Today is the last day of the semester!

Hi Poets!

I thought I was going to be here today, but I was wrong...

While the expectation was that you be all caught up by last Friday, some of you have expressed the need for more time. If you need to catch up on any assignments for the marking period, please do that today.

Your black history month poem is included in this expectation. If you are all caught up, please workshop and polish this poem. I would like a final copy turned in by the end of class today.

Also, if you turned in anything late this semester, you may consider writing some additional poetry for extra credit points. You can also start to think about the first story you will write in fiction class...

As always, please e-mail me with any questions/concerns.

Keep up the good work!

Ms. Perez

Black History Month Poem: Mandatory!

Once you finish your portfolios, contest entries, etc. please write a poem for black history month. This is your homework and last poem for the class. The theme for our black history performance at SOTA this year is "The Struggle Continues". Please address this theme in your poem.

I will need 3-5 poems for the Black History Performance on February 12th. If your poem is chosen and you decide to read it you will have an extra A averaged into your Advanced Poetry grade.

Please note that while you will not be required to read or have your poem read, all of you are required to write it.

I would like you to complete this poem for homework and bring it in no later than 1/30/15. Friday January 30th is a REGULAR SCHOOL DAY and a C day, which means we will have our final poetry class.

Come prepared with this poem and anything else you would like to share for our final Advanced Poetry Circle of Love/Celebration.

As always, please e-mail me with any questions.

Work Day!

Hi Everyone!

I am not here today because I was selected for grand jury duty! Please use your entire block to work on the many tasks that are due next week. The post from Tuesday should have all of the information you need. Here is a mini checklist to think about:

1. Contests
2. Workshop
3. Poetry Forms
4. Portfolios
5. Past due work

I will try to call the classroom to answer any questions. If not, please e-mail me any questions you may have at Ashley.perez@rcsdk12.org.

Please use your time productively! Stay on task. There is a lot of work to do!

I will see you next week.

Ms. Perez

Important Deadlines and Information

Portfolios are due next Thursday, 1/22.

I had to move this deadline up because classes will not be in session during exam week. I will take them on Friday, but keep in mind this will mean I will not see you if I have questions about the work. You will also receive a late grade.

Please include the required forms in your portfolios, 5-7 workshopped/polished poems and a 2 page reflection.

All of class time will be dedicated to this, which should give you plenty of time to organize yourselves.

Aside from your portfolios, Sokol entries are due by the end of next week as well. This is for a grade! Entry guidelines are here: http://www3.libraryweb.org/sokolcontest.aspx


I will give you double extra credit if you enter Gannon by the end of next week too :) I know it feels like a lot but if you enter one, you can do two! Guidelines are here: http://www.gannon.edu/Academic-Offerings/Humanities-Education-and-Social-Sciences/Undergraduate/English/Poetry-Contest/

There are less grades this quarter, please keep in mind the importance of receiving credit for this course in order to earn your arts diploma.

See me with any questions.

Portfolio Guidelines

· You must include at least 5-7 polished poems in your portfolios (more if you'd like.) 

· Organize your work in a way that makes sense... Theme? Dates? Whatever you think!

· Polish each piece and make them as perfect as you can.

 

Remember: You may have learned something new that you didn’t know at the beginning of the year. Apply those skills!

 

Reflection- You need to write a reflection (at least two pages) about the marking period, the creative writing process, and your progress:

· Which pieces do you think are your best? Which are your least favorite? Why?

· How did writing help you to appreciate the details of what you have read this marking period? Be sure to be specific when referencing authors and titles.

· What did you most enjoy and least enjoy about the marking period?

· What was the most difficult piece for you to write? Which one did you enjoy the most? Least?

· What did you know about writing before you started this class?

· What new things have you learned about writing? Yourself? Life?

· Grade yourself and explain why you would give that grade.

Due Date 1/22

  

Nathan's Senryu Notes

Nathan Pembrook

Senryu Notes

 

History

Originated in Japan

Named after an author whose pen name was Senryu (Real name was Karai Hachiemon)

The form evolved from Haiku

 

Form

Similar to Haiku structurally

Up to 17 syllables

3 lines

Unrhyming

Discusses human nature ironically or satirically

No references to the seasons

 

Contemporary Context

Hasn’t changed much

Some still consider it a haiku

If it involves nature, it’s a haiku

If it is about humans/human nature, it’s a senryu

 

Ethan's Villanelle Notes

Ethan Gresko

Villanelle research

 

History:

-           During Renaissance the villanelle and villanico (from Italian villano, or peasant) were Italian and Spanish dance-songs

-           “Villanelle” title implied the poem spoke of simple, often pastoral or rustic themes

-           Some scholars believe it has been in existence since the sixteenth century, while others believe it wasn’t until the late nineteenth century that the villanelle was defined as a fixed form of poetry (it didn’t start out as a fixed form)

 

Information:

-           Form is made up of five tercets followed by a quatrain

-           First and third lines of the opening tercet are repeated alternatively in the last lines of the following stanzas

-           In the final quatrain stanza the refrain serves as the poem’s last two lines

-           KEY:

Capitals = Refrain

Lowercase = Rhymes

 

-           A1 b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 A2

 

Contemporary Context:

-          Contemporary poets have not limited themselves to the themes originally expressed by free-form villanelles of the Renaissance, and have loosened the fixed form to allow variations on the refrains

 

Example from the Norton Anthology of Poetry:

 

 

 

One Art

by Elizabeth Bishop

 

The art of losing isn’t hard to master;

so many things seem filled with the intent

to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

 

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster

of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.

The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

 

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:

places, and names, and where it was you meant

to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

 

I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or

next-to-last, of three loved houses went.

The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

 

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,

some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.

I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.

 

 

 

 

 

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

by Dylan Thomas

 

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

 

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

 

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

 

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night.

 

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

 

And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

 

Ben's Ghazal Information

Components of a Ghazal

Couplets: Ghazals are composed of at least 5 couplets and no more than 15 couplets. All couplets must have the same amount of syllables in it. Each couplet must be different in subject, theme, and tone. As a result, a ghazal is composed of many couplets that work independently, but sound best as a whole.

Radif: The radif is the word or phrase that gets repeated at the end of every other line. Additionally, both lines in the first couplet end with the radif.

Qafia: The qafia is the word preceding the radif. Each qafia must be different, but they must all rhyme.

                e.g. But howling I became an ever more an unheard person…

                        The mirror’s not convincing – that at best inferred person.

Person is the radif, while unheard and inferred are the qafias.

Sestina Resources

Gena and Nikki's Prezi
https://prezi.com/cgphkwzsmtv1/sestina/

 

 

Scholastic Sestina Organizer

http://teacher.scholastic.com/writeit/PDF/sestina.pdf

Thiery's Elegy Notes

Elegy Notes:

·         A poem of serious reflection, typically for the dead. (Google)

·         (in Greek and Roman poetry) a poem written in elegiac couplets, as notably by Catullus and Propertius. (Google)

·         The elegy began as an ancient Greek metrical form and is traditionally written in response to the death of a person or group. Though similar in function, the elegy is distinct from the epitaph, ode, and eulogy: the epitaph is very brief; the ode solely exalts; and the eulogy is most often written in formal prose.

The elements of a traditional elegy mirror three stages of loss. First, there is a lament, where the speaker expresses grief and sorrow, then praise and admiration of the idealized dead, and finally consolation and solace. These three stages can be seen in W. H. Auden’s classic “In Memory of W. B. Yeats," written for the Irish master, which includes these stanzas:

 

“With the farming of a verse

Make a vineyard of the curse,

Sing of human unsuccess

In a rapture of distress;

 

In the deserts of the heart

Let the healing fountain start,

In the prison of his days

Teach the free man how to praise.” (poets.org)

·         In a way it Cohen sides with a eulogy b/c they both focus on the dead, but there are MAJOR differences.

 

Definition:  An Elegy is lamenting poem or couplet to honor the deceased. A eulogy is an essay or a piece of writing, written to honor the dead.

Literary Form: Elegy- Poetry. Eulogy-Prose

Origin:  Elegy- Greek & Latin. Eulogy- Classic Greek

Tone:  Elegy- Melancholic: Expressing remorse or regret for a loss.  Eulogy-Reminiscing: Expressing praise and respect to a person; remembering how they were while they lived.

Timing:  Elegy- Written any time after the death of someone close or prominent; could be right after death or years later.  Eulogy- Generally written soon after someone's death, usually suring the funeral. Eulogy is mostly written for a late family member, friend or someone of acquaintance.

Etymology:  Elegy- 1514, from M. French elegie; Latin elegia; Greek elegeia. ode "an elegaic song," from elegeia, fem. of elegeios "elegaic," from elegos "poem or song of lament," perhaps from a Phrygian word.  Eulogy- Mid-15c., from Greek eulogia "praise," from eu- "well" + -logia "speaking," from logos "discourse, word;" legein "speak." Eu legein meant "speak well of."

Usage: Elegy- The poetess in Lucy wanted to write an elegy for her dear grandmother, whom she missed so much.  Eulogy-The expressive eulogy by Laura revealed the soft, caring side of the person her seemingly stern father really was.

 

·         Overtime, the elegy hasn’t really evolved. In the 18^th century, an elegy was known as a poem of the death of a particular person. Still today, it’s a poem on the death of a particular person. The only way it really fluctuates is dependent on the author. Some authors have written elegies on dead plants, old teddy bears, lost items, forgotten childhood memories, etc.

·         (Go to Examples/Hand Outs)