Take A Guided Tour Of Chicago Poetry

Download the mp3 from the Poetry Foundation's website, and bounce around the city, or traipse if you're worn out for a year of studies!

This would have been a great project for someone to do, : ). 

The Long Poem: Tuesday, May 5th:

As you read the following poems, make note of the figurative language both line-to-line and of the poem as a whole text. 

What statement on life and society are each poem making? Or, how is each poem seeing its society?

Here are other questions to help prepare for Tuesday's discussion of these poems, and answering the above more general question:

1. What is the main subject of the poem? (a person, place, animal, etc.)

2. What is that main subject being compared to? (metaphors and similes)

3. Are there multiple comparisons (there should be!)?

4. Is there a connection among all of the comparisons?

5. At any point in the poem, do the comparisons change? When? To what?

6. What thematic meaning do you get from the different comparisons?

 Allen Ginsberg's "Howl", part I and II  with the poet reading!

T.S. Eliot's "The Wasteland" and "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

Also, here is a link to some of the work from Juliana Spahr's collection of long poems, Fuck You-Aloha-I Love You:

Here is Spahr reading the first poem, a preface to the collection (one could say), with the catalyst for the poem explained!

Here is the the long poem "things" through Google Books. Click through each page. 

And, in class you will be given a handout!

For the Last Day of April (Thursday, the 30th):

Read:

Metaphor and Simile, and Symbol: pages 481-500 (minus the ED poem!)

Also: John Donne's "The Flea," p. 450.

Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach," p. 454

Pay special attention to: Shakespeare's "[Shall I compare thee...]," Jarrell's "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner," Sharon Olds' "Leningrad Cemetery, Winter of 1941," the three rose poems!, and the two above!!!

iPod Podcasts

Dear Students,

Besides reminding those not in class that there's no class Thursday, April 23 -- I wanted to make note of those who use iTunes that...if you were interested...you can find free podcasts of classic poetry! I've been wanting to, and still intend, to have us listen to some on-line readings before the semester is over.

And for those that were interested in reading something of mine own! I doth protest no more...as we gear up for Thursday's Talk Like Shakespeare day. Click here to read the only other poem of mine on the web. Warning: It contains profanity, and that profanity is within context of the poem!

If I were to teach my own poems (ugh), I'd say the two exemplify a fake confessional voice (very 2000-chic) to explore their themes, but one is more narrative and the other more lyrical. 

The rest are all in print journals, or want to be, or soon will be.