About the Oriental Ballerina:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV16g979jRM
Read aloud and discuss "Mandolin". Respond and analyze one of the poems in a comment posted here for credit.
Rita Dove and Billy Collins at the White House:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi33BQRtIKo&feature=related
Rita Dove, introduced by Barack Obama:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi33BQRtIKo&feature=related
2nd period:
Begin planning and outlining your poetry cycle. Discuss with Ms. Gamzon and Ms. Hoffmann.
Ashley Lawson & Erin Cotton
ReplyDeleteThe poem The Zeppelin Factory was about an incident where a zeppelin (blimp) named “the Akron” lost control and killed a man. Thomas was witnessing the incident and the death of the man reminded him of Lem. Lem is death to him and it haunts him. The third stanza has short lines which speed the poem up. This symbolizes the fall of the man who was killed.
Angela Rollins
ReplyDeleteIn the poem "Refrain" Thomas is haunted by his friend Lem who died. Although he is a newlywed and should be focused on a happy future, his nights are haunted by his dead friend. He has to roll over to try and silence the memories of Lem, but even doing so seems futile. There is a song within the poem, an eerie recollection of their friendship.
The Poem "The Zeppelin Factory" symbolized how death is sometimes very mysterious but can be predictable. The Blimp that went haywire. killed 1 person and put 2 others in Danger. Gave hint that death was really near for Thomas. Death can't always come in a form of Nature, but also in the form of a person visible or not. And Thomas was around to realize that Lem would soon be the death of him.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn Walker
ReplyDeleteNothing Down was a poem that experimented with the past and present in a very creative and original way. As the subject and his family travel in a new car, they get harassed by white racist people. Simultaneously within the poem, the subject reminisces over his dead best friend Lem., in what one would call an obsessive way. The poem has a good use of apostrophe, maybe a dash of cacophony with the "eight miles outside murfreesboro", line. But all in all, the poem was well done and enjoyable to read.
The poem "Variation on Gaining a Son" is one of my favorites from the cycle--it is very straightforward and has no mention of Lem. The tone is hopeful and content, in contrast with the rest of the poems. After four daughters, Thomas has finally gained a son--albeit a son in law. Thomas's daughter, Rose, marries a veteran. Thomas's joy at this union resonates with the last line: "For the first time Thomas felt like calling him Son."
ReplyDeleteThis poem was a nice change of pace from the rest of the poems, celebrating Thomas's joy rather than his grief.
The poem Nothing down was about them being driven off the road in their new car with the baby by a car full of white men. She wants the finer things and life and thinks that he is a tacky man. The flash backs talk about a blue trumpet flower and it symbolizes a sky blue chandler.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Stroke," Thomas shook hands with Death (his stroke). Death squeezed his hands until he sank to his knees. Dove uses Death's grip as a metaphor for Thomas' stroke. His wife asks him how it, the stroke, feels. However, he says he won't tell her about what he felt. How that he felt the warmness from the sun like it was in the summer, how he saw old memories. Instead, he tells her that it hurt, "like being kicked by a mule." He later says it was Lem, that it was Lem's knuckles tapping on his chest. Lem is death. Thomas is consumed by Lem and is convinced that he is the reason for the stroke.
ReplyDeleteThe poem "Jiving" focuses on a year in the life of thomas rather than a particular moment. She writes in short two line stanzas that illustrate the nonchalance and non-commital nature of this period of "jiving" and playing music for pretty women on the beach. The stanzas are however not completed within the two lines, they are tied to each other and drawn throughout the entire poem leaving the reader with a beautiful sense of freedom while also being affected by the past stanzas(and thus the pat in general, ie the feeling of thomas at this time). The poem focuses on the depressed freedom thomas forces himself into at this time on the "dingy beach of a man-made lake" without ever directly saying it. It is the set up of the poem that conveys it's deeper meaning. The words are almost secondary.
ReplyDeleteby the way yours truly is Harrison.
ReplyDeleteBriyanna Brinkley
ReplyDeleteIn the Oriental Ballerina I felt that this poem was very invigorating, this piece showed a lot of emotion. This captivating work of art enveloped me in love and pain. The descriptive speech is absolutely ground breaking. It is easy to relate to because she was very close to her grandmother as I am and I like ballerinas :)
Taylor Rugg
ReplyDelete"Straw Hat" by Rita Dove is about Thomas as he moves North. In the first stanza, Dove describes briefly what Thomas' life was like before he moves: "Years before he was anything, he lay on so many kinds of grass, under stars, the moon's bald eye opposing." The second stanza is the next part of Thomas' journey, moving chronologically. "He learned he wasn't perfect, that no one was perfect. So he made his way North under the bland roof of a tent too small for even his lean body." And in the third and fourth stanzas, Dove describes Thomas as he meets a women, presumably Beulah. The final line describes that they don't know each other well, but he is polite. "He never knows when she'll be coming but when she leaves, he always tips his hat."
Nothing Down, by Rita Dove, can just as easily be noted for its flashbacks (in italics) as well as its subject content. The speaker alternates between both the present and a flashback point of view; the present perspective aims to buy a car with the input of his wife, while the flashback brings the speaker (Thomas) back to his times with his friend Lem, who is currently deceased. His wife gives off a pretentious attitude, as she chooses between "Nigger red" and "sky blue," and by the end of the poem, there are hints of racism as "a carload of white men halloo past them on Route 231." The poem ends on a rather solemn note touching upon Lem's fate.
ReplyDeleteIn the Oriental Ballerina i felt that this poem was very invigorating. it showed so much emotion and appreciated values which i find difficult to receive from other authors. It was a captivating piece of work that enveloped me in love and pain. The descriptive speech is absolutely ground breaking. I found it easy to relate to because she is very close to her grand mother as i am....and i think that ballerinas are pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteMariah Gonzalez
ReplyDeleteThe selected poem, Straw Hat, by Rita Dove illustrates the hardships of the labor involved in the work of a man. I interpreted this thought due to the lines, "Lucky to sleep third shift.", "The mattress ticking he shares in the work barracks is brown and smells." and "To him, work is a narrow grief." The man in this poem has traveled far, leaving his home behind him. By leaving, the man is perusing a better life/more money, even though that means stepping out of his comfort zone. The line of "but when she leaves, he always tips his hat." demonstrates the culture he left behind as well as the time period of the play. Overall, I simply love this poem. It's simple to me, and Dove's imagery also contributes to my positive view of this poem. "Years before he was anything, he lay on so many kinds of grass, under stars, the moon's bald eye opposing."
Rita Dove's "Courtship" is a wonderfully evocative two-part poem where we see Thomas attempting to court Beulah, and then him talking to her father. The poem starts with questions: "up and down the block / waiting—for what? A / magnolia breeze, someone / to trot out the stars?" I really love these lines, the imagery of the breeze and the wonder of the stars compared with reality. The second part of the poem starts with a gentle image of romance: "…so he wraps the yellow silk / still warm from his throat / around her shoulders." The final stanza features Thomas talking to Beulah's father. I like the imagery of "China pugs guarding a fringed settee / where a father, half-Cherokee, / smokes and frowns." It's also interesting how Dove puts in dialogue: "I'll give her a good life" in italics, a simple line yet very affecting in the context of the poem.
ReplyDelete