Thursday, March 27, 2008

Poetry: By the People, For the People

As you know, I frequently participate in English Nerd Seminars. I posted the following poems with an explanation of Poetry in the Round and here is what we received back.......

This also gives Charles, Andy and Eric a chance to see what we read in class after they left....without the hilarity.

Plan on another "round" soon.

And now, I give you, your words.


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Shut up, Nerd


"Shut up, Nerd.

Said an angry fellow classmate
pointing a razor-sharp pencil
surrounded by pencil shavings and half-chewed erasers.
Into her unsuspecting nose
Which crinkled up, and cried a little
as snot dripped onto the pencil.


Ew, that’s gross
said the
weird kid in
the corner, but nobody cared."

And this was the comment:
"It evokes great imagery for me (ever watched a little kid shove something up their nose, screw up their face and start to blub? That image, in half the words)."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Silent Bird Sings of Morn

"The silent bird sings of morn.
Black dew-drops - drunken tufts of sky
laying midnights and yellows on the righthand
branch.

An ocean of suspended petals
Drift in and out of the light
Forming pictures of the early
morning as I gaze out my window."


And the comment:
".."The silent bird sings of morn.."
Pretty zen... is this kid studying
"Set Theory" in math, maybe?"

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Black, Hollow & Timeless

"Black, hollow, and timeless
Slowly disappearing in the
explosion of the citadel
opening the portal


Recalling the names of each,
the faces of none, the will
of only one.


Free the frail and restless bones
shackled and poor.
Let us measure our worth once more.
"

And the comment:
"...around here, and Citadel reference would have brought on an argument about the Clemson/USC rivalry...Can you imagine poetry in the round with 14 year olds. Any snot reference would render the class incapable of learning for at least 15 minutes."

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Guilt or Innocence?




When reading the short stories, ask yourselves the following quesiton: Who is Guilty? Who is Innocent?

The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber


Is Margo guilty of murder?



If you think so, then you probably see Margo as emasculating, overbearing, controlling. Francis has struggled and finally broken her hold over him, and now she must kill him.


In this light, Margo is a classic femme fatale, a fading beauty who will blackmail, belittle and cuckcold men to get what she wants. The shooting is a deliberate act to prevent her husband from leaving her, and taking away her power.

OR.....

Was the shooting an accident?
Did Francis reach his potential, overcome his fears, find himself, only to find that life is over? Does Margo really try to "save" Francis? He has come from a crewcut, henpecked 35-year-old to a confident, masculine, self-assured man. Is the buffalo hunt his final act of courage that culminates his life? Kind of nihilistic, eh?


As we read the three estrogen-based short stories, think: Who is innocent in the story? Who is guilty?

What does Mrs Mallard's feelings about love say about her?

"And yet she had loved him--sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!"

What is most important to her?

In "The Yellow Wallpaper", what effect does love have on the protagonist? Is this really love? Can you love someone who calls you "goose"?

What effect has love had on Granny Weatherall? What does she look for as she lies in her deathbed?

















Monday, March 24, 2008

This week in English 12AP

THis week we will continue to read and analyze Hemingway's short stories "The Killers" and "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber."

If you did not pick up a copy of the story on Thursday, you can access it here.

http://www.duke.edu/~ss57/macomber.pdf

We will also be reviewing poetic analysis again in class. We will be trying to find the "deeper meanings" in poetry, those elements and themes which convey universal applications.

Poetic elements and analysis questions we will review this week are:

Persona- Who is the speaker?

Setting - What is the occasion?

Tone / Theme - What is the central idea or purpose of the poem?

Syntax - What is the diction, structure, development?

Development - How does imagery, metaphor, simile, juxtaposition allow meaning to develop?

We will be re-reading Frost's "Out, Out"- , "(p. 178) "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen (p 7-8), William Carlos Williams "The Red Wheelbarrow" and "Constantly risking absurdity" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti (17-18).

We will also be discussing reading assignments for the remainder of the short story/ poetry unit.
Everyone will need to take a copy of the short story anthology from the classroom.

Update 3/24: I have reviewed the anthology. The following short stories will be required reading for this week and next week:

"The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin (p. 63)

"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (p. 82)

"The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" by Katherine Ann Porter (p. 206)

"Cathedral" by Raymond Carver (p. 388)

That's four short stories.

We'll take Chopin, Gilman & Porter as homework for 3/27.

Review women's roles and themes in each one. Look at questions of identity, gender roles and feminism in each one. There will be an essay assigned to compare these three stories under this thematic evaluation.


Literary Notes.....


Today ( 3/24) is the birthday of poet, publisher, and bookstore proprietor Lawrence Ferlinghetti, (books by this author) born in Yonkers, New York (1919). His Italian father died while his French-speaking mother was pregnant, and his mother had a nervous breakdown and went to a mental hospital the year after he was born. He was sent to live with an aunt, who divorced her husband and took Lawrence to France. Four years later, she returned to New York, placed him in an orphanage until she could find work, then brought him into the rich household where she had found a position as governess. She disappeared and later died in an asylum, and the family she worked for adopted and began to educate the boy with classic literature.

After college, he served in the Navy during World War II. He was sent to Nagasaki shortly after the blast and said, "Before I was at Nagasaki, I was a good American boy. I was an Eagle Scout; I was the commander of a sub-chaser in the Normandy Invasion. Anyone who saw Nagasaki would suddenly realize that they'd been kept in the dark by the United States government as to what atomic bombs can do." He became staunchly antiwar. While in graduate school in New York and Paris, he began to write poetry and to draw and paint. He moved to San Francisco and wrote poems, book reviews, and columns for various Bay Area publications, including the City Lights magazine published by Peter Martin.

In 1955, Ferlinghetti started a publishing company, which that year published his first book of poetry, Pictures of the Gone World. He hoped to publish volumes slim enough that workers would be able to slip them into their pockets to read during their lunch breaks. Later that year, he went to a poetry reading called "Six Poets at the Six Gallery," organized by the poet Kenneth Rexroth. There he saw a poet named Allen Ginsberg read a new poem called "Howl." Ferlinghetti was deeply impressed, and after the reading, he sent Ginsberg a telegram that said, "I greet you at the beginning of a great career. When do I get the manuscript?"

The next year City Lights published "Howl," which was seized on its way back from the London printer by customs officials for violating obscenity laws. Ferlinghetti was put on trial for printing and selling lewd and indecent material. The ACLU defended him and he was acquitted, and the publicity from the trial benefited his bookstore and helped "Howl" to become one of the most widely read poems of the century. Ferlinghetti said, "The San Francisco [customs office] deserves a word of thanks. It would have taken years for critics to accomplish what the good [customs office] did in a day." From then on, he could publish what he wanted.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Paradigms: Scientific or Literary?















We've had an interesting discussion about paradigms in literature and literary analysis. The way in which we interpret literature has changed from that of an authority dictating meaning to us, to a variety of meanings, public interpretation and personal interpretation.

And when Charles sits on his desk, breaking the student paradigm of constraint behind a sturcture, he has interpretive epiphanies....coincidence?


(I hear you: is she making this all up?)
For your consideration.....

As we all know,things change. Or as our man Yeats said;

"Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
"

Was Yeats talking of paradigms shifting in Ireland? In the world?

Speaking of paradigms....this is where the term originated: (from wikipedia & noelweidbrocht.com)

Paradigm shift, sometimes known as extraordinary science or revolutionary science, is the term first used by Thomas Kuhn in his influential 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions to describe a change in basic assumptions within the ruling theory of science. It is in contrast to his idea of normal science.

It has since become widely applied to many other realms of human experience as well even though Kuhn himself restricted the use of the term to the hard sciences. According to Kuhn, "A paradigm is what members of a scientific community, and they alone, share.” (The Essential Tension, 1997). Unlike a normal scientist, Kuhn held, “a student in the humanities has constantly before him a number of competing and incommensurable solutions to these problems, solutions that he must ultimately examine for himself.” (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions).

A scientist, however, once a paradigm shift is complete, is not allowed the luxury, for example, of positing the possibility that miasma causes the flu or that ether carries light in the same way that a critic in the Humanities can choose to adopt a 19th century theory of poetics, for instance, or select Marxism as an explanation of economic behavior. Thus, paradigms, in the sense that Kuhn used them, do not exist in Humanities or social sciences. Nonetheless, the term has been adopted since the 1960s and applied in non-scientific contexts.


So as you return your tray table to it's locked and upright position, think of any paradigms that may have shifted in Kafka's Metamorphosis, and as we read Hemingway, look for evidence of paradgims that may or may not have shifted during travel...

Today in Literature: Have you read Julius Ceasar? she asked.




Today is the infamous Ides of March. Two thousand fifty-two years ago on this day, the Roman emperor Julius Caesar was stabbed to death by senators who called themselves the Liberatores (Liberators) and claimed they were preserving the integrity of the Roman system. Although Caesar ostensibly refused to be named king, he had no qualms about stamping his face on coins (a spot previously reserved for gods), and he happily assumed the title "dictator for life" in February of 44 B.C.E., just a month before his assassination. The most famous of the Liberators is Marcus Brutus, a man personally connected to Caesar. Brutus's mother, Servilia, was one of Caesar's lovers, and Caesar singled Brutus out as a young man of promise and gave him a government position. It's not certain why Brutus conspired to kill Caesar, but the young man did come from a family of anti-authoritarians — his ancestor Junius Brutus overthrew the last king of Rome in 509 B.C.E.

Of course, William Shakespeare wrote a play about this. In it, Ceasar is told to "Beware the Ides of March"(Act 1, sc.ii) because, well, something bad was going to happen. Like his bff Brutus was a backstabber. Literally.
After Brutus had killed Ceasar, he gave a big funeral speech. "I come to bury Ceasar, not to praise him" he told the mob. "I loved him, but loved Rome more" he also said. Deflection: a useful political tool.

Have we witnessed any other political deflections in the Shakespearean works read so far this year?



NEXT UP: Ernest Hemingway


Ernst Hemingway (1899-1961) was an expatriate American writer. His writing career started with a stint as reporter for the Kansas City Star in 1917. His short stories and novels are noted for their understated and succinct writing style, which evolved from his journalistic style. He once said that his writing was influenced by the Star's style guide : "Use short sentences. Use short first paragraphs. Use vigorous English. Be positive, not negative."

Hemingway's novels include "The Sun Also Rises", "For Whom the Bell Tolls" , "A Farewell to Arms" and "The Old Man and the Sea."




Hemingway lived and wrote in Paris after World War I. Many of his novels focus on Americans living in Europe after the war. His novels also include manly activities as bullfighting, the running of the bulls in Pamplona, and hunting trips. His writing is categorized by economy in writing, featuring stoic male protagonists who exhibit what is known as "grace under pressure." His writing -the style, characters and themes- had a great influence on the development of modern fiction. He was a contemporary of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, and Ezra Pound ( remember him? Imagists?) who was Hemingway's artistic mentor for a time. Hemingway said"Ezra was right half the time, and when he was wrong, he was so wrong you were never in any doubt about it."

The short stories of Hemingway we will read are:

The Snows of Kilimanjaro
The Killers
The Short happy Life of Francis Macomber

As we read these short stories ( actual short stories, not novellas like Kafka's Metamorphosis), watch for how Hemingway uses economy of language to tell his story, to describe people and settings, and how his use of dialogue fleshes out a story or character.

We will also evaluate whether or not Papa ( Hemingway's nickname) stuck to his Kansas City Star style manual guidelines, using short sentences, short first paragraphs, vigorous English.

Since these stories are so short, we will try to read & annotate them in one sitting, with discussion and analysis for the remainder of the week.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Socratic Circles and a Birthday of Note.


Once upon a time, Socrates had an idea.

If he allowed students to have structured dialogues between themselves, he theorized, they might, just might, come up with some intelligent ideas of their own in the discussion.

Socrates believed that it was important for students to think for themselves instead of just having him fill their head with alleged "correct" answers.

A good Socratic seminar suspends biases and allows students to listen and question each other based on a discussion. The discussion is exploratory; that is, there is no specific "end point" that has to be reached in the discussion.





In today's discussion, several good points were made throughout the discussion. Characters, symbolism and the idea of authority were discussed, along with whether or not cockroaches have eyelids.

A character development question was raised: Why didn't Gregor Samsa leave?

So, what were your opinions of the Socratic Circle? Do you have any suggestions on how it could have been improved? Did you learn anything from this experience?

For Homework:

We will have our
Irish Literary Festival on Friday.
If you can find a poem, literary piece, or biographical information on an Irish author, bring it along.




Today is also the birthday of Jack Kerouac, born Jean-Louis Kerouac in Lowell, Massachusetts (1922). He was part of the "Beat Generation," and he came up with the name. He said, "To me, it meant being poor, like sleeping in the subways ... and yet being illuminated and having illuminated ideas about apocalypse and all that." Later, Kerouac decided that "beat" stood for "beatific."

His parents were from French-speaking Quebec, and he did not start learning English until grade school. He skipped second and third grades, and as a 16-year-old senior, he ditched class in order to go alone to the public library and read what he wanted: Hugo, Goethe, Hemingway, William Saroyan, Thomas Wolfe, history books, the Encyclopedia Britannica, and books of chess problems. He was a good football player and received a scholarship to Columbia University, but he broke his leg in the first season and didn't play anymore. He dropped out of Columbia, joined the Merchant Marine and then the Navy, and was given a psychiatric discharge after only two months, having been labeled as a "schizoid personality." The next fall, he went back to Columbia where he dropped out again almost immediately, but kept his apartment near campus and it became a gathering place for young intellectuals. During that time, he met Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Carl Solomon, Neal Cassady, and others who would help found the Beat Movement.

He spent the next seven years hitchhiking around the United States and Mexico, and in 1949 he and his friend Neal Cassady drove a Cadillac limousine from California to Chicago, going over 100 miles an hour on two-lane roads until the speedometer broke. In 1951, he sat at his kitchen table, taped sheets of Chinese art paper together to make a long roll, and wrote the story of Cassady and their trips. It had no paragraphs and very little punctuation. Allen Ginsberg called it "a magnificent single paragraph several blocks long, rolling, like the road itself." It took him only three weeks to complete and became his novel On the Road (1957).

Friday, March 7, 2008

Kafka and Zeno's Paradox


As you know, this is an English class, not a Math class. But sometimes, especially in works of sureralism or magical realism, philisophical or mathmatical paradoxes can act as supporting actors in framing the text. Think of how Zeno's Paradox could frame some of the the ideas of conflict in "The Metamorphosis"
Zeno's Paradox may be paraphrased as follows:
Suppose I wish to cross the room. First, of course, I must cover half the distance. Then, I must cover half the remaining distance. Then, I must cover half the remaining distance. Then I must cover half the remaining distance . . . and so on forever. The consequence is that I can never get to the other side of the room.
What this actually does is to make all motion impossible, for before I can cover half the distance I must cover half of half the distance, and before I can do that I must cover half of half of half of the distance, and so on, so that in reality I can never move any distance at all, because doing so involves moving an infinite number of small intermediate distances first.
So, we never get anywhere.
Motion is impossible.
See what biographical information you can unearth about Kafka that might contribute to the tone of "The Metamorphosis." How would social,political, and personal factors convey Kafka's view of life through his literature?
After watching the Salvador Dali video in class, I was astounded at the way motion was used in conjunction with the surealistic images. What did you think? Did Dali convey a message or was it all unconscoius mumbo-jumbo?

The Theory of Everything: From Thursday's class




Due to popluar demand, here is the info from Thursday.




REMINDER: Take home test due Monday. Answer 2 questions: 1 Poetry and 1 Macbeth.


HOMEWORK: Read Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" and annotate.


Literary Theory: Paradigm
*A framework of generally accepted assumptions and perspectives
*An example or pattern
*Relationship to accepted ideas is understood within the profession
*Allows research without continual justification of methodology (ex. Copernicus)

Paradigms in Literature
*Can you get meaning from a text through a paradigm?
*Can using a “methodology” lead to authentic interpretation?





Paradigm vs Theory
*
Theory= nothing “goes without saying”
*Each and every term must be defined and re-defined contextually
*Terms such as “gender politics”, “political propaganda”, “phallocentric” – reflective of theory





Why Theory?
*
No consensus exists about a canon
*People, critics (yes, they are people too) theorize in analysis
*Analysis & theory replace paradigms





Three questions when readingWhy, What, How?

*Why read literature?
*Literature attempts to bring together in a system of values which transcend class, economy, race, gender




Theory of Everything



*What should we read?
*Do we want to change the world or merely learn about it?





How should we read?

*Is interpretation the same for every reader?
*Private associations and public meaning
*Persona / person

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Educational lolcats

WARNING: This may have no educational value whatsoever.....











Jane Austen has one.....
Mr Darcy! !














If you take AP Physics,
You may recognize Schroedinger's lolcat.







Shakespeare has a lolcat too....
















While in the midst of reading student tomes
I came upon a common theme
Why? asked the writers if as one
Does the Bard use end rhyme in his sceme?
I will not try to answer that.
Instead I'll leave you with lolcats.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Imagist Poetry


IMAGISM & IMAGIST POETRY

"Imagism" refers to a poetic movement in the early 20th century. Imagist work, which rejected the formal poetic structure of Romantic and Victorian poetry, was a precursor to Modernism.

Imagist poetry is characterized by precise imagery, and clear, sharp language. Ezra Pound, considered one of the founders of Imagist poetry, said that the poetry relied on "luminous details" to isolate a single image to convey its essence, and thus its meaning.

Imagists were influenced by the ancient Japanese poetic form of haiku, which focused the mind on one image.


Compare:

This is an excerpt of Victorian poet William Ernest Henley's Invictus -

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever Gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

Compare this with Ezra Pound's In a Station of the Metro-

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.


(This is the whole poem)

What images does Pound evoke in your mind?


This poetic movement existed at the same time as avant-garde visual arts were developing.

See if you can identify painters who were producing work at the same time as Pound ( 1915-17) and which artistic movement they are associated with.


(Carafe, Jug & Fruit Bowl, Picasso 1909 [l] ; Violin & Palette, Braque 1909[r])

Upcoming in English 12AP




I have included a lolcat as a way to raise the collective cultural consciousness of our class....if you can find the source of this lolcat's reference, you will get extra bonus points.... (meaningless on your overall AP exam score, of course, but hey)



This week, we will conclude our discussion of Shakespeare's Macbeth with the following question:

Are there any "power couples" in recent history that might be compared to Lady Macbeth & her Thane? These don't necessarily have to be murderous or evil people, who have caused bloodshed; just a couple where the man seems to be driven by or changed (for better or worse) by the actions of his Lady.

Also consider this: What scenes would you add to the play? Many events are left for the audience to figure out on their own, such as Lady Macbeth's demise. What do you think will be the next step in the Malcolm/Macduff strategy?

There will be a take-home test on Thursday this week, which will consist of essays and interpretations of Macbeth, along with connections to the poems we have read as accompaniment pieces.

The poems will include:

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot
"The Poison Tree" by William Blake
"Are There Not Fireflies" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
"next to god of course america i" by e.e.cummings
"In a Station at the Metro" by Ezra Pound


The next unit we will read will include the following short stories (subject to availability) :

Kafka:
"The Metamorphosis"

Hemingway:
"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"
"Hills Like White Elephants"
"The Snows of Kilimanjaro"

Joyce:
"The Dead"

To balance out the testosterone, we'll also read

Gilman:
"The Yellow Wallpaper"

Chopin:
"Story of an Hour"

Porter:
"The Jilting of Granny Weatherall"

We will be reading these works with a critical eye to look for themes of Identity.

There will be supplemental poetry readings as well. TBA.

There will be a literary analysis paper required for this unit.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Poem of the Day: Ezra Pound


You think it's easy being a poet? Well, it's not all Parisian garrets, fountain pens and rejection letters that poets suffer. Some poets actually go to jail. Poetry is a hard life, sometimes. Look at Ezra Pound, for instance.

Ezra Pound (1885-19720) was an expatriate poet, intellectual rabble-rouser, and one of the primary figures in the Modernist movement in poetry. He was a friend of T. S.Eliot, Ernest Hemingway and William Carlos Williams. He promoted their work along with the work of writers Robert Frost, James Joyce, and Marianne Moore. Pound met the poet William Butler Yeats in London, and acted as his secretary for a time.

In 1915, Pound published Cathay, an ostensible translation of several Chinese poems into free verse. Critics notes the more literal interpretation of the works by Pound's use of conversational diction. Pound's accuracy in the translations are often questioned, and the poems are seen more as a combination of meditations on violence and friendship with an effort to "rethink the nature of an English poem." (The Pound Era. New York: New Directions, 1971. 199).

Pound protested the U. S. involvement in WWII. In 1942, as an expatriate living in Italy, he began making radio broadcasts criticizing America's role in the war; some of his messages were heavily anti-Semitic. He was charged with treason against the U.S. and arrested in Italy. While he was interred in Pisa, Italy, he suffered a nervous breakdown. Pound began writing the Pisan Cantos while in an internment camp, which are seen as a reflection on his ruin, and the ruin of Europe after the war. In 1945, he was tried on the treason charges and found not guilty by mental defect.

Pound was then committed to St Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington D.C. from 1946- 1958. upon his release, he returned to Italy, where he remained until his death in 1972.

Of America, Pound said "America is a lunatic asylum".

This is from Pound's Cathay

The River-Merchant's Wife

While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead
I played about the front gate, pulling flowers.
You came by on bamboo stilts, playing horse,
You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums.
And we went on living in the village of Chokan:
Two small people, without dislike or suspicion.
At fourteen I married My Lord you.
I never laughed, being bashful.
Lowering my head, I looked at the wall.
Called to, a thousand times, I never looked back.

At fifteen I stopped scowling,
I desired my dust to be mingled with yours
Forever and forever and forever.
Why should I climb the look out?

At sixteen you departed,
You went into far Ku-to-en, by the river of swirling eddies,
And you have been gone five months.
The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead.

You dragged your feet when you went out.
By the gate now, the moss is grown, the different mosses,
Too deep to clear them away!
The leaves fall early this autumn, in wind.
The paired butterflies are already yellow with August
Over the grass in the West garden;
They hurt me. I grow older.
If you are coming down through the narrows of the river Kiang,
Please let me know beforehand,
And I will come out to meet you
As far as Cho-fu-Sa.