POETRY ASSIGNMENT LIBRARY RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: the Students Will Be Able to Complete Research on a Poet from a Selected List, Us
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POETRY ASSIGNMENT LIBRARY RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The students will be able to complete research on a poet from a selected list, using print and online sources. The students will write an informative piece on the analysis of their poem, and focus on how the author’s life and background affected their writing. THINK ABOUT IT! Everything that happens in your life affects you in one way or another. Do you believe that these experiences also affect your writing?! It has been found that good writers put part of their own emotion down on the page…so every experience you have will find its way into your writing! Let’s spend some time focusing on a poet and finding out how the experiences in their personal lives shaped their poem. TASKS: 1. Choose a poem/poet from a selected list. 2. Read the poem and complete the poem summary sheet provided using the step-by-step format discussed in class. 3. Peruse online databases and print sources about your poet using the Pottsgrove High School Library resources. 4. Write an informative piece on how the poet’s life affected the theme/content of their poem. POTTSGROVE HIGH SCHOOL LIBRARY RESOURCES: - FIND A BOOK ON YOUR POET! Go to http://destiny.pgsd.org/ Click on the Catalog tab. Author search. - GO TO THE LIBRARY WIKI! http://hs-library.pottsgrove.wikispaces.net You can locate more poetry sources by clicking ONLINE LESSONS – ENGLISH – POETRY - THOMPSON GALE DATABASES http://find.galegroup.com/menu/commonmenu.do?userGroupName=pl2695 password pl2695 Scribners Writers Series - POWERLIBRARY RESOURCES http://www.powerlibrary.org/Interface/POWER.asp?ID=pl2695 Literature Resources --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- STANDARDS: Common Core Reading Standards 9-10 2. Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. Reading Standards 11-12 3. Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed). Writing 8. Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation. SELECTED LIST OF POETS TRULY AFFECTED BY LIFE’S TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS Anne Bronte – lost mother when 1 year old, very sick her whole life, siblings were also writers. The Bronte children’s lives have been sentimentalized, their psyches psychoanalyzed, and their home life demonized. In truth, their lives and home were strange and often unhappy. Emily Bronte - She has been cast as Absolute Individual, as Tormented Genius, and as Free Spirit Communing with Nature; the trio of sisters–Charlotte, Emily, and Anne–have been fashioned into Romantic Rebels, as well as Solitary Geniuses. Their lives have been sentimentalized, their psyches psychoanalyzed, and their home life demonized. In truth, their lives and home were strange and often unhappy. Thomas Chatterton – English poet that committed suicide e.e. cummings – Among the most innovative of twentieth-century poets, e.e. cummings changed the grammar and style of poetry. Emily Dickinson - the Dickinson family tradition had prepared the poet for a life of political activity and public service, only to deny her that life because of her sex. (feminist) John Keats –lost both parents when he was a teenager and than died himself at the early age of 25 Jack Kerouac – King of the Beat Generation…went to the army but was discharged for being accused of being an accessory to murder...life of infidelity…hard life of alcoholism… Boris Pasternak - Sylvia Plath – Plath was set back by a miscarriage, and infidelity…she committed suicide Edgar Allan Poe- lost his mother at a young age…grew up to be an alcoholic and drug addict.w Aleksandr (Sergeyevich) Pushkin – Russian poet…banished from town due to his political poems…married to wife who was unfaithful…unhappy relationships… T.S. Elliot – went to Harvard…feelings of alienation from both of the regions he called home Arthur Rimbaud – “the supreme child genius in the history of poetry”…then shot by his gay lover…and stopped poetry all together Anne Sexton - diagnosed with postpartum depression, suffered her first mental breakdown, and was admitted to a neuropsychiatric hospital she would repeatedly return to for help. In 1955, following the birth of her second daughter, Sexton suffered another breakdown and was hospitalized again; her children were sent to live with her husband's parents. That same year, on her birthday, she attempted suicide.. Dylan Thomas - Thomas was a neurotic, sickly child who shied away from school and preferred reading on his own…had a life of alcoholism…died at 39. Oscar Wilde – “Imprisonment for homosexuality was a particularly tragic end for an artist who believed that style—in life as well as art—was of utmost importance.” (Entire list of poets online on wiki http://hs-library.pottsgrove.wikispaces.net/POETRY) WHAT DOES THIS POEM MEAN?! POEM SUMMARY TITLE OF POEM:_____________________________________________________ *poetry titles are quoted (EX: “Red, Red Rose”) POET’S NAME: _______________________________________________________ READ YOUR POEM! WHAT IS THE THEME OR THE MAIN IDEA OF THE POEM?: Does the poetry deal with themes related to love, death, war, or peace? What other themes show up in the poem? Are there particular historical events that are mentioned in the poem? What are the most important concepts that are addressed in the poem? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ WHAT IS THE GENRE OF THE POEM?: What kind of poem are you looking at? Is it an epic (a long poem on a heroic subject)? Is it a sonnet (a brief poem, usually consisting of fourteen lines)? Is it an ode? (a lyric poem in the form of an address to a particular subject)A satire? (the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices) An elegy? (a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead.) A lyric? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ KNOW YOUR AUTHOR! (Knowing a little about your author may really help you in deciphering what the poem is really about and help with understanding the tone of the poem! Is your author American? British? Male? Female? What time period did they grow up in? Were they rich or poor? Were they sick? Did they commit suicide? Were they in love? Tell about their life! ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ WRITE A SUMMARY OF THE POEM: (in your own words) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________