Part 1:
For the remaining weeks, each set of readings will focus on a shared theme. This means that the poems are not bound by a shared characteristic, like all using figurative language, but instead they all center around the same central idea. This first themed unit is Identity and Culture, and all the poems speak in some way to personal and social experiences with understanding ourselves and others, our cultures and traditions. As you read the poems in this unit, think not only about what literary devices and poetic forms the poems use, but also about what these poems are trying to say about how we develop a sense of self and belonging.
The Identity and Culture themed unit (see below for list of assigned poems for this unit) – Read the poems listed below.
Using ONE of the following poems (attached)
The Supremes -Eady (42),
Poetry Should Ride the Bus – Forman (88),
What it’s Like to be a Black Girl (for Those of You Who Aren’t – Smith (96),
Ethnic Poetry – Marzan (134 -135),
On Captivity – Trethewey (226),
The Translator at the Reception for Latin American Writers – Marzan (229),
Eddie Priest’s Barbershop and Notary – Young (231),
AmerRican – Laviera (232)
Using ONE of the poem specified above, Write a response ( 850 to 900 words) that reflects your emotional and intellectual response to the poem. Students should highlight any aspect of the poem that is significant to them and reflect on why it resonates. Some of the questions that a prompt might explore are:
What did you like about it? What personal connections to the poem do you feel? What lines stand out as significant? What is the overall theme of the poem that the poet is working to express? Are there significant literary devices employed? What questions about the poem do you have? What themes are working in the poem? What is the poet expressing about the human condition? What you like, why you like, and what did it mean to you, why did you connect to. What are the literally devices. What is the poet trying to express about the human condition etc.
try NOT to consult outside sources for your writing, and really just focus on what you draw out of the text.
Some of the literary terms and devices to remember are: onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance, rhyme, rhythm, blank verse, enjambment. There are a lot more in poetry that you can relate to. Add which of them are used and what effects they have in the poem? What are they saying? How do these differences influence your understanding? This thought experiment highlights the importance of using them in communicating layered meanings. It is an important tool for expressive, poetic writing, and we should practice being attentive to strong terms in the poems we read while considering how those specific terms create a tone, image and contribute to thematic meaning.
Make sure you add quotes from the poem when you are referring to the literary terms, their explanation and significance of the poem.
Reader responses are less formal than writing in academic essays and students are encouraged to use first-person narrative style writing to engage intellectually and emotionally with one or more poems from the unit being studied. While this is a more informal and personal kind of writing, and I am not grading with particular attention to grammar and organization, I do expect a measure of depth to the ideas you are working to articulate. Obviously, in your more formal academic essays, these ideas will appear more polished and refined. Identifying key lines and quoting from the poem is strongly encouraged to connect ideas to text, a key component of writing about poetry in formal essays.
This is a practicing and thinking space where you can follow the stream of your consciousness to see what you discover about your response to the poems. Be open and you might surprise yourself with where you go!
Part 2:
Culture and Identity
Discussion Board
So far in our Discussion Board posts, we have focused our attention on one of the poems from the chapter and thought about it in relation to the literary terms associated with the module. Through this practice, we have been developing our interpretive skills (thinking about theme and meaning) and our analytical skills (identifying literary devices and connecting them to the theme). Now that we have moved into the final units of poetry for the semester, you are being given a specific theme and poems that are all understood as being connected by that theme. In this unit, all the poems relate to ideas surrounding identity and culture.
What are the connotations you have for the words identity and culture? What do you think about when you hear these words? How do you define these concepts for yourself? If you look up the dictionary definitions for these terms, are they similar or dissimilar to your own understanding? Spend some time reflecting on these questions before you write your post.
Now that you have a clearer sense of these terms, go back through the assigned poems you read for the unit listed below: (UPLOADED DOCUMENT)
Using TWO of the following poems (attached)
The Supremes -Eady (42),
Poetry Should Ride the Bus – Forman (88),
What it’s Like to be a Black Girl (for Those of You Who Aren’t – Smith (96),
Ethnic Poetry – Marzan (134 -135),
On Captivity – Trethewey (226),
The Translator at the Reception for Latin American Writers – Marzan (229),
Eddie Priest’s Barbershop and Notary – Young (231),
AmerRican – Laviera (232)
For your post, complete the following steps:
Choose TWO of the poems from the list.
Write a brief (2-3 sentence) summary for each poem.
Explain how each poem is connected to the themes of identity and culture, considering your own understanding of these concepts. Describe how the poems approach the themes in similar or dissimilar ways. Include quotes from the poems as needed to support and illustrate your ideas.
For each poem, identify at least two literary device or poetic form that we have previously studied that is present in the poem and explain.
A good post will:
Be at least at the 750 word-count mark
Clearly respond to the prompt
Remember The why is always more interesting than the what
Incorporate quotes from the poem for support
