Student-Led Discussion Sign-Up Sheet
At the beginning of each class, there will be three presentations to help us start the lesson. They are:
1. I Found Poetry: Your letters from the first class all seem to say “poetry is valuable” and “poetry is everywhere” but several articles on poetry paint a much somber picture, saying that “poetry has vanished as a cultural force in America”[1] or that it is a waste of time, can’t put food on the table, no longer important in this digital and hyper-capitalist age. For this presentation you will explore poetry in the world. Share with your friends where you have found poetry, what the poem is, and what it shows or proves about poetry in our lives or society.
2. Background Material: What do you think your friends will need in order to appreciate the reading materials for that day? Will a certain fact about a poet’s life be useful? Would explaining the culture or history of the period help in understanding? You can explicate a literary, art, or historical term, movement, or event. You can provide information or engage your friends in whatever activity that will help them see an intriguing aspect of the poem(s) to be discussed in class.
3. Poem Discussion:
In this presentation you will bring up an aspect of a poem that is worth
discussing in depth, explain to the class your ideas about it, and open it to
discussion. Your topic may be on
just one word or image from the poem, a few lines, or the poem in its entirely,
as well as connections to other poems, events or ideas we’ve already
mentioned.
Three students will each have five minutes for their presentation of choice. Everyone will get to lead discussion three times (once on each of the three kinds of presentations). These talks should layout your idea or argument in a clear way that engages your friends in close-reading and critical thinking. Prepare also some questions for further conversation on your topic and allow some time for class discussion.
June 14
Words and Feeling
Reading: Housman, “Loveliest of Trees, the Cherry Now”
Discussion: tone
Student-Led Discussion 1
Student-Led Discussion 2
Student-Led Discussion 3 Jirawut (poem discussion)
June 19
Words and Meaning I: Denotations, Connotations
Reading: Herrick, “Here a Pretty Baby Lies”; Atwood, “Dreams of the Animals”
Student-Led Discussion 4 Aphaporn (I Found Poetry)
Student-Led Discussion 5 Esther (background material)
Student-Led Discussion 6
June 21
Words and the Senses
Reading: Browning, “Meeting at Night”; Lorca, “Snail”
Discussion: imagery
Student-Led Discussion 7 Seubsakoon (I Found Poetry)
Student-Led Discussion 8
Student-Led Discussion 9 Suluck (poem discussion)
June 26
Words and Associations I: Simile, Metaphor
Reading: Hughes, “Dream Deferred” (simile); Swenson, “Question”; Cullen, “For My Grandmother”
Student-Led Discussion 10
Student-Led Discussion 11 Narasak (background material)
Student-Led Discussion 12
June 28
Making Human
Reading: Collins, “My Number” (personification); Whur, from Village Musings (“The Poet Questions the Ant”); Tennyson, “Break, Break, Break”
Discussion: personification, apostrophe
Assignment 1 given
Student-Led Discussion 13 Amarat (I Found Poetry)
Student-Led Discussion 14 Sommanutsa (background material)
Student-Led Discussion 15 Esther (poem discussion)
July 3
Talking Big, Talking Small
Reading: Donne, “The Sun Rising”; Hardy, “The Walk”
Discussion: overstatement, understatement
*Assignment 1 due beginning of class
July 5
Intertextuality: Allusion
Reading: Cullen, “Yet Do I Marvel”
Assignment 2 given
Student-Led Discussion 16 Sommanutsa (I Found Poetry)
Student-Led Discussion 17 Sirikul (background material)
Student-Led Discussion 18 Aunchidtha (poem discussion)
July 10
Words and Associations II: Metonymy, Synecdoche
Reading: Larkin, “Maiden Name” (metonymy); Piercy, “A Work of Artifice”
*Assignment 2 due beginning of class
July 12 No Class (Graduation Ceremony)
July 17
Words and Meaning II: Symbol, Allegory
Reading: Herrick, “To the Virgin, to Make Much of Time” (symbol); Rossetti, “Up-Hill”
Student-Led Discussion 19 Suluck (I Found Poetry)
Student-Led Discussion 20 Suwida (background material)
Student-Led Discussion 21 Narasak (poem discussion)
July 19
Poetry Jeopardy!
Poetry competition to review for midterm
July 24 (Midterm Week July 23-27, 2007)
July 26 (Midterm Week July 23-27, 2007)
July 31
No Class (Holiday)
August 2
Imagining Impossibility: Paradox
Reading: Donne, “The Flea”
Student-Led Discussion 22 Sirikul (I Found Poetry)
Student-Led Discussion 23 Pimwalan (background material)
Student-Led Discussion 24 Suebsakoon (poem discussion)
August 7 No Class (Universiade Opening Ceremony)
August 9
Words and Meaning III: Irony
Reading: Finkel, “They”; Sexton, “Ringing the Bells”
August 14
Sound and Meaning
Reading: Cleghorn, “The Golf Link”; Perrine, “Janus”; Blake, “Infant Sorrow”
Discussion: rhyme, rhythm, meter, scansion, formal pattern
Student-Led Discussion 25 Pimwalan (I Found Poetry)
Student-Led Discussion 26 Aphaporn (background material)
Student-Led Discussion 27 Sirikul (poem discussion)
August 16
Types and Forms of Poetry, Sonnet
Student-Led Discussion 28 Narasak (I Found Poetry)
Student-Led Discussion 29 Suebsakoon (background material)
Student-Led Discussion 30 Pimwalan (poem discussion)
Assignment 3 given
August 21
Sonnet: Argument in Poetry
Reading: Shakespeare, “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day” (Sonnet XVIII); Wordsworth, “The World Is Too Much with Us”
August 23
Ballad: The Song Story
Reading: “The Two Ravens”
Student-Led Discussion 31 Jirawut (I Found Poetry)
Student-Led Discussion 32 Suluck (background material)
Student-Led Discussion 33 Suwida (poem discussion)
*Assignment 3 due beginning of class
August 28
Theme: Life
Reading: Yeats, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”; Campbell, “The River of Life”; Teasdale, “Barter”
Student-Led Discussion 34 Suwida (I Found Poetry)
Student-Led Discussion 35 Amarat (background material)
Student-Led Discussion 36 Amarat (poem discussion)
August 30
Theme: Life
Reading: Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”
Student-Led Discussion 37 Aunchidtha (I Found Poetry)
Student-Led Discussion 38 Atipong (background material)
Student-Led Discussion 39 Atipong (poem discussion)
Assignment 4 given
September 4
Theme: Men and Women
Reading: Spenser, “Of this World’s Theatre in Which We Stay”; Rossetti, “No, Thank You, John”
Student-Led Discussion 40 Isariya (I Found Poetry)
Student-Led Discussion 41 Aunchidtha (background material)
Student-Led Discussion 42 Isariya (poem discussion)
September 6
Theme: Men and Women
Reading: Carew, “The True Beauty”
Student-Led Discussion 43 Atipong (I Found Poetry)
Student-Led Discussion 44 Isariya (background material)
Student-Led Discussion 45 Alisa (poem discussion)
*Assignment 4 due beginning of class
September 11
Theme: Men and Women
Reading: Stallworthy, “Sindhi Woman”
Student-Led Discussion 46 Alisa (I Found Poetry)
Student-Led Discussion 47 Alisa (background material)
Student-Led Discussion 48 Aphaporn (poem discussion)
September 13 Review, Group Media Presentations, Poetry Readings
Student-Led Discussion 49 Esther (I Found Poetry)
Student-Led Discussion 50 Jirawut (background material)
Student-Led Discussion 51 Sommanutsa (poem discussion)
September 18
Presentation
Group 1:
Group 2:
September 20
Presentation
Group 3:
Group 4:
September 25 Final Exam
1 – 3 p.m.
[1] Dana Gioia, “Can Poetry Matter?” Dana Gioia Online, May 1991, 12 June 2007 <http://www.danagioia.net/essays/ecpm.htm>.
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Last updated August 14, 2007