Digital Commons Network^™

Confidence Interval, Ursula Whitcher

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

A poem about estimating probabilities.

Joanne Growney's Poetry-With-Mathematics Blog -- An Appreciation, Gregory E. Coxson

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Now is a good time to work on the boundaries of practice and theory, of art and science. We are seeing a rising tide of interest in these boundaries. Witness the growing Bridges movement, which has been exploring the connections between mathematics and the arts. Similarly, JoAnne Growney's blog, Intersections -- Poetry with Mathematics, explores the connections between mathematics and poetry. Through this review, I aim to give readers a taste of what can be found in Intersections as a way of encouraging others, be they mathematicians, poets, or neither, to visit the blog.

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 …

Rice, Cale Young, 1872-1943 (Sc 484), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 484. An autographed letter to Mr. Blodgett stating that he never saves his manuscripts, 6 March 1917, and a poem entitled “Silence,” 1 November.

Electricity, Chris Smith

Booth

A poem.

Grab Bag

Syracuse University Magazine

No abstract provided.

Grab Bag - Personal Accounts, Robert Phillips

Syracuse University Magazine

No abstract provided.

Forecast, Dean Rader

English

No abstract provided.

Introduction To Poetry [4th Grade], Eloisa Flores

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit is designed for the beginning of fourth grade as an introduction to poetry, which the students will revisit throughout the year. The unit focuses on familiarizing students with the structural elements of poetry (e.g., rhyme, meter, stanzas, line breaks) as well as using the writing process to write original poems that convey sensory details using the conventions of poetry. Students will also analyze and interpret poems, using evidence to support their claims. Students will understand that people write poetry to express their thoughts and emotions in a creative, unique way.

Camas, Summer 2012

Camas

The Nature of this Place / Sara Call -- UL Bend / David Jachowski -- The Great Silent Places / Erica Watson -- Yellowstoning the Treeburbs / David Oates -- Kittitas County Town Park / Roberta Feins -- Kittitas County Thorp Mill / Roberta Feins -- Wind / Ahimsa Timoteo Bodhran -- New Day / Sheryl Noethe -- At the Dungeness Cemetery / Mike McCormick -- From Debris / Laurel Nakanishi -- Song in the Key of Redemption / Robin Keisic -- Solar Flare / Sheryl Noethe -- Finding Montana / David Salner -- Eternal Summer / Wendi Sims Schupbach …

Richardson, Laura Elizabeth (Ferguson), 1908-1986 (Sc 2546), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2546. Laura Elizabeth Richardson’s notebook containing holographic notes about the history of quilting. Notebook includes hand executed quilt pattern images in ink, poems, definitions of quilting terms, and textile descriptions. Includes notes about the provenance of Richardson’s quilt collection and her furniture.

Smith, Esther (Lamastus), 1907-1994 (Sc 2544), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2544. Reminiscences of Esther (Lamastus) Smith of her family and childhood on a farm in Butler County, Kentucky. Smith provides family information and covers topics such as livestock raising, school games, spinning wool, transportation, telephone service, hair styles and other aspects of rural life. Includes poems, presumably by Smith.

Morton, David, 1886-1957 (Sc 550), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 550. Letter, 19 March 1949, to Marjorie Clagett, Bowling Green, Kentucky, from poet David Morton, Deerfield, Massachusetts, concerning his visit to Western Kentucky State College, Bowling Green. Also, a printed copy of one of his poems as requested. Morton was originally from Elkton, Todd County, Kentucky.

Ellis, Perry Canby, 1867-1925 (Sc 553), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 553. Booklet compiled by Perry Canby Ellis, chiefly about George Rogers Clark, which contains pictures and original poetry by Ellis and also contains some information about poet Henry C. Blount as well as biographical information about Ellis.

Obenchain, Lida (Calvert), 1856-1935 (Sc 578), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 578. Photocopies of a letter written by Lida (Calvert) Obenchain, author, from Dallas, Texas, to Otto Rothert, author, Louisville, Kentucky, which contains literary and family information; an article written by Mrs. Obenchain and published in McCall’s Magazine; and some biographical notes.

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.

Name That Invention: Examining Connotation And Sound, Dan Gleason

Understanding Poetry

This exercise engages students with questions of diction, connotation, and sound patterns. Students discuss the field of product branding, and learn how much certain product names (e.g., Blackberry, Pentium, Swiffer) were considered in light their denotative, connotative, and aural elements. Then, in groups, students devise product names for four imagined products; afterward, as a class they debate the virtues of each name rate and choose a winner for each product. Such close attention to meanings, buried implications, and sound cues encourages students to adopt a very poetic form of word analysis, a skill that transfers nicely to more literary areas.

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 …

Cawein, Madison Julius, 1865-1914 (Sc 531), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 531. Letter from poet Madison Julius Cawein, Louisville, Kentucky, to Fred H. Day, Boston, Massachusetts, a publisher, relative to several of Cawein’s books of poetry and to a book by novelist and poet Alice Brown.

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 …

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.

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 …

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”.

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.

Gillette, Mary Gurley (Sc 508), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 508. Album of poetry extracts and some essays compiled by owner, possibly in 1832. Contains notes from subsequent owners of the album.

Washington, William Armstead, 1800-1883 (Sc 506), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 506. Memory album containing poetry written by William Armstead Washington, Logan County, Kentucky, some of which was written for his sisters, Sarah Virginia and Louisa Fairfax. Also, a poem written by J.A.C. Boyer which he dedicated to Sarah V. Washington, and holographic notes (2) are included.

Stockdale, Elizabeth Ann, 1821-1840 (Sc 507), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 507. Autograph album of Elizabeth Ann Stockdale, Russellville, Logan County, Kentucky, which contains essays as well as poems. Includes a poem written in 1869 for Miss Stockdale’s mother after Elizabeth Stockdale’s death. Also, a loose holographic copy of one of the album’s poems.