Brian Doyle/Annie Dillard-Nature Writing
AGENDA:
EQ: According to Brian Doyle’s essay, “The Greatest Nature Essay Ever, how should the ideal nature essay develop and affect the reader”? Do Annie Dillard’s “Living Like Weasels” and Doyle’s “Fishering” measure up to the criteria Doyle presents?
Read aloud Annie Dillard’s “Living Like Weasels” and discuss basic questions:
1. Why does Annie Dillard use the account about the weasel fixed by the jaws to the eagle’s throat? What does this suggest about a weasel’s life and what is Dillard trying to suggest about our lives, including her own?
2. Is it possible for humans to “live any way we want”? Can we live like the weasel? Or in what ways are we able to live like the weasel?
3. Analyze the author’s use of figurative language to achieve her purpose.
4. Any echoes of Thoreau’s “Where I Lived”?
Link: http://www.courses.vcu.edu/ENG200-lad/dillard.htm
Silently read Brian Doyle’s “Fishering” and annotate it.
Link: http://www.hcn.org/issues/317/16163
PERIOD TWO (Rm. 238): In small groups, read Brian Doyle’s “The Greatest Nature Essay Ever.”
Link: https://orionmagazine.org/article/the-greatest-nature-essay-ever/
As a group, determine the criteria/formula for successful nature writing according to Doyle’s essay and answer the following question, providing specific examples from the texts:
Do you think that the organization of Dillard’s nature essay on weasels is similar to the organization of Doyle’s “Fishering”? Does it follow the formula from “The Greatest Nature Essay Ever”?
Please post a comment indicating some of the topics you could explore for a nature essay.
EQ: According to Brian Doyle’s essay, “The Greatest Nature Essay Ever, how should the ideal nature essay develop and affect the reader”? Do Annie Dillard’s “Living Like Weasels” and Doyle’s “Fishering” measure up to the criteria Doyle presents?
Read aloud Annie Dillard’s “Living Like Weasels” and discuss basic questions:
1. Why does Annie Dillard use the account about the weasel fixed by the jaws to the eagle’s throat? What does this suggest about a weasel’s life and what is Dillard trying to suggest about our lives, including her own?
2. Is it possible for humans to “live any way we want”? Can we live like the weasel? Or in what ways are we able to live like the weasel?
3. Analyze the author’s use of figurative language to achieve her purpose.
4. Any echoes of Thoreau’s “Where I Lived”?
Link: http://www.courses.vcu.edu/ENG200-lad/dillard.htm
Silently read Brian Doyle’s “Fishering” and annotate it.
Link: http://www.hcn.org/issues/317/16163
PERIOD TWO (Rm. 238): In small groups, read Brian Doyle’s “The Greatest Nature Essay Ever.”
Link: https://orionmagazine.org/article/the-greatest-nature-essay-ever/
As a group, determine the criteria/formula for successful nature writing according to Doyle’s essay and answer the following question, providing specific examples from the texts:
Do you think that the organization of Dillard’s nature essay on weasels is similar to the organization of Doyle’s “Fishering”? Does it follow the formula from “The Greatest Nature Essay Ever”?
Please post a comment indicating some of the topics you could explore for a nature essay.
as of right now i'm not exactly sure what i'm going to write about. i'm thinking about writing of camping experiences. or about pets. i can also write about experiences with sledding on the mountains. unsure!
ReplyDeleteI guess i'd write about my experience with different animals or the completely different climates that I have experienced.
ReplyDeleteKnowing me, I'll probably write about death and the circle of life or something else edgy like that. It's a pretty essential part of nature, after all.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm going to write about the time when I had a mini motorcycle. I was very much into fast and furious at that age, so when I finally got that bike I was ready to channel my inner Vin Diesel. I yelled "ride or die" and rammed right into a tree.
ReplyDeleteAs far as nature goes, I'd probably write about that time I got my dirt bike stuck in the mud out in Texas and the only reason I got out of it was thanks to pure stupidity, adrenaline, four Pepsi's, one 45 caliber automatic, two boxes of ammunition, tranquilizer pills, one miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible and a copy of "In A Metal Mood" by Pat Boone on CD.
ReplyDeleteOr about trees. I like trees.
Most likely I'll write about centipedes under logs, I've had a lot of experiences with those 100 legged demons.
ReplyDeleteI will probably write about my time in Puerto Rico and the scenery there. Also about the structures and the adventures I have when I'm there visiting.
ReplyDeleteI think I can write about my experiences with hiking in the mountains in PR. I personally don't like anything that has to do with nature, but hiking in the mountains would probably have to be one of my favorite things.
ReplyDeleteI would like to right about my experience having my first dog and him dying. I think that I would probably tell the story through the dog's point of view. He will talk about getting lost from his family, coming to America on a long flight, living at home, and giving his last breath thanking the one's he loved the most.
ReplyDeleteI would write about the time I went hiking and how that experience went and the things I saw while out there.
ReplyDeleteI'm considering writing about finding squirrels with my cousins because they live in Hawaii so they've never seen a squirrel before.
ReplyDeleteI'm stuck right now. I'm sure I'll find some sort of inspiration considering I spend my summers camping. I grew up this way and still continue to do so. It's most likely going to stem from this. Maybe even my first time fishing.
ReplyDeleteThis is emani. ^
DeleteI think I'll probably write about my experiences with hiking or about my experiences with different animals I've encountered. I'm not sure yet.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a solid idea. I'm thinking about the time when my dad and I took a road trip to Coxsackie and there were dead animals on the road.
ReplyDeleteI haven't had any experience with nature or animals so I'll most likely just make something up.
ReplyDelete