Unit two: coming to terms with space

1. Unit two: coming to terms with space

2. Definition: place

3. Coming to terms with place:

4. Homework:Visit my website and go the “Edward Hopper Gallery” for Unit Two. Find and print a photograph which appeals to you, and bring it to class with you tomorrow.

5. Exercise: Read “Edward Hopper and the House by the Railroad” by Edward Hirsch. See handouts- Poem and Bio

6. Response #1As you examine Hopper’s House by the Railroad, where does he direct your attention? What details do you notice about the house, its structure, and its relation to the railroad track and the sky?

7. Response #2What features of Hopper’s painting does Hirsch focus on in his poem? What effects does Hirsch create through personification of the house? Do you agree with Hirsch that the house has the look of “someone American and gawky” (38)? Explain.

8. Assignment: Refer to handout entitled “Edward Hopper writing Assignment.” Closely analyze the painting by Edward Hooper that you have been given. Knowing that his Depression-era work evokes the mood of the time, write a response to the artwork. This may in developed paragraphs, OR you may choose to write a poem. Use a thesaurus to play with diction.

9. Response #1Graham’s photograph provides an insightful view of the area in a young boy’s yard. In what ways did the play area of your childhood differ from this boy’s? Write a descriptive account of the space you played in as a child. To what extent did the toys in that space help define it and your identity? See handout

10. Writing AssignmentRefer to handout entitled “Childhood Play Space Response.” Graham’s photograph provides an insightful view of the area in a young boy’s yard. In what ways did the play area of your childhood differ from this boy’s? Write a descriptive account of the space you played in as a child. To what extent did the toys in that space help define it and your identity?

11. Consider Eudora Welty’s photograph entitled “Storekeeper, 1935”Assignment: Refer to handout- Eudora Welty’s “Storekeeper.”

12. Response #1What exactly is the place captured by this photograph? How did the person in the box create a sense of place?

13. Response #2What does the photographer gain or lose by positioning the “place” of the homeless person clearly in the foreground? What effect(s) does the photographer accentuate in the image by including the phrase “HANDLE WITH CARE” and the out of focus Burger King in the background?

14. Assignment: See handout entitled“Connotative Language”

15. Homework: Visit my website and go the “Desert Gallery” for Unit Two. Find and print a photograph which appeals to you, and bring it to class with you tomorrow.

16. Response #1Define desert.

17. Response #2After studying the photographs by Misrach, what do you think the word desert means to him? Why?

18. Response #3What evidence do you find in these photographs that illustrates Misrach’s stance on larger issues such as the relationship between people and the environment?

19. Assignment: See handout entitled “Richard Misrach Analysis”Use one of Misrach’s images as the basis for an essay draft in which you support or challenge his claim that “The human struggle, the successes and failures, the use and abuse, both noble and foolish, are readily apparent in the desert.” Validate your assertions with detailed analysis of the photograph.

20. Exercise: See HandoutsRead “When I Go Home” by Lucille Clifton, the selection from Erica Jong’s “Coming Home to Connecticut,” and “Coming Home Again” by Chang-rae Lee

21. Assignment: See Handout entitled “Coming Home Again.”Much of his story is organized around literal senses of place- a kitchen, a motel room, a boarding school. What descriptive details does Lee associate with each of these places, and how is each one related to his expectations of going home?

22. Assignment: See handout entitled “Coming Home Response”Lee explains that coming home involves a specific sense of place- in his place, the kitchen table. What sense of place do you most associate with home? Describe this place in detail. Since this involves description and narration, please choose details that evoke the widest and deepest array of emotions.

23. Essay Topic: Choose any Writing response from this unit, and develop it into a final essay draft.