Questions for 12/3

Good evening :)

The semester is nearly over, and I'm glad that we were able to focus on form in poetry this evening.  For next time, I would like you to look over chapter 15 on figurative language.  We may also look at more translations, especially translations of Pablo Neruda's poems.

I am also including a link to our study guide for the final:  http://en202.blogspot.com/2014/11/study-guide-for-fiction-take-home-final.html

That study guide has a list of all the readings that will be on the final as well as any videos that we watched.

I will post the MP3 of "Bird Call Dance Hall" at MyMC since it is fairly large.

Here are some questions for your journals;

-- What would you like to write about for your poetry paper?  Why?

-- We have covered only a few of the poetic forms available.  If you are familiar with one we haven't covered, feel free to discuss it at more length here.  Argue for the haiku or the tanka!!  The pantoum and the sestina are forms that do not require rhyme.  What do these forms add to our understanding in poetry?

-- Argue for or against free verse.

-- Argue for or against form in poetry.

-- How is figurative language used in the poems we've been reading?

-- Compare the use of language in "Dulce et Decorum Est" and "Facing It."

-- Take a look at other sonnets by Shakespeare:  http://poetry.eserver.org/sonnets/
Compare and contrast one with one of the sonnets we discussed in class.

What light do these other sonnets shed on the sonnet form?  on Shakespeare?  on the speaker's relationship to the young man?  or to his relationship with the Dark Lady?

-- Choose another sonnet by Shakespeare: http://poetry.eserver.org/sonnets/

Is this a well-known sonnet?  An obscure sonnet?  Can you find a reading of this sonnet on YouTube?
How does Shakespeare use poetic techniques in this sonnet?

Here is a little background on Shakespeare's sonnets:  http://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/shakespeare/sonnets.html

It may help you to answer the questions above.

-- Could the speaker in the sonnets not be Shakespeare?  Why?  Why not?  How does that change the way you read the sonnets?  Note that we have less biographical information on Shakespeare than we want.

-- Take a look at other sonnets by Petrarch:  http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/canzoniere.html

What do they tell you about the sonnet?  on Petrarch's writing? on Laura?  on Petrarch's obsession with her?

Here are other translations of Petrarch's sonnets: http://www.sonnets.org/petrarch.htm

http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/sonnet-131-id-sing-love-such-novel-fashion

http://www.amjuster.com/poem14.html
What light do they shed on Petrarch?  Which translation do you prefer?  Why?  Why not?

-- In each of the bops that we looked at, how did the speaker/poet solve the problem that he/she posed?  If he/she did not solve that problem, what happened?

-- Discuss the role of the refrain in the bop.  How does it interact with the stanzas?

-- Which other techniques did Aafa Michael Weaver and Evelyn N. Alford use in their bop poems?  How do these techniques interact with the bop form?

-- Compare one of our poems to a short story or play that covers a similar theme.  For example, compare "Those Winter Sundays" to Fences.  How does each work play on the theme?  How does each genre affect how the writer can develop the theme?

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We do not meet on the 26th.

Dr. Szlyk

Study Guide for the Fiction Take Home & The Final

Here are the stories that are included on the fiction take-home:

"Love in L.A."

"Girl"

"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"
"Today's Demon: Magic"
excerpt from Persepolis
"The House on Mango Street" (excerpt)
"Everyday Use"
Nosferatu (film)
"The Cask of Amontillado"
"Saboteur"
"This is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona"

On the take home, feel free to use your notes and the book, and be sure to do the extra credit, too!  Anything from Mike Maggio's presentation is fair game, too.

For the final, we will cover the following:

Film -- Nosferatu (1922) dir. F.W. Murnau  (Above is the director's picture.)

Fiction -- "The Cask of Amontillado"
"Saboteur"
"This is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona"

Poetry -- William Carlos Williams' "The Red Wheelbarrow"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqIl3oX_44s

Sherman Alexie's "Dangerous Astronomy" (villanelle)

http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/dangerous-astronomy

Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" (free verse)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmJYs6PQKVc

Gwendolyn Brooks' "We Real Cool" and "The Bean Eaters"

Here are two versions of "We Real Cool":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaVfLwZ6jes (Ms. Brooks reads)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t_kkjAhDNw (John Ulrich reads)

I wish I could find a video of Ms. Brooks reading "The Bean Eaters," but this one will have to do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anKeKmfRCqc

Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess" (dramatic monologue)
James Mason reads "My Last Duchess":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZbNrNE9q8g

Below is a picture of James Mason in North by Northwest, one of Hitchcock's great films.  Mason played a spy.

The forms that we discussed were the villanelle (on the first day of poetry) as well as the sonnet, the graphic poem, and the bop.

For the form of the villanelle plus Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," see this link:  http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/poetic-form-villanelle

More about the sonnet is here:  http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/poetic-form-sonnet

Learn more about the bop here:  http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/poetic-form-bop

We began with Shakespeare's sonnets.  The first two are to the Dark Lady.  Was she Emilia Lanyer, the poet pictured above?

Sonnet 130 is here:  http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/my-mistress-eyes-are-nothing-sun-sonnet-130
Alan Rickman recites the sonnet here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP06F0yynic

We also looked at Sonnet 129:  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174374
Ralph Fiennes recites the sonnet here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8PbuQkUWWE

Shakespeare also wrote sonnets to a young man.  Was the man pictured above he?  We looked at #18 first:
http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/shall-i-compare-thee-summers-day-sonnet-18

David Tennant recites here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD6Of-pwKP4

Then we looked at #29:  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174357
Rufus Wainwright sings the sonnet here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYd2KlRX4Vs

We moved onto Petrarch and his Canzionere. Note that A.S. Kline's translation does not rhyme.  First we looked at Sonnet 3:
http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/canzoniere.html?poem=3

We also looked at the end of the Canzionere, which is not a sonnet but a poem of address to the Virgin Mary: http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/canzoniere.html?poem=366

Gwendolyn Brooks' "the rites for Cousin Vit" is also a Petrarchan sonnet:
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/182621

Mustn't forget our graphic poem, Ed Schelb's "Bird Call Dance Hall":
http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/11/bird-call-dance-hallcoming-soon.html

Moving onto the bop, we began with Aafa Michael Weaver's "Rambling":
http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/rambling

We also looked at Evelyn N. Alfred's bop, which she wrote for Reuben Jackson's workshop:

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

We concluded with Gabrielle's reading of her own bop written in a poetry workshop at MC Rockville.

We covered more poems (and fiction) than I imagined that we would have.

From The Song Is..., we looked at Regina A. Walker's "Hiraeth":  http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/10/hiraeth.html

Martin Willets, Jr.'s "The Elephant on the Keyboards": http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-elephant-on-keyboards.html

Feel free to look at other poems at the blog, but these are the ones that may be on the exam.

We also reviewed fiction, looking at some flash fiction (under 1000 words).  Michael Oppenheim's "The Paring Knife" is on p. 319.  Catfish McDarish's "Hippopotamus Summer" was published by The Blue Hour Literary Magazine: http://thebluehourmagazine.com/2013/05/25/hippopotamus-summer-by-catfish-mcdaris/comment-page-1/#comment-12272 

Finally, we turned to prose poetry with Naomi Shihab Nye's "Hammer and Nail":  http://webdelsol.com/tpp/tpp5/tpp5_nye.html

I hope that you enjoyed our detour into flash fiction, prose poetry, and the online literary magazines!

Questions for 11/19

Thank you for a wonderful class, everyone!  I hope that you enjoyed our continued exploration of poetry, words, and sound.  Next week we will meet in SC 152 at 6:30 pm for Dr. Ingram's performance and return to our class @ 8:30 pm.  I will also need some help from people in the class for set up and take down so that we can return to class on time.  Thank you in advance!

For class, please take a look at chapters 16 and 17 in our book.  I am also attaching a copy of our final paper.

Here are a few questions for your journal.  One of them may be the beginning of your final paper!

-- What did last night's videos add to your understanding of the poems you had read and we had discussed?

-- Compare and contrast Gwendolyn Brooks' reading of "We Real Cool" with John Ulrich's.

-- How does context help you understand poems more fully?

-- Compare and contrast Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess" with a short story (like "The Cask of Amontillado" or "Saboteur").  How does each writer create character, handle narration, or present a plot?  

-- Would you like to see more narrative poetry?  Why?  Why not?

-- Should poetry be about oneself?  Or can poetry be about other people?

-- Discuss "Dulce et Decorum Est" and "Facing It" as poems about war.  Consider the differences between a British soldier's experience of WWI and an American soldier's experience of Vietnam.  Consider the differences between death and survival.  

-- Take a look at Gwendolyn Brooks' other poems, including "The Bean Eaters" but also these:  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/172082  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/182621  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/guide/240198#poem  http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai3/protest/text11/brookschicagodefender.pdf

What do these poems add to your understanding of her work?  of her craft?  of poetry?  What do they tell you about "We Real Cool"?

-- Compare and contrast Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" with Li-Young Lee's "Eating Alone."

-- Use one of the terms we discussed to explore a poem that we did not talk about in class...yet.

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

-- Argue for or against graphic poetry.

-- How do rhythm and meter contribute to poetry?

-- How does form and type contribute to poetry?

-- Read Denise Levertov's "Some Notes on Organic Form."  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/essay/237852

How do her ideas apply to free verse such as Robert Hayden's, Li-Young Lee's, or Yusef Komunyakaa's?  Or to poems by authors I haven't mentioned (Cathy Song's)?

See you at SC 152.

Finally the Questions Finishing Up Fiction/Film and Beginning Poetry

Finally, here are the questions for you:

On fiction -- 

-- How is your paper coming along for Nov. 14?  Feel free to post a draft of your paper in your journal.

-- 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 Last 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"?

-- If you have read other work by Alexie, how has it helped you to read "This Is What It Means..."?

-- 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?

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?

Here are links to some videos of poems we have looked at and will look at:

William Carlos Williams reads his "The Red Wheelbarrow":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqIl3oX_44s

I can't find a video of Sherman Alexie reading "Dangerous Astronomy": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKc3E7e49Ag

Instead, here is a video of Dylan Thomas reading another villanelle "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night":   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2cgcx-GJTQ

You may prefer Anthony Hopkins' version:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1fTlIsUGks

Just a few more....James Mason reads "My Last Duchess":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZbNrNE9q8g

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

Charles Bukowski reads "Bluebird" :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmWZOsVtqR0

Here are two versions of "We Real Cool":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaVfLwZ6jes

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

So what does performance add to a poem?  What does it detract ?  Feel free to discuss the poems read by their poets as well as those read by others.

-- 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?

-- How can poetry develop empathy?