Model Poetry Assignment Gertrude Stein

This week's assignment week's assignment this assignment this week's assignment is to write write write write write a poem that models a poem models a poem models a poem of a poem of Gertrude Stein.

Good Luck!!!

Follow the link below to read a biography of Gertrude Stein and find a sampling of her poems.  I would suggest that you read a few of her poems several times to get a feel for the way that she uses words.  In modeling her style, you will need to pay very close attention to words and their multiple connotations and denotations...

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/315

Dates to Remember

Hey, everyone! The following is a list of upcoming dates to remember for assignments.

Friday, April 8: Sestina Due (This week you should also be adding pages and working on your short story)
Friday, April 15: Poetry
Friday, April 22: Poetry
Friday, April 29: Rough Draft of Short Story due to me via e-mail
Friday, May 6: Personal Narrative Rough Draft
Friday, May 13: Personal Narrative Final Draft

I will give details in class for the Poetry Unit and Personal Narratives.  Keep working, and remember to try to write at least 30 minutes a day.

Writing Exercises for this week

Hey, guys! Don't forget: this week you must commit to writing at least 30 minutes every day.  Don't worry about a final product, just try to write freely for those 30 minutes each day, and see what you come up with.
Choose five of the following exercises to get your creative juices flowing!

1. Read a newspaper and free-write about something you find there.
2. Write a letter to an old friend. (Don't send it)
3. Do a physical activity you've never tried before. (Write about your experience.)
4. Say no to plans with someone who you find boring. (Write about your feelings afterward.)
5. Read one of your favorite poems aloud five times, choose one phrase from it, and use it as a springboard
   for free-writing.  (suggested poets: Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Wallace Stevens, Shakespeare,
   Pablo Neruda, Robert Frost..)
6. Look at family photographs. Imagine the photo that was never taken. What might it have revealed?
   Write about it.
7. Use persona as a writing tool. Choose either a stranger you saw during the course of the day or someone
    you know well. Make up a childhood event in that person's life. Imagine how he or she would remember
   it or tell it. Write it down.

Active Alliteration:
Practice alliteration by coming up with as many words as you can that begin with the same consonant.  Try to come up with unique interesting words by using a thesaurus or dictionary.

Don't forget, you also need to write 2 pages of your short story this week. It does not have to be the first two pages.  You may decide to write the ending, or a critical scene in your story.  You may decide to write 2 page of dialogue between two characters, and then in the editing process later choose what to keep.

Thanks for your hard work!!!

See you Friday!

Creative Writing: Character Development

For some writers, the first part of the writing process is not creating the plot of the story, but the characters.  Once the writer gets fully acquainted with his/ her characters, comes the process of putting these characters into believable or not-so-believable situations.  This week, you will have the opportunity to create a character from your imagination, and then put them into a variety of situations through a series of very short stories.

Step 1: The Interview
Follow this link to find a series of questions to ask your character.  Your interview questions may be typed or hand-written.  http://kayedacus.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/character-profile-worksheet.pdf

Step 2:  Choose Two of the following exercises and type 2-3 pages per each exercise.

Character Voice Writing Exercise #1

Freewrite the internal thought of your viewpoint character. What does he or she think about when:

• Getting up in the morning.
• Getting ready to meet a friend.
• After an argument with spouse or significant other.
• Doing a mindless chore, like vacuuming.
• Driving in rush hour traffic.

Character Voice Writing Exercise #2

Create a dialogue situation with a quiet friend, one who nods and unh-huhs instead of speaking a lot. Have your viewpoint character discuss:

• What his or her goals and dreams are.
• If he or she will achieve them, and how.
• If not, why not? What character traits keep him or her from going after the dream? Why do situational obstacles become insurmountable?

Character Voice Writing Exercise #3

Send your viewpoint character to the mall with a quiet friend. Let him or her describe what they like or dislike, and why, while window shopping, browsing through a bookstore, trying out the latest electronics, etc.

Character Voice Writing Exercise #4

Coop your character up in a room alone: a bedroom, a conference room, a doctor’s exam room. Is he or she frustrated? Antsy? Bored? Nervous? Scared? Write his or her thoughts when stuck there for an hour.

Please let me know if you need any help or advice! Happy writing!!

Sample Paper in MLA format for future reference

Follow the link below to view a sample research paper in MLA format. This resource will be a helpful refresher for you in the future.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/media/pdf/20090701095636_747.pdf

Mid-term Exam

Hello, all! I'm sorry that I am only just now posting this information, but my Friday proved to be much busier than usual.  This week I hope you will enjoy writing a post-colonialist critique of a film or television episode. I have posted a link to a website with some extra helpful information about this type of criticism to use (if you so choose) in addition to the class notes from Friday.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/10/

This week, in addition to your critical essay, you should also review the main points of Deconstruction,
Reader-Response,  New Criticism, and Post-colonialism. I will provide a poem for you to read in class, and you will be asked to examine and relate what each of these different schools of criticism would identify as the "meaning" of the poem.

Thank you for all of your hard work so far this semester! I am very proud of each of you!

Deconstruction

Follow the link below to find an essay on Deconstruction. On the site this link will lead you to, you will find towards the bottom a link to a sample essay applying Deconstruction to "My Papa's Waltz." Please make sure that if you use this paper at all in your interpretation of the poem that you cite it as a source.

http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/critical_define/crit_decons.html

Another helpful website:
http://www.teachingliterature.org/teachingliterature/criticism.htm

Some Questions for your Analysis:

~What are the binary operations or oppositions that govern the text?

~What ideas, concepts, and values are being established by these binaries?

~By reversing the elements in each of the binaries, can you challenge the previously held value system posited by the original binary?

~After reversing one or more binaries in a given text, can you dismantle your original interpretation of that text?