Happy Birthday

Because I am a man that keeps my word...HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYLER!!!!

I sat down this weekend to figure out possible summer reading for incoming 8th graders and my mind started to drift back to my days as a student and what summer meant for me. I clearly remember one of the greatest summer experiences for me was our weekly trips to the public library. My mom would pack all four of us into the van and head for the Plumb Memorial Library. Once there we would spend close to an hour picking out books and sitting down and doing some reading while everybody else picked out their reading for the week. When we got back home we would sit around the pool or hang out in the family room reading for the rest of the day. I think these summer trips helped me become a lifelong reader and probably a better student. I would love to hear how people incorporate reading into their summer vacation and I would love to hear about your plans as a reader and writer this summer as well. I will say that I plan on reading the biographies of Grover Cleveland and James Madison. I am also going to write 3 new stories this summer as well.

Troy

I am going to leave this post up all summer so that anyone reading Troy or anyone who has read the book will be able to share ideas and ask questions back and forth. Remember, my advice BEFORE reading the novel is to do some pre-reading on Greek mythology. Learn a little bit about the gods and goddesses and how they "play" with the mortal world. Next, do a little research on the Trojan War, you don't need to read the Iliad or anything crazy, but do some google searches and wikipedia searches on the Trojan War and its big players. Doing this prepwork will make the story of Troy more understandable and ultimately more enjoyable.

Poetry Essay

I am creating this post so that students can bounce ideas off of each other regarding the poems chosen for the poetry essay. This post is dedicated to the Robert Frost poem After Apple Picking. The text of the poem can be found below. Even if you are not using this poem for an essay, feel free to comment and share your ideas about it.

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
But I was well
Upon my way to sleep before it fell,
And I could tell
What form my dreaming was about to take.
Magnified apples appear and disappear,
Stem end and blossom end,
And every fleck of russet showing clear.
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.

And I keep hearing from the cellar bin
The rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth.
One can see what will trouble
This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.
Were he not gone,
The woodchuck could say whether it's like his
Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,
Or just some human sleep.

Poetry Essay

I am creating this post so that students can bounce ideas off of each other regarding the poems chosen for the poetry essay. This first post is dedicated to the Emily Dickinson poem There is another sky. The text of the poem can be found below. Even if you are not using this poem for an essay, feel free to comment and share your ideas about it.

There is another sky,
Ever serene and fair,
And there is another sunshine,
Though it be darkness there;
Never mind faded forests, Austin,
Never mind silent fields -
Here is a little forest,
Whose leaf is ever green;
Here is a brighter garden,
Where not a frost has been;
In its unfading flowers
I hear the bright bee hum:
Prithee, my brother,
Into my garden come!

Poetry Challenge

Here is the challenge for this post. Write an image poem that is based on something you have in your garage. Make sure the poem is less than 7 lines and includes a metaphor. The best submitted poem will get 10 extra credit points for the poetry workshop.

The Perfect Image

Strong modern poetry is often based on powerful imagery. Imagery is created by a poet when he uses a sense to turn a detail or an object into an experience. Instead of writing He sat and watched the sun rise, a good poet will try to take the reader's breath away with a specific sensory image of the sun rising such as...He sat and watched as the sun splashed against the horizon and spilled its orange warmth across the bay, slowly swirling and coloring even the deepest recesses of his private inlet. The contrast between these two lines should be apparent and helps illustrate how a poet needs to be an observer and shower, not a teller. With the second line I have tried to create the image of the sun as a liquid (used proper diction...splashed, spilled, also connotation of swirling etc). Even more poetic is the inclusion of secondary senses inside or alongside the original image. A more interesting line might be He tugged anbd tore at the slowly fraying hem of his sleeve as the sun splashed against the horizon and spilled its orange warmth across the bay, slowly swirling and coloring even the deepest recesses of his private inlet. Now this line helps develop the idea of a speaker who is uncomfortable with this approach of sunlight to his private area, maybe metaphorically suggesting that there is something about his person that he does not want held up to be viewed in the open.

Our goal as poets is to try to use the words we know to create the perfect image that will lead the reader to our meaning without coming out and saying it. I would love to have some people resond to this with some of their favorite image line/lines from poems they have read or written.

Poets I Read

One of the best ways to improve the way I write and think about writing is to try and get into the head of another poet. I think the biggest disservice done to students in poetry is that they are shown different styles (haiku, limerick, sonnet etc) but don't get to spend a lot of time really getting to know a single poet, someone they can learn from and appreciate and understand.

One of my favorite poets is Lord Tennyson. Even though he wrote in the mid-1800's, his lines are filled with imagery that I find inspirational in my own life. Consider the following stanza from his poem "Choric Song"
There is sweet music here that softer falls
Than petals from blown roses on the grass,
Or night-dews on still waters between walls
Of shadowy granite, in a gleaming pass;
Music that gentlier on the spirit lies,
Than tired eyelids upon tired eyes;
Music that brings sweet sleep down from the blissful skies.

In one short stanza there is so much poetic device. I read a lot of Tennyson and it affects how I write and what I like to read. I think it is important to think about finding a poet that you can identify with and use as a sounding board for your own poetry as well as for the world around you. Do you have a poet that you have read deeply? If not, maybe post some ideas of what kind of poetry you like and others will have some ideas for poets you may enjoy.

Some Poetry Craft to Consider

This post is a place where poets can share some of the literary devices/craft that they use to create meaning and mood in their poetry. I personally tend to use a lot of alliteration to drive the rhythm of the lines of my poetry. example - While trees take their time, slowly maturing/ the oft' forgotten fly experiences all seasons in a single day;
The use of the same consonant to start the words in these lines helps me create a backing rhythm to the poem that is not "sing-songy" but hopefully develops and pace and speed for the audience. What do you use to emphasize/create feeling or importance in your poetry?

Ray Bradbury

submitted by student - Ray Bradbury writes about the impact of technology on society in some of his short stories. In both "The Veldt" and "The Pedestrian", the protagonist is punished for "disagreeing" with technology in some way. Is Ray Bradbury's perspective realistic? Do you see our world in the world of his stories? Explain.

What to Read?

submitted by student - Wondering what you should read next? Click on the "What Should I Read Next" button on the left of the blog home page. Type in the title of the last book that you read and enjoyed. What comes up? On this post, please comment with some books that you have read and enjoyed that some people might not know about. Why did you like it? Give a quick synposis of the book.

Complex Characters

submitted by student - Artemis Fowl is a very complex character. He is constantly scheming to enter the world of magic. His life is quite complicated and it has therefore made his character and personality quite complex. Who is the most complex literary character you can think of? Why?

Jason Mraz

submitted by student - The song "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)," was written by Jason Mraz just after he learned that his friend had been diagnosed with cancer. The song has a very moving message about life, particularly when he sings, "I won't worry my life away..." What do you think Mraz is trying to teach us/share with us with this song? How can this message apply to your life?

Hope is the Thing With Feathers

submitted by student - In the poem "Hope is the Thing With Feathers" by Emily Dickinson, hope is portrayed as an animal, a bird. Why do you think hope is portrayed as a bird and what is the significance of the lines..."Yet, never, in extremity, / It asked a crumb of me"?

Kiwi quick film

submitted by student - Watch this Towards the end, the kiwi drops a single tear on his descent. Why do you think the kiwi was crying? Was he happy, sad, etc....? What message do you think the creators were trying to convey with this short Pixar Animation?