Attitude and Experience

1. Attitude and Experience • Stand up if you like some kind of music. • Stand up if you like rap/hip hop. • Stand up if you like rock/ metal / alternative. • Stand up if you like classical music or jazz. • Stand up if you like country music.

2. Shakespeare’s Opinion The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not mov’d with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils; And his affections are dark as Erubus: Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music. (Lorenzo—from The Merchant of Venice) concord=harmony treasons=commit crimes against your country stratagems=acts of deceit or destruction spoils=bad things happen to you Erebus=the personification of darkness in classical mythology

3. Lyrics • Stand up if you pay attention to the lyrics in the music you listen to? • Remain standing if you think song lyrics are poetry? • What makes some lyrics more “poetic” than others?

4. POETRY • Stand up if you like poetry? • Why do you like or not like poetry? • I believe, that like music, many of your have simply not read the type of poetry that you might enjoy. • Why do we study poetry in high school English?

5. Read and Respond • Read the poem. • Read it again.—OUT LOUD? • Who is the speaker in the poem.? • Talk to someone sitting near you. Simply tell them why you like or do not like the poem. • Discuss: What is the tone of this poem? How did the poet create this tone?

6. Tips For Reading and Annotating Poetry--Make notes for future reference to supplement your hand-out • Consider word order. • Analyze the sentence structure of the lines of the poem. Notice pauses, dashes, and how the author uses punctuation (or not) • Look for the use of irregular spacing or other textual features in the poem. Try to figure out the poet’s reasons for such choices. • Note where terminal punctuation occurs. and use the punctuation to aid your reading. (Don’t simply read line by line) A much botched reading

7. Tips For Reading and Analyzing Poetry • Vocabulary : Look up unfamiliar words. It can make a huge difference in your understanding of the poem. • Make sure you know when words carry multiple meanings. • Denotation vs. Connotation • Euphemism vs. Dysphemism

8. Tips For Reading and Analyzing Poetry • Read the title. Sometimes the title contains a hint as to the meaning of the poem. • Look for patterns, repetition, unusual/irregular spacing, peculiar word choices, rhyme scheme

9. Literary Devices • Look for literary devices such as metaphor, simile, personification, allusion, use of irony, etc. • Noticing literary devices is Step 1. • Step 2 is being able to analyze the literary device and understand the effect that the author intended to achieve. • Then you can evaluate the author’s success as a poet.

10. Tips For Reading and Analyzing Poetry • Recognize allusions found in the poem. Allusion: An allusion is a brief, direct, or indirect reference to a presumably familiar figure, place, or event from history, literature, mythology, pop culture, or the Bible. Most allusions serve to develop an idea, impression, or mood. (The allusion usually makes a point about something.) Examples: He had more moves than Michael Jordan. The young lady showed the wisdom of Daniel.

11. Tips For Reading and Analyzing Poetry • Identify the speaker of the poem, based on the information given in the poem. • The speaker is not necessarily the author!

12. Tips For Reading and Analyzing Poetry • Examine the imagery used in the poem. Imagery calls into play any or all of the senses. • What does the author emphasize?

13. Accurate Interpretation • Requires good sense and use of the actual text! • Needs a balance between “too little” and “too much”—between under interpretation and over interpretation. • “ the reader who reads into a poem anything he/she chooses might as well discard the poem and simply daydream” (Perrine 75)

14. Tips For Reading and Analyzing Poetry • Try to figure out the poet's theme or purpose for writing the poem. • Step 1—figure out what is going on in the poem. • Step 2– figure out the point of what is going on in the poem. This will lead you to the theme of the poem.

15. Text and Interpretation • interpretation

16. “Weakness”—Alden Nowlan • List all the different types of “weakness” that you can think of. • Hand out copies for annotation. • Try to figure out the poet's theme or purpose for writing the poem. • Step 1—figure out what is going on in the poem. • Step 2– figure out the point of what is going on in the poem. This will lead you to the theme of the poem.

17. Possible Theme Statement • The theme of the poem, “Weaknes”, is • The theme of the poem, “Weaknes”, is that there is a distinct difference between being weak and being kind or decent. • Could you use the text to support this theme statement?

18. Accurate Interpretation THEME—see your notes/hand-out • Step 1—figure out what is going on in the poem. • Step 2– figure out the point of what is going on in the poem. This will lead you to the theme of the poem.

19. Getting Started Poems must be read several times before final judgments can be made. For each poem you examine, you should write individual answers to the following four questions. The first three questions are obviously individual but you should share your answers. You should discuss the fourth question to come up with the best possible interpretation of your poems: • How does the poem make you feel? • What does the poem make you think of? • What image in the poem sticks out in your mind? Why? • What is the poet trying to say with this poem? (This is your interpretation of the poem and in most cases will be theme related**)

20. Written Responses • You need a piece of loose-leaf. • I may collect your answers, so do a good job.

21. “The Right Kind of People” Answer each of the following questions. • What does the poem make you think of? • What image in the poem sticks out in your mind? Why?

22. Written Responses • You need a piece of loose-leaf. • I will be collect your answers, so do a good job. These small in-class assignments are an easy way to maintain and/or increase your grades. [or peck away at them if you do poor work]

23. “The Right Kind of People”—Edwin Markham Gone is the city, gone the day, Yet still the story and the meaning stay: Once where a prophet in a palm shade basked A Traveler chanced at noon to rest his mules. “What sort of people may they be, “he asked, In this proud city on the plains o’erspread?” “Well, friend, what sort of people whence you came?” “What sort?” the packman scowled; “Why knaves and fools.” “You’ll find the people here the same,” the wise man said. Another stranger in the dusk drew near, And pausing, cried, “What sort of people here In your bright city where yon towers arise?” “Well, friend, what sort of people whence you came?” “What sort?” the pilgrim smiled, with lifted head; “Good, true and wise.” “You’ll find the people here the same, “ The wise man said.

24. Theme • See Your hand-out on theme and theme explanations. • What is the theme of “The Right Kind of People”? • Write a one sentence theme statement: • The theme of, “The Right Kind of People”, is …

25. Annotation • Read and annotate the poem. • “Where have All the Cowboys Gone?” • Write a one sentence theme statement for this poem. • Music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPR108kwNo4

26. “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening”—Robert Frost page 126-127 Inside Poetry • Read the poem. • Copy an image from the poem that you like and tell why you like it. • Explain what the poem makes you think of. Explain why. • Write a clear one-sentence theme statement for the poem. (I will collect your answers in ___minutes)

27. “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening”—Robert Frost He gives his harness bells a shake    To ask if there is some mistake.    The only other sound’s the sweep    Of easy wind and downy flake.    The woods are lovely, dark and deep,    But I have promises to keep,    And miles to go before I sleep,    And miles to go before I sleep. Whose woods these are I think I know.    His house is in the village though;    He will not see me stopping here    To watch his woods fill up with snow.    My little horse must think it queer    To stop without a farmhouse near    Between the woods and frozen lake    The darkest evening of the year.   

28. “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening”—Robert Frost page 126-127 Inside Poetry • Link to Word for theme

29. THEME • Soup--theme • “Terry” p.5 “Experience”, “The man he killed” • “Treasures on Earth” p.278 • “Poetry for Intellectuals” p. 168

30. Practice Poems

31. Poetry ICA • ICA Poems

32. ICA--Writing • In a clearly worded and well-organized expository paragraph of five to seven sentences, respond to one of the following topics: • Do you like the way you have been introduced to poetry in English 11? Explain. • Explain why you have particularly liked or did not like a poem we have read so far. • Why do you think we should or should not study poetry in high school. • Be sure to write a clear topic sentence for this paragraph.

33. Marking Notes—Poetry Paragraphs • In the future, MLA format errors are an automatic 2 point deduction. • Generally, the content of your writing is improving. You must avoid saying a lot of nothing. • If you make an assertion, you must support it. For example one student wrote, “Poetry helps us with grammar.”, then moved on to a new topic.

34. Marking Notes—Poetry Paragraphs • Make statements. Do Not ask questions!!! • Each statement you make should make a point to support the a.g.t. • agt= actual given topic • ctt= connect to topic • ctt?=connection to topic? • ts= topic sentence

35. Coherence and Unity • When you write coherently one idea/sentence leads logically to the next. • When you are incoherent, your writing will sound like a list of (hopefully) related ideas. It will not “flow” for your reader. • Drunk people often speak in an incoherent manner! Avoid this when you write,