poetry boot camp

The moment is upon us.  Please deliver on time.

STEP 1: Convene a group.  

Poetry is something you need to talk about.  You need to read it aloud and have it read aloud to you.  You need to hear that someone caught the same possibility of meaning you did.  Invite 2-9 people you think will add insight to a conversation about at least three poems.  (NOTE: you can invite one group of people and still participate with another group that invites you.  The more practice the better, and you and you will either get unique perspectives on >6 poems or you will have an opportunity to see how two different audiences can interpret the same poems so similarly/differently.)


STEP 2: Select poetry from the menu you suggested (after the jump).  

You must select at least three and there is no maximum.  If you'd like to add a poem you feel strongly about please do so in the comments.  If you'd like to see what else has already been vetted have a look at the Poetry Reading List.


STEP 3: Read the poem.

Read the poem.  Then read it again.  Seriously.  Like, over and over.  Meditate on it.  Read it at least seven times.  Think about what sounds different or makes new sense in the seventh reading.   

[DELIVERABLE #1: POST THIS TO YOUR BLOG UNDER THE TITLE, "SEVENTH READING" BY 11:59 P.M. WEDNESDAY 4/30.] 


STEP 4: Read & discuss the Vendler & TP-CASST grids with your group, and determine who will do which.

In class tomorrow and Wednesday we will go over these highly structured ways of dissecting poems.   Since dissection is rarely a high point for a frog-lover, please keep the exam and the goal you set for it in mind.  You will be relying on these tools extensively over the week.  After the exam please shake your head really hard and read a poem just to make sure you don't see a grid.

[DELIVERABLE #2: POST YOUR GRID/S TO YOUR BLOG UNDER THE TITLE "GRIDLOCK" BY 11:59 P.M. THURSDAY 5/1.]


STEP 5: Meet with your group to analyze each poem through the Vendler & TP-CASST grids.

This is where you want to dust off your critical thinking chops and clarify, consider things from different perspectives, challenge, research, and identify the best of everyone's thinking on each point.   Take "best of" notes that you can use to outline your essays.

[DELIVERABLE #3: POST "GROUPTHINK"--A DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS CONVERSATION LED YOU TO A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF A POEM, THE AP EXAM, OR [?]-- TO YOUR BLOG BY 11:59 P.M. FRIDAY 5/2.]


STEP 6: Write your essays.

[DELIVERABLE #4: POST "AT LEAST TWO POETRY ESSAYS" (THAT'S THE TITLE, TOO; THERE IS NO MAX) TO YOUR BLOG BY 11:59 P.M. SATURDAY 5/3.  THAT'S RIGHT.  SATURDAY.  BETWEEN PROSE ESSAYS [TBD].  EMBRACE THE SUCK TODAY.  YOU WILL WIN NEXT WEEK.



John Keats: Bright star, Ode to a nightingale, & A thing of beauty (Endymion)
William Butler Yeats: Sailing to byzantium
Char Bronte: Life
Emily Dickenson: Hope
Lord Byron: We'll go no more a-roving
Gerard Manley Hopkins: Pied beauty
Alfred Lord Tennyson: Lady of shallot
W.H. Auden: As I walked out one evening