unit 2: lyric poetry 1

MEETING 1: “green chile” and “mother country”

What is a lyric poem? How does poetry differ from prose? These are the two questions we’ll try to answer today, diving into two poems: Jimmy Santiago Baca’s “Green Chile” and Richard Blanco’s “Mother Country”.

“Green Chile”: (1) One sign of a poet’s skill and command is the artistic concentration of language. With an image, a figure, a symbol, or a detail, a writer makes abstract ideas concrete: images evoke sensory experience; figures transfer something intangible to something tangible; symbols pack a noun with plurality of meaning; details root meaning in the concrete world of the poem. Find at least one of each in the poem. (2) “JSB’s “Green Chile” is a [adjective] [noun]…”

“Mother Country”: (1) Enjambment generates meaning, often contrast, by breaking a sentence into multiple lines. Identify one example. (2) “RB’s “Mother Country” dramatizes the conflict between…”

Homework:

(1) Read Richard Blanco’s “Shaving”. Mark it up as we did in class. What two associations do you make in response to the prompt at the top of the page?

(2) Study for your next vocabulary and sentence composition quiz.

(3) Begin work on your Iliad essay.

(4) Locate your copy of The Remains of the Day. Please have read pages 1-126 by our first class after fall break, Monday, October 19.