Weekly Outline
Week 1, 1/14 -- Introductions
Week 2, 1/21 -- What is literature? What is identity?
Week 3, 1/28 -- Narration, paper #1 due
Week 4, 2/4 -- Character, Setting, Symbol, Theme
Week 5, 2/11 -- Quiz #1, film
Week 6, 2/18 -- Poetry
Week 7, 2/25 - - Poetry, paper #2 due
Week 8, 3/4 -- Poetry
Week 9, 3/11 -- Poetry, paper #3 due
Week 10, 3/18 -- (out of class work on blog)
Week 11, 3/25 -- SPRING BREAK
Week 12, 4/1 -- Quiz #2 on poetry, Theory
Week 13, 4/8 -- Poetry paper #4 due, Theory, film
Week 14, 4/15 -- Theory
Week 15, 4/22 -- Theory, quiz #3
Week 16, 4/29 -- Paper #5 due
Week 17, 5/6 - Final Exam PARTY
The poem that I chose to report on in class is “Women” by May Swenson. This poem spoke to me mainly because it is very visually appealing. I always enjoyed poems that were shaped differently (this one is shaped similar to a ladder as you read it), and I think it adds visual interest to the poem and gives the reader an idea of what it is about before even reading the title. The poem is about female rights in that women are objects for men to enjoy. I believe that the ladder symbolizes the growth necessary for women to climb to achieve their goals, even though it may be hard, females are as sturdy as a ladder. I found the theme of female pride and women being “possessions”. This poem was great to read, and I found it on Page 1080, but I do have an older book.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Clemmons
The poem I chose is “Diving into the wreck” by Adrienne Rich. I chose it because it was one of the few poems that made much sense to me. It is fairly straightforward and describes a diving trek with relative simplicity. It works by recounting a diver visiting an underwater shipwreck. The majority of the poem talks about how the diver experiences the dive. It then transitions to how we are all shipwrecks in our own minds. We are rarely on the surface. Although parts of us may float up to the sun, the majority stays submerged and secluded. I found themes of adventure, seclusion, mystery and sadness.
ReplyDelete-Joshua McGlone
I chose the poem "Barbie Doll" by Margie Piercy. This poem caught my attention as a result of the unique title that made me question how someone could really write about a Barbie doll. After reading this poem, many parts of it spoke out to me because it mainly focused on the female gender, and also discussed what many younger people are forced to go through in our society. The theme of perfection and imperfection can be found throughout. The poem also focuses on self-esteem and the affect others have on it's development and standing. In the poem, a girl views herself as perfectly fine until she begins to age and people begin to point out her imperfections such as her "fat nose" and "thick legs." Overtime, she begins to listen to them and does whatever she must in order to rid herself of the mean names and the imperfections. The people influencing her life so negatively are only satisfied once she has given up and given them her life.
ReplyDeleteI chose the poem "The Victims" by Sharon Olds because it speaks to me for personal and entertaining reasons. I love reading about stories with good endings with the bad guy ending. I feel as if it brings hope to the reader and they can potentially learn from it. However, I do occasionally want to read the opposite. The poem is about a bad father who gets kicked it. It doesn't say what makes him a bad father, but he is kicked out and the wife and kids rejoice at his departure. I think a theme of the poem is parenthood and epiphanies. The mother suddenly realized she had to kick out the father for her and her kid's safety.
ReplyDeleteChristopher Bijou
I chose the poem "Blackberry Eating" by Galway Kinnel. I chose the this poem because the name caught my attention. It brought back memories of growing up and eating blackberries as I would walk up and down my road picking fresh berries off the bush. As I was reading I found that the story is more than just about blackberries. It goes into talking about speech. The author uses the types of blackberries as extended similes to describe different words spoke. Sweet berries stand for kind words and bitter or sour words stand for harsh and mean words.
ReplyDelete-William Canaday
I decided to do the poem "Easter Wings" by George Herbert. The main reason why I wanted to do it on this particular one was simply because he wrote it sideways and he shaped the the way it looked into a bird. This poem was about the downward spiral of human life starting with the fall of Adam in the garden of Eden, he then begins to talk about his redemption with Jesus Christ and refers to himself as a bird since birds are free and have no limitations.
ReplyDelete-Ryan Kay
I chose Edmund Waller's "song" because I was interested in why it, and the following poems all contained a rose as a symbol. The narrator seems to be wanting to give advice to a young female figure. Maybe the girl he is trying to talk to isn't making decisions that he agrees with. A theme in the poem may be to not waste your youth, and to worry about things other than appearance because the narrator mentions it more than once.
ReplyDeleteSharon Olds’s poem, “The Victims” contains a theme that is similar to my life when I was a child and even till this day it connects with me. The speaker’s attitude toward her father shifts from hating her father mainly because she is following her mother’s attitude to finding sympathy for her father and having an understanding of his life. This poem touched me deeply. When I was younger I only listened to other people’s opinions about my father instead of establishing my own but as I matured I was able to view my father in my own way, including the good and the bad of him.
ReplyDeleteJoseph Ledo-Massey
I choose the poem, "To a Daughter Leaving Home" by Linda Pastan. I decided to choose this because of the way it reflected my first experience learning to ride a bike. This poem was pretty straight forward. It talks about a mother teaching her daughter how to ride a bike for the first time thinking she would eventually fall off, but her daughter did not. The daughter ended up riding away with laughter, just peddling like she had ridden a bike for years. Technically, like I said, it is to the point. The mother at first does not think the daughter can ride down the hill for her first time on her own on a bike, but as the daughter continues down the hill, the mother loses her worry. I think the theme is on trust. Yes, it is your daughter's first time riding a bicycle, but that does not mean she is destined to crash and burn.
ReplyDeleteI chose the poem “Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore” in chapter 19 pg 1032. Written by William Shakespeare. This poem spoke to me about how life is and how it changes. How we grow in each other’s lives from an infant until our death. This poem showed me that life comes and goes and we should all cherish every minute of it. The over all theme of this poem is that life changes and we should all enjoy it while it lasts.
ReplyDelete-Hampton schaffer
I read the segment on page 1027 of "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Lord Tennyson Alfred. It is about the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. 600 men, out-numbered and out-gunned, rode to their certain death to stand up for their nation.
ReplyDelete-Shane Parent`
I chose to analyze the poem "After a Death" by Roo Borson. The poem is very short, which is what drew me to it, as I find poems that a short interesting. They have to invoke emotions with only a small amount of words and stanzas, which can be challenging. It spoke to me because it is about how someone deals with the loss of a loved one, a topic I always enjoy reading about. The speaker of the poem makes the feeling of loss into a chair that they can sit in and feel all the pain. It deals with the themes of loss and sadness. Technically, it is organized into one stanza with nine lines of varying length.
ReplyDeleteAllison McDowell
I decided to choose “The Victims” by Sharon Olds because it is a very interesting poem with a good meaning. The poem is about an abusive father who gets kicked out of his house. It does not go into great detail about why the father was kicked out of his house, but I’m sure it was for doing something abusive to his wife or kids. I think the author was trying teach many lessons in this poem. The main theme of this poem is being a good non abusive parent to your family. She is also proving that acting in this way will never leave good endings.
ReplyDelete-Stephen Stroop
I chose the poem "After the Death" by Roo Borson. This poem caught my attention because it was so short but held a lot of meaning. "After a Death" is about an individual that is grieving a loved one. The poem talks about a chair which is not an actual chair but a symbol of his absence. The speaker talks about he/she sits in it and reminisces the better times. The theme is even though people grieve, life does go on and the world does not stop. It is best to continue on and remember them but go on.
ReplyDelete--Natalie Diciaula
I chose the poem "Mr. Tambourine Man" by Bob Dylan. In chapter 19 on page 1045-1046. I think the poem is about the speaker searching for an inspiration. It seems like he is trying to achieve it through a drug like LSD because he says "Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin' ship..." He says "I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for fade" and that implies that he is very open minded and open to new ideas. He follows a man playing a tambourine because he wants him to enlighten him. The theme of the poem is that art is art is derived from inspiration.
ReplyDeleteAngela Beabout
Blackberry Eating
ReplyDeleteI chose this poem because I can relate to its message and it brought back so many memories from my childhood. The simplicity of the poem was a bit intriguing because it conveyed such a basic message using few words. The imagery that the poem used was strong and that played a major role in my interpretation of the message. It's the little things in life that make a huge difference.
-Daniel Dearing