In your packet you have six poems that make use of the Daedalus-Icarus myth. All of the poems are modern but none of them use the myth in quite the same way.
Read all six poems and take notes using one of the three methods you learned earlier in the year:
SOAPSTone + Theme, TPCAST + Theme, or say-play-imply. (Use each method at least once.)
Speaker
Occasion
Audience
Purpose
Subject
Tone
Theme
Title
Paraphrase
Connotation
Attitude (theme)
Shift
Title again
Theme
Say (What does the poem literally say?)
Play (How does the poem play with language?)
Imply (What does the saying and playing imply?)
Tomorrow you'll use your notes in class. You won't be able to participate in the class work if your notes are not complete.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
*A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man* Quotation Blogging
Step 1: Choose a thematic category from your group work and organize the accompanying set of quotations into chronological order from earliest in the book to latest.
Step 2: At the top of your comment write your first name and first initial of your last name. Also write the thematic category.
Step 3: (A) Type out the first quotation in its entirety. (B) Explain the context for the quotation. (What's going on in the novel before and after the quotation? How is the context significant?) (C) Explore everything you see as significant in the quotation. (Shed some light on all the strands you see there.)
Step 4: Repeat step 3 for each of the quotations in the thematic category.
Step 5: Write a paragraph that gives offers a bold, insightful conclusion about your insights into the thematic category and the quotations.
Step 6: Post your comments in the comment box by pumpkin time on Monday, November 22.
Step 2: At the top of your comment write your first name and first initial of your last name. Also write the thematic category.
Step 3: (A) Type out the first quotation in its entirety. (B) Explain the context for the quotation. (What's going on in the novel before and after the quotation? How is the context significant?) (C) Explore everything you see as significant in the quotation. (Shed some light on all the strands you see there.)
Step 4: Repeat step 3 for each of the quotations in the thematic category.
Step 5: Write a paragraph that gives offers a bold, insightful conclusion about your insights into the thematic category and the quotations.
Step 6: Post your comments in the comment box by pumpkin time on Monday, November 22.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Thread Essay: parts in relation to the whole (consonantia)
"Rhythm, said Stephen, is the first formal esthetic relation of part to part in any esthetic whole or of an esthetic whole to its part or parts or of any part to esthetic whole of which it is part." (Joyce 183)
"Having first felt that it is one thing you feel now that it is a thing. You apprehend it as complex, multiple, divisible, separable, made up of its parts, the result of its parts and their sum, harmonious. That is consonatia." (Joyce 189)
Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Dubliners. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2004.
***
To write this essay you will need to choose one of the threads that Joyce weaves through his novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. We've discussed many threads and there are others we have not had the opportunity to discuss. You might reflect on your group work for ideas when choosing. Post the thread you have chosen in the comment box by class time on Tuesday, November 23.
You will then develop a well-organized essay in which you explain how the thread is significant in the work as a whole. Along the way the essay must deal with the thread's significance in each of the five chapters of the novel. The essay will be 1000+ words, twelve-point font, double spaced. It's due in class on Wednesday, December 1. Check out the "Part to Whole Example Essays".
Notes:
The thread might be something that is physically sensed -- seen, heard, smelled, tasted, touched -- in Stephen's world.
The thread might be something -- a person, place, thing, sense -- with associations, connotations, correspondences that Joyce uses suggestively. The something might be used to embody meanings.
The thread might be a set of related somethings -- a set of words associated with birds, a set of words associated with water, a set of words associated with mouths -- that are used suggestively. There are also sets of fathers and sets of women (and language related to women, like a "maiden" moon). And several others sets.
The thread might be physically present in Stephen's world and/or it might be figuratively present in the narrator's language. For example there are literal birds, but there are also people who look like birds, people's whose names are birds, feelings that are described in bird related terms (soaring, swooning), etc. The same can be said of water and fire. Then some of the threads are figurative only -- nets, cages, mazes -- yet they're still threads.
The thread might be a suggestive pair of opposites like dry/damp, light/dark, hot/cold, live/dead, etc.
Instead of being something palpable, the thread might be a concept that is embodied in characters, events, thoughts, dialogue, descriptions, etc.: religion, nationality, language, art, sexuality, body-spirit divide, etc. All of these things are abstract though they are manifest in Stephen's world in concrete ways.
The thread might foreground literal and figurative images that embody (suggest, connote) concepts, or the thread might foreground concepts anchored in literal and figurative images.
So...What is your thread? How is it significant to the work as a whole?
"Having first felt that it is one thing you feel now that it is a thing. You apprehend it as complex, multiple, divisible, separable, made up of its parts, the result of its parts and their sum, harmonious. That is consonatia." (Joyce 189)
Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Dubliners. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2004.
***
To write this essay you will need to choose one of the threads that Joyce weaves through his novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. We've discussed many threads and there are others we have not had the opportunity to discuss. You might reflect on your group work for ideas when choosing. Post the thread you have chosen in the comment box by class time on Tuesday, November 23.
You will then develop a well-organized essay in which you explain how the thread is significant in the work as a whole. Along the way the essay must deal with the thread's significance in each of the five chapters of the novel. The essay will be 1000+ words, twelve-point font, double spaced. It's due in class on Wednesday, December 1. Check out the "Part to Whole Example Essays".
Notes:
The thread might be something that is physically sensed -- seen, heard, smelled, tasted, touched -- in Stephen's world.
The thread might be something -- a person, place, thing, sense -- with associations, connotations, correspondences that Joyce uses suggestively. The something might be used to embody meanings.
The thread might be a set of related somethings -- a set of words associated with birds, a set of words associated with water, a set of words associated with mouths -- that are used suggestively. There are also sets of fathers and sets of women (and language related to women, like a "maiden" moon). And several others sets.
The thread might be physically present in Stephen's world and/or it might be figuratively present in the narrator's language. For example there are literal birds, but there are also people who look like birds, people's whose names are birds, feelings that are described in bird related terms (soaring, swooning), etc. The same can be said of water and fire. Then some of the threads are figurative only -- nets, cages, mazes -- yet they're still threads.
The thread might be a suggestive pair of opposites like dry/damp, light/dark, hot/cold, live/dead, etc.
Instead of being something palpable, the thread might be a concept that is embodied in characters, events, thoughts, dialogue, descriptions, etc.: religion, nationality, language, art, sexuality, body-spirit divide, etc. All of these things are abstract though they are manifest in Stephen's world in concrete ways.
The thread might foreground literal and figurative images that embody (suggest, connote) concepts, or the thread might foreground concepts anchored in literal and figurative images.
So...What is your thread? How is it significant to the work as a whole?
This Is Your Brain on Metaphors
Here's a link to the article we talked about in class today.
The article claims that the structure of our brains causes physical sensations and abstract concepts to overlap (or, pejoratively, "to be confused"; or, positively, "to be synthesized"; or, poetically, "to correspond"). If this is true then metaphorical thinking is not something you learn in English class but something that's already part of your brain.
And not only is it part of the brain but it's built into language: "the kid is spoiled rotten" "dirty rotten scoundrel" "lousy book". These words refer both to abstract concepts -- the child whose morals are ruined by indulgent parents, the immoral jerk, the book of poor quality -- and to physical phenomenon that correspond with the concepts -- the spoiling of food and rotting of flesh, physical dirtiness and rotting flesh (again), something covered with lice. The concepts are entwined with (and colored by) physical manifestations and our physical senses. If the physical associations in the metaphor are alive (present in the mind) they intensify the feeling associated with the concept. Our thinking and feeling are entwined.
When discussing immorality, the article observes, people tend to feel physically dirty so much so that they will often literally wash their hands (Lady Macbeth? Pontius Pilate?). If the language emphasizes the dirtiness and rottenness of the amorality then we'll feel the immorality that much more acutely.
& that's one of the things that literature does: induces us to feel ideas instead of just thinking them.
The article claims that the structure of our brains causes physical sensations and abstract concepts to overlap (or, pejoratively, "to be confused"; or, positively, "to be synthesized"; or, poetically, "to correspond"). If this is true then metaphorical thinking is not something you learn in English class but something that's already part of your brain.
And not only is it part of the brain but it's built into language: "the kid is spoiled rotten" "dirty rotten scoundrel" "lousy book". These words refer both to abstract concepts -- the child whose morals are ruined by indulgent parents, the immoral jerk, the book of poor quality -- and to physical phenomenon that correspond with the concepts -- the spoiling of food and rotting of flesh, physical dirtiness and rotting flesh (again), something covered with lice. The concepts are entwined with (and colored by) physical manifestations and our physical senses. If the physical associations in the metaphor are alive (present in the mind) they intensify the feeling associated with the concept. Our thinking and feeling are entwined.
When discussing immorality, the article observes, people tend to feel physically dirty so much so that they will often literally wash their hands (Lady Macbeth? Pontius Pilate?). If the language emphasizes the dirtiness and rottenness of the amorality then we'll feel the immorality that much more acutely.
& that's one of the things that literature does: induces us to feel ideas instead of just thinking them.
Friday, November 12, 2010
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: chapters four and five
Due by class time on Monday, November 15. (I want to use the responses in class so it's important that you post before class.)
In the comment box below you will post a response (or responses) in which you use close reading to discuss the significance of passages from chapters four and five.
To generate ideas about significance you might think about these questions in relation to the final two chapters:
How does Stephen struggle to figure out who he is in relation to his environment? What are the different aspects of who he is and of his environment that are part of this struggle? Think about family, religion, nationality. How is each significant?
How does the way the story is written -- third person stream of consciousness narration, epiphanies, allusions, images, motifs, style, syntax, diction -- contribute to how the reader experiences and understands Stephen's process of identity formation?
How is the struggle related to becoming an artist, particularly a language artist? How is the struggle? How is the struggle related to the Daedalus-Icarus myth?
*******
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man online.
Click here to find chapter one with some good notes.
& here you'll find chapter two.
The home page for the enotes version of the book is here. You can use it to click on any of the five chapters or on "Reading Pointers for Sharper Insight" which mentions a lot of the elements -- epiphany, stream of consciousness, Daedalus & Icarus -- that I mentioned last week.
In the comment box below you will post a response (or responses) in which you use close reading to discuss the significance of passages from chapters four and five.
To generate ideas about significance you might think about these questions in relation to the final two chapters:
How does Stephen struggle to figure out who he is in relation to his environment? What are the different aspects of who he is and of his environment that are part of this struggle? Think about family, religion, nationality. How is each significant?
How does the way the story is written -- third person stream of consciousness narration, epiphanies, allusions, images, motifs, style, syntax, diction -- contribute to how the reader experiences and understands Stephen's process of identity formation?
How is the struggle related to becoming an artist, particularly a language artist? How is the struggle? How is the struggle related to the Daedalus-Icarus myth?
*******
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man online.
Click here to find chapter one with some good notes.
& here you'll find chapter two.
The home page for the enotes version of the book is here. You can use it to click on any of the five chapters or on "Reading Pointers for Sharper Insight" which mentions a lot of the elements -- epiphany, stream of consciousness, Daedalus & Icarus -- that I mentioned last week.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, ch. 1, 2, & 3: Extending the discussion
Due by pumpkin time on Friday, November 5.
In the comment box below you will post a response (or responses) in which you use close reading to discuss the significance of passages from chapters one, two, and three.
To generate ideas about significance you might think about these questions in relation to the first three chapters:
How does Stephen struggle to figure out who he is in relation to his environment? What are the different aspects of who he is and of his environment that are part of this struggle? Think about family, religion, nationality. How is each significant?
How does the way the story is written -- third person stream of consciousness narration, epiphanies, allusions, images, motifs, syntax, diction -- contribute to how the reader experiences and understands Stephen's process of identity formation?
How is the struggle related to becoming an artist, particularly a language artist? How is the struggle? How is the struggle related to the Daedalus-Icarus myth?
*******
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man online.
Click here to find chapter one with some good notes.
& here you'll find chapter two.
The home page for the enotes version of the book is here. You can use it to click on any of the five chapters or on "Reading Pointers for Sharper Insight" which mentions a lot of the elements -- epiphany, stream of consciousness, Daedalus & Icarus -- that I mentioned last week.
In the comment box below you will post a response (or responses) in which you use close reading to discuss the significance of passages from chapters one, two, and three.
To generate ideas about significance you might think about these questions in relation to the first three chapters:
How does Stephen struggle to figure out who he is in relation to his environment? What are the different aspects of who he is and of his environment that are part of this struggle? Think about family, religion, nationality. How is each significant?
How does the way the story is written -- third person stream of consciousness narration, epiphanies, allusions, images, motifs, syntax, diction -- contribute to how the reader experiences and understands Stephen's process of identity formation?
How is the struggle related to becoming an artist, particularly a language artist? How is the struggle? How is the struggle related to the Daedalus-Icarus myth?
*******
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man online.
Click here to find chapter one with some good notes.
& here you'll find chapter two.
The home page for the enotes version of the book is here. You can use it to click on any of the five chapters or on "Reading Pointers for Sharper Insight" which mentions a lot of the elements -- epiphany, stream of consciousness, Daedalus & Icarus -- that I mentioned last week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)