POETRY 1 January 6, 6, 7

Defining poetry: We'll begin today by looking at a few American poems that teach us about the art of poetry. Poems about poetry are called ars poetica, or “on the art of poetry”. Here are our selections for today:

Marianne Moore, “Poetry”; Billy Collins, "Introduction to Poetry"; Eve Merriam, "How to Eat a Poem"; Archibald MacLeish, “Ars Poetica”; Charles Bukowski, “a poem is a city”; Ruth Forman, “Poetry Should Ride the Bus”

Set Outside Reading of The Great Gatsby

Homework for our next session: There is a recurrent idea in all of the ars poetica poems we looked at during today’s class that teaches us how poetry should be treated. Summarize in a paragraph in your notebook the idea that all of these poems profess.

POETRY 2 January 7, 10, 10

Today we’ll continue defining poetry. I’ll then give a little advice for reading poetry, beginning with what we mean by a paraphrase, the first step in thinking about a new poem. “This poem dramatizes the conflict between…”

We’ll then work through two poems by American poets that address a common idea: Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays” and Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz”.

Homework for our next session: In your notebook, begin a draft of a paragraph (8-10 sentences for now) comparing “My Papa’s Waltz” and “Those Winter Sundays”. Your topic sentence might begin with something like the following: “While the speaker of “Those Winter Sundays” experiences… , the speaker of “My Papa’s Waltz” …” OR “While the tone of “My Papa’s Waltz” is … , “Those Winter Sundays” has a tone that is far more…” In any case, you want to highlight contrast if possible. In the rest of your paragraph, you’ll support your topic sentence with lots of great details from both poems.

POETRY 3 January 11, 12, 12

Today we’ll look at a second pair of poems by American poets: Richard Wilbur’s “A Barred Owl” and Billy Collins’ “The History Teacher”.

Toward the end of class I will set your POEM PAIR COMPARISON: Choose one of the pairs of poems below. Write a 500-word comparison/contrast of two poems, explicating how both poems dramatize a similar situation or approach a similar abstract idea but arrive at a distinct theme. Your 500-word comparison is a critical piece, analyzing language in action, showing how each poem creates its idea. You’ll want to make specific reference to those characteristics of poetry we’ve been discussing in class: How does the poem use the poetic line in combination with the sentence to convey meaning? How does the poem rely on concrete images to create meaning? How does the poem use figurative language to make meaning? How does the poem play with elements of sound? How do the poem’s words employ differences in denotation and connotation to imply rather than state?

A. “We Real Cool” (Gwendolyn Brooks) and “Nothing Gold Can Stay” (Robert Frost)

B. “EPΩ∑” (Robert Bridges) and “Eros” (Anne Stevenson)

C. “We Grow Accustomed to the Dark” (Emily Dickinson) and “Acquainted with the Night” (Robert Frost)

D. “Mother to Son” (Langston Hughes) and “Women” (Alice Walker)

E. “Sympathy” (Paul Laurence Dunbar) and “Hope is the thing with feathers” (Emily Dickinson)

Do not forget to identify the thematic distinction between the two poems in addition to the similarities. Make sure your paragraph is properly formatted according to MLA. Titles of poems go in quotation marks. Use line numbers in your parenthetical citations after you quote. Due January 20 or 21 at 3:30 PM.

Homework for our next session: Read each of the poems provided to you and decide which you’d like to compare and contrast.

POETRY 4 January 12, 13, 13

Today we’ll have a lesson on figurative language before looking at our next poem pair: John Updike’s “Ex-Basketball Player” and Langston Hughes’s “Harlem”.

Homework for our next session: Work through your chosen poems and identify any figurative language. What effect does each figure have on the meaning of the poem?

POETRY 5 January 14, 18, 18

Today we’ll look at Longfellow’s poem “Mezzo Cammin” before diving into a few of my former students’ poem pair comparisons; these should help you get started and continue thinking about how you might approach your own comparison.