Due 4/19: Poet Study

April 10, 2017 By

Hope everyone is in the midst of a great spring break! When you have a spare moment, I would encourage you to read some of your chosen poet’s poetry. As a reminder, here are the details for the poet study, your PBA for this class:

Looking ahead to your Poetry PBA Portfolio, start thinking about your main opinion, or thesis, about your poet’s work. Read a significant body of work by your poet (20-30 poems). Ultimately, you will focus your study on 10 poems. Some good questions to ask yourself as you read:

  • What themes do you notice in your poet’s work?
  • Where and how do these themes appear?
  • Which poems you’ve read most clearly show these themes?
  • What techniques (poetic devices, style, language, etc.) does this poet use most often, and how do they affect the poems?
  • What effect do they have? In other words, how do they shape and change your reading of the poems?
  • What tone, or mood do you get from these poems? How do they make you feel?
  • Take some notes on your answers to these questions, and start coming up with an opinion about your poet’s work.

Your PBA will include (in this order):

  • Cover Sheet
  • A 1-2 page mini-bio of your poet.
  • A 5-7 page essay that introduces and analyzes the work of your poet, including a strong claim (a thesis) about your poet and his/her work. In this analysis you should demonstrate great control of your poet’s work. Finally, your discussion must be complemented by 3 primary or secondary sources (critical/analytical in nature).
  • The 10 poems (untouched) chosen for this project.
  • Two original poems mirroring your poet’s style.
  • As an appendix: Annotated copies of the ten poems chosen for this project.

Due 4/4: Transcendentalism

March 31, 2017 By

1. Transcendentalism–Print, read, and annotate the following poems by Walt Whitman:

Song of Myself
I Sit and Look Out

2. (Due Thursday, 4/6) Transcendental Poem–As for all poetry, be aware of how you are using words to create image/meaning. Thematically, you should weave characteristics of Transcendental poetry into your poem. We will know more about Transcendentalism after Monday’s class (and of course after reading the Whitman poems above).

Due 3/30: Browning

March 29, 2017 By

1. Reading–Read and annotate Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s How do I Love Thee? and A Curse for a Nation. Again, here is a link to the Poetry Seminar Packet (which includes all poems for the class).

Due 3/28: The Romantics

March 27, 2017 By

1. Focus Question: How does Romanticism play a role in modern times?

Find TWO songs and print out the lyrics for tomorrow’s class!

  • Find a popular love song that embodies romantic thought and annotate it through a romantic lens (how does it portray the ideals of the romantic movement? Why is it Romantic? How does it make you feel?)

AND

  • Find a another song and describe how it perverts human emotion/beauty and how it shows romantic thought has changed. Write one short paragraph (3-5 sentences) on this song explaining how it perverts the Romantic movement.

2. (Due 3/28) Reading–Read the two William Blake poems distributed in class (the Chimney Sweeper poems) and I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud and The World is Too Much with Us by William Wordsworth.

3. Writing–(Due 3/29) By this time we will have read several Romantics (Blake, Byron, Wordsworth, Keats, and Dickinson)! Considering these poets and the above quotation (take inspiration from the themes, ideas, and social implications), you will write your very own Romantic Poem! Naturally, your poem should reflect an understanding of Romanticism. Heading:

Name
Poetry Seminar
3/29/17
5. Romantic Poem

Due 3/28: The Romantics

March 24, 2017 By

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to “glorify God and enjoy him forever.” -Thoreau

1. (Due 3/28) Reading–Read the two William Blake poems distributed in class (the Chimney Sweeper poems) and I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud and The World is Too Much with Us by William Wordsworth.

2. Writing–(Due 3/29) By this time we will have read several Romantics (Blake, Byron, Wordsworth, Keats, and Dickinson)! Considering these poets and the above quotation (take inspiration from the themes, ideas, and social implications), you will write your very own Romantic Poem! Naturally, your poem should reflect an understanding of Romanticism. Heading:

Name
Poetry Seminar
3/29/17
5. Romantic Poem

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