figurative language

Figurative language in poetry is an enormous topic, and a pervasive one. The majority of the time spent in studying poetry is concerned, on some level, with the ways poems say one thing in terms of another, compare or juxtapose things, or give things a new slant through some sort of gesture we might call figurative.

Metaphors and similes are tropes already ensconced in your minds, I’m sure. But I suggest that you think of these tropes as part of a larger scheme of comparison, played out in poems by figurative language.

Read Mark Doty’s poem “Broadway” and consider the scheme of comparisons. How does Doty use figurative language to suggest something about the setting? To relate something about the figures in the poem? How does this ‘scheme of comparison’ work to create meaning in the poem as a whole?

Your post of no less than 200 words is due by class on 22 April.

poetry? onoetry!

For tonight, watch the video for “The Emigrant Irish” by Eavan Boland. The poem is read by Stephen Murphy, a Financial Consultant from Brookline, MA.  Look for the video on the Favorite Poem Project website. Then write a post exploring how the poem works for Stephen. Follow the model we practiced in class dicussion today. Your post should be about 200-300 words. See you tomorrow.

a young henry james

“Brooksmith,” by Henry James

a young henry james

In the article you read yesterday, “Can Intelligent Literature Survive in the Digital Age,” a college instructor describes his students’ struggle with a short story by author Henry James: “It turned out they were defeated by everything that James was trying to communicate. The narrative river of thoughts wasn’t one on which they could sail. The subtle moral distinctions between characters, the importance of their choices in the society through which they moved – it wasn’t just that the students found such things old-fashioned; they couldn’t grasp them at all.”

Let’s read the James story, and try to see why these students found the story difficult. What couldn’t they grasp? Why might they have had the reaction they did? Read the story and reflect on this quesiton in a short 200 word post, and we’ll discuss it tomorrow.

living without lit?

So we’ve come to the end of our unit on the novel. And we ended our unit on the novel with a book we all seemed to enjoy. Did it have any value? If so, how do we value it?

Let’s think about this question in light of another article on the how the digital age may be affecting our reading habits–and not just our reading habits, but our extended, deep reading of literature.

Post a 250 word response that reflects on how you may or may not find value in All The Pretty Horses.  Whatever your response, please think about how the article linked above may connect to your opinion.

those whom life does not cure death will p238

McCarthy's childhood home

Discuss the role of landscape in All the Pretty Horses.

But if you crave a more specific direction:

Why all the blood-red imagery? Why are the landscapes often described as blood-red? On page five you find images of blood and the recent frontier, and the threat of Comanche warriors still echoing in the air. What feeling is McCarthy trying to create? How does this atmosphere enhance meaning in the novel (remember our discussion of form and content).

A post of no less than 500 words is due by the end of the period.

I’m a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride….

Due on Thursday, look at the main character of All the Pretty Horses (John Grady Cole).  Describe in at least 300 words your initial reaction to this character.  What is your first impression of him?  What kind of person do you think he is?

faulkner wiki

What are you looking at William?

Oh.

It’s a wiki some Donovan students created about you.

further reading

ian mcewan at home in London

I thought this article might interest those of you who read Saturday with me last year. It’s short and it explores the connections between Mrs. Dallowy and Saturday, Clarissa and Perowne. I really recommend taking a look. “Who’s Afriad of Virginia Woolf?” by Katie Roiphie at Slate.com.

Oh, and kudos to Amanda for reflecting on the similarities in her most recent post.

your impressions

Pissarro,'The Boulevard Montmartre at Night,' 1897. London, The National Gallery.

For tonight and tomorrow, describe an instance in the novel so far where you felt the stream of consciousness technique was particularly effective. Was there a moment when your felt particularly moved? Where you visualized, smelled, heard, something intensely? Where you thought about yourself, and how you think daily? Where you felt as though Mrs. Dalloway’s thoughts led you to an overwhelming insight about life in general?

Be sure to cite the page number(s), and try to give as much detail as possible. This is an informal reflection. Your post is due by 8AM Thursday. 500 words, as always.

stream of consciousness

About using the technique that would later come to be known as stream of consciousness, Virgina Woolf said that she attempted to render the thoughts of her characters  “as they fall” upon their minds. Later textbook definitions would describe stream of consciousness as an extreme form of third-person limited point of view, which replicates the thought processes of a character. As your Norton guidebook tells you, this “running meditation may include sensory impressions, memories, opinions, and insights, organized by free association, in just the digressive form that it might follow in real life.”

In at least 500 words, reflect on the experience of reading a stream of consciousness novel. Your post is due at 8:00am tomorrow, 9 September.