10.16 is Poetic language and Poetry assignment

We spent most of our time talking about August, though we took a quick run at Shall I Compare Thee?  - paying attention to the words the poets chose, the images/symbols they evoked, the personification, metaphors & similes.  All these poetic devices work together to create a connotative meaning alongside the denotative meaning; this connotative part of the poem is the place where we connect to associations, sensual experiences, cultural meanings and the endless way words mean not one thing but many at the same time.

August. Your work on August was outstanding!   You came up with at least 4 readings that could be supported by the language in the text.  As noted in class, the way teachers tend to evaluate "readings" is on the basis of how much of the poem's language/form a particular reading accounts for.  For example, A reading that August is about "ripeness" and the poet's celebration of feeling/"harvesting" the fruits of her maturity might be supported by the title and much of the first half of the first sentence. But we would be left with questions about the rest of it, the references to her body, the creeks, the happy tongue.  This language suggests a focus that perhaps includes this celebration, but is also something more, where the "more" is in the doubleness of the language  to describe her experiences.

From class discussion it looks like you are good at this!

Shall I Compare Thee.  In the quick discussion of Shall I Compare Thee, we noticed that Shakespeare used the word "this" in the closing couplet to refer to and celebrate the poem itself.  Poetry that writes about itself (as in Billie Collins sonnet included in the next chapter) is almost a genre of poetry all on its own.  Some self-references are clear and direct (as in Collins), some clear but not so extensively developed (as in Shall I Compar), and some are possible readings but not directly declared  (as in August).  In any case, this move is worth watching for.

Poetry assignment.  We spent the last 20 minutes of class going over the assignment for the poetry essay.  The paper requires a comparative discussion of two poems on a similar topic, which use similar forms, which evoke similar effects, or etc.  As pointed out in the assignment, you will point out the basis for comparison (the similarity) and then discuss in depth how they do this similar thing, differently.  Hopefully, this discussion will make a not trivial point about the way the poems work.  The assignment also makes clear that you are NOT to write about a pair of poems we have discussed in class.  I allowed that, with permission, you may compare one of the poems we discussed in class to a second poem of your choosing from your textbook.

Your textbook is more or less set up to facilitate this kind of assignment, as it has both paired poems, and sections which features a set of poems written on particular themes.  Also - there is an uncategorized anthology (chronologically organized) from which you can choose your own pair of poems.

Thinking about the right two poems for you.  In addition to comparing poems on a similar subect, you might choose a pair of poems with other features as your basis for comparison (the similarity).  For instance, you might choose to visual poems, two sonnets with exactly the same form but from different periods, two self-referential poems,  or two first-person narrative poems.  There are many pairs of poems that would work as discussions of the different ways poets use persona and storytelling in poetry.  Or you might choose two poems where the rhythm contrasts with the "literal" words (like My Papa's Waltz) to add an extra dimension of meaning.  Two poems that are ironic or funny could support a discussion of how the poets use humor similarly/differently with their different subjects.  We will talk about this more in class.

For next week:
Read:  Chapter 15
Write:  Start thinking about which two poems you want to choose.  (See Thinking about the right two poems for you - above) You might begin this process by jotting down some notes about what it is that most interests you about poetry.  Are you most interested in the way poetry sounds? feels? looks? means?  how it works?  What kinds of poems do you like?  What makes you like them?

In class we will go through the forms discussed in the chapter, and spend some time talking about how/what you want to choose to write about for your assignment.

Thanks for the good class today and have a great weekend!