Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Study Guide for Final -- pt. 3 -- EN 190


I think that it's time for part three of our study guide!

Monday's presentations were as follows:

Grant's presentation on Jules Verne, focusing on Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Ismail's presentation applying Erikson's theory of development to Death of a Salesman

Pamela's presentation on Cuban poet and painter Armando Vallardes

Inhae's presentation on the Brothers Grimm

Liliana's presentation on Nobel prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa

The picture below is of Vargas Llosa with his first wife, Julia.

We also discussed the ballad, a form present in both poetry and song.

Here are a few more links for you:

 In the 1960s, Simon and Garfunkel put E.A. Robinson's poem "Richard Cory" to music.  Here is a link to the poem although it is in our anthology:
Ballad: a relatively short narrative poem, written to be sung, with a simple and dramatic action. The ballads tell of love, death, the supernatural, or a combination of these. Two characteristics of the ballad are incremental repetition and the ballad stanza. Incremental repetition repeats one or more lines with small but significant variations that advance the action. The ballad stanza is four lines; commonly, the first and third lines contain four feet or accents, the second and fourth lines contain three feet. Ballads often open abruptly, present brief descriptions, and use concise dialogue.
      The folk ballad is usually anonymous and the presentation impersonal. The literary ballad deliberately imitates the form and spirit of a folk ballad. The Romantic poets were attracted to this form, as Longfellow with "The Wreck of the Hesperus," Coleridge with the "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (which is longer and more elaborate than the folk balad) and Keats with "La Belle Dame sans Merci" (which more closely resembles the folk ballad).

Tuesday we saw the following presentations:  Hubert's presentation on Dmitri Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony, Wajiha & Jonathan's presentation on Eminem's "Mockingbird," Aurelie's presentation on Victor Hugo's "Demain des l'Aube," and Dexter's presentation on the Beijing production of Death of a Salesman. 




We looked at some other forms of poetry.  The first is the tanka or waka, a very concise form from Japanese literature.  It is actually quite old, dating from the 700s CE (or the 8th Century), and one of its leading lights was a woman, Ono no Komachi who lived during the 9th Century.  At that time, upper-class Japanese women were encouraged to pursue literature in Japanese.  The men, on the other hand, read and wrote Chinese.  Here is the link we looked at:
http://www.gotterdammerung.org/japan/literature/ono-no-komachi/

Her picture is above.  She commonly appears in Japanese prints as an archetypal poetess and seductive woman.

One poem was translated by Arthur Waley, a noted translator from the early 20th century.  Two were translated by Jane Hirschfield, an American poet, and Aratani Mariko, a Japanese poet.

The second is the bop, a new form developed by African-American poet Afaa M. Weaver. 

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5773

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/22359

Scroll down this link to find another example of the bop poem:

http://jstheater.blogspot.com/2007/04/random-musings-poem-lyrae-van-clief.html

I've also attached Evelyn N. Alfred's bop poem, "flashes: a bop for bix b."  Enjoy!

We listened to another one of Afaa M. Weaver's poems.  This one is not a bop, and it takes place in Taiwan:

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20050

The picture below is of Taipei's most famous "night market."

We finished up with the following presentations:

Joe & Lizzy on 1950s pop culture
Nahom on the American Dream & Death of a Salesman
Clifford on music as literature
Karen, Shennekia, & Jason on song lyrics as poetry

You may also watch Mauricio's video on Cesar Vallejo, the Peruvian poet, here:


Thanks for a great semester!



Attachment: flashes.docx

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Study Guide for Final -- pt. 2 -- EN 190

Tuesday we dug a little deeper into poetry, focusing on voice, tone, and style including line breaks and line length.  Terms we discussed included types of line breaks (end-stop, grammatical, and enjambment), types of poetry (narrative, lyric, didactic, dramatic monologue), alliteration, and assonance.  Below are links to the poems we looked at and listened to.


We looked at a few more of Charles Bukowski's poems.  Perhaps someone would like to present on him and his work.  Above is a picture of him from Wikipedia.

Harry Dean Stanton reads "Bluebird":


The print version is here together with another poem of his, "The Great Escape":


Here is Bukowski himself reading "The Secret of My Endurance":


The print version is here:



We also looked at and listened to Beat poet Allen Ginsberg's "A Supermarket in California."  His picture is above.



For contrast, we added Robert Lowell's "Skunk Hour."  His picture is above.


Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess" exemplifies the classic dramatic monologue:


Below is a picture of Browning with his wife, fellow poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning as portrayed by Frederic March and Norma Shearer.  The Brownings had a celebrated courtship and marriage as he helped her elope from her parents' house to Italy.  


Here is a link to a video of Li-Young Lee reading from his poems:



Finally!  Theodore Roethke reads "My Papa's Waltz":


You may prefer Frank McCourt's version without the music and distracting images:


Yusef Komenyakaa reads "Facing It."



If you were not in class, or if you would like to examine yet another poem, here are the questions we went over in class.

Choose one of the poems we haven’t discussed.  How does the poet draw on voice in this poem?  What is his/her figurative presence in the poem? What is his/her authorial presence?  How does the poet use tone (emotion/irony)?  How does he/she use style?  How does the poet use plot, character, or setting?  Is this poem a good poem?  Why?  Why not?


Tuesday's poems also include Marge Piercy's "Barbie Doll," Theodore Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz," and Yusef Komenyakaa's "Facing It."  Ms. Piercy's picture is below:



Thursday we focused on the sonnet but also examining the villanelle and the sestina.  Did you know that there are two types of sonnets (Petrarchan and Shakespearean)?  And that the villanelle was once a type of French song?  And that the sestina does not rhyme!  

It seems like we watched quite a few clips in class that night.


Let's start with Shakespeare's Sonnet 130, "My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun":



On to his Sonnet 29, starting with Rufus Wainwright's musical version:






Here is the site where we listened to Petrarch's Sonnet 90 in its original Italian:



Now let's listen to Elizabeth Bishop's "Sestina":


Here is her villanelle "One Art":



Next is "In the Waiting Room," one of her later poems.




This is not Richard Thompson's "Sumer is Icumen in," but it will have to do!


The lyrics are below:


Ah...someone has posted Thompson's "King Henry":



Here are links about the format of the sonnet, the villanelle, and the sestina.




Other poems that will be on the final will be Claude McKay's "If We Must Die" and Helene Johnson's "Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem."

Presentations


Monday, August 8 --
 Grant McLaughlin on Jules Verne
Liliana Perez on Mario Vargas Llosa
Inhae Hong on The Brothers Grimm
Ismail Hassen on Gilligan's/Erikson's Stages & a story or character
Pamela Hernandez on Armando Valladares La Mejor Tinta

Tuesday, August 9 --

Dexter Chan on Death of a Salesman
Wajiha Fatima and Jonathan Durgam on an analysis of a song
Aurelie Mebou on Victor Hugo's "Demain des l'Aube"

Web-only
Jesenia Romero on Marge Piercy
Nayani Athale on Lynda Barry
Jennifer Guzman on a writer from El Salvador
Anitha Mohan and Davish Chaskar on "Dinner with Dr. Azad" -- Role of Bangladesh/Indian
Patricia Lopez on Pablo Neruda


Thursday, August 11 
Naham Hawaz on the American Dream
Clifford Oh on music & literature
Mauricio Silva -- TBA
Jason Mihlfeld on song lyrics as poetry
Shennekia Grimshaw on a song
Joseph Jacob/Lizzy Tabb on 1950's/1960's American culture

If you don't see your name here, be sure to sign up on Monday or Tuesday!  Also, Jason has put out a call for people to join him in a group presentation.  If you would rather not present in public or by yourself, feel free to join him!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Final Study Guide for EN 190 -- Summer II 2011

This study guide for the final will begin with F.W. Murnau's 1922 version of Nosferatu, an example of silent film and German Expressionism.  Below are links to YouTube versions of this film:

Here is a link to the YouTube video of the entire movie.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcyzubFvBsA

This version has a better soundtrack:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDZURPwzkRg

Below is a picture of the actor Max Schreck who played Nosferatu.

Below is his brief biography.  More rumors than facts are known.


Here is a biography of director F.W. Murnau who later worked in Hollywood.  His picture is below.



Also, here is a link to my Multiply entry on the 1922 Nosferatu, the version that we saw.

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/154/Nosferatu_1922

Werner Herzog remade this film in 1979:

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/152/Nosferatu_1979

Let's move onto poetry.  As Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl" may be a poem or a short story, we may begin with her piece.  Here is some information about Ms. Kincaid:


Here is a little benna for you:


Below are the definitions of the short story and the poem that I included.

A short story is a brief prose work of narrative fiction characterized by a carefully crafted plot and style, complexity in characterization and point of view, and unity of effect.  It is shorter than a novel (50,000 or more words) or a novella (15,000 to 30,000 words).

A poem is a literary composition, written or oral, typically characterized by imagination, emotion, sense impressions, and
 concrete language that invites attention to its own physical features, such as sound or appearance on the page.

I will also include the prose poems we looked at before the midterm:


Monday we began the unit on poetry by looking at word and image.  Terms covered will include denotation, connotation, and sensory impression.  We will look at word choice in poems.  Monday's poems were Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" and Gwendolyn Brooks' "The Bean Eaters."  Note how short and condensed these poems were--and that Ms. Brooks' poem had rhyme.

Here is a link to the video of Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" that we listened to.  Note that we are *not* listening to Mr. Hayden's voice.


These links are to Gwendolyn Brooks' "The Bean Eaters":



For more information about Mr. Hayden, see this link:


For more information about Ms. Brooks, who was a very influential Chicago poet, see this link: