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