The Found Poem (Draft)

The Playwrights' Festival is opening and closing tonight. Please support the department and attend the production tonight at 7:00 in the Ensemble Theater. Tickets are $4 and available at the door.

We have written nature poems, political poems, monologue poems, stole lines from other poems, considered metaphor and imagery, wrote quick poems, wrote short poems, used sound devices, wrote ephrastic poetry, revised old poems, wrote pattern poems or form poems, wrote free verse, wrote, wrote, wrote. If you haven't completed your previous draft (see post below) please complete that.

Otherwise, let me introduce you to the FOUND POEM.

Read about the found poem here.

Write your own found poem. To do this on your own, try the following:

1. Choose an alternative text. This text could be from another poem, a short story or novel, a non-fiction essay, a newspaper article, or any text piece found on the internet. Look absolutely anywhere to begin your found poem.

2. Take the existing text(s) and refashion the words--reorder them, and present them as new shiny original poems.

Here's a few examples:

Enhancing a Poetry Unit with American Memory

Found Poem from Chapter 4 of Frankenstein.

Here's a website devoted to the form.

Your own found poem draft is due at the end of class.

HOMEWORK: None. If you didn't complete these exercises, please do so and turn in Monday, but alas, they will be late.

Workshop: Poetry

Today, print out copies of your nature poem for your workshop group. Each member of the workshop group should read and suggest revisions, poetic techniques, and comments about the poem.

Write your comments/suggestions on the poem draft. When you have completed this, please hand these comments in to me first...I'll sort them, give you credit for your work, then pass these on to the poet for revision.

Continue revising and reshaping your poetry.

In the meantime, try a little structure. Choose one of the following closed-form poetry forms and try writing one of the following:

Sonnet
Villanelle
Sestina
Pantoum
Ballad

Then for fun, try a few haiku, clerihew, or limericks. Don't take the limerick and clerihew seriously, please.

Nature Poetry & Workshop

Today 7th period, please finish a poem draft dealing with nature (see previous blog post)

8th period we will conduct a classroom workshop.

Hannah Tinti: Workshop

Our masterclass (yes, you are invited) is being held tomorrow at 9:55-10:30ish (3-5 period). Please bring a notebook and pen/pencil to write with.

You may look here for some info on the author.

She also has this website: One-Story.

Ekphrastic Poetry, Nature Poem Draft, & Poetry Advice

You are currently working on a poem draft (from Monday). This assignment is what we call Ekphrastic poetry (poetry written about a photograph or painting). Our goal is more concerned with limiting the scope of your poem, but since you're doing it, you should know that this is a type of poetry.

Today during 7th period, please complete the ekphrastic draft (due today). Some of you are already done or will finish early, please move on to the other two tasks:

1. Read about the different types of nature poems (below) and the article/handout about coming up with some ideas/and read the models of various nature poems for inspiration. Use your journal and free write or list ideas/words in your journal. Collect a word bank, steal a line, etc. to help you with your own task.

2. Read the Ted Kooser's chapter: Relax and Wait. Pay close attention to the writing group section. There will be a quiz out the door at the end of today's class regarding this chapter. Please read and take notes on important ideas in the article.

Nature Poetry

Much of poetry involves nature.

What is a nature poem?: A poem in which nature plays an important role, emphasizing terrain and life (including the life of humans) in a natural setting, season, metaphor, symbol, situation or theme.

Types of Nature Poetry

1. Tribute to the season: (Ode/Pastoral) – Praising or welcoming a season.
• Nature-Human Celebration: The poet or speaker celebrates himself or herself as part of nature.
• Essence of Nature: An aspect or element of nature is described (usually to show its beauty or essence)

2. Nature as conflict:
• Nature against human. A man or woman is in a dangerous or difficult situation concerning nature.
• Human against nature: A man or woman overcoming a dangerous situation or destroying some aspect of nature.
• Isolation from Nature: The speaker describes how he or she feels apart from nature or the natural world.

3. Human-nature Relationship: A person who contemplates (thinks about) some aspect of nature. Often the speaker is longing for nature’s qualities.
• Human encountering nature: The speaker witnesses or beholds an element or aspect of nature as if for the first time (the speaker is “in the moment” and acutely aware).
• Nature as Reflection of Mood: The setting is usually out doors and the speaker describes a feeling. Nature or natural images reflect the mood of the speaker.
• Nature as Metaphor for the Human Condition: The poet makes a comparison between human qualities or subject matter and some aspect or element of nature (usually to express how it feels to be mortal or at peace).
• Nature as Symbolic of the Human Condition: Like the Metaphor poem (above), it uses a symbol instead of a metaphor.

4. Nature as a Reflection of God: Another common nature poem type. Some aspect or element of nature shows or reminds the speaker of God’s power or artistry.

Forms:

• Ode: an open poem form that praises its subject (in this case something in nature)
• Elegy: an open poem form that laments or mourns a subject that is gone or passed away (this can also be found in love poetry).
• Pastoral: An open nature poem form in which rural life or objects are romanticized or idealized.

Labwork/homework: Write a nature poem (draft due Friday)

Metaphors & Similes

The reason poets rely so heavily on metaphor and simile as the common currency of poetry is that it relates to imagery. Metaphor and simile say with pictures and specific objects what abstract nouns cannot. They help clarify, focus, and bring an image to the foreground of a poem. This is necessary to communicate an idea.

"Metaphors set up precise identities between two halves of a comparison" - Ted Kooser

However, we don't want our comparisons to be either A). too obscure and difficult to understand or B). too obvious (bordering on cliche).

Its a fine strand of web the poet scuttles across to anchor two dissimilar points of space. When working with metaphor and figurative language in your own poems consider the relationship between the subject and the object (or setting, event, etc.) The most beautiful metaphors/similes are subtle ones that are both fresh and new, while also being familiar.

Pick words (particularly verbs and adjectives) that correspond to the main metaphor/simile working in your poem. This helps to create tone as well as picture the subject in an effective way. Try to extend your metaphors through at least a stanza, if not the entire poem.

Example:
Martin Walls' poem "Snail" is about a snail. There are a series of "snail-appropriate words found in the poem"

Snail
It is a flattened shell the color of spoiled milk, a bold
Swirl slowly stirred that charts the age of what's
Curled inside with the tension of a watch spring. A creature
That embodies the history of metaphysics: first it exists,
Then it doesn't, then it emerges once again, unrolls
One, then another, eyestalk, like periscopes breaking
The surface of its wet-life. And here's the tongue body
The petal-body, molding its shape to the world's shape.

The snail is compared to: spoiled milk, a horoscope, a watch spring, periscope, flowers, tongue, and the world. By writing about a snail, we consider it in its proper function as a comparison/contrast to other life, particularly ours. If a snail has purpose, then so do we.

Spoiled milk gives us a negative image, but the words bold, stirred, and curled (curdled) all seem appropriate word choices for the comparison. The snail furthermore encompasses the world in an orderly way. It is both a watch spring (human made and intelligently designed) indicating the spiral shape of a snail shell, but also a tongue (natural object) that goes along with wet and unrolls.

All in all there are snail words: eyestalk, swirl (the shell), shell, slow.
It moves slowly, and the pace of the poem is also slow: words like slowly, emerge, unrolls, molds (also connected to the smell in the first line as a double meaning), recall the movement of a snail, leaving a wet slime trail behind it. This disgusting invertebrate is compared to the function of the world--giving this little animal a metaphysical meaning that compares its life with ours.

Note that this a small poem. It doesn't function as a grandiose political idea or earth-shattering observation. It compares (metaphor/simile) us and our human made world to its natural world linking us with nature, reminding us of our own value and worth. Sometimes that's all that's needed.

Poetry: Controlling Effects & free verse draft

Gather in twos to complete the following:

1. Read Pinsky's article on Controlling Effects. For each section write down two bits of advice you gleaned from the article. Turn this in as participation by the end of class today.

Task: Draft. Take one of your photographers' pictures from Journalism and write a poem that captures the story/theme or idea of the photograph.

Poetry Reminders: Craft

Contemporary poetry is almost exclusively about IMAGERY (metaphor/simile/Figurative Language/Sound devices, etc.) It often limits its lens toward the specific rather than the global, large picture. Here is microcosm that relates to us because in the microcosm we experience the macrocosm.

As such, when you write a poem: limit yourself. Do not over write (or having overwritten, cut and edit your work.) Consider each line, each word carefully. Is there a picture presented to the reader? Is there a rhythm or certain quality of light or sound in the piece?

Finally, you are comparing. You are stating that ANGER is a raven with its head bitten off. It appeals to our sense of analogy and comparison. Feel free to use allusions from mythology, history, science, math, etc. As writers you are not alone in this. The whole world is (and should be) included as potential subject matter.

Take a gander at this website if you get a chance. Read poetry. Read the poetry collection you took out of the library. Read. Think. Notice. Then Write. Write and don't stop!

Need more guidance or a few rules? Try some form poems. Look here and explore.

Poetry Portfolio due today at end of class!

Poetry Assignment for Thursday Rubric

Please forgive my flippant tone in the following. Sometimes it's helpful to cut the bull and take it by the horns, so to speak.

A: You have understood and applied various and effective poetic techniques into your previous draft and it shows. Your work is considered "art" - original and exciting!

B: You have understood some basics about poetry writing and techniques. Your poem is improved, but it isn't there yet. Perhaps it doesn't communicate an idea or tries to cover too much ground. Whatever the case, it falls short of "masterpiece." But you tried. And that's above average.

C: You knew you wrote a poem, but are ignoring the tools and poetic techniques to make your work communicate effectively. Perhaps your piece is slightly better than your previous one, or you made another laundry list and called it poetry. You did the assignment (probably without joy) and you get an average grade for an average effort.

D: Your work is late, incomplete, or below grade level and the writing you "crafted" is probably only a "c" level. You can't be bothered traditionally with writing poetry. You don't understand it or you don't like it and your own work shows this clearly by being cliche, not effective, or just plain--blah. You put a tiny bit of effort, (you turned something in by the absolute deadline) but less than the average person or student.

F: You didn't complete the assignment. Can't be bothered. I can't be bothered to give you more than an "F".

Creative Well Went Dry? Talk to someone. Learn something new. Read a poem or a book. Inspire yourself. Lower your standards for just this once, until you have a draft written--then engage in the crafting process.

Poetry

Please watch this film. How does this apply to creative writing? Be prepared to share your thoughts.

Today, please do the following:
1. Continue editing your previous work. Your "new" poem drafts will be due next class. I should see some progress with them.
2. Read Kooser's article on Writing About Feelings. Pick out 3 things that you find useful from this article.

Kooser and Poetry

Poems are generally about single events, things (objects both natural and human-made), or people. By presenting this subject clearly and definitively, a poet is able to say something about how we "as humans" or "as readers" or as "an observer" relates to the subject, object, event, etc.

Our mistake is to try to cram too much into a poem. Poems should be single snapshots of the subject. They should be careful and crafted--not a fast-food taco.

Today, in your poetry groups, spend some time completing the following poems by Ted Kooser. For each poem list whether the poem is about a: 1. Character 2. Event 3. Setting or 4. Object. Discuss and list with your group. Turn in the list at the end of this exercise.

Poetry drafts: go back. Take all your poems thus far and trim them. Focus them on single subjects (events, settings, objects, or people). If you have more than one focus, trim it down to one focus.

TASK: revise all your previous poems into new drafts.

HOMEWORK: Please complete Ted Kooser's article for homework.

Workshop Groups: Political Poem Pointing

1. Take a few minutes to read/watch the sample poems from last class.
2. In your workshop groups, select one of the poems you have created last class to share with your group. Read this poem with your group.
3. Each group member should indicate a word, phrase, or line that they liked. The writer should indicate how often a line or phrase is selected and mark a check mark next to the line.
4. Do this exercise with each member's selected poem.
5. After all members have completed the exercise, break up and go back to the "writing" board. Remove only the lines that were selected and begin a second draft with only that line (throw away the rest of the poem...not literally). There is no need to follow the idea of a "political poem" or the exercises that CREATED the first draft.
6. Write a new poem draft. Call this draft two.

8th period: selecting a poetry book.

Political Poem Samples

Sample political poems:

Langston Hughes poems

Katie Makkai "Pretty"

After Their Death Judith Jordan

Taylor Mali On What Teacher's Make

Hey You by Adrian Beivans

Saul Williams: Coded Language

Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Keys

Scott Wiggerman: Photograph

Storm by Tim Minchin

Political Poem Draft & Workshop Group Exercises

Today, please get into the following poetry groups:
Group A: Angela B, Gus, Desire, Ashley, Kaisean
Group B: Brianna, Cassidy, Angela R., Carolyn, Emily
Group C: Erin, Madeleine, Shannon, Hannah, Donyel
Group D: Nora, Temielle, Mariah, Taylor, My
Group E: Gracie, Harrison, Samantae, Gabriela

Gather in your group. Pick one member to be a recorder who will take notes for the group. Each member should in turn give one word that comes to mind. After going through the group with each person submitting one word for three times, stop and then list a setting or event that can be defined. For example: azure, cobalt, dandelion, rain shower, etc. then setting/event: a birthday party, walking on the beach, playing with a tire swing, etc.

After getting some ideas on the paper, allow each poet to select a few words and/or event from the list (don't discuss the words, just pick them and write them on your own paper/journal). Use these words to create a poem in 30 minutes. At the end of this time, come back together and share your DRAFT.

Period 8, please complete the following:

Types of Political Poems

1. The Revolutionary Poem
•Poems which advocate (support) an overthrow of a government or a culture

2. The Patriotic Poem
•Unlike the revolutionary poem, the patriotic poem supports or advocates an aspect of a government or a culture. Reflects an attitude that recalls fundamental principles of a government or culture.
•You may find a lot of this kind of poetry written by minorities (they are supporting a particular culture). Women’s lib poetry; black, Asian, latino, etc. poetry; gay poetry, etc. Any poem celebrating a culture would fall into this category.

3. The Protest Poem
•A poem of criticism that challenges basic concepts of important human issues (censorship, freedom, democracy, pursuit of happiness, etc.)

4. The Universal Political Poem
•Everything else.

Pick one of the types of political poem types. Write a political poem draft by the end of class today.

Annie Hall

Please take the next 38 minutes to work on your film scripts. These should be nearing completion (if not already completed).

For those of you who are done with your script, please review the Annie Hall materials from the previous posts.

Further information about Annie Hall can be found here at IMDB.com.

Annie Hall won four Oscars:

Best Actress: Diane Keaton
Best Director: Woody Allen
Best Picture: Charles Joffe
Best Screenplay: Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman
Woody Allen was also nominated for Best Actor.

As you watch the film, note the following:

--This plot is an archetype of the Romance plot: boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back after much ado.
--Much of the humor revolves around Diegesis (the world of the film). Note when the script breaks this convention and what the effect on the viewer is at those moments.
--Woody Allen is a fan of silent film (particularly slapstick) notice when the film becomes quiet, when physical comedy is presented to us as reality, and scenes that include silly physical jokes or chase scenes. These are all homage to the yesteryear of film.