http://game-of-you.livejournal.com/ (![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
game-of-you.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2006-02-21 02:05 pm
game-of-you.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2006-02-21 02:05 pm
Entry tags:
Creative Writing: Poetry (Tuesday, eighth period)
Professor Chaucer is not in class today.
“Hello. I trust Mr. Chaucer has informed you that I would be filling in today. If not; I am, and you may call me as you wish, but most students refer to me as Professor Dream.
Today, we are going to discuss the poetic works of Mr. Edgar Allan Poe. Poe was many things, in his too-brief life. He was a reporter; a literary critic; an essayist; an architect of modern detective, gothic and crime fiction; a drunkard; and one of the finest, darkest poets this world has ever known.
As a critic, Poe argued that there is no such thing as a long poem, which may surprise you. But his case was that, since the ultimate purpose of art is aesthetic, that is, its purpose is the effect it has on its audience, and this effect can only be maintained for a brief period of time (the time it takes to read a lyric poem, or watch a drama performed, or view a painting, etc.). He argued that an epic, if it has any value at all, must be actually a series of smaller pieces, each geared towards a single effect or sentiment, which "elevates the soul." Poe believed that the goal of writing was entirely one of creating a mood or expressing an ideal; he did not believe art was the place for moral or ethical instruction. For more about this view, I recommend you read the essay, The Poetic Principle.
Many of Poe’s poems deal with death. Lenore, Ulalume, Annabel Lee and The Raven all depict a narrator who mourns a lost love. Among them, “Ulalume” is unique, in that the speaker has forced himself to forget about the love until reminded by a demon. “The Raven” is, of course, one of Poe’s most grotesque and famous poems.
While Poe’s poems have beauty on the page, they come alive in being read aloud. His rhythms are strong, and perfectly suited to speech. The Bells is one such example.
Dream then spends much of the rest of the class period reading aloud from the works of Poe.
“A question for discussion: Poe’s own life was marked with madness and death. Did these create his poems, or did the poems create the man?”
Homework: Mr. Chaucer has asked that you read these poems for the next class: Emily Dickinson: http://www.online-literature.com/dickinson/
"A Book"
"Because I Could Not Stop for Death"
"There's a Certain Slant of Light"
"Hope is the Thing with Feathers"
"She Sweeps with Many-Colored Brooms"
Emma Lazarus: ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext02/1mlaz10.txt
"Epoch" poems -- "Youth", "Regret", "Surprise", "Loneliness", "Hope"
“Hello. I trust Mr. Chaucer has informed you that I would be filling in today. If not; I am, and you may call me as you wish, but most students refer to me as Professor Dream.
Today, we are going to discuss the poetic works of Mr. Edgar Allan Poe. Poe was many things, in his too-brief life. He was a reporter; a literary critic; an essayist; an architect of modern detective, gothic and crime fiction; a drunkard; and one of the finest, darkest poets this world has ever known.
As a critic, Poe argued that there is no such thing as a long poem, which may surprise you. But his case was that, since the ultimate purpose of art is aesthetic, that is, its purpose is the effect it has on its audience, and this effect can only be maintained for a brief period of time (the time it takes to read a lyric poem, or watch a drama performed, or view a painting, etc.). He argued that an epic, if it has any value at all, must be actually a series of smaller pieces, each geared towards a single effect or sentiment, which "elevates the soul." Poe believed that the goal of writing was entirely one of creating a mood or expressing an ideal; he did not believe art was the place for moral or ethical instruction. For more about this view, I recommend you read the essay, The Poetic Principle.
Many of Poe’s poems deal with death. Lenore, Ulalume, Annabel Lee and The Raven all depict a narrator who mourns a lost love. Among them, “Ulalume” is unique, in that the speaker has forced himself to forget about the love until reminded by a demon. “The Raven” is, of course, one of Poe’s most grotesque and famous poems.
While Poe’s poems have beauty on the page, they come alive in being read aloud. His rhythms are strong, and perfectly suited to speech. The Bells is one such example.
Dream then spends much of the rest of the class period reading aloud from the works of Poe.
“A question for discussion: Poe’s own life was marked with madness and death. Did these create his poems, or did the poems create the man?”
Homework: Mr. Chaucer has asked that you read these poems for the next class: Emily Dickinson: http://www.online-literature.com/dickinson/
"A Book"
"Because I Could Not Stop for Death"
"There's a Certain Slant of Light"
"Hope is the Thing with Feathers"
"She Sweeps with Many-Colored Brooms"
Emma Lazarus: ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext02/1mlaz10.txt
"Epoch" poems -- "Youth", "Regret", "Surprise", "Loneliness", "Hope"
Sign in
Re: Sign in
Re: Sign in
*flails*goes a little pale.Re: Sign in
Re: Sign in
She also signs in.
Re: Sign in
Re: Sign in
Re: Sign in
Re: Sign in
Re: Sign in
Re: Sign in
after having figured out where class was, thanks to the radio.Re: Sign in
Class Discussion
(Talk to Dream, or to each other)
Re: Class Discussion
Re: Class Discussion
"It is a bit melodramatic, yes."
Re: Class Discussion
Re: Class Discussion
Re: Class Discussion
Re: Class Discussion
Re: Class Discussion
Jack didn't really try that terribly hard to be quiet.
Re: Class Discussion
Re: Class Discussion
"How do the poems you read for class show that?"
If he's sorry, it doesn't show.
Re: Class Discussion
"We've... um... mostly dealt with different types of poetry and meter," Marty said looking anywhere but at Dream. "Not really the motivation or the author behind the poem."
Re: Class Discussion
Re: Class Discussion
"It looks like he alternates between tetrameter and trimeter," Marty says looking even paler and somewhat queasy.
Re: Class Discussion
Re: Class Discussion
Talk to Dream, 2/21