Reflections for 9/27

Isn't this an adorable picture? I could resist :)

You were right today. "Traveling Through the Dark" and "Seventeen" were sad poems about experiences I'm not sure any of us would wish to have. Yet the poets felt the need to convey these experiences to an audience. Why? What understanding or question or realization does each author want you, the reader, to walk away with? These are questions you need to explore before you begin writing about the speaker and theme of each poem. In fact, they are questions you need to ponder when reading any piece of literature. Why do we, the audience, need to know about this? Why should we care? What realizations do I have about life or myself that connect me to the experience of this text?

These questions are what help me sort through difficult texts and keep my feet firmly planted in the text (that's a weird metaphor, but go with it).

Reflections on class, 9/17

My title is sort of pun-ny since the poem we discussed today was "The Mirror". I'm so funny and smart! :)

Seriously, though, I don't like that you left feeling frustrated, but at the same time, I'm glad you were frustrated. Poetry is difficult--and while I did tell you that the meaning of a poem can be left to interpretation, I did not tell you that what happens in a poem is up for interpretation. And I also told you that some interpretations are better--are more right--than others. Confusing? Yes.

When we explicate a poem in class, we break down the poem to understand its parts and how they function to create the experience of the poem as a whole. Those parts are what the AP test will assess you on. How do those parts function individually? What are they? Name them if you can (literary devices). Should you be good at them right now? Absolutely not. Should you be better than you were 3 weeks ago? Absolutely yes.

Sam commented today that you don't have this kind of time on an AP test--the kind of time to do what we do in class. Of course you don't--then it'd be a 10 hour test! But with continued practice, you will get better, you will get faster, and the analysis will get easier. Give yourselves time.

Our book quotes Emily Dickinson's definition of poetry: "If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that it is poetry" (789). If a poet has this to say about poetry, then I think we have room, as readers, to still feel uncomfortable and like we're sometimes whacking our brain against a wall. And that is okay.

I'd like you to take a few minutes to read the passages on pp. 769, 772-774, 777 (top half), and 788-790 (focus especially on the boxed list). I think they might help ease the pain of studying poetry.

Hmm...Poetry?

How are you feeling about poetry right now? Still uncomfortable? Mildly comfortable? A pro? Explain how you are doing with the study of poetry at this point, almost a month in. What else do you need to know to feel comfortable?

Genuine poetry?

"Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood."
       T.S. Eliot

Paraphrase this quote.  What does it mean for a poem to communicate?  Does the ability for a poem to communicate make it genuine? Do you agree with this quote?

You...a poet?

Write a poem using the following 5 words: random, sultry, burnt umber, peacock, strenuous.

What is poetry?

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag,
Drifting through the wind
Wanting to start again?
Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin
Like a house of cards,
One blow from caving in?

Do you ever feel already buried deep?
6 feet under screams but no one seems to hear a thing
Do you know that there's still a chance for you?
'Cause there's a spark in you

What is poetry? Is this poetry? Why? Why not?

Complete lyrics: http://www.directlyrics.com/katy-perry-firework-lyric