CHAPTER 7 * REVIEW

CHAPTER 8 * REVIEW

POETRY ASSIGNMENT (details)…

Chapter 7: Getting Started…Now! (p 338)

Drafting

Audience Audience Awareness (347)

Clustering / Listing / Journals

Active Reading Incubation

Prewriting / Brainstorming

Individual Group

Why Stop Smoking? Let’s Get Clinical

“The Erie railroad kills 23 to 46; the

other 845 railroads kill an average of

one-third of a man each; and the rest

of that million, amounting in the

aggregate to that appalling figure of

987,631 corpses, die naturally in their

beds! You will excuse me from taking

any more chances on those beds. The

railroads are good enough for me. “

Mark Twain

Be careful of facts, and

How they are used…

After reading the above essay,

Identify who this is

Written for?

Is the argument effective?

Are there counter-arguments?

Poem Assessment

Journal 2 Questions: EN 1021. What is a standout poem of the six in our text?

2. Billy Collins “The Lanyard” and Philip Dacey’s “Coke” are ironic voices: does this diminish the work, or enliven it? Explain.

3. Janice Mirikitani’s “ Breaking Tradition” and Yusef Komanyakaa’s “Facing It” are quite serious, somber: how is the tone established, sustained, & makes it effective?

4. “Mr Z” and “Blue Spruce” are based on a male perspective: compare/contrast.

SEE EXAMPLES WORKSHEET--

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Now, let’s take a look at our poems from Between Worlds…

“Breaking Tradition” –21

“The Lanyard” – 41“Blue Spruce” – 71

“Mr Z” – 133“Facing It” – 195

“Coke” - 243

“Breaking Tradition” -- Analysis

Repeating words, Phrases. Group Images

• “room” – related to all 3 women—suggests inner life– what are the differences between Mother, Daughter, and Grandmother? Why is it an effective appropriate metaphor? *Grandmother—pearl choker, ontonashii, *Daughter—secretive, “veiled behind smoke & telephones” * Mother– broke away from traditional Japanese ideals, living in USA.

Breaking repression, resentment Ideas

• The Mother values nonconformity, but is also paying the price for a willful daughter– as she paid the price of her own Mother’s “weight of sacrifice”.

• Dedicated to her daughter: an embrace for her, rather than a complaint about her.

(aka Shape) Our poet is contemporary.Style

• The style/ attitude is less formal, free verse, with some socio/political undertones.

• Serious, somber tone.

• Rhythm: Syllable count.

“The Lanyard” -- Analysis“Lanyard”– Neck rope (?) Images:

• Created “lazily at camp” – “she gave me life…I gave her a lanyard”,”here is clothing & a good education/And here is your lanyard”– Proust allusion –”no cookie eaten by a French novelist”–Undercuts lanyard–”never seen anyone wear one, if that’s what you did with them” and “useless, worthless”-why?

How can you ever pay back Mom’s love?Ideas:• Contrasts humorously his adolescent ideas with grown up reflections.

• Life of idyll amusement v real life struggle

Style: • Light tone, humorous

• Turns cliche into new insight, unexpected.

“The Blue Spruce” -- Analysis

Vibrant grandfather; virile, lovingImages• 3 mentions of love tied to music; flirting, sousa phone player—”bandstand”

• Senses evoked – “smelling of lotions”—”lather and new skin”—”sharp blade carefully over your skin”—Mother “bore his neglect”– scandal! Icy small town.

Hard to hate, but…Ideas• Town “gossip(s)” and “hisses”--

• Mother and Father hate him.. And he flirted w/ the nurses at Gma’s deathbed. (!)

• Girl “bundled out of town/ with the savings that should have gone to my Mom.” 31-2.

“Blue Spruce”—dbl pun..? Style• Lively tone, in spite of the possible negative feelings/cold imagery of the town

“Mr. Z” -- Analysis

“dressed & spoke the perfect part”Images•Restrained, playing a role; mother’s skin “an error”, “pork in all profane forms”, “kinship with jazz”.

•“prudent”, “wary” , “expert”, “careful”, “choosing the right addresses”, “skirt dissension” –No spontaneity. “One of the most distinguished members of his race”

•Wife: “Lost her jewishness/ but kept her blue eyes”—Her grief at his death, and anger at “obit writers”

“chameleons”—”airborne plant”—Ideas•“not burdened by ethnic weights” -- SATIRE– Praises are ironic

•Mr Z --”Mr” and “Z” are formal titles… anonymous & non-descript; first and best, but Z….

•No ethnic identity, not really any identity at all

Formal and stiff– Just like Mr ZStyle• Complex words represent the constructed identity

“Facing It” -- Analysis

“Black face fades”– “Stone: Flesh”Images• Vietnam vet @ Vietnam Veterans Memorial--

• survivor’s guilt– “58,022 names,/ half expecting to find/ my own in letters like smoke.” --”I’m a window”—references to birds (2)

• References to the Wall (black granite, stone, names shimmer, inside the stone, black mirror).

Bitter memories, participant in the MemorialIdeas• “A white vet’s image… look thru mine” – “A woman’s trying to erase names: No, she’s brushing

a boy’s hair.”-- “…Andrew Johnson/ I see the booby trap’s white flash.”

• Restless: “I turn this way… I turn that way…”

Short lines, single syllable wordsStyle• Meter: 5 beats per line

“Coke” – Analysis

“stitched in red…above his heart”--Images•“Coca Cola was America/ and my dad drove its truck” –Proud– “I believed our President and my dad/

were partners”– “his arms strong from stacking/ case after case of Coke all day”-- “That’s from America, Jesus. I hope/ you like it.” -- Tied to image of a “sweaty player at a sandlot game.. The crucial 9th coming up next.

•Satiric– narrator’s naïve, but positive view of the world—”no more wars”– Even God enjoys a Coke…

“Dark, sweet flood of American sleep”Ideas• Past tense: Narrator is looking backwards – 1950’s “Leave It To Beaver” attitude-- if everyone has

Coke, everyone will be the same! -- God + Jesus even drink Coke

• Coca Cola = freedom (“Bring me your poor, your thirsty…”) Statue of Liberty

Ironic, humorous, earnest Style•Effective by NOT being a lecture about his own misconceptions