Updates

Tuesday's journal:
Two quotes from Zora Neale Hurston--you choose which you'd like to write about:
"Learning without wisdom is a load of books on a donkey's back. "
"No matter how far a person can go the horizon is still way beyond you. "

Wednesday's journal:
"Be content with your lot; one cannot be first in everything." --Aesop

Thursday's journal:
"Talk not of wasted affection! Affection never was wasted. . . .
Nor deem the irrevocable past
As wholly wasted, wholly vain"
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Due Monday:
Thoughtful revison of one of your Metamorphosis poems, using the poetry rubric, my comments, and your evaluator's suggestions.

Sensory Images

No Quote

Classwork: In class writing and sharing on the following 3 topics (will be completed tomorrow in class and turned in.)

Sensory images--descriptions/language that appeals to and stimulates specific senses.

This exercise should be completed in long flowing sentences--try to write what comes to mind without stopping or letting yourself be interrupted. Try to feel the words.

Sight--Imagine the most beautiful place you've ever been. Close your eyes and go there. Describe it to a blind person.

Sound--Think about your favorite genre of music. Feel the tune, harmony and melody. Write a sentence that will explain your love of it to a deaf man.

Taste--Envision being trapped on a deserted island, just like "Lost." You are starving, so hungry you're delusional and can almost tast your favorite meal. Describe it.

Homework: Handout, copied below

Today we will judge poetry. As we become more qualified readers, we are skilled enough to judge the worthiness of a poem. Using "The Want of You" answer the following questions in essay form:

What is the central purpose of the poem?
How fully has this purpose been accomplished?
How important is this purpose?

Think carefully and thoughtfully on these questions. Assess the perfection and significance of this poem. Consult the prior class discussions we've had. What literary devices are used, and are they helping the purpose of the poem come out? Be thoughtful and opinionated.

The Want of You by Ivan Leonard Wright

The want of you is like no other thing;
It smites my soul with sudden sickening;
It binds my being with a wreath of rue -
This want of you.

It flashes on me with the waking sun;
It creeps upon me when the day is done;
It hammers at my heart the long night through -
This want of you.

It sighs within me with the misting skies;
Oh, all the day within my heart it cries,
Old as your absence, yet each moment new -
This want of you.

Mad with demand and aching with despair,
It leaps within my heart and you are - where?
God has forgotten, or he never knew -
This want of you.

Metamorphosis

Journal: Freewrite. Remember, journals were collected for grading today.

Classwork: Peer revisions of "I Want"

Homework: Write 2 metamorphosis poems. Look to the student and published examples for inspiration or assistance.

Revision

Journal: Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

Classwork: Poetry reading strategy for "Crabs" by Richard Littmore

Homework: Using the rubric and my comments, revise your "I Want" poem for class tomorrow.

Abnormalities.

Quote: Beauty as we feel it is something indescribable; what it is or what it means can never be said--George Santayana

Classwork:

• Analyzing and annotating "The Two-Headed Calf" by Laura Gilpin
• Learning a poetry reading strategy

Homework: Use the poetry reading strategy with "Crabs" by Richmond Lattimore

Freak?

Quote: "I'd rather not have anything than be a liar."--Alicia Keys

Classwork: Free Association

Homework: Brainstorm ideas about how and why the calf in Laura Gilpin's "The Two-Headed Calf" dies.

Martin Luther King Day, 2008

Quote: "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love, 1963

Classwork: WRiting with Dr. King--using Dr. King's words and our own, we create a new poem paying tribute to his accomplishments for human kind.

Homework: Remember to bring your chosen poem and paragraph explaination to class Tuesday--since I won't see all of you Monday.

Reading: What's the deal?

HW: For Monday, find a poem that you feel is worthwhile, beautiful or important.

Then, write a paragraph that explains

1. The reason you enjoy the poem,
2. The message you get from the poem, and
3. The reason the poem is important (Why should others read it, also?).

Long quotes, boring poems...

Quote: Neither let mistakes nor wrong directions, of which every man, in his studies and elsewhere, falls into many, discourage you. There is precious instruction to be got by finding we were wrong. Let a man try faithfully, manfully to be right; he will grow daily more and more right. --Thomas Carlyle


HW: For Monday, find a poem that you feel is worthwhile, beautiful or important.

Is the world too much with us, or not enough?

Quote: In Chinese, the word for crisis is wei ji, composed of the character wei, which means danger, and ji, which means opportunity. -Jan Wong

Classwork: Working with a partner, decide where line breaks should occur in Lucille Clifton's
poem "the poet." Then explain what line break technique you've used and why.

Homework: Read William Wordsworth and Denise Levertov's poems "The World is Too Much With Us" and "O Taste and See." Then answer the literary analysis questions provided. Always answer in complete sentences, providing evidence. Finally, create a Venn diagram comparing the two poems.

Line Breaks

Quote:
"The secret point of money and power in America is neither the things that money can buy nor power for power's sake but absolute personal freedom, mobility, and privacy.
-Joan Didion

Homework: Complete the line breaks exercise at the end of the Line Breaks handout.

I want...

Quote:
Happiness can be defined in part as the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually.
~ Chinese Proverb

Homework: Using the list you created in class and the poems we read together, write you're own "I Want" poem. Include at least three of the following: hyperbole, personification, simile, metaphor, or allusion.

Don't forget to refer to the criteria used in the Poetry Rubric.

Welcome home, class of '08!

No quote, classwork, or homework.

Retreat, Day 2. Thinking of you!

Josh, Shanelle, and I hope that retreat is everything it should be. We'll see you Monday!


No quote, classwork, or homework.

Retreat, day 1

No quotes, classwork, or homework.

Good Luck on Retreat, Seniors!

Journal Quote:
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear." --Ambrose Redmoon

Classwork:

1) Reading Poetry as a Poet/Reading Strategy:

• What lines stand out to you? Why?
• What is the purpose of the poem?
• What is the main message of the poem?
• How does the poet get the message to the reader (if in fact, it does get to the reader)

2) Use this simple, yet effective, strategy to read both poems assigned yesterday

3) Write a HAIKU defining either poet or poetry, to post in the classroom.

Haikus are 3 line poems:
5 syllable line
7 syllable line
5 syllable line

EXAMPLE:

Quiet Observer

Silently noting details

Of the lives we lead

Welcome to Creative Writing

Journal Quote:
"Words have weight, sound and appearance; it is only by considering these that you can write a sentence that is good to look at and good to listen to. " --Somerset W. Maugham

Classwork:
Write a Biopoem to introduce yourself--use the template and examples below

Diana
Beautiful, kind, noble, generous
Mother of William and Harry, Sister of Charles
Lover of children, life, the downtrodden
Who felt anguish, hope, and compassion for whom she toiled
Who needed love, understanding, and acceptance for all of God's people
Who feared for victims of ignorance, intolerance, and discrimination
Who gave hope to those who had none, help to those in need, and happiness to those in despair
Who would have liked to see her sons reach manhood, the world at peace, people free from oppression
Resident of Great Britain
Spencer, Princess of Wales

TEMPLATE
Line 1: First Name
Line 2: Four descriptive traits
Line 3: Realtive of...
Line 4: Lover of
Line 5: Who fears...
Line 6: Who needs...
Line 7: Who gives...
Line 8: Who would like to see...
Line 9: Resident of...
Line 10: Last Name

HW:
Read "What is Poetry?" by T. S. Eliot and "What is a Poet?" by e. e. cummings
Then, create your own definitions of "poetry" and "poet."
Be creative and try to encompass the meaning of these words.