The Last Class Before the Final

This evening I crammed a few more poems in.  We looked at the bop, a form invented by Aafa M. Weaver at the Cave Canem retreat in 1999, as well as another poem by Weaver and two poems by Wang Ping, a Chinese-born poet who often writes on environmental issues.  Weaver has taught in Taiwan and is fascinated by Chinese culture, hence the picture of Taipei's Shilin Night Market above.  For more information about this market, see this link:  https://www.travelking.com.tw/eng/tourguide/nightmarket/shilin-night-market.html

Let's start with the bop.  Poets.org has a good overview of the form:
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/bop-poetic-form

Aafa M. Weaver's "Rambling" is here:
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/rambling

I also shared a bop written by Evelyn N. Alfred for a poetry workshop that we both took:

flashes: a bop for bix b.

he hungered for the notes
playing before he could see the keys
mother bird chewed them for him
while he regurgitated beauty
fingertips savoring the song
without knowing the recipe.

the hungry and the hanged, the damaged and the done
striving along this spinning rock, tumbling past the sun

without knowing the recipe
he learned how to taste the tune
adding brown sugar, nutmeg,
and horn lines
but couldn’t bake an unfamiliar harmony
cooling his heart,  sinking the middle
to what effect?
is a fallen cake ruined?

the hungry and the hanged, the damaged and the done
striving along this spinning rock, tumbling past the sun

is a fallen cake ruined?
forced to flash up the treble
singed in chicago winds.
south side speakeasies
intoxicated his ballads
he hungered for the notes.

the hungry and the hanged, the damaged and the done
striving along this spinning rock, tumbling past the sun


 --- Evelyn N. Alfred


The song excerpt comes from “God Bless Our Dead Marines” by A Silver Mt. Zion

 This is the music that Evelyn was responding to in her poem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqEIM2VAyXw

Tara Betts' "More Salt," a bop poem about her grandmother, takes a more down to earth tone:
http://coloronline.blogspot.com/2009/07/tara-betts-poetry-friday.html

We watched the Grandma Thanksgiving Rap Song, a remix of Shirley Caesar's song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amONEHAhLHY

Aafa M. Weaver has also taught in Taiwan and is fascinated by Chinese culture.  This poem, "Being Chinese," shows this aspect of him.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/58516

We also watched this interview:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR86CHOJrnU

For more information about Aafa M. Weaver, see these links:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/afaa-michael-weaver
http://www.afaaweaver.net/index.html

We finished the unit on poetry with Wang Ping, a poet who is concerned with not only identity but also the environment.
The first poem we looked at was "Solstice in Lhasa":
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/solstice-llasa

The other was "A Hakka Man Farms Rare Earth in China":  http://fpif.org/a_hakka_man_farms_rare_earth_in_south_china/

We didn't have time to watch this video of Wang Ping, but I'd like you to watch it as it explains her approach to poetry in Chinese and English:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGFsNkAsRQk

She reads her poems and discusses her poetics here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvqcTSe3W60

Here are a few questions for you:

-- After looking at tonight's poems, how would you define poetry?  What is poetic about it?  What is not poetic?

-- Should poets be political?  If so, what do they need to keep in mind?  If not, why?

-- Discuss the bop as a form.  What seem to be its strengths and weaknesses?

-- How does Wang Ping depict China?

-- How does Aafa M. Weaver depict masculinity in "Rambling"?

-- Discuss the role of the refrain in "Rambling."

-- Discuss the speaker in "Rambling."  Who is he--or she?

-- Which themes are illustrated in the poems we looked at tonight?

-- Pick one of the poems we looked at tonight.  Pair it up with another poem (or literary work) to compare/contrast.

Good night!

As ENGL 190 Winds Down....

Keeping a journal is a wonderful way to study for the final that will be on Dec. 14.

Although the study guide contains links to all the poems we discussed in class, here are links to the poems that we focused on on Nov. 30.

Poe's "The Raven" -- https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/48860

To watch Michael Oliver's film, go to this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKfkx7nKdjk&t=1s

Here is another performance of "The Raven": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K6-wO94-6I

Paul Laurence Dunbar's "We Wear the Mask" -- https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/44203

The two performances we saw are here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDwgnWE6jW8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0qy90YT_II

Li Young Lee's "Eating Alone" -- https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/eating-alone

For Wednesday, Dec. 7. please read ch. 17 on poetic form.

Here are some questions that will help you with the exam and the last paper.

Now that we have looked at a number of poems, how would you define poetry?

Which poems are most poetic to you?  Why?

Which poems are least poetic to you?  Why?

Which elements of poetry are most important to you?  Why?

Which poetry do you prefer: formal poetry or free verse?  Why?

Which poetry do you prefer: older poetry or newer poetry?  Why?

Which themes have we seen so far this semester?  Choose one of these themes, and find two poems that fit.  Why did you choose these poems?

How does figurative language make poetry poetic?  How does it affect you as a reader?

Discuss the role of rhythm in these poems:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LESxHTR2Rpk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctQ4E9AZCX4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h06A2kev1ek

Respond to Rufus Wainwright's transformation of Shakespeare's sonnets into music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctQ4E9AZCX4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6FFtq5CEoM

Study Guide for Final

Here is the prettied-up version of our study guide for the final.


Film -- Nosferatu (1922)
scenes from Nosferatu (1979)    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE2niO-Th4U  Go to 1:43:51 -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VXBZOaz7Ts
scenes from Murnau's Sunrise   Here is a link to the scene that we saw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XYZQbjGykA  

Fiction--
Ha Jin's Saboteur -- revenge, 3rd person, set in China, Mr. Chiu is a newlywed, professor from Harbin
Poe's The Cask of Amontillado -- death; 1st person reliable narrator, vengeance, retribution, Montresor (narrator as older man), Fortunato (victim)
James Joyce's Araby -- epiphany -- narrator (unnamed) -- Araby = bazaar/marketplace -- setting: Ireland in the late 1800s/early 1900s

Poetry
Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess": https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/43768 -- dramatic monologue (speaker is the Duke of Ferrara who was rumored to have killed his first wife)

James Mason reads "My Last Duchess" here.  You can also find various lectures explaining Browning's classic poem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZbNrNE9q8g

Philip V. Allingham provides various readings of the poem here: http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/rb/duchess/pva264.html

Sherman Alexie's "Dangerous Astronomy": https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/dangerous-astronomy -- villanelle by author of "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven"

Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night": https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/do-not-go-gentle-good-night -- villanelle to his father

Sir Anthony Hopkins reads "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIfK809B0Qs

Gwendolyn Brooks' "the rites for cousin vit": https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/51983 -- Italian or Petrarchan sonnet

Yusef Komunyakaa's "Facing It": https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/facing-it -- Vietnam memorial

Komunyakaa reads his poem here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90yxqlVrLP8&t=2s

Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 (My mistress' eyes...)  https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/my-mistress-eyes-are-nothing-sun-sonnet-130

Alan Rickman reads the poem here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP06F0yynic&t=2s

William Carlos Williams' "The Red Wheelbarrow" -- no idea but in things -- a physician who wrote poems on the side -- modern poetry
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/red-wheelbarrow

Williams reads his poem here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqIl3oX_44s

Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" is in chapter 13, but here is a link for you:  https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/those-winter-sundays

Robert Hayden reads his poem here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmJYs6PQKVc

I'll finish with Mary Ellen Solt's "Forsythia":  http://writing.upenn.edu/library/Solt-Mary-Ellen_Forsythia.html -- shape, graphic poem

Another of her poems is "Lilac."

Petrarch's Sonnet 3 in the Canzioniere -- Good Friday, how he met Laura
http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/canzoniere.html?poem=3

Here is Philip Levine's "M. Degas...":     https://www.ibiblio.org/ipa/poems/levine/m._degas_teaches_art_and_science_at_durfee_intermediate_school--detroit1942.php -- listened to poet read, doesn't look like a poem but sounds like a poem

You can listen to the poet read his poem here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-77j2Aw6dM

John Hollander's Swan and Shadow -- visual poem but unlike Solt's poem -- words horizontal and made sense -- not just a visual poet unlike Solt
https://www.naic.edu/~gibson/poems/hollander1.html

We also looked at Russell Edson's prose poem:
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/memory-and-distance

Let's finish with Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art":  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/47536 -- villanelle -- drafts

Miranda Otto reads "One Art" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aIcWdX7xaY&t=177s

Poe's "The Raven" -- creepy ambiance/dominant impression -- rhythm (trochaic octameter) -- internal rhyme -- death -- depression -- Michael Oliver's film with backstory about Poe -- Poe: tension in the US coming up to the Civil War -- poetry as escape
To read the poem, see this link: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/48860

Here is another performance of "The Raven": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K6-wO94-6I

Paul Laurence Dunbar's "We Wear the Mask" -- two performances -- oppression -- Dunbar's life
To read "We Wear the Mask," see this link: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/44203

The two performances we saw are here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDwgnWE6jW8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0qy90YT_II

Li Young Lee's "Eating Alone" -- free verse -- used farming to show that everything has its season -- impression -- published in 1986
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/eating-alone

We finished our unit on poetry by looking at the bop, the poetry of Aafa M. Weaver, and the poetry of Wang Ping, a poet-activist who emigrated to the US from China.

Let's start with the bop.  Poets.org has a good overview of the form:
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/bop-poetic-form

Aafa M. Weaver's "Rambling" is here:
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/rambling

I also shared a bop written by Evelyn N. Alfred for a poetry workshop that we both took:

flashes: a bop for bix b.

he hungered for the notes

playing before he could see the keys

mother bird chewed them for him

while he regurgitated beauty

fingertips savoring the song

without knowing the recipe.

the hungry and the hanged, the damaged and the done
striving along this spinning rock, tumbling past the sun

without knowing the recipe

he learned how to taste the tune

adding brown sugar, nutmeg,

and horn lines

but couldn’t bake an unfamiliar harmony

cooling his heart,  sinking the middle

to what effect?

is a fallen cake ruined?

the hungry and the hanged, the damaged and the done
striving along this spinning rock, tumbling past the sun

is a fallen cake ruined?

forced to flash up the treble

singed in chicago winds.

south side speakeasies

intoxicated his ballads

he hungered for the notes.

the hungry and the hanged, the damaged and the done
striving along this spinning rock, tumbling past the sun

 --- Evelyn N. Alfred

The song excerpt comes from “God Bless Our Dead Marines” by A Silver Mt. Zion

 This is the music that Evelyn was responding to in her poem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqEIM2VAyXw

Tara Betts' "More Salt," a bop poem about her grandmother, takes a more down to earth tone:
http://coloronline.blogspot.com/2009/07/tara-betts-poetry-friday.html

We watched the Grandma Thanksgiving Rap Song, a remix of Shirley Caesar's song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amONEHAhLHY

Aafa M. Weaver has also taught in Taiwan and is fascinated by Chinese culture.  This poem, "Being Chinese," shows this aspect of him.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/58516

We also watched this interview:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR86CHOJrnU

For more information about this poet, see these links:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/afaa-michael-weaver
http://www.afaaweaver.net/index.html

We finished the unit on poetry with Wang Ping, a poet who is concerned with not only identity but also the environment.
The first poem we looked at was "Solstice in Lhasa":
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/solstice-llasa

The other was "A Hakka Man Farms Rare Earth in China":  http://fpif.org/a_hakka_man_farms_rare_earth_in_south_china/

terms:
poetry --
personification
prose poem -- no line breaks, written like prose,
rhythm
voice -- poet's/poem's individuality
speaker -- narrates the poem (can be poet, may not be poet)
pace
line breaks (end-stopped; enjambment)
alliteration (consonants)
assonance (vowels)
metaphor
simile (like/as)
irony
free verse
villanelle (song)
graphic poem/concrete poem/visual poem
sonnet (Shakespearean/Petrarchan or Italian)
theme

fiction --
epiphany (ah-ha moment at the end of the story)
point of view (1st--naive, unreliable, reliable/3rd--omniscient, objective, limited)
plot (narrative arc -- flashbacks -- exposition--foreshadowing)
character (protagonist--antagonist--round/flat--major/minor -- motivation)
setting
theme

intersectionality

Free Verse and Another Villanelle

I want to make sure that I post links to the poems we looked at and our questions for next week.

Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" is in chapter 13, but here is a link for you:  https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/those-winter-sundays
Listen to the poet read his own work here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmJYs6PQKVc

Other poems by Hayden are "Middle Passage" and "Mourning Poem for the Queen of Sunday":
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/43076
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/48798

For more information about Hayden, see this article by Lavelle Porter:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/features/articles/detail/70280

Here is Philip Levine's "M. Degas...":     https://www.ibiblio.org/ipa/poems/levine/m._degas_teaches_art_and_science_at_durfee_intermediate_school--detroit1942.php

The link above includes a recording of the poet reading.  The article below is by a former student of his:  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/articles/detail/69938

We also looked at Russell Edson's prose poem:
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/memory-and-distance

For more information about the prose poem, see this article:
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/prose-poem-poetic-form

 Mary Ellen Solt's "Forsythia" is here:  http://writing.upenn.edu/library/Solt-Mary-Ellen_Forsythia.html
Brian Reed comments on this poem here: http://coldfrontmag.com/singular-vispo-first-encounters/

We also looked at and listened to John Hollander's "Swan and Shadow":
https://www.naic.edu/~gibson/poems/hollander1.html
Here is an interview with John Hollander although it doesn't seem to mention the poem we covered:
http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2866/the-art-of-poetry-no-35-john-hollander


Let's finish with Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art":  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/47536

Sarah Ruhl has written a play about Ms. Bishop: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/features/articles/detail/69912

To learn more about the revisions of "One Art," see these blog entries:  https://helensquared.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/tuesday-poem-one-art-elizabeth-bishop/
https://bluedragonfly10.wordpress.com/2009/06/12/one-art-the-writing-of-loss-in-elizabeth-bishop%E2%80%99s-poetry/
http://displacement-poetry.blogspot.com/2011/07/redrafting-elizabeth-bishop-and-one-art.html

Elizabeth Bishop is reading her poetry here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERfx52Qfyrc

By the way, you may use some of these links in your final paper for ENGL 190.

For Nov. 30, I would like you to read chapters 15 and 16 in our anthology.

Here are some questions for you and your journal.

Choose one of the poems we've discussed in class.  What is its theme?  Which elements contribute to the theme?

Which poem would you pair with the poem you've written about above?  Why?  Why not?

Which other piece of writing would you pair with this poem?  Why?  Why not?

What did Wednesday night's poems add to your understanding of poetry?  Why?

What did Wednesday night's poems add to your confusion about poetry?  Why?

How do the essays I've posted help you understand the poems and their poets?

Why did Philip Levine place Degas in a Detroit schoolroom?  What is he trying to say?  How is M. Degas different from a typical middle school teacher?

Which celebrity or historical figure would you place in a poem about MC?

Is it a good thing to place celebrities in poems?  Why?  Why not?

Describe the voice in one or more poems that we discussed.

Discuss the difference between the poet and the speaker in one or more poems.

How does it help you to listen to a poet read his/her own poem?  Consider how a poet introduces his/her poems.

Describe tone in one or more poems that we discussed.

Describe irony in one or more poems that we discussed.

Discuss a poem that you read but that we did not discuss.  Use some of the techniques we mentioned in class.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving--and best of luck with Black Friday!

Starting Poetry!

Last night we began our unit on poetry by looking at mainly formal poetry (dramatic monologue, villanelle, and sonnet) although we did look at Yusef Komunyakaa's "Facing It," a free verse poem.

Here is a link to the snippet of Dante's The Divine Comedy that we looked at.  Unfortunately, the URL does not link to the specific examples.
http://www.divinecomedy.org/divine_comedy.html

You can even listen to the original Italian of Petrarch's Canzionere:
http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/canzoniere.html?poem=3

James Mason reads "My Last Duchess" here.  You can also find various lectures explaining Browning's classic poem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZbNrNE9q8g

Sir Anthony Hopkins reads "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIfK809B0Qs

Dylan Thomas himself reads the same poem:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2cgcx-GJTQ

Here is a recording of "the rites for cousin vit":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBa_OmLs4nM

Alan Rickman reads Shakespeare's Sonnet #130: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP06F0yynic

Yusef Komunyakaa reads "Facing It."  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90yxqlVrLP8

For our next class, I'd like you to read chapter 14 and the following free verse poems:

Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" is in chapter 13, but here is a link for you:  https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/those-winter-sundays

Here is Philip Levine's "Animals Are Passing From Our Lives":  https://www.ibiblio.org/ipa/poems/levine/animals_are_passing_from_our_lives.php

This is Seamus Heaney's "Digging":
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/47555

Elizabeth Bishop's "Crusoe in England" is here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/48287

I'll finish with Mary Ellen Solt's "Forsythia":  http://writing.upenn.edu/library/Solt-Mary-Ellen_Forsythia.html

Here are a few questions for you.

-- What was it like for you to listen to various poems aloud this past week?

-- Which do you prefer--formal poetry or free verse?  Why?

-- What do this week's poem add to your understanding of poetry?  of free verse?

-- Compare and contrast "Crusoe in England" and "My Last Duchess" as dramatic monologues.  Does it matter that "Crusoe in England" is free verse?

-- Choose one of our poems to discuss word choice.

-- Choose one of our poems to discuss imagery.

-- Choose one of our poems to discuss tone.

-- Choose one of our poems to discuss voice.

-- What do you make of Mary Ellen Solt's "Forsythia"?  Is it poetry or is it visual art?

-- What do you make of the ending of "Animals Are Passing from Our Lives"?

-- If you haven't read Robinson Crusoe, does this make a difference to you when you read this poem?

-- How do you feel about the ending of "Digging"?

See you in class!

Finishing Up Film and Fiction

The picture above is from F.W. Murnau's Sunrise, a film he directed after moving to the United States.  Here is a link to the scene that we saw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XYZQbjGykA  The late Roger Ebert reviews the film here:  http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-sunrise-1928

We also watched the ending of Werner Herzog's Nosferatu:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE2niO-Th4U  Go to 1:43:51 -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VXBZOaz7Ts

Tonight we finished up fiction with "Araby," "The Cask of Amontillado," and "Saboteur."  For next week, I would like you to read chapters 12 and 13 as well as the following poems:

Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess": https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/43768

Sherman Alexie's "Dangerous Astronomy": https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/dangerous-astronomy

Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night": https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/do-not-go-gentle-good-night

Gwendolyn Brooks' "the rites for cousin vit": https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/51983

Yusef Komunyakaa's "Facing It": https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/facing-it

Here are the questions for your journals:

What have you learned about fiction this semester?  Why?

-- Compare/contrast the role that flashbacks play in "This is What It Means..." with the role that they play in "Everyday Use."

-- "The Red Convertible," on the other hand, is a story told in retrospect.  Would this have been an effective method for "This is What It Means..."?  Why?  Why not?

-- If you have read other work by Poe, how has it helped you to read "The Cask of Amontillado"?

-- Should we read more older works?  Why?  Why not?

-- Should we read some fiction in translation?  Why?  Why not?

-- Should we read more fiction set outside the US?  Why?  Why not?

-- Could a story like "Saboteur" happen in the US?  Why?  Why not?

-- Choose one of the stories we did not discuss in class.  Discuss how one symbol in this story helps you understand it more fully.

-- Chose one of the stories we did not discuss in class.  Discuss the importance of the story's setting to the story.

-- Choose one of the stories we've read.  Research its setting (time and place).  How does this research help you understand the story more fully?

-- Do you feel empathy for Mr. Chiu in "Saboteur"?  Why?  Why not?

-- Is the narrator in "Araby" fair to himself?  Why?  Why not?

-- Choose two of the stories we've read.  What is their theme?  Why?

-- Choose two stories to compare/contrast.  

Here are a few questions on poetry:

-- What comes to mind when you think about poetry?

-- Which is more important to you in poetry, words or sound?  Or sound or sense, to use older terminology?

-- Is poetry better when it is read?  Or when it is recited?

-- What kind of form does poetry seem to have?

-- How is poetry different from fiction or drama/theater?  How is it similar?

-- Is rhyme in poetry important to you?  Why?  Why not?

-- Compare and contrast "My Last Duchess" to "The Cask of Amontillado."

I'll be posting the study guide for the fiction take home soon!

Getting Ready for the Second Half of the Semester

Above are some pictures from the 1979 version of Nosferatu.  Werner Herzog was the director.  Klaus Kinski played Nosferatu...Count Dracula.  Isabelle Adjani played Lucy Harker, and Bruno Ganz played Jonathan Harker.  The bottom image is of Harker as a vampire after his wife's death.

The homework for next week is to read chapter 7 and the following stories: James Joyce's "Araby," Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado," Ha Jin's "Saboteur," Michael Oppenheim's "The Paring Knife," and Catfish McDaris' "The Magic Rabbit."  All of the stories but "The Magic Rabbit" are in our book.  "The Magic Rabbit" is on Blackboard.

Also, please send me your journals or the links to your journals.  I am taking up the collection for midterm.

The questions below will count for the second half of the semester.

Compare and contrast Nosferatu with other vampire movies or horror movies that you've seen.

What does Nosferatu add to your understanding of film history?

The Guardian's Film Blog posted a list of the top ten silent films.  What does this list tell you about silent film?  What does it tell you about Nosferatu?
https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/nov/22/top-10-silent-movies-films
Nosferatu is the 7th best horror movie of all time:  https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/22/nosferatu-symphony-horror-murnau

Choose one of the literary elements (plot, character, point of view, theme)  that we have discussed so far and apply it to Nosferatu.

Which symbols do you see in Nosferatu?  How do they help you understand this film better?

 Pamela Hutchinson explains why it's okay to giggle at silent movies.  How does her explanation help you understand Nosferatu better?  https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2015/nov/16/make-em-laugh-why-its-ok-to-giggle-at-silent-movies

Take a look at these articles about Murnau and his career.  How do they help you understand Nosferatu more fully?
http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/371/fw-murnau-his-films-and-their-influence-on-german-expressionism
http://gaycitynews.nyc/gcn_337/murnauthemaster.html

On to the stories!

Choose one of the stories we are reading this week.  Which symbols do you see in it?  How do they make the story more rich and meaningful?

What do you make of the ending of "Saboteur"?  Why does the professor do what he does?

Compare and contrast flash fiction with full-length fiction.

What do you make of the ending of "The Cask of Amontillado"?  Why does the narrator do what he does?  Why does he tell us this story?

What do you make of the protagonist's epiphany in "Araby"?  How has the story prepared us for this moment?

Is Quick in "The Magic Rabbit" a good person?  Why?  Why not?

The Last Class Before the Midterm

The homework for next week is to study for the midterm.  Take a look at the midterm guide on this blog as well as at the sample midterm.  We are following the same format for this test.  Let me know if you have questions.

I also handed out copies of the assignment sheet for the paper on fiction.  Perhaps your paper will be on one of these questions.

We watched part of Bill Moyers' (relatively) recent interview with Sherman Alexie:  https://montgomerycollege.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=16705&xtid=53456  The segments we watched were "Living In Between Cultures," "Alien in Your Birthplace," "Tribalism," and "Alexie Reads 'Tribal Music.'"

Compare and contrast this interview with Moyers' earlier interview with Louise Erdrich and Michael Dorris.  What light do these interviews shed on Native American culture and writing for you?  What light do they shed on Erdrich and Alexie's work?  Consider that Alexie is almost twenty years younger than Erdrich, so he is from a different generation.

How does Alexie depict the reservation in his two stories?  Consider how Erdrich depicts it in "The Red Convertible."

Why does the narrator in "The Lone Ranger..." leave the reservation?

Why does "The Lone Ranger..." jump around in time?  How does that affect you as a reader?

What do you make of the ending of "What It Means..."?  of "The Lone Ranger..."?

How does Alexie's "black and white" thinking affect the stories of his that we've read?

Apply the concepts of "living in between cultures," "alien in your birthplace," and "tribalism" to "Everyday Use" and/or "The House on Mango Street."  Consider that these stories are not about Native Americans.

Choose one story that we've read so far.  Which theme does it appear to illustrate?

Choose one story that we've read so far.  Discuss the impact of the narration whether it is first person or third person, whether it is naive, reliable, or unreliable, whether it is omniscient, limited, or objective.  If it is in third person, is there a center of consciousness?

Choose one story that is in first person and another story that is in third person.  Consider the pros and cons of each method.  How does each method shed light on the story's events and on character?  How does each method allow the writer to develop his/her theme?  How does each method affect you as a reader?

After our discussion, do you believe that the mother in "Everyday Use" is a reliable narrator?  Why?  Why not?

How did it help you to look at Dee and Maggie's perspective as well?

Midterm Guide for ENGL 190

This morning I'd like to start posting the study guide.  We are covering *only* what we cover in class.  The format that we follow will be the format of the sample midterm from 2014.  The questions will be different as we have covered different topics in class.

Drama:
A Doll's House (plus film version starring Anthony Hopkins and Claire Bloom, version starring Jane Fonda, and stage version starring Hattie Morahan)
Fences (plus trailers of versions starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis as well as version starring James Earl Jones)

terms: drama vs. theater; central idea; stage directions; dialogue; narrative arc; well-made play; plot vs. character; Century cycle; trickster; orality

Fiction:
"Coyote and Eagle Visit the Land of the Dead" -- Wishram
"The Red Convertible" by Louise Erdrich (plus video with her and her husband)
"Love in LA" by Dagoberto Gilb (flash fiction--under 1,000 words)
"Today's Demon: Magic" by Lynda Barry (graphic fiction)
"A Good Man Is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor
"The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros
"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker
"This is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona" by Sherman Alexie (plus film clip)
"The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" by Sherman Alexie (plus clips from interview)

terms: plot (narrative arc; flashback; foreshadowing; epiphany; exposition)
character (round/flat; major/minor; stock character; protagonist; antagonist; motivation)
setting
narration/point of view (1st person: reliable, unreliable, or naive; 3rd person: omniscient, objective, or limited)
theme
folktale
orality (in medias res; flat characters; performative; episodic)
trickster

More Fiction!

The period leading up to midterms is always a challenging time, so I appreciate those of you who attended class on Wednesday night.  The midterm and final covers only what we discussed in class.

The homework for next Wednesday is to read chapter 6 (except for "A Rose for Emily") as well as Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" and the two stories by Sherman Alexie ("What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona" and "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven").  Our midterm will be October 26.  Please see the folder midterm/final for more information, including sample midterms.

Here are a few questions for your journals.

In class, we watched segments from the following video on Louise Erdrich and her husband Michael Dorris: https://montgomerycollege.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=16705&xtid=4949  (You may need to log in to watch this video, "Searching for a Native American Identity.")  The segments we watched were "Political Situation," "Victor-Oppressor Relationship," "Dark Humor," "Reservation as Cultural Preservation," and "Learning from Indian Culture."  What did the video teach you about Native American culture?  about Louise Erdrich?  How did it shed light on "The Red Convertible"?  How did it prepare you to read Sherman Alexie's stories--granted that Alexie is from a different generation and a different people?

Compare Erdrich and O'Brien's writing about the Vietnam War.  How does O'Brien avoid making his characters stock characters?  Or does he?

Discuss Erdrich and O'Brien depict war.  Feel free to discuss your own experience of being a soldier or the experiences of family members and friends who have served.

Choose one of the stories we've read so far.  What role does point of view play in the story?  What role does narration play.

Choose one of the stories we've read so far.  What role does plot play?  When does the story begin?  Does it contain flashbacks or foreshadowing?  How much exposition is present to give the reader background information?  How much dialogue is present?  How does the story end?  Are you satisfied?  Why?  Why not?

Chose one of the stories we've read so far.  What role does character play?  Why?

Choose one of the characters we've encountered so far.  Is he/she flat?  round?  Is he/she a protagonist?  an antagonist?  Discuss his/her motivations.  Is he/she believable?  Why?  Why not?  Could he/she be considered a stock character?  Why?

Compare a story narrated in first person with one narrated in third person.  How does each narration help you understand the story?  What do you know?  What do you not know?

Discuss Victor's relationship with his father.  What do you make of his reaction to his father's death?

Discuss Victor's relationship with Thomas.  What do you make of it?  Should Thomas have helped Victor out?  What do you make of Thomas' final request?

How does Sherman Alexie depict Native Americans' lives, both on and off the reservation?

Why do you think that Victor's father leaves the reservation?

Discuss the humor in Sherman Alexie's stories.

Discuss Thomas as a character.

Choose one story we've read so far.  How does the author depict men?  What does this tell us about the world he/she depicts?  about the author's world view?  How do these men interact with women?  How do they interact with each other?

Choose one story we've read so far.  How does the author depict women?  What does this tell us about the world he/she depicts?  about the author's world view?  How do these women interact with men?  How do they interact with each other?

Nothing But Fiction and Folktales

Last night we moved on from drama to fiction and folktales.  This week coming up we will focus on literary fiction, namely "The Red Convertible," "Love in LA," and "Today's Demon: Magic."  The last story is also graphic fiction.

However, I want to add a few questions about our folktales.

Here is a handout on the trickster from Encyclopedia Britannica:  https://www.britannica.com/art/trickster-tale
Joseph Campbell speaks on the trickster:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM10AvJ3bsM

How do these links help you understand "Godfather Death," "Coyote and Eagle Visit the Land of the Dead," and even Trickster Troy from Fences?

Here are some videos of stories about Coyote.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCjooh6oUSA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlCf4et66r8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0qGxVx8OpY
What do they tell you about him?  about storytelling?  about folktales?  Do they seem to be authentic?  Why?  Why not?

Here is a story about Raven, another trickster.  Compare Raven as a trickster to Coyote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un3QcybRFc0

Now let's move onto the literary fiction.

Is Henry's death an accident?  Or is it suicide?  Justify your answer.

How does Lyman change over the course of "The Red Convertible"?

Discuss Lyman as a narrator.  Is he reliable?  Is he naive?  Why?  Why not?

What are Lyman's strengths and weaknesses as a narrator?  How might "The Red Convertible" appear from Henry's point of view, an omniscient or limited 

third person narrator's point of view, or the point of view of the others on the reservation?  What does Lyman know that these people do not?  What does he not know that makes the story better?

Does Lyman seem to be narrating events that happened in the distant past?  Or the recent past?  Why?

What does the story of Henry and Lyman's road trip add to the story?  Why?

How does "The Red Convertible" make use of foreshadowing?  of epiphany?

"Love in LA" is a very short story.  Is this a good thing?  Or a bad thing?  Why?

Do Jake and Mariana change as characters?  Why?  Why not?

"Love in LA" is narrated by a third person narrator with limited omniscience.  How does that affect what we understand of this story?  How would this story be different if Jake or Mariana narrated it?

Describe Jake as a character.

Does he get away in the end?  Why?  Why not?

What do the graphic elements add to "Today's Demon: Magic"?  What does the text add?

Why does the narrator push her friend Ev away?

How do you think that Ev would react to this story?  Why?

What are the narrator's strengths and weaknesses as a narrator?  How might "Today's Demon: Magic" appear from another perspective?

-- If we consider "Love in LA," "The Red Convertible," and possibly "Today's Demon: Magic" to be literary fiction, what are the characteristics of this category?  Why might "Today's Demon: Magic" not fit?

I'm looking forward to seeing what you have to say!

Finishing Up Fences and Moving on to Fiction

I wish that I had been able to post this entry last night after our wonderful conversation had been fresh in my mind, but here is our entry for the week.

I'll start with links to the trailers that we watched.  First is the trailer from the film version of Fences:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vylWibtgdbU

Next is a key scene from the 2010 Broadway version of Fences: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBTXS42dj40

Compare it to the original Broadway version with James Earl Jones and Courtney B. Vance:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_kGtQmvrVI

Or to the Trickster Troy:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v4l36NTrsA

At one point, there was a video of James Earl Jones' version of this scene, but I can't find it.

In the meantime, here are links to entries on Fences from past semesters.  This entry emphasizes the Civil Rights movement and baseball more:  http://en202.blogspot.com/2013/09/from-archives-background-on-fences.html  The next entry contains images from other productions of Fences:  http://en202.blogspot.com/2014/09/questions-for-engl-190-september-24.html   This video takes you backstage to another such production at Boston's Huntington Theater Company:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp8OhjIkRNs&list=PLtOdbdAAmRTisMLDCW__G_tJT1a4X94wm&index=5

Here are a few questions for your journal.

In class, we mainly focused on the relationships in Fences.  How does this focus shape your understanding of the play?  What does it obscure?  Why?

What does baseball mean to Troy?  (Did you notice that at one point Rose was listening to the game even though her husband wasn't there?)

How do you interpret the Trickster Troy scene?  One commenter on YouTube noted that Denzel Washington was trying too hard to be liked and that Troy's beliefs about Death were actually very childish.  What do you think?

How does Troy's death affect his family?  What do you think happens to Cory?  Why?

Discuss Troy and Gabriel as brothers and as characters arising from magic realism.  For more about magic realism, see this handout from Dallas Baptist University:  http://www3.dbu.edu/mitchell/magical.htm    Why does the play begin with Troy's story and end with Gabriel's dance?

What is Gabriel's role in Fences?

What is Bono's role in Fences?

What is Lyons' role in Fences?

What is Rose's role in Fences?

How does your awareness of racial issues help you understand Fences better?

How does Fences help you understand racial issues better?  Consider August Wilson's preface to the play.

Compare and contrast Denzel Washington's performance of Troy with James Earl Jones'.  If you choose to expand your response to this prompt for the paper, take a look at other performances, too.

Let's move on to fiction.  Trickster Troy complements the folktales that we will be looking at.  The first is "Godfather Death," one of the Brothers Grimm's many tales:  http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm044.html  The second is the Native American tale "Coyote and Eagle Visit the Land of the Dead": http://www.native-languages.org/wishramstory.htm  "The Red Convertible" by Louise Erdrich is in our book.

Here are a few questions for your journal.

How is fiction different from drama/theater?  How is it similar?

How are folktales different from literary fiction like "The Red Convertible"?

How do the folktales handle literary elements such as plot, character, setting, narration, and symbolism?

How does literary fiction handle literary elements such as plot, character, setting, narration, and symbolism?

Compare the folktales that we are reading to folk tales in your own tradition.

 Does length matter in short stories?  How short is too short?  How long is too long?

-- Discuss the role of plot and character in the stories we have read so far.  Are these stories plot driven?  character driven?  or setting driven?

-- Discuss the ways in which fiction encourages empathy.  How does this compare/contrast to drama/theater?

-- Discuss the ways in which fiction encourages moral behavior.  How does this compare/contrast to drama/theater?

-- Discuss Death, the godson, and his father as characters.  Consider that, in Fences, Troy wrestles with Death.

-- Discuss Coyote and Eagle as characters.  Why does Coyote go to the land of the dead?  Why does he not carry out his mission?

-- Look for other stories about Coyote.  How does he differ from story to story?

Here are entries that give background about him and Native American cultures:

http://en202.blogspot.com/2014/01/native-american-folktales-for-spring.html

http://en202.blogspot.com/2014/01/trickster-tales-for-2014.html

http://en202.blogspot.com/2014/01/more-trickster-for-2014.html

See you at the library!

Finishing Up A Doll's House and Starting Fences

Good evening :)

At last here is a real blog entry with our questions for the week.  I am also posting links to the opening and closing scenes from the 1973 version of A Doll's House starring Jane Fonda and David Warner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjX-u7yAWDs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtSGp72hoXE

More recently, in 1997, Janet McTeer performed the role of Nora.  I'm including some scenes from this version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6bnV9R0qls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7TO2-vZjCg

Below is a picture of Hattie Morahan's Nora with Dr. Rank.

Now for a few more questions on A Doll's House....

What did you think about the ending of the play?  Is it credible as an ending to you?

What do you think that Nora does after the play is over?  (In an interview, Janet Adchurch, the original English-language Nora, maintained that Nora would shortly return to Helmer but their reunion would not be successful.   Other authors have imagined Nora as a wealthy man's mistress.  But what do you think?)

Could Helmer and Nora reconcile?  Why?  Why not?

Why does Nora not take her children with her?  How does that affect your understanding of her character?

Compare Anthony Hopkins and Claire Bloom's performance in the last scene with Jane Fonda and David Warner's.  What surprises you about these performances?

Is Ibsen a feminist?  Why?  Why not?  What does it mean to be a feminist?  Consider historical contest.  Could one retroactively label a writer a feminist--when he did not consider himself to be one?  Why?  Why not?

Discuss Ibsen's portrayal of women.  Comment on this passage from Stephanie Forward's article on A Doll's House: "James Joyce said of the dramatist: 'Ibsen's knowledge of humanity is nowhere more obvious than in his portrayal of women. He amazes me by his painful introspection; he seems to know them better than they know themselves.' This sentiment was echoed by Irish suffragist Louie Bennett: 'More than any other modern writer he has proved himself a prophet and an apostle of the cause of woman; no other modern writer has shown more sympathetic comprehension of her nature and its latent powers.'"

Discuss Nora's performance of the tarantella.  What does it tell you about her?  about her relationship with Helmer?  about their relationship with Dr. Rank?

Above are pictures from a recent version of A Doll's House starring Hattie Morahan as Nora, Steve Toussaint as Dr. Rank, and Dominic Rowan as Helmer.  How would you describe the dynamic among these characters?  Consider that the actors playing Dr. Rank and Helmer are about the same age.  Also, discuss the impact of cross-casting.  I'll finish with a picture of a recent production starring Cush Jumbo as Nora.  How does cross-casting change the dynamic?

I'll finish with a few questions about Fences, our next reading.

August Wilson is often noted for emphasizing character over plot.  How does his emphasis affect Fences?

Fences is set in Pittsburgh.  How does that circumstance shape the play?  Consider, too, that it mostly takes place in 1957, that is, after Little Rock *and* the Montgomery Bus Boycott but before the sit-ins at the Greensboro lunch counter *and* Selma.  Do the characters in Fences seem to be aware of what is going on in the South?  Why?  Why not?

Discuss Troy Maxson as a character.

Do Troy and Rose have a good marriage?  Why?  Why not?

Is Troy a good father to Cory?  Why?  Why not?

Why does Cory rebel against his father?

Discuss the role that baseball plays in Fences.