Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Prometheus's Role Of The Poet, Sarah M. Connelly

Student Publications

This essay examines the characterization of Prometheus in the opening speech of Prometheus Unbound, by Percy Shelley, through the lens of Shelley’s “Defense of Poetry” in order to argue Prometheus’ existence as a poet. By giving humanity wisdom and bridging the gap between logic and compassion, Prometheus becomes the point from which imagination, beauty, art, and poetry stems. Prometheus’ role developed into a model of morality and love in contrast to the fear and spite of Zeus, whose influence is reflected in the evils of mankind. Yet, through the torturous reign of Zeus, Prometheus transcends his hate by retracting his …

Angel Island Poetry: Reading And Writing Cultures, Adam Kotlarczyk

Adam Kotlarczyk

Object of a darker chapter in American history, the Angel Island Poems (as they have become known) are a recently discovered body of over 135 poems, written primarily in Chinese. These were literally carved into the walls at the Angel Island Immigration Station, where Chinese immigrants were detained, sometimes indefinitely, between approximately 1910-1940. This lesson demonstrates how history and culture can be integral to our understanding of poetry, even poetry that is deeply reflective and personal in nature; by requiring students to model and produce their own poetry, it also makes evident that writing poetry is a creative instinct and …

The “Man Walks Outside Time Now”: Verbal Representations Of Photographic Images In The Poems Of Larry Levis, Lauren Miner

Theses and Dissertations

The poet Larry Levis often employed ekphrasis as an elegiac device—particularly with his verbal descriptions of photographic images—to explore human suffering and reconcile feelings of loss. Through the ekphrastic mode, Levis could juxtapose otherwise disparate images, manipulating their temporal and spatial relationships, to achieve what he conceived an authentic portrait of the human experience. The poet, through his verbal descriptions of photographic images, does not try to evade the pain or joy of being human; instead, he confronts his grief directly and, in so doing, transcends that suffering to better understand himself and his own human position. This thesis analyzes …

Performing Poetry: Managing Tone, Pitch, Volume And Rate, Erin Micklo

Understanding Poetry

This lesson teaches students the importance of varying the tone, pitch, rate and volume of their voices when performing a poem. Emphasizing different words and varying the delivery will alter the meaning of the poem that the students are reading. This is in preparation for the Poet Laureate presentations, when they will read aloud their poet’s poem, reflecting their group’s interpretation of the poem.

A Poet’S Cento: Reflecting On The Written Word Through Writing, Nicole Trackman

Understanding Poetry

Students will create their own cento using lines from poetry discussed in class during a poetry unit. In a short analysis, students reflect on the lines of poetry that they chose to include as well as their process as a poet. This lesson allows the students to become even more familiar with their previously studied work while working through the writing process as an author. The short reflective analysis prompts students to be metacognative about their process and product. This lesson is best used at the end of a poetry unit.

The "Purposes" Of Poetry, Tracy A. Townsend

Understanding Poetry

This classroom discussion-oriented lesson, which takes between sixty to seventy minutes, exposes students to two very different poetic styles and voices (William Carlos Williams and T.S. Eliot) and challenges them to think about their own relationship to poetry. This is a useful lesson to work into the beginning of a longer unit on poetry, and can be used as a preparatory discussion for unveiling the Laureate Project assessment to your students (also available on the Digital Commons). This lesson is suitable for grades 9-12.

Determining The Tone In A Poem, Erin Micklo

Understanding Poetry

This lesson instructs students how to do a close reading of a poem, using clues within the poem to determine the tone of the poem.

Manipulating Tone, Margaret T. Cain

Understanding Poetry

Tone, of the emotional weight of a poem, is difficult for many high schools students to apprehend, in part because they've had little practice, and in part because they have a limited affective vocabulary. One way to work successfully with tone is to ask students to create it for themselves by modeling--but in opposition--the work of a poet, in this case, Edgar Lee Masters.

America In Verse: The Laureate Project, Leah Kind, Dan Gleason, Erin Micklo, Margaret T. Cain

Understanding Poetry

The purpose of this project is to allow students to use their (developing) skills of poetic explication and close reading, combined with research and analysis, to discover and establish a solid case for a poet they will nominate as the next American Poet Laureate. Working in groups of 3-4, students will identify a published, living American poet who has not yet been designated a laureate. The project demands a wide array of skills as the students research bibliographic information on the poet: read and analyze the poet’s body of work and select one central poem to represent that poet; amass …

Chaucerian Self-Portrait, Margaret T. Cain

Understanding Poetry

There is no better way to understand how an author uses language than to attempt to use language in the same way. This activity challenges students to observe in Chaucer's descriptions of his Pilgrims the wealth and significance of detail and to create a portrait of themslves that is similarly rich in evoking personality.

Angel Island Poetry: Reading And Writing Cultures, Adam Kotlarczyk

Understanding Poetry

Object of a darker chapter in American history, the Angel Island Poems (as they have become known) are a recently discovered body of over 135 poems, written primarily in Chinese. These were literally carved into the walls at the Angel Island Immigration Station, where Chinese immigrants were detained, sometimes indefinitely, between approximately 1910-1940.

This lesson demonstrates how history and culture can be integral to our understanding of poetry, even poetry that is deeply reflective and personal in nature; by requiring students to model and produce their own poetry, it also makes evident that writing poetry is a creative instinct and …

Triggering Subjects V. Actual Subjects, Tracy A. Townsend

Understanding Poetry

This classroom discussion-oriented lesson, which takes between sixty to seventy minutes, involves close-reading of texts, use of evidence to convey an interpretation, and discussion of authorial purposes and techniques. Students use poet Richard Hugo’s theory of poetry having both a “triggering subject” and an “actual subject” to analyze and respond to example poems selected by the teacher. The end goal is to engage in a discussion of how poets use observation and experience to take sometimes everyday moments and convert them into thoughtful, surprising, and moving commentaries. This lesson is well-suited to preparing students to read poetry more effectively and …

Imitism: Learning Imagism Through Imitation, Nicole Trackman

Understanding Poetry

Students will learn the components of Imagism through works of William Carlos Williams and D.H. Lawrence. As authors, students will demonstrate their understanding of this poetic movement through an imitation of either Williams’ poem “This is just to Say” or Lawrence’s poem “Green”.

Remembering As A Source Of Creation In The Poetry Of Ezra Pound And H.D. And The Musical Representations Of The Holocaust By Arnold Schoenberg And Steve Reich, Ruth J. Jacobs

Lawrence University Honors Projects

This project explores the complex relationship between language and violence. Many theorists, such as Elaine Scarry, argue that language is silenced by violence and that extreme trauma inherently defies representation. Despite the impossibility of representing trauma, its preservation is a cultural and historical necessity. I am going to examine the different ways extreme violence is depicted in both poetry and music and the complex moral issues that are raised by these representations. Ezra Pound wrote The Pisan Cantos while imprisoned in a cage at the DTC in Pisa. I plan on exploring the role of personal and cultural memory in …

Found Ipod Poem 1.0, Found Ipod Poem 2.0, William Lamberts

Headwaters

No abstract provided.

Palabras, A Home Body, Sandy Bot-Miller

Headwaters

No abstract provided.

Pussy Willows, Right Temperature, Sandy Bot-Miller

Headwaters

No abstract provided.

October Blast, Musings, Elizabeth S. Wurdak

Headwaters

No abstract provided.

Poetic License: The Past In Creative Writing, Mara Faulkner Osb, Cynthia N. Malone, Karen L. Erickson, Scott Richardson

Headwaters

No abstract provided.

Verse, Fall Migration, Elizabeth S. Wurdak

Headwaters

No abstract provided.

The Pleasures Of Prayer, Luke Mancuso Osb

Headwaters

No abstract provided.

A Flight Of Quiet Necessities, Autumn Harvest, Boy Child Lies Upon Autumn Leaves, Willard Marwitz

Headwaters

No abstract provided.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti And The Romance Of Loss, Jane N. Cooper

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

Through paired poems and paintings, Dante Gabriel Rossetti explored the nature of Love—both physical and spiritual—as made evident by distance or absence. Influenced early by his familiarity with Dante Alighieri and a confluence of changing social and artistic attitudes, Rossetti transformed the dialogue around him to a more personal internal conversation, revealed by pen and brush. This paper examines the dynamic of that pervasive thread in Rossetti’s work through a discussion of the influences upon the artist, the artist’s effect upon important figures of mid- to late nineteenth century England, and the important relationships that shaped his discourse. In addition, …

Heathens And How They're Made, Garret Crowe

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis contains 23 poems with an introduction in which I explain how I craft my poetry. In the introduction, I use examples from both critical and creative sources to identify tools I utilize during the craft process of a poem. The subject matter of the poems within this thesis ranges from speakers pondering childhood moments to mature voices examining domestic relationships. Some of the poems may be considered confessional poetry as the works are immensely personal and the speaker is I, the writer. Other poems apply literary styles that are commonly associated with Dirty Realism and Southern Gothic.

2012 Forces, Scott Yarbrough

Forces

No abstract provided.

About A Yellow Ball, Shannon Alice Salter

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

These are poems made from many things: color, eggs, oranges, many kinds of seeds, leaves, wind, California, the desert, birds. They are things alive in the world and alive in my heart. I cannot take them out of the world, but from my heart I can have whatever appears on its surface. The language of steam.

They are poems that like to be at home.

California is my home and so is the Mojave (and so is every desert). I live in a valley about four hundred miles from the Pacific Ocean, in the city of Las Vegas. What better …

A Poem And Its Painting, Jenny Lee '13

2012 Spring Semester

Charles Bukowksi, one of the most controversial poets of the 20^th century, loved very few things- alcohol, sex, his typewriter, and classical music. His poetry is considered down-to-earth and easily relatable, but it is still able to maintain a high level of artistic and literary merit. His skill as an artist becomes clear when his poem “Dostoevsky” is juxtaposed with Caravaggio’s famous painting, “The Sacrifice of Isaac.” This painting depicts an angel stopping Abraham from sacrificing his son, Isaac. Although these pieces come from different artistic media, painting versus the written word, their shocking similarities are a testament to …

Satori 2012, Winona State University

Satori Literary Magazine

The Satori is a student literary publication that expresses the artistic spirit of the students of Winona State University. Student poetry, prose, and graphic art are published in the Satori every spring since 1970.

On Edge, A Gift Passed On, Willard Marwitz

Headwaters

No abstract provided.

A Hobby, Daylight Saving Time, Sandy Bot-Miller

Headwaters

No abstract provided.