Week of Feb.5-8 ~ Change of plans...

Dearest Students,

It looks like I'll be in Oklahoma for the week. Pray for my family if you think of me. Please show a sweet atmosphere of honor and kindness to any substitute you have. Represent us well!

Since I am not there to teach you the Villanelle form, we will have to "eat the desert first" in this case. We will resume the Villanelle business next week. For now, please help our sub to find a special movie on this poetic topic. It is called Dead Poets Society. Second period, you will have to help find it in the book case there in the back of the room. This one is a classic and beloved by all.

Over the next few days, make sure you begin with "If" for ten minutes or so and then view the movie.

We will test on the whole "If" poem on Wednesday of next week. Perhaps some of you can get creative in making up signs for the last stanza? Maybe some of you would like to take turns leading it in the front?

As you view the movie over the next three days, work through the questions below to make sure you catch everything. Journal 16 will be worth 20 points and is due on Monday, Feb. 11.

Journal 16
Begin by jotting down a couple of notes to keep the characters straight. The main ones are...
Neil Perry
Todd Anderson
Charlie Dalton
Gerald Pitts
Richard Cameron
John Keating
Knox Overstreet
Steven Meeks
Dean Nolan

1. What are the four pillars of Welton Academy?
2. Which pillars do the administration lean on and why?
3. Notice the short scene with the flock of birds. What might this symbolize?
4. What do the Latin words carpe diem mean?
5. What is the point of Mr. Keating's first class with the boys?
6. According to Mr. Keating, why read poetry? Why does he have them rip pages out of their books?
7. "You may contribute a verse." What does this mean?
8. What was the Dead Poets Society and what did they do?
9. What is the symbolism in the scene where the boys go to the cave?

10. Is Charlie too daring?  Why or why not?

11. Is Mr. Keating a bad influence?  Why or why not?

12. Would Neil still do what he did if Mr. Keating never came into his life? Why or why not?

13. Why didn’t Todd act the same way as Neil in the end?

14. Who was really the bravest of Keating's boys? Why?

15. In the initial screenplay, Todd specifically does not sign the paper at the end. In the movie, we are not told one way or the other. Did Todd sign it or not?  Why do you think this way?

16. Dead Poets Society: The Next Day... What happens next? What does the future hold for Keating and the boys?

Monday, February 4

TODAY:

Spoken Word

Here's an example ~
"G.O.S.P.E.L." by Propaganda (CLICK HERE)
1 It's the full story of life crushed into four minutes
2 the entirety of humanity in the palm of your hand,
3 crushed into one sentence listen it's intense right
4 God. Our. Sins. Paying. Everyone. Life.
5 The Greatest Story that’s hardly ever told: GOD. Yes. GOD.
6 The Maker and Giver of Life and by Life I mean any and all manner of substance.
7 Seen and Unseen. What Can and Can’t Be Touched
8 Thoughts, Image, Emotions, Love, Atoms and Oceans
9 GOD.
10 All of it His handiwork, one of which His Masterpiece,
11 made so uniquely that Angels look curiously.
12The one thing in Creation that was made in His imagery,
13 a concept so old, it’s the reason I stay bold
14 GOD breathed into man and he became a living soul,
15 Formed with the intent of being an infinitely, intimately fond
16 Creator and Creation held in eternal bond,
17 And it was placed in perfect paradise till something went wrong.
18 The species got deceived and started lusting for his job,
19 an odd list of complaints.Something ain’t working,
20 and used that same breath He graciously gave us to curse Him.
21 And that sin seed spread through our soul’s genome,
22 And by the nature of our nature, your species, you participated in the mutiny.
23 Our – yes, our sins separate us from GOD.
24 It’s nature inherited. Blacken the human heart.
25 It’s over before it started.
26 Deceived from Day One and led away by our own lust.
27 There’s not a religion in the world that doesn’t agree that something’s wrong with us.
28 The question is, what is it and how do we fix it?
29 Are we eternally separated from a GOD that may or may not have existed?
30 But that’s another subject.
31 Let’s keep grinding.
32 Besides, trying to prove GOD exists is like defending a lion hommie
33 He don’t need the help. Just unlock the cage.
34 Let’s move on, on how our debt can be paid.
35 Short and sweet: The problem is sin, yes sin.
39 It’s a cancer, an asthma, choking out our life force,
40 forcing separation from a perfect and Holy GOD.
41 The only way to get back is to get back to perfection but, silly us…
42 Trying to pass the course of life without referring to a syllabus…this is us.
43 Heap up your good deeds – chant, pray, meditate.
44 All of that, of course, is spraying cologne on a corpse.
45 Or you could choose to ignore it, as if something don’t stink.
46 It’s like stepping in dog poop and refusing to wipe your shoe,
47 But all of that ends with how good is good enough?
48 Take your silly list of good deeds and line them up with perfection – good luck!
49 That’s life past your pay grade.
50 The cost of your soul? You don’t got a big enough piggy bank,
51 but you can give it a shot.
52 But I suggest you throw away the list
53 because even your good acts are an extension of your selfishness,
54 But here’s where it gets interesting,
55 I hope your closely listening,
56 and don’t get it twisted. It’s what makes our faith unique.
57 Here’s what GOD says in Part A of the Gospel,
58 You can’t fix yourself. Quit trying. It’s impossible.
59 Sin brings death. Give GOD His breath back. You owe him.
60 Eternally separated and the only way to fix it is for someone to die in your place.
61 Someone got to be perfect, or the payment ain’t permanent,
62 So if and when you find a perfect person,
63 get him or her to willingly trade their perfection for your sin and indebtment.
64 Clearly, since the only one that can meet GOD’s criteria, is GOD.
65 GOD sent Himself as Jesus to pay the cost for us.
66 His righteousness, His debt functions as payment.Yes, payment.
67 He wrote a check with His Life but, at the Resurrection we all cheer,
68 because that means the check cleared
69 Pierced feet, pierced hands – blood-stained Son of Man,
70 Fullness, forgiveness, free passage into The Promised Land.
71 That same breath that GOD brings into us, GOD gave up to redeem us.
72 Anyone and everyone, and by everyone, I mean everyone
73 who puts faith and trust in Him and Him alone
74 can have full confidence of GOD’s forgiveness.
75 And here’s what the promise is:
76 That you are guaranteed full access to return to perfect unity
77 by simply believing in Christ and Christ alone.
78 You are receiving Life. Yes. Life.
79 This is the gospel...
80 God. Our. Sins. Paying. Everyone. Life.


Free Write
Try your hand at creating your own spoken word

FYI:

Fourth and final memorization QUIZ on Block.
Journal check any day now.

Thursday, January 31

Poetry - 

EQ: What is the difference between an Italian sonnet and a Shakespearean sonnet?


SONNET
a poem of 14 lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes (usually 10 syllables per line)

COUPLET
two lines, one immediately after the other, that contain end rhyme

END RHYME
rhyme that occurs at the end of two or more lines of poetry

IAMBIC PENTAMETER
a poetic meter that is made up of 5 stressed syllables each followed by an unstressed syllable

METER 
a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry 

VOLTA
A volta is the "turning point" in a poem, a moment of dramatic shift in tone or theme of the poem. 



  
So, now we know the parts of a sonnet. Let's examine the differences between the Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet and the British (Shakespearean) sonnet.  Take a look at the following Prezi to discover the differences:
The Italians vs. The British

Journal 6
For each poem, write a 1/2 page analysis that includes:
1) Is this sonnet an Italian or British style sonnet?
2) What poetic devices are present and how do they affect the speed and rhythm of the poem?
3) Where is the turn and what is the conceptual relationship shown by the structure?

 1

Remember

BY CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Remember me when I am gone away,

         Gone far away into the silent land;

         When you can no more hold me by the hand,

Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.

Remember me when no more day by day

         You tell me of our future that you plann'd:

         Only remember me; you understand

It will be late to counsel then or pray.

Yet if you should forget me for a while

         And afterwards remember, do not grieve:

         For if the darkness and corruption leave

         A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,

Better by far you should forget and smile

         Than that you should remember and be sad.

 2

Music Box

BY JORGE LUIS BORGES

TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH BY TONY BARNSTONE

Music of Japan. Parsimoniously

from the water clock the drops unfold

in lazy honey or ethereal gold

that over time reiterates a weave

eternal, fragile, enigmatic, bright.

I fear that every one will be the last.

They are a yesterday come from the past.

But from what shrine, from what mountain’s slight

garden, what vigils by an unknown sea,

and from what modest melancholy, from

what lost and rediscovered afternoon

do they arrive at their far future: me?

Who knows? No matter. When I hear it play

I am. I want to be. I bleed away.

3

Psalm 150

BY MARY SIDNEY HERBERT COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE

Oh, laud the Lord, the God of hosts commend,

       Exalt his pow’r, advance his holiness:

       With all your might lift his almightiness;

Your greatest praise upon his greatness spend.

Make trumpet’s noise in shrillest notes ascend;

       Make lute and lyre his loved fame express;

       Him let the pipe, him let the tabret bless,

Him organ’s breath, that winds or waters lend.

Let ringing timbrels so his honor sound,

       Let sounding cymbals so his glory ring,

       That in their tunes such melody be found

As fits the pomp of most triumphant king.

Conclude: by all that air or life enfold,

       Let high Jehovah highly be extolled.

4

Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips' red;

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damasked, red and white,

But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know

That music hath a far more pleasing sound;

I grant I never saw a goddess go;

My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.

   And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare

   As any she belied with false compare.

 5 

Sonnet 19: When I consider how my light is spent

BY JOHN MILTON

When I consider how my light is spent,

   Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,

   And that one Talent which is death to hide

   Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent

To serve therewith my Maker, and present

   My true account, lest he returning chide;

   “Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”

   I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent

That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need

   Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best

   Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state

Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed

   And post o’er Land and Ocean without rest:

   They also serve who only stand and wait.”

6

To the Poet Before Battle

BY IVOR GURNEY

Now, youth, the hour of thy dread passion comes;

Thy lovely things must all be laid away;

And thou, as others, must face the riven day

Unstirred by rattle of the rolling drums,

Or bugles' strident cry. When mere noise numbs

The sense of being, the sick soul doth sway,

Remember thy great craft's honour, that they may say

Nothing in shame of poets. Then the crumbs

Of praise the little versemen joyed to take

Shall be forgotten; then they must know we are,

For all our skill in words, equal in might

And strong of mettle as those we honoured; make

The name of poet terrible in just war,

And like a crown of honour upon the fight.

7

The Professor

BY JOSHUA MEHIGAN

I get there early and I find a chair.

I squeeze my plastic cup of wine. I nod.

I maladroitly eat a pretzel rod

and second an opinion I don’t share.

I think: whatever else I am, I’m there.

Afterwards, I escape across the quad

into fresh air, alone again, thank god.

Nobody cares. They’re quite right not to care.

I can’t go home. Even my family

is thoroughly contemptuous of me.

I look bad. I’m exactly how I look.

These days I never read, but no one does,

and, anyhow, I proved how smart I was.

Everything I know is from a book.

Wednesday, January 30

WARM UP:
To, Two and Too

FYI:
Memorization QUIZ (Stanzas 1,2,3) block


Memorization

If

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

TODAY:

Poetry - 

Journal 5:
Try your hand at writing a villanelle!

Tuesday, January 29

WARM UP:

To, Two and Too

FYI:
Memorization QUIZ and Poetry Essay on Block

TODAY:

POETRY TERMS ~

• villanelle
• refrain
• tercet
• quatrain

EQ: What is a villanelle?

• French verse form

• consists of five three-line (tercet) stanzas and a final quatrain 

• the first and third lines of the first stanza repeat alternately in the following stanzas

• these two refrain (repeat) lines form the final couplet in the quatrain

• Some Key Ideas to Consider with a Villanelle
• Any poem featuring a repetition or refrain has special qualities:
• How does each instance of the refrain add meaning to the poem?  Perhaps it doesn't, but a great poem builds meaning.  Refrains aren't simply included for the sake of form.  Decide what the refrain means each time you see it.
• Does the refrain change at all?  Even by one word?  It is important to consider how the change builds meaning.

Check out this fine example:

Whispering Woods ~ Villanelle

1 She peers into the forest fog
   seeking another fairy face.

   Fay hears bullfrogs in the bog.

4 There’s whispers of strange dialogue

   slipping softly through cloistered space.

   She peers into the forest fog.

7 An owl calls from his cedar log

   and unsettles her sense of place.

   Fay hears bullfrogs in the bog.

10 Far off, there’s the bay of a dog

   whose master is on a coon chase.

   She peers into the forest fog.

13 She wonders if the swamp polliwog

   knows it has a change to embrace.

   Fay hears bullfrogs in the bog.

16 There’s a quiet riot to catalogue

   and she craves a calmer pace.

   She peers into the forest fog

   Fay hears bullfrogs in the bog.

So, what makes this a villanelle?

Now that you have a feel for the villanelle, here's your assignment:

**JOURNAL 4**  

• Read each villanelle. 

• List the title of the villanelle and answer the question associated with each poem.

Poem #1

"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.

Question: Why does the speaker give this advise to his father? 

Poem #2

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.

—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture

I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident

the art of losing’s not too hard to master

though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

Question: Ask yourself: What is the art?  Is it hard to master?  Has the speaker mastered it?  How do   you know?

Poem #3

The Waking

By Theodore Roethke

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.   

I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.   

I learn by going where I have to go.

We think by feeling. What is there to know?   

I hear my being dance from ear to ear.   

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Of those so close beside me, which are you?   

God bless the Ground!   I shall walk softly there,   

And learn by going where I have to go.

Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?   

The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;   

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Great Nature has another thing to do   

To you and me; so take the lively air,   

And, lovely, learn by going where to go.

This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.   

What falls away is always. And is near.   

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.   

I learn by going where I have to go.

Questions: In one good sentence, explain the effect of the refraining line. 
                What is that "thing" mentioned in Line 13?  How do you know?
                In one good sentence, come up with a theme for the poem.

Poem #4

The House on the Hill

By Edwin Arlington Robinson

They are all gone away,

      The House is shut and still,

There is nothing more to say.

Through broken walls and gray

      The winds blow bleak and shrill:

They are all gone away.

Nor is there one to-day

      To speak them good or ill:

There is nothing more to say.

Why is it then we stray

      Around the sunken sill?

They are all gone away,

And our poor fancy-play

      For them is wasted skill:

There is nothing more to say.

There is ruin and decay

      In the House on the Hill:

They are all gone away,

There is nothing more to say. 

Question: Why does the speaker repeat himself if "There is nothing else to say"?

 Poem #5

Self-Help

By Michael Ryan

What kind of delusion are you under?

The life he hid just knocked you flat.

You see the lightning but not the thunder.

What God hath joined let no man put asunder.

Did God know you’d marry a rat?

What kind of delusion are you under?

His online persona simply stunned her

as it did you when you started to chat.

You see the lightning but not the thunder.

To the victors go the plunder:

you should crown them with a baseball bat.

What kind of delusion are you under?

The kind that causes blunder after blunder.

Is there any other kind than that?

You see the lightning but not the thunder,

and for one second the world’s a wonder.

Just keep it thrilling under your hat.

What kind of delusion are you under?

You see the lightning but not the thunder.

Question: In one good sentence, come up with a theme for the poem. Now back it up! Why should  I believe you? Why should I agree with you? PROVE IT! Use examples from the poem.
 

Thursday, January 24

TODAY:

Memorization QUIZ (Stanzas 1 -2)

Poetry Presentations - The Finale

HOMEWORK:

Practice for your Memorization QUIZ (Stanzas 1-3) on Thursday, January 31

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

Wednesday, January 23

WARM UP:
Who's vs Whose

TODAY:
Practice stanzas 1 and 2 with your partner.

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

FYI: Memorization QUIZ tomorrow

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