poetry 1 - blog discussion

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. How nice to have a few days to rest and relax!!

Regardless of your prior experiences with poetry, this is a NEW POETRY YEAR, and we'll begin quite simply with how to read a poem. In preparation for the poetry response question on the exam, close, careful reading is essential. In order to write about poetry, you have to understand what's going on.

Reviewing the suggestions on reading poetry from Chapter Two of the Perrine text, which of the suggestions do you consider to be your "new poetry resolution"? Think of this like a New Year's resolution - what do you promise to do with poetry in order to come away with a better understanding and a positive experience? And if you have a different approach to reading poetry, please share what works for you; it doesn't have to be a suggestion from the text.

Remember, this counts toward class participation. Let the blog discussion begin!

I caught myself

Along with much of the teenage population, I saw "New Moon" this weekend. On my second viewing, I caught myself doing a bit of an AP- style analysis on the movie, and I can admit I did happen to find some very interesting literary devices we use in AP represented in the movie.

For example, I discovered that Jacob Black is a foil to Edward Cullen, the main character of the Twilight series. I'm also hoping that this may also start a discussion about what other people found in "New Moon", and if they agree with my findings.

Prospective Title Song from Oedipus Rex

This song by Tom Lehrer should be played every time before reading Oedipus Rex.

Click Here

Theater of War Uses Sophocles

Thanks to Charlie for passing along this article about Sophocles. Who knew a Greek playwright would gain an audience with veterans of modern war?

Soldiers who have witnessed the reading of "Ajax" reflected on their own experiences of losing friends in battle and struggling with the emotional challenges of war. Though Oedipus' struggle deals more with his identity and the role of fate, how might teenagers relate to the story of Oedipus?

A little food for thought this weekend. I'm anxious to hear your thoughts...

Outrageous Oedipus

At the moment I am very grateful that I am in Drama, otherwise I would not have understood the assigned reading for tomorrow's class quite as well. It's as if I'm reading an ancient script to a soap opera. Woman seduces man into having sexual intercourse by getting him drunk; they send the kid off; kid comes back kills father (not that he knows that); kid is now a man and marries mother and the whole town goes to waste because of one family's wrong doing. (that last sentence was constructed horribly, but I wasn't sure how else to do it.)