Wednesday, May 5, 2010

The Political Poem

Much slam poetry and performance poetry tends to be political. The tradition of writing politically can be found in many poets' work. We'll go through some of these poems together in class.

Here's a few great ones:

Langston Hughes
Harlem
Theme for English B

Wilfred Owen
Anthem for a Doomed Youth

Maya Angelou
Caged Bird

Allen Ginsberg
Howl (text)
Howl
Johnny Depp on Allen Ginsberg
Andy Warhol on Allen Ginsberg

After reading these samples, choose your own political point and write a political diatribe. Give it a title and call it draft one. If you usually use long lines, try short ones. If you usually write in short lines, try longer ones. Expand your technique.

Political ideas: freedom (or lack thereof), war (pro), war (anti), life of the under privileged, economic issues (poor), gender issues, religion, etc.

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About this course!

This course stresses understanding the characteristics & techniques in the literary genres of fiction, poetry, and dramatic writing. This course will continue to build on students’ reading and writing skills begun in previous creative writing classes. Readings and discussions of works by major writers in the field will be examined as inspiration and models of fine writing. This educational blog is designed for the use of the students at the School of the Arts in Rochester, NY.