AGENDA:
1. Welcome and Review Course Criteria2. Election of Creative Writing Officers
3. Reminder to bring in and collect Field Trip Medical Form
4. Morning Reflection/Post comment on blog for credit
TEDtalk:
https://ideas.ted.com/what-happens-when-we-read-poetry/
5. Celebrating John Ashbery--Paradoxes and Oxymorons
EQ: What are paradoxes and oxymorons?
1. Go to:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/resources/learning/core-poems/detail/50986
View video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=islbtl1NkPM
2. Read the essay about the poem
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/69598/john-ashbery-paradoxes-and-oxymorons
3. Explore all the learning lab content. Discuss questions.
More resources;
http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail19.com/t/ViewEmail/y/5D3DAD1ABB05C602/F4421A50941B6C7305AF428974F65BCD
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/resources/learning/core-poems/detail/50986#guide
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/ashbery/paradox.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno%27s_paradoxes
4. ACTIVITY: Writing exercise--Choose one of the two writing exercises that accompany
Teaching John Ashbery.
Writing Ideas
1. Try writing a poem
that plays with pronouns in the way Ashbery’s does. Take any line or
sentence of the poem and use it as a first line—how does your
understanding of what “it” stands for, or who “you” is, change as you
write?
2. In a way, Ashbery’s poem addresses language itself. Try writing another poem that addresses poetry or language. Like Ashbery, begin your poem with “This poem is concerned with…”
2. In a way, Ashbery’s poem addresses language itself. Try writing another poem that addresses poetry or language. Like Ashbery, begin your poem with “This poem is concerned with…”
HMWK: Continue to work on Ashbery poem. Return signed Course Criteria.
Poetry, while not always being able to decipher the meaning has always inherently felt like something that needs to be deciphered. I've always enjoyed that as well as I've always enjoyed catching the lyrics of songs. Of Course you can't always look to the artist or GENIUS to look for the meaning or what is exactly the "Correct" way to hear or listen, however there's nothing more satisfying then coming to your own conclusion when reading between the lines of poetry.
ReplyDeleteThrough the TED Talk, the audience could begin to understand the importance of writing poetry and the emotions that it conveys. Poetry is a language that only the writer knows the true meaning behind it, but the reader of the poetry needs to make sure that they decipher the language that the poem is conveying. Poetry is not hard to write. AI enjoy writing poetry because we are able to write in different forms and even write a poem that doesn't have a meaning behind it. Sometimes reading poetry can be very hard, especially older poems. Sometimes when reading poetry, we need to make sure that we know the definitions and significance of things in depth. As a poet, it is important to show the reader the message that the writer wants to convey so that the poet can connect with the reader.
ReplyDeletePoetry and I have always had an odd relationship. When I was a kid, I thought that since I liked to write, I had to write poetry. After all, they weren't as time consuming as writing short stories or whatever and I enjoyed the feeling of completing things. As such, I wrote a lot of poems. They were all terrible. They were shallow (obviously, an eight year old Kaneil doesn't have much to say about the world or himself), used the same basic ABAB rhyme scheme, and were generally what you would expect from a little kid. As I got older, I grew to dislike poetry more and more.
ReplyDeleteThat's not really a surprise to me. As you get older, you get more into politics and form your own ideas about the world and the like, and I thought that poetry was pretentious. So many poems just regurgitated the same things in the same ways that it generally turned me off. I have always had an appreciation for being able to say something while sounding pretty, though. In my own writing, I like to use vocabulary that fits the tone of the piece (obviously), but I tend to gravitate towards words that I find to be pretty.
Really, I do want to get better at poetry. One of the reasons I say I suck at it is because I say that I don't really have any deep introspective thoughts on anything, which is just blatantly untrue. However, I have trouble putting those thoughts into words without just writing an essay. Stuff like line breaking may come naturally to others, but for me, I never know when start a new line or use punctuation or whatever.
I think it's great that a ton of people in the world are like, way deep into poetry. It's a cool medium, I guess, regardless of my deeper feelings towards it.
"poetry was pretentious"
DeleteFact check: True!
This guy likes poetry almost as much as I dislike it!
ReplyDeleteNo, really, poetry isn't my thing. I'll participate for the year and write what needs writing, but don't expect it to be a masterpiece. In fact, this video may explain exactly /why/ I don't enjoy poetry. Let me elaborate: I'm a very cut-and-dry individual. Symbolism and what the poet who views himself as a collectivized thinker is attempting to "represent" doesn't harbor feeling with me. It's not that I can't appreciate the effort that goes into poetry, but rather that I just don't care.
I'll end with this, that I suppose counts as poetry:
"Oh, we're going up tonight.
Well, in time to make a flight.
The airplane's standing on the runway
Engine nervously waiting for something to bite."
If you really want to call music poetry then the only I can relate to is when he claimed that poetry can be used for anything that you are going through. Although, I don't immediately think to write a poem after every significant instance in my life. Music is the best form of poetry. Hopefully during this year I can find a way to appreciate poetry more because I need to write at least one good poem for the end of the year coffeehouse.
ReplyDeleteI've always enjoyed poetry because it gives you the chance to interpret the meaning. You can come to your own conclusion of what the words really mean which is why I also enjoy music because your able to listen to the lyrics and figure out the deeper meaning. With poetry there is usually no right or wrong answer.
ReplyDeletewriting poetry has been challenging for me for as long as I can remember. the toughest part about it is trying to make sure your poem delivers a deep message that others can understand. getting others to like the poetry that i write is a problem for me. I always analyze poems closely, reading them over dozens of times trying to figure out what the author is trying to say. trying to figure out why the writer said what he or she said. watching this ted talk i tried my hardest to understand every single thing that he was saying. i personally like poems that i can really relate to. poems that I can understand thoroughly. If I don't understand what a poem is saying I try to look at key words. I think that sometimes when people come across a poem they see it in a different way than others do. They might get a different understanding of it than the person who read sit after them. i don't agree with some of the things he said. i don't feel the same way about poetry that this man does. i've never liked poetry because it's tough to write about when i haven't had too many experiences and I can't think that way.
ReplyDeleteSomething I noticed is that a lot of poetry does talk about life and death and most of the time it does take a little while to understand. Every poet has a different way conveying their thoughts, their feelings, their lives for others to read and ultimately understand. Stephen Burt gives a different perspective on reading and understanding poetry. I have personally never thought that deep when it comes to poetry, of course I saw it as art but I don't think I ever read thoroughly enough to understand it to the point Burt explained.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a favorite poet but one song that means a lot to me is Sunflower by Rex Orange County. It means a lot because I can relate to the song more than any song I've listened to before. It just makes me feel happy and I feel good and like I'm floating on my feet when listening to it
ReplyDeletePoetry is a strong way to connect with people in just a few words/lines. The audience may relate to the message in your poem. Music is one of the few ways of poetry that connects with people. Music is a part of my life and it inspires me to write poetry.
ReplyDeleteI have always had mixed feelings towards poetry, on the one hand I enjoy reading poems and love them for their ability to be simple while still carrying such a large impact. Writing poetry though is often hard and takes a lot of time for me to write. The act of writing poetry though, I really enjoy. I like picking out specific words and how the order and placement of them can change the completely tone. Completing a poem and reading it over and it all just falling together is extremely satisfying.
ReplyDeleteFor many people poetry is their everything and for others it isn't. In the Ted talk Stephen Burt talks about how important poetry is. It isn't just words on a page. For every reader that comes upon a certain poem, it strikes something different for each person. People have different emotions and interpret a poem in different ways. Poetry also helps to feel alive for some people. You might feel depressed and want to die but thought of never being able to write again frightens some. Poetry gives life to people. Burt also mentioned that if you know many techniques you can make a poem,the more you know the better it will be. You make poetry happen. It can be just words that mean nothing but it could also be words that mean everything, words that have meaning behind them and passion. For me, poetry isn't a big part of my life which is okay and not a big deal for me. I'm not that good at it and I don't read poetry often but hopefully with this course, I can get more comfortable with it.
ReplyDeletePoetry is something you can mold into whatever you want, there is no exact way of writing a poem. Music/song lyrics is such a great form of poetry. I find poetry to be such a beautiful thing, you can use different qualities of language to connect with your audience.
ReplyDeleteThis is Emani, I'm the girl crying in the corner. Both Raina and Kaneil are my witness. They saw my long comment, and my dumb self delete the comment. I give up, this was fun. Poetry is great.
ReplyDelete