unit 2: lyric poetry 1

MEETING 1: from prose to poetry—“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 first vocabulary and sentence composition quiz.

(3) Remember your essay is due at 8a on the day of your next class. Post the electronic copies to mySJ and turnitin.com by 8a. Bring to class the hard copy with the rubric stapled to the top.

(4) Don’t forget about One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Even if you don’t get to do any reading, remember it’s on the horizon.

MEETING 2: blanco, “shaving”

First, some business: essays, vocabulary/sentence comp quiz, the Anatomy of 50 Great Sentences: [Z] and [NN].

Then, some poetry: What’s Blanco’s “Shaving” about? What complex associations does the speaker make with the act of shaving? What images, details, figures, or symbols does the speaker provide to build those complex associations?

“Across its 3 stanzas, RB’s “Shaving” is neatly divided into / between a [noun], a [noun], and a [noun].”

Homework: Begin or continue reading One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Also, it’s last call time for Inferno. Sign up here if you have not done so already.

MEETING 3: ai, “the man with the saxophone”

Today we’ll look at the FRQ1 rubric as well as the anchor papers from the 2022 AP reading. There are 3 essays on “Shaving”. Let’s score them together.

Then we’ll look at Ai’s “The Man with the Saxophone”. Pick one of our sentence structures to write a sentence that captures the heart of the poem:

“Ai’s “The Man with the Saxophone” is a [adjective] [noun]…”

“Ai’s “The Man with the Saxophone” dramatizes the conflict between…”

“Even within its lone stanza, Ai’s “The Man with the Saxophone” is neatly divided into / between a [noun], a [noun], and a [noun].”

Homework: Read and score the three anchor papers for Ai’s “The Man with the Saxophone.”

MEETING 4: wilbur, “love calls us to the things of this world”

“Plato, St. Teresa, and the rest of us in our degree have known that it is painful to return to the cave, to the earth, to the quotidian; Augustine says it is love that brings us back.” - Richard Wilbur

It’s September 11. We’ll begin today with a poem by Billy Collins—”The Names”.

After that, we’ll score the essays from last night.

Then, the goal of the remainder of our class today is for you to build as a group an interpretation of Richard Wilbur’s poem “Love Calls Us to the Things of This World”. This will be your group’s first attempt at a cooperative quiz, a 40-minute-long assessment of your ability to work as a unit to construct a shared interpretation of how the speaker’s perception changes throughout the poem.

During this process, my involvement will be limited. I’ll be at the board, taking notes on anything I think is helpful (HINT: If I’m writing, you’re probably on the right track.), but I might also chime in from time to time if you’re struggling. You’ll be assessed on your class’s final interpretation of the poem, your ability to productively struggle without my intervention, your cooperation, your active listening, your equitable turn-taking, and your limited domination or withdrawal.

At the end of the class, I’ll share with you my sample thesis about Wilbur’s amazing poem.

Homework:

(1) Read “The Writer” and “The Death of a Toad”. Mark it up as we did in class, identifying any tonal shifts and movements in the poem. Pick one poem and, on the bottom of the page, write a thesis for a poetry analysis responding to the following prompt: Explain how formal elements, such as structure, tone, syntax, diction, and imagery reveal the speaker’s COMPLEX response to either (1) his role as a father or (2) the death of the toad.

meeting 5: Wilbur, “the writer”, “death of a toad”; poetry mcq

Let’s begin today with the sample thesis from the end of our last class, the one on “Love Calls Us to the Things of This World,” a thesis that would receive top marks. Notice a few things about it:

(1) It captures the heart of the poem in the opening sentence. (2) It refers to the name of the poet and the title of the poem. (3) It refers to the point of view as the “speaker” and offers two specific verbs that capture the speaker’s actions in the poem. (4) It includes a complex response to the prompt. (5) It offers a larger interpretation of the poem as a whole. (6) It optionally previews the devices.

Grade the thesis against my revised version of the FRQ1 rubric. Grade the samples from the “Shaving” rubric. Grade your thesis on either “The Writer” or “The Death of a Toad”.

On to the poems: We’ll use the back wall to think through the formal features of “The Writer” and and also answer a few multiple choice questions about the poem. We can finish class today with a discussion of the delightful poem “The Death of a Toad”.

Homework: Continue reading One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

meeting 6: dickey, “the bee”; massini, “the lehman trilogy”

Warm-up poem: James Dickey’s “The Bee”. What’s happening? Who’s the speaker? What’s the conflict? Where do you sense shifts in perception?

On to the main business of the day, you lucky students, you: work together to write a thesis on an excerpt from “The Lehman Trilogy”.

Your prompt: In the following excerpt from an epic poem by Stefano Massini, the speaker tells of an immigrant’s first moments in America. Read the poem carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how the poet uses poetic techniques to develop a complex portrait of America.

Homework: Continue reading One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

meeting 7: wilbur, “advice to a prophet”

We’ve spent the previous six classes working together in small groups or as a class, thinking about how poets provide concrete elements for us to hold onto in order to understand a speaker’s evolving perception. Today you’re going to take over on your own. You’ll use another Richard Wilbur poem, “Advice to a Prophet,” to develop your own interpretation. Then you’ll respond to AP-style multiple choice questions about the poem and score an actual student FRQ1 response to the poem.

Let’s use highlighters to “take an inventory” of the essay with the following color-coding system: