep Water’ is written by William O. Douglas who was an advocate and the longest serving judge of the court.

§  The chapter is an excerpt taken from 'Of Men and Mountains' by William O. Douglas. It reveals how as a young boy, William Douglas was nearly drowned in a swimming pool.

§  In this essay he talks about his fear of water and thereafter, how he finally overcame it. We are able to notice how the autobiographical part of the selection is used to support his discussion of fear.

§  The story is subjective as it describes the emotions of the writer associated with his childhood and his fear of water. It brings his childhood memories back when he was nearly drowned.

§  This chapter depicts the author's intense personal struggle with a traumatic experience and the subsequent journey of overcoming fear. The near drowning experience at the hands of a bullying boy leaves a profound impact on the narrator. The vivid and detailed description of the fear, panic, and physical sensations during the incident provides a raw portrayal of trauma. 

§  Chapter highlights the gradual nature of healing and the theme of triumph over fear. This theme of resilience inspires the readers to be mentally strong, face the fear and overcome it.

Video on Aunt Jennifer's Tigers

Summary / Synopsis:

The chapter ‘Deep Water’ reflects the author's intense personal struggle with a traumatic experience and his subsequent journey of overcoming fear. A traumatic experience happened when the narrator was ten or eleven years old.

The narrator decided to learn to swim. There was a pool at the Y.M.C.A in Yakima which was safe as per his mother as it was 2 to 3 feet deep at shallow end. He hated to walk naked in water and show his skinny legs. But he did it to learn swimming.

The narrator had an aversion to water and this scare for water entered into his heart when he was three or four years old and father took him to the beach in California. He and the father stood together in the surf. He hung on to father, yet the waves knocked him down and swept over him. His breath was gone. He was frightened. Father laughed, but he got extremely scared of overpowering force of the waves.

Y.M.CA. swimming pool revived his unpleasant memories and fear. But he tried to gather confidence as he was determined. He paddled with his water wings, watching the other boys and learning how to swim for some days. Then. the misadventure happened.

Once he was alone at the pool waiting for other boys to come. Then, a big bruiser of a boy, probably eighteen years old picked him up and tossed him into the deep end. He landed in a sitting position, swallowed water, and went at once to the bottom. He was frightened out of his wits. Those nine feet were more like ninety, and when his feet hit bottom, he summoned all his strength and made a great leap upwards. He came up slowly and could see nothing but water. He grew panicky and cried but no sound came out. He swallowed water and choked. He tried to bring his legs up, but they hung as dead weights, paralysed and rigid. A great force pulled him under and he went down again. And then sheer, stark terror seized him. When his third attempt also failed, his body became weak, dizzy and motionless. When he was pulled out, he only remembered lying on the stomach and vomiting water. The boy who threw him into the water said that he was only fooling around.

For days, months and years a haunting fear remained in his heart. The slightest thought of water would upset him. Water served as a powerful symbol of panic, a source of deep-seated fear. The aftermath is characterised by lingering anxiety, nightmares, and an aversion to water related activities. The fear extends to natural bodies of water, impacting the narrator's ability to enjoy outdoor activities like fishing, boating, swimming and canoeing. 

 Finally, one October, the narrator felt, 'enough is enough' as he could not lead such traumatic life anymore. He again decided to get an instructor and learn to swim. He went to a pool and practised five days a week, an hour each day. The instructor put a belt around him and a rope attached to the belt went through a pulley that ran on an overhead cable. Each time the instructor relaxed his hold on the rope and he went under, the old terror returned and his legs froze. After three months things began to relax. Then, he taught him to put his face under water and exhale, and to raise his nose and inhale. He repeated the exercise hundreds of times. Bit by bit he shed part of the panic that seized him earlier when his head went under water. Next, the instructor taught him how to kick with his legs and for weeks he just did that. By April next year he was built into a swimmer piece by piece.

After a good practice at the pool, in July he went to the Lake Wentworth in New Hampshire, dived off a dock at Triggs Island, and swam two miles across the lake to Stamp Act Island. He tried all the strokes there. Once, the fear gripped him in the Lake but he swam on and defeated that fear. Under the depth of lake water he stared into the eyes of fear and scared it and the fear fled away, and that was the symbol of a profound personal victory. But, he wasn't satisfied.

Towards the end, the eventual triumph of the writer over his fear is marked by a swimming challenge across a lake. When he camped in Conrad Meadows, he dived into the Warm Lake, swam across the lake and came back to the shore. He shouted with joy that he had conquered his fear of water and the Gilbert Peak returned the echo. Finally, he had conquered his fear of water.

Despite the initial fear and ongoing struggles the narrator persevered, faced the fear which had deep set in his soul and emerged victorious. At last, he felt released and free from his fear, thus he quoted Roosevelt, "All we have to fear is the fear itself."

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Theme

Chapter highlights the theme of triumph over fear discussing gradual nature of healing. The theme of resilience and perseverance which is emphasised in the story throughout  inspires the readers to be mentally strong, face the fear and overcome it. 

Message

The story voices out the message in the words of Roosevelt, "All we have to fear is the fear itself." The chapter also help us recall the words of Nelson Madela "Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over that fear". We must learn to win our fear and then we can be successful in all that we do the way William O. Douglas did not leave any stone unturned to overcome his fear.

Important Question Answers

Q1. What were the series of emotions and fears that Douglas experienced when he was thrown into the pool? What plans did he make to come to the surface? How did this experience affect him?

Ans. When William Douglas was thrown into the pool at YMCA, his childhood fear for water revived. Inside the pool he underwent a series of emotions and fears. He was frightened when he reached the bottom of nine feet deep pool. But, he tried his best to come out of water. Soon his legs became stiff and refused to move. He was nearly drowned, horror gripped his heart and he panicked. Last time when he attempted to make a leap, his legs and hands became paralysed and rigid. His lungs ached and head pounded, and he became unconscious.

Due to this frightening experience he became scared of water and couldn’t think of swimming any more. Whenever he thought of water, he couldn’t fight his fear. Later, he decided to learn swimming and overcome his fear.

Q2. “All we have to fear is fear itself.” Illucidate with reference to the narrator, William Douglas’ struggle to defeat his fear.

Ans. Douglas had really had a brush with death when he got nearly drowned in YMCA pool. After that episode darkness of fear engulfed his life completely. But, he didn’t want to spend his entire life under that scare because ‘all we have to fear is the fear itself’. He knew that through a determined efforts he can overcome his fear and he decided to learn swimming and started learning under an expert trainer. He challenged his fear and started practising to swim in a pool five days a week. He went down in the depth of water and told his fear that he is no more scared. He swam in lakes and from the Gilbert peak he shouted with joy that he has defeated his fear and that returned in an echo. American president, Franklin D. Roosevelt has rightly said, “All we have to fear is the fear itself.” This was well deservedly understood and lived by the narrator, William Douglas who struggled with all his might until he succeeded to defeat his fear of water.

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Q3. How is the narrator's victory a lesson to all the beginners who get scared of doing a thing even before they Begin? 

Ans. The narrator's decision to face and overcome his fear of water represents a journey of self discovery and resilience which is needed for all the beginners who set the sail to achieve something in life and feel nervous at the outset. Seeking swimming lessons and practicing regularly with an instructor display a deliberate and determined effort to confront and conquer the deep rooted phobia. This narrative highlights the gradual nature of healing and triumph over fear. The step-by-step process of swimming lessons, started with basic skills and progressed to more challenging tasks. It resulted as the incremental progress in overcoming the trauma. This process needs lot of courage, patience and unshakeable determination and this is my take from the lesson and the character of William Douglas.

Voice of the Rain

The Voice of the Rain

                                                          By Walt Whitman

Analysis :

The poem ‘The Voice of the Rain’ is composed by Walt Whitman, the representative poet of American Literature. He is renowned for the collection of his poems 'The Leaves of the grass'.

 It is a beautiful and magical interpretation of rain which springs from the poet’s soul and touches the readers' heart.

This poem is a conversation between the poet and the soft-falling rain.

The poem personifies the rain, portraying it as a timeless force that brings life, purification, and beauty to the Earth.

The poem also beautifully emphasises the cyclical and eternal nature of rain and finds affinity with the scientific explanation of this process known as water cycle.

This poem is rich with poetic devices and uses vivid imagery to describe the rain along with personification and symbolism.

The poem highlights the theme that rain is an instrument of purification, beautification and cheer on earth and in the world

Line by Line Explanation

Line 1 - 3

And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower,

Which, strange to tell, gave me an answer, as here translated:

I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain,

The poet is asking the rain about its identity and nature. The rain which is falling softly and beautifully responds to his question, and the poet finds that  response to be little strange.

The rain identifies itself as the "Poem of Earth," It means to say that it is like a poem or song which is played by the Earth. In a way it the beautiful expression of this earth or nature. When the nature wants to express itself, it rains.

 

Line 4 - 8

Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea,

Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form’d, altogether

changed, and yet the same,

I descend to lave the droughts, atomies, dust-layers of the globe,

And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn;

The rain describes its eternal nature and ceaseless process which is cycle or process and it can be explained scientifically. It describes how it rises invisibly from the land and the unfathomable sea as it is too deep. It rises towards the sky, undergoing a transformation as the water vapours change into thick clouds. But it remains same though it changes the form from water to water vapours and then to the clouds.

The rain explains its purpose of descending to the Earth. It falls on the earth to remove the droughts and quench the thirst of the dry land and the humanity. It cleanses everything on the earth and makes everything look greener and fresher removing the layers of dust covering the world.

The rain implies that everything on Earth was like dormant seeds or hidden potential, waiting to come to life. It is the rain that brings them to life and see the light of the world. In simple words without rain nothing can grow be it plants, flowers, fruits or creatures. Rain makes their life or existence worth it.

 

Line 9 - 12

And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my own origin,

And make pure and beautify it;

(For song, issuing from its birth-place, after fulfilment, wandering

Reck’d or unreck’d, duly with love returns.)

The rain declares that it continually gives life back to its own origin, suggesting a cyclical and eternal process of nature. It means to say that when rain falls on earth, it completes the water cycle so that it can rise again to the sky in form of water vapours and form the clouds to rain again on earth and this way this cycle will go on forever. The rain purifies and beautifies the Earth and this world along with giving life.

The rain is compared to a song that, after being born and fulfilling its purpose, wanders back to its origin without caring whether it is being noticed, rewarded and appreciated or not. But, it always provides love and peace to the music lovers.

Poetic Devices

And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower, - Alliteration, Imagery

Which, strange to tell, gave me an answer, as here translated: - Assonance, Personification

I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain, - Metaphor, Personification, Repetition

Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea, - Repetition, Assonance, Consonance, Imagery 

Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form’d, altogether – Consonance

changed, and yet the same, - Antithesis, Enjambment

I descend to lave the droughts, atomies, dust-layers of the globe, - Alliteration, Imagery,  Repetition 

And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn; - Assonance, Alliteration, Anaphora

And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my own origin, - Oxymoron, Anaphora

And make pure and beautify it; - Repetition, Enjambment

Reck’d or unreck’d, duly with love returns.) – Oxymoron, Consonance

Important Question Answers

Q1. There are two voices in the poem. Who do they belong to? which line indicates this?

Ans. The two voices in the poem are those of the poet and, of the rain.

The line is -  "And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower, which, strange to tell me an answer,"

Q2. What does the phrase "strange to tell mean?

Ans. The phrase "strange to tell" here means that it is a strange feeling and quite difficult to believe that the rain speaks and answers to the poet.

Q3. There is a parallel drawn between rain and music. Which words indicate this? Explain the similarity between the two.

Ans. The line is "For song issuing and from its Birth - place, after fulfilment, wandering reck'd or unreck'd, duly with love returns”. The music is similar to the rain because music soothes the listeners coming from the heart of creator & returns to him as appreciation. In the same way rain leaves the earth as vapour & returns back to earth in form of rain drops which is another form of water only.

Q4. How is the cyclic movement of rain brought out in the poem? Compare it with what you have learnt in science.

Ans. The cyclical movement of rain is shown as it rises out of land and sea in form of water vapour, and  then changes its forms from vapours to clouds and from clouds to rain drops. Still, the element remains the same. It is nearly similar to what is taught in science chapters.

Q5. Why are the last two lines put within the parenthesis?

Ans. The last two lines are put within the parenthesis because they are neither spoken by rain nor poet. Instead, they are a direct comparison between rain and music.

 RTC

Eternal I rise impalpable 

Out of the land and the bottomless sea,

Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form’d, 

Altogether changed, and yet the same

Q1. Who does I refer to?

Q2. From where does it rise and where does it go?

Q3. Explain the line "Eternal I rise impalpable".

Q4. What does the poet convey in the last line?

Q5. Pick out poetic device in last line. 

Answers:

A1. The word 'I' refers to the rain.

A2. It rises from the sea and other water bodies in form of water vapours and it goes up to the sky to form the rain clouds. 

A3. Here the process of water cycle initiates and its first phase is evaporation. It means the water vapours rise and go up unseen and unnoticed from the surface of the sea. the word 'eternal' suggests the ceaseless process of water cycle. 

A4. The poet conveys in the last line that the form of water changes its form from water vapours to clouds and from clouds to rain drops, still the element remains same and in the last phase it comes back to its original form. 

A5. Antithesis