Happy Holidays!

Scholastic/A Prayer for the Dying

AGENDA:

Work on entries for Scholastic.  Upload and print out.

Answer Questions 1-3 for A Prayer for the Dying on the blog.

Work on your 2nd person short stories.

HMWK:

A Prayer for the Dying/Michael Lesy's Wisconsin Death Trip

AGENDA:

Continue to work on stories and movies and contest entries.

Michael Lesy's book and A Prayer for the Dying:

http://backstoryradio.org/2014/05/12/wisconsin-death-trip/

enotes summary A Prayer for the Dying (SPOILER ALERT!):

http://www.enotes.com/topics/prayer-for-dying

Poetry Presentations/A Prayer for theDying

AGENDA:

Present poems.

Go over A Prayer for the Dying questions.

A Prayer for the Dying Discussion questions

READING GROUP GUIDE
A Prayer for the Dying
A Novel
by Stewart O’Nan
ISBN-10: 0-312-42891-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-42891-4
About this Guide
The following author biography and list of questions about A Prayer for the Dying are intended as resources to aid individual readers and book groups who would like to learn more about the author and this book. We hope that this guide will provide you a starting place for discussion, and suggest a variety of perspectives from which you might approach A Prayer for the Dying.
About the Book
Set in Friendship, Wisconsin, just after the Civil War, A Prayer for the Dying tells of a horrible epidemic that is suddenly and gruesomely killing the town's residents and setting off a terrifying paranoia. Jacob Hansen, Friendship's sheriff, undertaker, and pastor, is soon overwhelmed by the fear and anguish around him, and his sanity begins to fray. Dark, poetic, and chilling, A Prayer for the Dying examines the effect of madness and violence on the morality of a once-decent man.
About the Author
Stewart O’Nan’s novels include Last Night at the Lobster, The Night Country, and A Prayer for the Dying. He is also the author of the nonfiction books The Circus Fire and, with Stephen King, the bestselling Faithful. Granta named him one of the Twenty Best Young American Novelists. He lives in Connecticut.

Discussion Questions
1. The book is narrated in the second person, addressing the main character, Jacob, as “you.” Who is speaking? Why do you think the author chose this mode to tell the story?
2. When Jacob is called to take care of Clytie, he has a very hard time pulling the trigger. Look at the passage (p. 49) in which he has to convince himself to kill her. Why does he agonize when he knows it’s the right thing? What does it mean that he’s “still clinging to some dream of innocence, blamelessness”? Does he continue to cling to that dream later in the story?
3. Why does Jacob elect to bleed and treat the bodies of some victims, even after Doc has told him not to, and even though he knows he’s putting himself in danger? Why is precision and diligence so important to him even when everyone around him is worried only about survival?
4. What role does religious faith play in the story? How does it influence Jacob, Chase, and other citizens of Friendship? Is their faith rewarded?
5. Jacob is a veteran of the Civil War. How does his experience there affect the way he behaves in the crisis in Friendship? How did the war change him?
6. How would you describe the relationship between Jacob and Doc? How do their different ideas about the world lead to different strategies for handling the outbreak in Friendship?
7. How does Jacob’s relationship with Marta affect his behavior in the outbreak? How do his priorities as a father and husband conflict with his responsibility to the town?
8. How do you interpret the book’s ending? What is Jacob choosing when he returns to Friendship? What do you imagine happening to him next?
9. Is Jacob sane at the end of the book? How does the author demonstrate the changes in his mind as conditions worsen?
10. “You’ve stopped believing in evil,” the narrator says of Jacob early in the story (p. 6). “Is that a sin?” Is there evil in this story? Does Jacob come to see it by the end?
11. How do the book’s two epigraphs relate to each other? Why do you think the author chose them?
12. Jacob is committed throughout the book to saving Friendship, and willing to sacrifice himself if necessary. Is he naïve? Does his commitment to principle do more harm than good in the end? Begin working on second person short stories.

CONTESTS:  Sokol, Gannon, and of course, Scholastic!

More writiing in the Second Person

Agenda:

READING:

Two more short stories in 2nd person

http://42opus.com/shortstory/secondperson

And more:

http://www.goodreads.com/story/tag/second-person

and Italo Calvino:

http://www-control.eng.cam.ac.uk/hu/Calvino.html 



WRITING:  Work on previous post about "Until Gwen" response

Work on Poetry movie 

Writing in Second Person

AGENDA:

Morning Reflection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltun92DfnPY
Shane Koyczan


Writing in the Second Person

Go to library for A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O'Nan

HMWK for Wednesday:  Read Ch. 1 to pg. 26

Read short articles.  Discuss and report back to class:

Group #1     Wikipedia on second person narrative:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-person_narrative

 

  Group #2    Why you should write in 2nd person:

http://thewritepractice.com/second-person/

Group #3      Writing in second person:

http://www.chuffedbuffbooks.com/writing-in-second-person-atwood-to-tolstoy/

 

UNTIL GWEN--Dennis Lehane 

 

Click on this link and read (saving paper):

 

adlibris.com/se/images/UntilGwen.pdf

What does this picture say about the story?
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=76576

An interview with Dennis Lehane

theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/05/hookers-guns-and-money/3125/


Until Gwen Response
1. What about "Until Gwen" sticks out the most to you? You could focus on a scene, an image, a character, the style, the point of view, a theme--anything really. Write a perfect paragraph of 5-7 sentences in response.

or


2. "Until Gwen"
Use the title "Until Gwen" in a sentence about the main character of this story: "Until Gwen, he ______. During Gwen, he ______. After Gwen, he ______." Do the same with the main character's father: "Until Gwen, his father ______. During Gwen, his father ______. After Gwen, his father ______." 
Describe the lasting impact Gwen had on these two men. Are there similarities?

At the story's end, the main character has all the means to completely re-invent himself. Financially he is secure. On paper he has no past. He is able to completely start somewhere new where no one knows him. If you could write an epilogue to this story, one year later, where would he be?


Post your comments!  Continue working on animated poetry and contests

Current Contests: Sokol--a poem and/or story
Gannon--1-3 poems

https://www.gannon.edu/NewsDetail.aspx?id=8589940409
Lelia Tupper Scholarship---essay, and creative writing variety, (up to 12 pages total--4 essay and 8 creative writing)

Scholastic  --December 17!!!

Poetry response to Billy Collins

AGENDA:

Continue working on your poetry responses to Billy Collins.

Animated poetry:

Go to www.loc.gov/poetry/180


Select a poem to "animate" (shorter poems work best).

Billy Collins/More Poems

AGENDA:

READ:

"The Lanyard"   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EjB7rB3sWc

Response Poems:
http://faculty.gvsu.edu/kanekot/coursedocs/responsepoem.htm 

Responding to poetry

1. A Framework for Responding to Poetry

Introduction:

• Briefly introduce the title of the poem and name of the poet.
• Try to classify the type of poem it is e.g. sonnet, ballad, haiku, acrostic, shape, lyric, ode, limerick, elegy, dramatic monologue etc. 
• Briefly explain the subject of the poem.

Point One: Explore the Themes of the Poem

• Try to group the ideas in the poem is there a story that the poem tells?
• What do you think the poem is about?

Point Two: Imagery used to express themes

• What are the pictures in the poem?
• Are metaphors/similes used to explain ideas?
• Are the five senses used to evoke certain reactions in the reader?

Point Three: Form and Structure

• How is the poem organised e.g. lines, verses, layout and shape.
• Why has the poet decided to structure the ideas in this way e.g. the sequence of ideas, length of lines, patterns etc.

Point Four: Rhyme and Rhythm

• How does the poem rhyme? E.g. abab or aabb etc.
• What is the rhythm of the poem when read aloud?
• Why has the poet chosen this rhyme and rhythm to express these ideas?

Point Five: Language Patterns

• Think about the sound of the poem and choice of words
• The poet uses specific words because they have a certain association in the reader's mind.
• Look out for alliteration, onomatopoeia, assonance, personification, symbolism. How has the poet grouped words to achieve a desired effect?

Conclusion: Poet's message

• What is the poet trying to communicate to the reader?
• How effective are the devices/language that he uses?
• What is your response to the poem?

This poetry handout was found  at www.englishresources.co.uk

                        
                                   2 .  Writing About Poetry

What is the poem about? Summarise what the poem is about in two or three sentences.
Write about the verse form of the poem. If the poem is rhymed verse, what is the rhyme scheme? Why do you think the poet chose this verse form?
Choose three or four interesting descriptive words or phrases in the poem. Say what they mean and why you found them interesting.
Choose a comparison (for example, simile, metaphor or personification) from the poem. Explain why you liked it.
Write about the tone and mood of the poem. Is it funny, sad, happy, angry, bitter, peaceful, serious? Use quotes to prove your point.
What did the poem make you think of, or feel? Try and give reasons for your opinion and quote from the poem to show what you mean.
Did you like the poem? Give reasons for your answer.
                              
                         
                             3. How to analyse a poem.
1. Brief summary of poem - What is the story?
2. Diction - language/words/vocabulary poet uses
3. Theme -  the ideas the poetry expresses/what seems to be important to the poet.
4. Imagery - language used to convey sense impressions
        (create the experience in our imagination)
5. Figurative language - has the poet used any  similes, metaphors or personification and why?
6. Rhyme -   Is there a rhyme scheme and does it help with structure?
7. Tone   -    What tone of voice is used?

IMAGERY -

This term covers all the various types of image in a piece of writing. An image is a mental picture created by the words that a writer chooses for effect. Images create “a picture in the mind.” Images are usually either metaphors or similes. In Ogun the carpenter’s knuckles are described as “silver knobs of nails”. This suggests the work-worn hands of the carpenter and the polished highlights of his skin.

TONE -

This tells us the attitude of the poet to the subject. Tone may change. Not necessarily the same all the way through the poem.
e.g.     What is the tone?
 I have had playmates, I have had companions
 In my childhood days, in my joyful school days.
 All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.
       (Charles Lamb)
 A thousand years you said
 As our hearts melted.
 I look at the hand you held
 And the ache is hard to bear.
From T. Wells

Billy Collins

AGENDA:


Billy Collins website:

http://www.billy-collins.com/

TED talk:

http://blog.ted.com/2012/02/28/poems-in-motion-billy-collins-at-ted2012/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BXZjTETLQM  

Everyday Moments Caught in Time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddw1_3ZVjTE 

WRITING:
Select 3 poems by Billy Collins.  Write a poem modeled on and in response to Billy Collins.


Here's an example of mine in response to poet William Stafford:

Traveling Through The Dark

Traveling through the dark I found a deer
dead on the edge of the Wilson River road.
It is usually best to roll them into the canyon:
that road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead.

By glow of the tail-light I stumbled back of the car
and stood by the heap, a doe, a recent killing;
she had stiffened already, almost cold.
I dragged her off; she was large in the belly.

My fingers touching her side brought me the reason--
her side was warm; her fawn lay there waiting,
alive, still, never to be born.
Beside that mountain road I hesitated.

The car aimed ahead its lowered parking lights;
under the hood purred the steady engine.
I stood in the glare of the warm exhaust turning red;
around our group I could hear the wilderness listen.

I thought hard for us all--my only swerving--,
then pushed her over the edge into the river.

William Stafford



Intrusion
for William Stafford

Traveling through the dark along the Seaway Trail,
we sense a family of deer, frozen at the edge
of the highway, staring back
at the headlights of our jeep--
their eyes wakeful, wary.

And so I must think of your poem,
of how the road we travel narrows and ends,
and why I, too, must question my swerving.

Later that evening back at home,
phantom deer appear.  Dreamlike,
they lurk at the very edge of consciousness,
silently watching a procession of ghostly vehicles
hurtle through the wilderness.

They wait and watch, bewildered
by these hardened shells
encasing our fragile hearts.

Marcy Gamzon

FINISH YOUR POETRY CYCLES--All cycles due today!

Quiz Thomas and Beulah/Work on Poetry CYCLES!

Agenda:
'
Quiz on Thomas and Beulah

Continue work on Poetry Cycles (most of you have not completed them!)

For Friday: Reading and discussion of Billy Collins' poetry/ Writer responses poems

Billy Collins

AGENDA:

EQ: How are the two sections of the cycle interrelated?  What do the poems show about the relationship between Thomas and Beulah?

READING:  Get Billy Collins poems and read over the long weekend.

SPEAKING and LISTENING: Review Thomas and Beulah.  Test on Wednesday.

WRITING:  Work on poetry cycles.