Today’s Agenda
1) Writing assignment: For the next 5-7 minutes I want you to write on the following topic:
During the course of our lives, each of us will see or witness events that will have a tremendous impact on us. For example, you may remember the first time you saw your husband, wife, boyfriend or girlfriend. You may remember a specific event that happened while you were with a grandparent or a parent. You may even remember a specific event from when you were in school, such as graduation or the way a particular friend once acted. In this journal entry or post, I want you to describe in significant detail a powerful IMAGE that you carry in your mind. Please only write about subjects that you would not mind sharing with the class (or, if you are posting on the blog, with the world)
2) Group Discussion: Get into your groups and discuss a particular national event that has had a major impact on you. Subjects could include anything from the assassination of President Kennedy, Sept. 11th, an Olympic opening ceremony, or some other significant event. When you picture this event in your mind, what do you see?
3) Class Discussion
Okay: We are going to think about a new way to approach poetry today, which you will need to understand to be able to write the first major paper for this course.
Let’s review our steps:
Approach poetry by asking questions….
Questions about specific details…
Specific details that relate to the speaker
Or the audience…
Or the situation….
But we can also ask specific questions about the IMAGES, or IMAGERY in a poem.
LESSON FOR THE DAY #1: Poets will use specific images to create a definite impression for you. The poet will describe something so that you will see or feel something.
Let’s look at Elisabeth Bishop’s
Elisabeth Bishop’s “First Death In Nova Scotia”
Let’s read the poem and then think about the imagery.
In a new JOURNAL ENTRY or BLOG POST, I want you to identify THREE important images in this poem, and then attempt to explain what the images make you THINK about or FEEL.
Group Discussion
Class Discussion
Bishop has CAREFULLY chosen not just the subjects of these images, but also the SPECIFIC DETAILS she has used to describe them.
The images can lead us to questions and conclusions
Let’s come up with some QUESTIONS about the Specific Details.
Okay, now let’s shift to a slightly different poem:
Margaret Atwood: This is A Photograph of Me
This is a poem in which it is MUCH harder to come up with specific statements about the SPEAKER, AUDIENCE, and SITUATION. This does not mean that it is a hard poem, only that you will need a different approach. This should be an indication to you that you should approach it by focusing first on its IMAGERY.
Journal Assignment:
1) Let’s identify some images.
2) What are some specific details that the author uses to describe these images?
3) What do these images make you think or feel?
Now, let’s think about THE FLEA
Read For Next Class:
William Blake’s “The Lamb”
Sylvia Plath’s “Metaphors”
Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven”
Listen to these Podcasts For Next Class:
Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven“
Write:
I want you to write a page and a half on the following topic: What are THREE major images in Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven.” Identify the major details that Poe uses to describe these images, and then explain to me how these individual images CONTRIBUTE to the MEANING of the poem.
[...] Thursday, September 18 [...]
Pingback by Welcome to Eh 112: Approaches to Literature « Approaches to Literature, Fall 2008 — August 29, 2008 @ 5:28 pm |
Michael Austin
Thursday, September 18, 2008
First death in Nova Scotia
By Elizabeth Bishop
In the poem first death in Nova Scotia in my eyes is about a little boy’s first death in his family. As the boy looks over the casket I don’t think he knows what to think. As he looks at the person that he once loved so much it didn’t seem real to him. The little boy looked at his late uncles body and says “He was all white, like a doll, that hadn’t been painted yet”(first death in Nova Scotia by Elizabeth Bishop). Then the little boy later describes the look of the loon that his uncle had shot and is describing it as if it was his uncle.
The only part of this poem that I’m not getting is the first part why is the writer saying “my mother laid out beneath the chromographs: Edward, Prince of Wales, with Princess Alexandra, and King George with Queen Mary” (first death in Nova Scotia by Elizabeth Bishop). Is the writer trying to tell us that this person is of some kind or royalty or something along those lines? Or is the writer trying to tell us that the person that is dead is looking more like royalty then they did when they were alive. Maybe the person was just a simple farmer but he is being bared in some kind of sacred spot among kings and queens.
The speaker of the poem I don’t think gets the harsh reality of his uncle being dead, I think that he is much too young to understand that his uncle is not coming back to see him. I think that the boy might be like three or four and he is seeing his family weeping about his uncle but it hasn’t sunken in for him yet.
I think the audience is any one that has ever lost a loved one. The audience might be also being someone that is going through the same thing that this little boy is at this point in time. What I mean is that as soon as it settles in for the little boy he is going to be crushed that he has lost a roll model that he loved and respected in his life. The audience might also be a parent trying to learn how to compensate for the child and how to learn how to deal with the death of a loved one in the family setting.
In reading this maybe the reader can figure out how to deal with the death in his or her own family. They might look at this text and say that they can relate to what the speaker is saying to them. They might also get the opposite of what I think the speaker is trying to say to the audience.
So in conclusion I think that the speaker is a little boy weeping over his uncles death and the poem could reach out to any one that has lost a family member that is close to them. The other people that this poem could reach is someone that is trying to teach the child about death or how to miss a loved one.
Comment by Michael Austin — September 18, 2008 @ 4:28 pm |
One specific event was when my father left for his first tour in Iraq. I was counseling at a summer camp and he and my mother stopped by before he headed for the airport. I was pretty torn up because since I was counseling at camp, I was unable to spend a lot of time with him before he left. Besides the fact that he was leaving for a year to go overseas, that just made it that much harder. The most vivid image would be him driving away with my mother. It hurt to see him leave, but I was also proud of what he was doing.
Comment by Gabe Cheney — September 18, 2008 @ 4:38 pm |
The positive image that I get in my head is when I went to the lobster bowl for football. Walking out onto the field in front of all of the fans screaming out our praises. The flashes of the cameras going off and the roar of the loud speaker as the music played for the beginning of the game. The whistle blows to signal the kick off that the ball gets kicked deep. The smacks of the shoulder pads as the players run down the field looking for the ball carrier. The offence the side that I was on takes the field and we drive the ball down the field to score. The crowd goes wild the announcer screams into the microphone touchdown east! Then we kick off the ball and our defense takes the field and holds the other team. We go back and forth the rest of the game the screams of the fans and the atmosphere is great the smell of fried food. This was one of the best times of my life to be able to play in this great game .
Comment by Michael Austin — September 18, 2008 @ 4:41 pm |
A tremendous impact that I recall is when I first got a detention. I was a junior in high school and had gone 13 years without getting that type of punishment. I had been in my History class. I can rember sitting in the second row, in the middle of all my friends and the class being a littel crazy. The teaher was giving us yet another reading for the class period. My friends and I were so mad that we were reading again, for once we actually wanted her to teach us something. I had asked my teacher if we were reading for the whole period, and she stated that yes we were. I had been standing at this point and turned and sat down and as I was sitting down I said “This is a joke.” My teacher then asked what i had said, since i was back to hre and she didn’t hear what I had said. and I repeated myself while looking right at her. She looked at me in disappointment and said as she pointed towards the door, “office, NOW.” I was shocked. I had never had to go to the prinicples office before now and I was scared shitless, I didn’t know what to do. So I picked up my things and walked out, and when doing so, I heard my classmates saying, way to go or good job. I got to the office and they were all shocked by me being there. That was the “impact” on my life as a student.
Comment by Jen Campbell — September 18, 2008 @ 4:42 pm |
When I was reading the “First Death in Nova Scotia” a couple of images really stood out to me. The was the vivid description of stuffed loon. The way the speaker described the texture and appearance really painted an elaborate picture in my mind. Another image was of Arthur’s body as it lay in the coffin. “Like a doll that hasn’t been painted.” The last image that really stood out to me was when the speaker was talking about how the royal couples were going to ask Arthur to be the youngest page in the court, all the while still clutching the lily.
Comment by Gabe Cheney — September 18, 2008 @ 5:04 pm |
One of the images that I find important is the loon. The loon makes me think of a lake on a warm sunny day, and familys out fishing, and boating. It makes me think of kids playing in the water, and saying, “Hey look at me I can go under the water!” the second image that I find important in the lily. When I picture a lily, I picture it attached to a lily pad in a cove of the lake, and frogs jumping aroudn them from pad to pad. Lastly, I think an important image is Jack frost. Jack frost reminds me of winter time, and in this case, it could have ment the lake beign frozen, and how cold he made it cold, cold like the parlor that the coffin was in.
Comment by Jen Campbell — September 18, 2008 @ 5:08 pm |
When the photograph was being described as a smeared print you know that something bad is going to or had happened. The setting also was described well with the tree branch, the small house, the lake and the hills all paint an image that stuck with me when I was reading the rest of the poem. I could also see clearly the speaker just barely under the surface of the water, drowned.
Comment by Gabe Cheney — September 18, 2008 @ 5:23 pm |
When reading the poem, a few images stood out while I was reading it. First there was the picture, the picutre that had been taken a long time ago. The author says that the picture is “..smeared print: blurred lines and grey flecks blended with the paper;”… Then there is the was the thought of, “The photograph was taken the day after I drowned.” The next image is the branch. The author descrbied the object “like a branch” but never states what it really is. The last image is her in the lake. she says she doesn’t know where she is, but if you look hard and long, you might be able to find her.
Comment by Jen Campbell — September 18, 2008 @ 5:28 pm |
One of the three images that come to mind is the loon sitting on the marble top table and his deep white breast with his glass red eyes. The second when she is describing Arthur like a little white doll that hasn’t been painted yet. And the third would be when she describes he gracious royal couples were warm in red and ermine; their feet were well wrapped up in the ladies’ ermine trains.
Down in the left hand corner a thing that looks like a branch a part of a tree. The details of the photograph for example the print blurred lines and grey flecks bended with the paper makes me think of a painting not a photograph of someone or something. The small house on the gentle slope. And the back ground of the lake and small hills.
The purpled thumb when she kills the flea the flea biting the two people to get there blood together in side of it. And finally
Comment by Michael Austin — September 18, 2008 @ 5:39 pm |
The major images in this poem are marrige, the peoples blood in the flea, and the final smashing of the flea.
Comment by Jen Campbell — September 18, 2008 @ 5:40 pm |
Obviously the major image in “The Flea” is a flea. When the speaker talks about the flea sucking blood from both of them, and then having it inside of the flea, it’s kind of gross. When the other person squashed the flea it almost felt painful just reading it. When the speaker put up such a protest at the end when the other person squashed the flea the anger was felt.
Comment by Gabe Cheney — September 18, 2008 @ 5:41 pm |
Jennifer Campbell
Adam Crowley
The Raven
Edgar Allen Poe had a very unique way of using words. It was hard for me to understand what was happening throughout the poem. Once figuring out what was being said, I came to the conclusion that there were three major images that Poe used in his poem to uses to describe an images for us to picture. Those images were the Raven, the chamber door, and the tapping at the chamber door..
I think that the raven is an image that describes something that is very black and scary. Poe I think uses the raven as an image to describe something that is black, intimidating, and old as he describes later in the poem. He goes on to say how the raven eyes start to burn his as he keeps looking at him, yet he compares the raven to a lord or lady. Poe confuses me at this point, as well as many other times in the poem. Its like he is saying that a lord or lady does the same to a mans eyes when a man looks into them for too long.
Poe writes frequently about the chamber door. I think that he uses the chamber door to signify that he is in a place of privacy. Which in this case is a place that signifies an office, or a place in which one worked. The chamber door serve as a description for us to picture Poe in a secluded area by himself, him possibly having locked the rest of the world out of his space. I can even picture how dark the room is with no fire, curtains closed to not let the light in.
Lastly, I think that another image that is important is the tapping at the chamber door. When Poe writes about the tap, tap, tapping at the chamber door I can picture a raven almost clear in my mind, taking his beak and tapping on the door, scaring Poe half out of his pants because he startles him so much. The tapping isn’t a visual image for us to picture, its more like an acoustic rhythm for us to have in our heads to get a better picture of what is taking place. He then answers the door after the rhythmic tapping at the door to find nothing on the other side, nothing but darkness. He goes to think of allt he bad things that could happen and hears a voice. After turning back to hear another tap, tap, tapping at his chamber door. He then thinks its himself hearing things in the wrong direction, and goes to his window to find something. The tapping is different and louder and serves to have un wonder what is taking place and why is there nothing on the other side of the door or window?
Comment by Jen Campbell — September 23, 2008 @ 1:11 pm |
Selina Staples
Adam Crowley
September 23, 2008
“The Raven”
Edgar Allen Poe
In the poem “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe is a poem of which the individual in the poem is in his chamber weeping over his newly lost love Lenore. He is disturbed by a tapping on his door in which he finds a raven. This poem has three main images that Edgar Allen Poe focuses on which are, the chamber door, the raven itself, and Lenore.
The beginning of the poem the character is in his chamber on a very cold dark December night. The word chamber makes readers instantly picture a dark dungeon with concrete and stones. This is a place of sorry and sadness. The raven is gently tapping on the chamber door, so that the character can hardly hear it, this causes the reader to visualize that this door is a large maybe wooden door that needs to be knocked loudly on for someone inside to hear. With the raven perched above the door atop the bust of Pallas, this is a Greek God of war craft. This imagery causes the reader to think of a grand dark entrance.
The raven is a bird that is not known for its beautiful song or striking colors. This is a dark bird with black feathers that would be almost unseen at night. This image is one that is throughout the poem. The raven represents the truth about how the character feels about his beloved Lenore. The raven is used as he cheats the characters sad thoughts into a smile. This bird is telling the character what he needs to hear, but as he learns he will only say “nevermore” the character turns his questions around as for he knows what the answer will be.
The last image that Poe uses is the one o Lenore. The character feels as is Lenore is a wonderful woman for which he has lost. This character feels as if there is nothing he can do to over ride his feelings for this woman. He refers her to an angel and that his only way to overcome this pain is to drink it off.
Edgar Allen Poe has used imagery in his poem “The Raven” to emphasize the impact of these three items within the poem. The use of imagery is a very strong thing that he has used throughout his writings and receives a strong response of understanding the poem more easily and imagining them.
Comment by Selina Staples — September 23, 2008 @ 4:26 pm |