Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Villanelles

Today we are going to look at villanelles - so go here

Homework tonight is to write an explication on one of the villanelles on either the linked website or handed out in class. Also to look up the five types of rhythm (iamb, trochee, anapest, dactyl and spondee), and give an explanation of each with an example.

Note: I expect more referencing of the poem in your explication.

A villanelle description according to aboutpoetry,com

Definition:
The word “villanelle” comes from the Italian villano (“peasant”), and a villanelle was originally a dance-song sung by a Renaissance troubadour, with a pastoral or rustic theme and no particular form. The modern form with its alternating refrain lines took shape after Jean Passerat’s famous 16th century villanelle, “J’ai perdu ma tourtourelle” (“I Have Lost My Turtle Dove”).
The villanelle is a poem of 19 lines — five triplets and a quatrain, using only two rhymes throughout the whole form. The entire first line is repeated as lines 6, 12 and 18 and the third line is repeated as lines 9, 15 and 19 — so that the lines which frame the first triplet weave through the poem like refrains in a traditional song, and form the end of the concluding stanza. With these repeating lines represented as A1 and A2 (because they rhyme), the entire rhyme scheme is:

A1
b
A2

a
b
A1

a
b
A2

a
b
A1

a
b
A2

a
b
A1
A2

Punk Pantoum

You need to know a little bit about the PUNK movement in the 70s. You might want to listen to the following songs, "Anarchy in the UK" by the Sex Pistols; "London Calling" by The Clash; "I Wanna Be Sedated" by the Ramones; "Speak No Evil" by Television. You could also listen to Richard Hell's "Blank Generation" and Lou Reed's "Heroin". These songs could give you a backdrop for the poem. You could also read up on the PUNK movement on the web.

FORM: PANTOUM

A Malayan Form. A pantoum consists of an indefinite number of quatrain stanzas with particular restrictions: lines 2 and 4 are repetons- the become become lines 1 and 3 of the following stanza. The pantoum usually ends with a quatrain whose repetons are lines 1 and 3 of the first stanza in reverse order.

So the pattern might be:

Quatrains 1

1
2
3
4

Quatrain 2

2
5
4
6

Quatrain 3

5
7
6
8


Quatrain 4

7
9
8
10

Quatrain 5

9
11
10
12

Quatrain 6

11
3
12
1

According to poets.org "one exciting aspect of the pantoum is its subtle shifts in meaning that can occur as repeated phrases are revised with different punctuation and thereby given a new context." Also, "an incantation can be created by a pantoum's interlocking pattern of rhyme and repetition; as the lines reverberate between stanzas, they fill the poem with echoes."

When you read the poem play close attention to each image and think about what the image can mean. How does the meaning of the image change with the repetition of the image in the next stanza?

God's Grandeur

NOTES:

When looking for the theme - and you should always look for a theme in a piece of literature - think about the connection between nature and God.

Other things to note - vocabulary: reck = recognize; trod = to set down the foot or feet in walking.

-- Form: this is an Italian Sonnet (and therefore is broken into an 8 / 6 stanza structure with a turn in idea happening at line 9). The rhyme scheme is ABBAABBA CDCDCD. The first eight lines set up an idea and the last six comment on that idea. Further you could look at the eight lines as a set of two quatrains (the rhyme scheme is called envelop as the outer rhyming words enclosed the inner rhyming words as seen here: God (1), foil (2), oil (3), rod (4).

In the first quatrain (or 4 lines) you should think about the following: charge (think electricity or lightning) - charge is connected to flame and to foil (foil is golden foil - like golden tinfoil). "ooze of oil" is olive oil. Olive oil was used to anoint kings. Rod is a metonymy for ruler (or laws).

In the first four lines note the on place of enjambment. This is important. Also note the alliteration (and how the alliteration connects two or more words together in both sound and idea): Line one: grandeur God; Line 2: flame foil shining shook; Line 3: gathers greatness; Line 4: reck rod now not. How does the connection of these words reinforce meaning?

In the 2nd quatrain (lines 5-8) there's a sift in tone. Note the repetition of "have trod, have trod, have trod" - what effect does this have? Does it make you weary? Note, in line 2 the alliteration trade toil seared smeared and the rhyme with bleared. Trade is commerce; toil is work or labor. The tone here is negative. Line 3: Alliteration smudge, shares, smell, soil. Line 4: foot feel now nor. Note, shod means shoed (wearing shoes). Note the one enjambment and how it twists the meaning (or creates duality of meaning in the lines). "soil" meaning "dirty or to make dirty" and soil meaning earth.

The last six lines move away from mankind and back to nature. Again note enjambment and the connotation of words like "spent" "bent" "springs" "wings".

Good luck with the four questions.

Enjambment

Enjambment is the continuation of a sentence or clause over a line-break. Enjambment would fall under the category of syntax.


Why would a poet use enjambment? To create interest by breaking standard syntax; to create tension; to create different levels or duality of meanings.

Questions to ask about enjambment:

Syntax: How do the poet’s syntactical choices change or expand the ideas in the poem?

1) Enjambment: How are lines broken? Are they broken before a grammatical or logical completion of a thought to create an enjambment? Or are they end-stopped, breaking after the completion of a sentence or other grammatical pauses? How does the use of enjambment create a duality of meaning in the lines?


No, enjambment is not always
better, but sometimes,
if you cut the line just
right, it produces a tension-
resolution effect.

Other times it makes the
lines harder to read.

Some poets break their lines
at exact syntactic boundaries.
This generates a high degree of predictability,
which makes the poem less interesting.


TWO POEMS by e. e. cummings as examples:

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)




may i feel said he
(i'll squeal said she
just once said he)
it's fun said she

(may i touch said he
how much said she
a lot said he)
why not said she

(let's go said he
not too far said she
what's too far said he
where you are said she)

may i stay said he
which way said she
like this said he
if you kiss said she

may i move said he
is it love said she)
if you're willing said he
(but you're killing said she

but it's life said he
but your wife said she
now said he)
ow said she

(tiptop said he
don't stop said she
oh no said he)
go slow said she

(cccome?said he
ummm said she)
you're divine!said he
(you are Mine said she)

Alliteration, Assonance, Consonance

My candle burns at both ends
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -
It gives a lovely light.

- Millay



Chapter 11: Alliteration, Assonance, Consonance: 899-907, various poems

Poems to look at and answer questions: "Traveling Through the Dark".

Denotation, Connotation, Procrastination

Read Denotation and Connotation in Class.

HW:

Homework

Okay, so it appears that some of you are stressed out and a little behind in your work.

NOTE: Just make sure you get 1 poetry explication done this weekend - either on "My Last Duchess" or "The Flea". You don't need to do both.

Tone

Today in class we will read the chapter on Denotation and Connotation. We will go over your allegory poems.

We'll also look briefly at "The Flea".



Most of you did not write an explication of "My Last Duchess" yet. Think about the following things:

Themes: Power, Language and Communication (or lack of), Jealousy, Madness.

Symbols: “Spot of Joy”, statue of Neptune, the painting of the Duchess.

Form: Dramatic Monologue in open couplets (why couplets? Why open?), and in iambic pentameter.

Characters: The Duke. Look at how the Duke talks, his punctuation within the lines, the flow of his thoughts. Can the Duke express himself (he claims at one point that he can’t).

Irony: Dramatic irony, and a few situation ironies.

The title: What's the meaning behind it?

The setting: Is there any thing important about the setting?


HOMEWORK

Tone: 880-885, “The Man He Killed” – Questions. "The Telephone" and "Love in Brooklyn" questions. Read "The Flea" and questions.

My Last Duchess

Today in class we will review: Paradox, Irony, Satire: 829-839, “My Last Duchess” – Journal
We will also discuss "How To Read A Poem" and poetry explication.

You should know the following after reading last night's homework: Hyperbole, Understatement (including litotes), Satire, Verbal Irony, Dramatic Irony, and Situational Irony.

So, if you haven't read chapter 2 - "How To Read A Poem" you'll need to read it tonight.

Advice for reading a poem according to PIerrine in Sound and Sense

1) Read the poem more than once. A good poem will no more yield its full meaning on a single reading than will a Beethoven symphony on a single hearing.
2) Keep a dictionary by you and use it. It is futile to try to understand poetry without troubling to learn the meaning of the words in which it is composed. A few other reference books should also be invaluable. Particularly desirable are a good book on mythology and a Bible.
3) Read as to hear the sounds of the words in your mind. Poetry is written to be heard: its meanings are conveyed through sound as well as through print. Every word is therefore important.
4) Always pay careful attention to what the poem is saying. One should make the utmost effort to follow the thought consciously and to grasp the full implications and suggestions. Because a poem says so much, several readings may be necessary, but on the first reading you should determine the subjects of the verbs and antecedents of the pronouns.
5) Practice reading the poem aloud. A) Read it affectionately, but not affectedly. B) Read it slowly enough that each word is clear and distinct and that the meaning has time to sink in. C) Read the poem so that the rhythmical pattern is felt but not exaggerated. Remember that poetry is written in sentences, just like prose is, and that punctuation is a signal as to how it should be read.

When writing a poetry explication make sure you start with a HOOK and a THESIS STATEMENT. Put here are a set of rules:

Poetry Explications

A poetry explication is a relatively short analysis, which describes the possible meanings and relationships of the words, images, and other small units that make up a poem. Writing an explication is an effective way for a reader to connect a poem's plot and conflicts with its structural features. This handout reviews some of the important techniques of approaching and writing a poetry explication, and includes parts of two sample explications.

Preparing to write the explication

1. Read the poem silently, then read it aloud (if not in a testing situation). Repeat as necessary.

2. Consider the poem as a dramatic situation in which a speaker addresses an audience or another character. In this way, begin your analysis by identifying and describing the speaking voice or voices, the conflicts or ideas, and the language used in the poem.

The large issues

Determine the basic design of the poem by considering the who, what, when, where, and why of the dramatic situation.

*

What is being dramatized? What conflicts or themes does the poem present, address, or question?
*

Who is the speaker? Define and describe the speaker and his/her voice. What does the speaker say? Who is the audience? Are other characters involved?
*

What happens in the poem? Consider the plot or basic design of the action. How are the dramatized conflicts or themes introduced, sustained, resolved, etc.?
*

When does the action occur? What is the date and/or time of day?
*

Where is the speaker? Describe the physical location of the dramatic moment.
*

Why does the speaker feel compelled to speak at this moment? What is his/her motivation?

The details

To analyze the design of the poem, we must focus on the poem's parts, namely how the poem dramatizes conflicts or ideas in language. By concentrating on the parts, we develop our understanding of the poem's structure, and we gather support and evidence for our interpretations. Some of the details we should consider include the following:

*

Form: Does the poem represent a particular form (sonnet, sestina, etc.)? Does the poem present any unique variations from the traditional structure of that form?
*

Rhetoric: How does the speaker make particular statements? Does the rhetoric seem odd in any way? Why? Consider the predicates and what they reveal about the speaker.
*

Syntax: Consider the subjects, verbs, and objects of each statement and what these elements reveal about the speaker. Do any statements have convoluted or vague syntax?
*

Vocabulary: Why does the poet choose one word over another in each line? Do any of the words have multiple or archaic meanings that add other meanings to the line? Use the Oxford English Dictionary as a resource.

The patterns

As you analyze the design line by line, look for certain patterns to develop which provide insight into the dramatic situation, the speaker's state of mind, or the poet's use of details. Some of the most common patterns include the following:

*

Rhetorical Patterns: Look for statements that follow the same format.
*

Rhyme: Consider the significance of the end words joined by sound; in a poem with no rhymes, consider the importance of the end words.
*

Patterns of Sound: Alliteration and assonance create sound effects and often cluster significant words.
*

Visual Patterns: How does the poem look on the page?
*

Rhythm and Meter: Consider how rhythm and meter influence our perception of the speaker and his/her language.


Basic terms for talking about meter

Meter (from the Greek metron, meaning measure) refers principally to the recurrence of regular beats in a poetic line. In this way, meter pertains to the structure of the poem as it is written.

The most common form of meter in English verse since the 14th century is accentual-syllabic meter, in which the basic unit is the foot. A foot is a combination of two or three stressed and/or unstressed syllables. The following are the four most common metrical feet in English poetry:

(1) IAMBIC (the noun is "iamb"): an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, a pattern which comes closest to approximating the natural rhythm of speech. Note line 23 from Shelley's "Stanzas Written in Dejection, Near Naples":
And walked with inward glory crowned

(2) TROCHAIC (the noun is "trochee"): a stressed followed by an unstressed syllable, as in the first line of Blake's "Introduction" to Songs of Innocence:
Piping down the valleys wild

(3) ANAPESTIC (the noun is "anapest"): two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable, as in the opening to Byron's "The Destruction of Sennacherib":
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold

(4) DACTYLIC (the noun is "dactyl"): a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables, as in Thomas Hardy's "The Voice":
Woman much missed, how you call to me, call to me

Meter also refers to the number of feet in a line:

Monometer
Dimeter
Trimeter
Tetrameter
Pentameter
Hexameter
one
two
three
four
five
six

Any number above six (hexameter) is heard as a combination of smaller parts; for example, what we might call heptameter (seven feet in a line) is indistinguishable (aurally) from successive lines of tetrameter and trimeter (4-3).

To scan a line is to determine its metrical pattern. Perhaps the best way to begin scanning a line is to mark the natural stresses on the polysyllabic words. Take Shelley's line:
And walked with inward glory crowned

Then mark the monosyllabic nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs that are normally stressed:
And walked with inward glory crowned
Then fill in the rest:
And walked with inward glory crowned
Then divide the line into feet:
And walked with inward glory crowned
Then note the sequence:
iamb | iamb | iamb | iamb

The line consists of four iambs; therefore, we identify the line as iambic tetrameter.

I got rhythm

Rhythm refers particularly to the way a line is voiced, i.e., how one speaks the line. Often, when a reader reads a line of verse, choices of stress and unstress may need to be made. For example, the first line of Keats' "Ode on Melancholy" presents the reader with a problem:

No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist

If we determine the regular pattern of beats (the meter) of this line, we will most likely identify the line as iambic pentameter. If we read the line this way, the statement takes on a musing, somewhat disinterested tone. However, because the first five words are monosyllabic, we may choose to read the line differently. In fact, we may be tempted, especially when reading aloud, to stress the first two syllables equally, making the opening an emphatic, directive statement. Note that monosyllabic words allow the meaning of the line to vary according to which words we choose to stress when reading (i.e., the choice of rhythm we make).

The first line of Milton's Paradise Lost presents a different type of problem.

Of Man's First Disobedience, and the Fruit

Again, this line is predominantly iambic, but a problem occurs with the word Disobedience. If we read strictly by the meter, then we must fuse the last two syllables of the word. However, if we read the word normally, we have a breakage in the line's metrical structure. In this way, the poet forges a tension between meter and rhythm: does the word remain contained by the structure, or do we choose to stretch the word out of the normal foot, thereby disobeying the structure in which it was made? Such tension adds meaning to the poem by using meter and rhythm to dramatize certain conflicts. In this example, Milton forges such a tension to present immediately the essential conflicts that lead to the fall of Adam and Eve.


Writing the explication

The explication should follow the same format as the preparation: begin with the large issues and basic design of the poem and work through each line to the more specific details and patterns.
The first paragraph

The first paragraph should present the large issues; it should inform the reader which conflicts are dramatized and should describe the dramatic situation of the speaker. The explication does not require a formal introductory paragraph; the writer should simply start explicating immediately. According to UNC 's Professor William Harmon, the foolproof way to begin any explication is with the following sentence: "This poem dramatizes the conflict between …" Such a beginning ensures that you will introduce the major conflict or theme in the poem and organize your explication accordingly.

Here is an example. A student's explication of Wordsworth's "Composed upon Westminster Bridge" might begin in the following way:

This poem dramatizes the conflict between appearance and reality, particularly as this conflict relates to what the speaker seems to say and what he really says. From Westminster Bridge, the speaker looks at London at sunrise, and he explains that all people should be struck by such a beautiful scene. The speaker notes that the city is silent, and he points to several specific objects, naming them only in general terms: "Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples" (6). After describing the "glittering" aspect of these objects, he asserts that these city places are just as beautiful in the morning as country places like "valley, rock, or hill" (8,10). Finally, after describing his deep feeling of calmness, the speaker notes how the "houses seem asleep" and that "all that mighty heart is lying still" (13, 14). In this way, the speaker seems to say simply that London looks beautiful in the morning.

The next paragraphs

The next paragraphs should expand the discussion of the conflict by focusing on details of form, rhetoric, syntax, and vocabulary. In these paragraphs, the writer should explain the poem line by line in terms of these details, and he or she should incorporate important elements of rhyme, rhythm, and meter during this discussion.

The student's explication continues with a topic sentence that directs the discussion of the first five lines:

However, the poem begins with several oddities that suggest the speaker is saying more than what he seems to say initially. For example, the poem is an Italian sonnet and follows the abbaabbacdcdcd rhyme scheme. The fact that the poet chooses to write a sonnet about London in an Italian form suggests that what he says may not be actually praising the city. Also, the rhetoric of the first two lines seems awkward compared to a normal speaking voice: "Earth has not anything to show more fair. / Dull would he be of soul who could pass by" (1-2). The odd syntax continues when the poet personifies the city: "This City now doth, like a garment, wear / The beauty of the morning" (4-5). Here, the city wears the morning's beauty, so it is not the city but the morning that is beautiful ...

The conclusion??

The explication has no formal concluding paragraph; do not simply restate the main points of the introduction! The end of the explication should focus on sound effects or visual patterns as the final element of asserting an explanation. Or, as does the undergraduate here, the writer may choose simply to stop writing when he or she reaches the end of the poem:

The poem ends with a vague statement: "And all that mighty heart is lying still!" In this line, the city's heart could be dead, or it could be simply deceiving the one observing the scene. In this way, the poet reinforces the conflict between the appearance of the city in the morning and what such a scene and his words actually reveal.

Tips to keep in mind

1.

Refer to the speaking voice in the poem as the speaker" or "the poet." For example, do not write, "In this poem, Wordsworth says that London is beautiful in the morning." However, you can write, "In this poem, Wordsworth presents a speaker who…" We cannot absolutely identify Wordsworth with the speaker of the poem, so it is more accurate to talk about "the speaker" or "the poet" in an explication.
2.

Use the present tense when writing the explication. The poem, as a work of literature, continues to exist!
3.

To avoid unnecessary uses of the verb "to be" in your compositions, the following list suggests some verbs you can use when writing the explication:

dramatizes
presents
illustrates
characterizes
underlines


asserts
posits
enacts
connects
portrays


contrasts
juxtaposes
suggests
implies shows


addresses
emphasizes
stresses
accentuates
enables

A helpful link to the approach by Duke University can be found here

HOMEWORK

Tone: 880-885, “The Man He Killed” – Questions. "The Telephone" and "Love in Brooklyn" questions. Read "The Flea" and questions. Write an explication of "My Last Duchess". Have a detailed definition for TONE. Come to class prepared to share all the above.

Allegory and Symbolism

From THE BEDFORD GLOSSARY OF CRITICAL AND LITERARY TERMS

allegory: The presentation of an abstract idea through more concrete means. The typical allegory is a narrative -- whether in prose, verse, or drama -- that has at least two levels of meaning. The first is the surface-level story line, which can be summed up by stating who did what to whom and when. Although allegories have coherent plots, their authors expect readers to recognize the existence of a second and deeper level of meaning, which may be moral, political, philosophical, or religious. To that end, allegories are often thinly veiled; sometimes characters even bear the names of qualities or ideas the author wishes to represent. (Personification is a device common to many allegories). Allegories need not be entire narratives, however, and narratives may contain allegorical elements or figures. Many critics consider the allegory to be an extended metaphor and, conversely, consider metaphors -- which involve saying one thing but meaning another -- to be "verbal allegories."

symbol: Something that, although it is of interest in its own right, stands for or suggests something larger and more complex -- often an idea or a range of interrelated ideas, attitudes, and practices.

Within a given culture, some things are understood to be symbols: the flag of the United States is an obvious example, as are the five intertwined Olympic rings. More subtle cultural symbols might be the river as a symbol of time and the journey as a symbol of life and its manifold experiences. Instead of the appropriating symbols generally used and understood within their culture, writers often create their own symbols by setting up a complex but identifiable web of associations in their works. As a result, one object, image, person, place, or action suggests others, and may ultimately suggest a range of ideas.

A symbol may thus be defined as a metaphor in which the vehicle -- the image, activity, or concept used to represent something else -- represents many related things (or tenors) or is broadly suggestive. The urn in John Keats's "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (1820) suggests interrelated concepts, including art, truth, beauty, and timelessness.

Symbols are distinguished from allegories. Like symbols, allegories present an abstract idea through more concrete means, but a symbol is an element of a work used to suggest something else (often of a higher or more abstract order), whereas an allegory is typically a narrative with two levels of meaning that is used to make a general statement or point about the real world.

Allegory in "The Road Not Taken"?

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

Conformity or not? We will discuss your views.

One of the most widely studied poems in literature and one of the most debated. Why?

Click on the title above

Today's Class:

Discuss Frost.
Mr. Fielding will read poetry and dreams.
Discuss and review symbols and Allegory.
Cover the chapter on "Reading a Poem"

Homework: Find a poem that uses allegory and bring it to class to read and present.

Read: "Paradox, Irony, Satire" 829- 839 and read "My Last Duchess"

Imagery Poems

For those of you who missed class, you need to be able to explain and discuss the following two poems (in relation to imagery and meaning):

In a Station of the Metro

The apparition of these faces in a crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.

-Ezra Pound

So Much Depends Upon

So much depends
upon

A red wheel
barrow

Glazed with rain
water

Besides the white
chickens

-William Carlos Williams

Imagery - "After Apple Picking"

"No Ideas but in Things" - William Carlos Williams

Imagery is the representation of sense experience it evokes the five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. It is the only way a writer can create an experience for the reader. A reader needs to live a poem.

Emotion is evoked by imagery. The sharper, more precise or more descriptive the details usually the greater the opportunity for the reader to experience the poem or the greater chance for the author to set up symbols.

You also might want to check out the imagist movement at the beginning of the 20th century. This movement left a large impact on how poets looked at imagery and poetry. Go here

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5658

NOTE: Your textbook adds a couple more sense: Organic imagery (an internal sensation such as hunger thirst, fatigue, nausea; and, kinesthetic imagery (movement or tension in the muscles or joints). Meaning there could be seven senses expressed in writing.

Today's Class:

Discuss "After Apple Picking" by Robert Frost.

I want to discuss how this poem could refer to the craft of writing. Ah - a different interpretation.

FInish: "What is Poetry"- particularly looking at "The Red Wheelbarrow" and "In a Station at the Metro"
Notes: Imagery

Poetry

Poetry, Exploration of Themes, and Literary Theories

Unit 2: Introduction to Poetry (4 weeks)

All pages refer to Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense

Week 1: Literary Terms Specific to Poetry
Imagery: Pages 771-774, “After Apple-Picking” – Questions & Journal
Symbol/Allegory: 807-817, “The Road Not Taken” – Questions, Journal
Paradox, Irony, Satire: 829-839, “My Last Duchess” – Journal
Tone: 880-885, “The Man He Killed” – Questions and Journal
Alliteration, Assonance, Consonance: 899-907, various poems

Week 2: Forms of Poetry

Sonnet, Stanza, Ballad, Haiku, Villanelle, Pantoum, Blues, Blank Verse, Quatrain, Couplet, Ode, Blank Verse, Dramatic Monologue, Prose Poem, Epic Poem

In Journals – students will need to explain how each form works and how form = idea



Week 3: Great Poets (focus on Modernism)
Theme: The Individual’s Place in Society

Frost – “Death of the Hired-Man”, “Home Burial”
Eliot – “Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, “Wastelands”
Brooke- “The Dead”
Wilfred Owen – “Dulce et Decorum Est”
Hughes – “Theme for English B”
Bishop – “The Fish”
Jarrell – “Death of Ball-Turret Gunner”
Forche – “The Colonel”
Clifton – “Good Times”
Plath – “Mad Girl’s Love Song”

And perhaps Berryman and Dylan Thomas.

Week 4: In-Class essay, student’s poetry, poetry projects

Students will practice their hand at writing their own poems and exploring literary devices and poetic form. These will be read out loud.

Students will also choose one poem from “Poems for Further Reading” and teach what the poem means and how it creates meaning by discussing form, literary devices and perhaps social context

1st In-class essay.
Personal or Exploratory Essay 2-3 pages.



POETRY TEST: THINGS TO KNOW

Elements: Know both definitions and examples
Imagery, denotation, connotation, irony – verbal, situational, dramatic, sarcasm, metaphor, personification, metonymy, apostrophe, synecdoche, symbol, allegory, paradox, overstatement, understatement, allusion, tone, alliteration, assonance, consonance, internal rime, slant rime, end rime, approximate rime, refrain, meter, iamb, trochee, anapest, dactyl, spondee, monosyllabic foot, line, stanza, cacophony, caesura, enjambment, onomatopoeia

Forms:
Structure, line breaks, how the poem looks, rhyme and rhythm and how it is created
Blues, Sestina, Villanelle, Pantoum, Sonnet (English, Italian, Spenserian, and hybrid), haiku, quatrain, tercets, couplets, litany, ballad.

Poems:
“Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” “Home Burial” “Heights of Machu Picchu” “The Flea” “My Last Duchess” “The Wastelands” “To His Coy Mistress”, “The Waste Lands” “Nani” “The Colonel” “One Art” “Fern Hill” “The Waking” “My Mistress’ Eyes” “The Second Coming”


Wednesday 10/12/11

In class:

We will read "What is Poetry" from your textbooks: Structure, Sound, and Sense (pages 717 - 736).
Notes on Imagery.

Homework:

Imagery - 771-774. Look at the poem "After Apple-Picking". Answer the questions 1-6 at the end of the poem, and then in your blog briefly discuss what you believe the poem is about and use images from the poem to back up your ideas.


Thursday 10/13/11

FInish: "What is Poetry"- particularly looking at "The Red Wheelbarrow" and "In a Station at the Metro"
Notes; Imagery

HW: Read chapter on "Symbolism and Allegory" page 807-817. Answer questions on the poem "The Road Not Taken" and write a response to the poem as to what you believe it means.


Friday 10/14/11


Discuss Frost.
Mr. Fielding will read poetry and dreams.
Discuss and review symbols and Allegory.
Cover the chapter on "Reading a Poem" (if you are gone you need to read this on your own)

Homework: Find a poem that uses allegory and bring it to class to read and present.

Read: "Paradox, Irony, Satire" 829- 839 and read "My Last Duchess"
Answer questions on “My Last Duchess” and write a poetry explication.

BEOWULF help!

You might look at the following site Greenehamlet for ideas on culture background, literary essays, etc. Note: There are many links off of this site that you should explore. Don't be afraid to READ!!!!