Poems and Critics

Please finish your paraphrase of your memorized poem this weekend, and read the next section on Critical Schools: Biographical. Continue to practice your poems-- we will do a second round after Finals.
DUE MONDAY: Literary Terms Glossaries
 Also Monday--We will continue to discuss the rotting gopher carcass thing--- poem to analyze
FINAL EXAM: Thursday, January 31st

Next Phase:

For tonight:
1- Finish memorizing your poem if you have not already.
2- Write a ONE SENTENCE synopsis of your poem's plot/speech act
3- Write a paraphrase of your poem-- be sure to have a thorough understanding of each word your poet uses--  but DO NOT do a word-for-word translation--put the meaning of the poet's lines in your own words and style.
Read the short article on pages 2076-2079 of Literature:... about "Formalist Perspectives"
Happy Thursday!

Practice your Poems!

We will continue to practice our recitations tomorrow, and we will finish our practice multiple choice test--AND we will practice plying critical perspectives--practice criticizing, in the best sense, the works we read.
ASSIGNMENTS:
1- Finish you Literary Terms Glossary by Monday, January 28th (part of your final grade)
2- Be Ready to perform your poem from the POL site: Monday, January 28th (part of your final grade)
3- Read pages 2068 - 2076 in Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry and Drama by Robert DiYanni (read for discussion/quiz in class)

Final exam will be in the form of some multiple choice questions over a piece you will read and an in-class essay on a topic related to one of the major works you have studied this semester.-- sort of a "mini" AP test.  You will be great!

Terminology and Attitude

How we talk about texts and, even more importantly, how we approach them--from what angle we view them, how we ""inform" our reading--this is our next unit of study.
Assignments in a nutshell:
1- Examine the poem, " My Grandmother's Love Letters" for what you think it is about--literally, figuratively, and every other way.  Write LOTS of notes all over the text as you think it through.
2- Be sure you REALLY understand three terms on the Literary Terms Glossary List: metaphysical conceit, meiosis, and apostrophe.
3- Memorize your poem for POL this weekend!

Mrs. E

My Grandmother's Love Letters

There are no stars tonightBut those of memory.Yet how much room for memory there isIn the loose girdle of soft rain. There is even room enoughFor the letters of my mother’s mother,Elizabeth,That have been pressed so longInto a corner of the roofThat they are brown and soft,And liable to melt as snow. Over the greatness of such spaceSteps must be gentle.It is all hung by an invisible white hair.It trembles as birch limbs webbing the air. And I ask myself: “Are your fingers long enough to playOld keys that are but echoes:Is the silence strong enoughTo carry back the music to its sourceAnd back to you againAs though to her?” Yet I would lead my grandmother by the handThrough much of what she would not understand;And so I stumble. And the rain continues on the roofWith such a sound of gently pitying laughter. 

 

Monday Mentionings

Three Big Things:

1- We are presenting Modern Poetry group projects tomorrow--Tuesday-- whether you have been here or not-- you need to be ready, please!
2- You need to begin memorizing your poem for Poetry Out Loud-- we will work next week on recitation techniques, etc., but we will also be working on a unit on Literary Critical Theory--oh yeah!
3- Literary Terms Glossary-- here is a list of the words-- get to work if you haven't already-- these are part of the final exam--thanks!
Mrs. Eddy

Candide--We Will Miss You!

We are finishing up writing/discussion about Candide-- Friday (tomorrow ) is the last day to turn in some writing about Voltaire's satirical attack on philosophical excess-- we finish in class.
Meanwhile-- we formed groups today and started on an exploration of Modern Poetry---
Here is a link to the assignment.

Welcome Back!

So good to be back here with you!  Here is the assignment from today:
Candide Unleashed:
See you tomorrow--hopefully with a couple of glossary entries: 12 days of school before finals! Yikes!
Mrs. E