"Cramming for Finals," Philip Appleman

End of term, will a six-pack do us
while we speed-read Upton Sinclair Lewis?
So far behind, can we possibly ever
catch up on E. A. Robinson Jeffers?
Who said it was going to be multiple choice
on the later work of O. Henry James Joyce?
What's the plot of The Rise of Silas Marner? Who
remembers the Swiss Family Robinson Cru-
soe? Midnight—late. One A.M.—tardy.
Was Laurence Sterne? Was Thomas Hardy?
And hey—was John Gay?
Oh, let's take a break and all get mellow,
take our chances on Henry Wordsworth Longfellow,
and maybe later give a lick and a promise
to the earlier lyrics of Bob Dylan Thomas.

2.28 Diction Exercise: Poetry

On your own, using any of this semester's daily poems that you have liked, carry out the same diction exercise that we conducted last week.

(a) List the 8-10 words that strike you as most representative of the poem's diction.

(b) Characterize each of the four elements of diction, listing at least two adjectives to describe each element.

Be creative with how you describe each element. For example, if the language is concrete, you might, depending on the language, describe it as "crunchy," "bold," or even "brittle." You get to decide.

(c) Draft a full claim that uses 2-3 of the adjectives you came up with and then completing the right side using the class tone sheet.

"Wild Geese," Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

"Sister Cat," by Frances Mayes

Frances Mayes

Cat stands at the fridge,
Cries loudly for milk.
But I've filled her bowl.
Wild cat, I say, Sister,
Look, you have milk.
I clink my fingernail
Against the rim. Milk.
With down and liver,
A word I know she hears.
Her sad miaow. She runs
To me. She dips
In her whiskers but
Doesn't drink. As sometimes
I want the light on
When it is on. Or when
I saw the woman walking
toward my house and
I thought there's Frances.
Then looked in the car mirror
To be sure. She stalks
The room. She wants. Milk
Beyond milk. World beyond
This one, she cries.

Wednesday Action List: 2.23

1. First, a blog post; title it "2.23 Diction Exercise." On your own, using the prose excerpt on the other side of the passage you observed with a partner on Monday, do the following:

(a) List the 8-10 words that strike you as most representative of the passage's diction.

(b) Characterize each of the four elements of diction, listing at least two adjectives to describe each element.

Be creative with how you describe each element. For example, if the language is concrete, you might, depending on the language, describe it as "crunchy," "bold," or even "brittle." You get to decide.

(c) Draft a full claim that uses 2-3 of the adjectives you came up with and then completing the right side using the class tone sheet.

2. At the end of the exercise, browse our class blogs and read at least 8 claims. Pick the claim that you think sounds the most original and forceful and leave a comment to this post with the name of the blog where you found it.

3. Compose either a reading log, a personal post, or a comment for a poem from the past week. Or all three.

"Otherwise," Jane Kenyon

At Poetry 180.

Martha Collins, "Lines."

At Poetry 180.

Londen's Poem: "Mother to Son"

Mother to Son

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor --
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now --
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

Langston Hughes

Tuesday's Poem: "Once Upon a Time"

Tuesday's Poem: "Once Upon a Time"

Comments here. The poem should be in your poetry journals.

Why no chords? Why the white keys? Why the Mediterranean?

Tuesday Action List 2.15.11

Today is an open comment day for our class blog: you can comment on any poem or poems we have read from the entire semester so far. After today, comments will be restricted to poems posted within the last week and all older poems will be "closed" to comments.

So, make sure you understand the comment rubric and get commenting.

Other options today:

* Make a reading log post.

* Read my last post on my blog about an awkward Facebook experience I had recently and then make a personal post about your most awkward or interesting fb or online story.

* Browse any of the linked online sources for poetry to find a poem to recite to class, and then claim a day on the class calendar.

Have fun.

"Animals, " by Frank O'Hara

ANIMALS
          
          
    Have you forgotten what we were like then
    when we were still first rate
    and the day came fat with an apple in its mouth

    it's no use worrying about Time
    but we did have a few tricks up our sleeves
    and turned some sharp corners

    the whole pasture looked like our meal
    we didn't need speedometers
    we could manage cocktails out of ice and water

    I wouldn't want to be faster
    or greener than now if you were with me O you
    were the best of all my days
 
                       
    [1950]

Why "an apple in its mouth"?
Why are the corners described as "sharp"?
Why "cocktails out of ice and water?"
What it the deal with "Time" here?
Does it matter to the poem that O'Hara was gay?
Who do you think he is talking to?

Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire.

If you'd like do conduct your first solo close reading on the Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire clips, you can find them here:

Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor: "Moses Supposes," from Singin in the Rain.

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers: "Night and Day," from The Gay Divorcee, I think.

Period Five: "Falling Bough" voting

Leave a comment here with the alias of the two most impressive paragraphs.

Also see if you can guess which one is Hill's.

Friday's Poem, "Good-by, and Keep Cold"

by Robert Frost.

"Falling Bough" (2002)

Here is a link to "Falling Bough."

After you complete your paragraph, save it to your period's sub-folder under Hill/Homework.

Your solo close-reading paragraphs should be posted, along with a link or image of the work you are analyzing, to your class blog by Tuesday.

Thursday's poem: "The Death Deal"

"The Death Deal," by Ron Padgett. At The Writer's Almanac.

Amanda's Poem for Wednesday, 2.9.11

Winter by Walter de la Mare

Clouded with snow
The cold winds blow,
And shrill on leafless bough
The robin with its burning breast
Alone sings now.

The rayless sun,
Day's journey done,
Sheds its last ebbing light
On fields in leagues of beauty spread
Unearthly white.

Thick draws the dark,
And spark by spark,
The frost-fires kindle, and soon
Over that sea of frozen foam
Floats the white moon.

Tuesday's Poem: "At North Farm"

Please comment at the other Ety blog, here.