Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

I

Among twenty snowy mountains,
The only moving thing
Was the eye of the black bird.

II

I was of three minds,
Like a tree
In which there are three blackbirds.

III

The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.
It was a small part of the pantomime.

IV

A man and a woman
Are one.
A man and a woman and a blackbird
Are one.

V

I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.

VI

Icicles filled the long window
With barbaric glass.
The shadow of the blackbird
Crossed it, to and fro.
The mood
Traced in the shadow
An indecipherable cause.

VII

O thin men of Haddam,
Why do you imagine golden birds?
Do you not see how the blackbird
Walks around the feet
Of the women about you?

VIII

I know noble accents
And lucid, inescapable rhythms;
But I know, too,
That the blackbird is involved
In what I know.

IX

When the blackbird flew out of sight,
It marked the edge
Of one of many circles.

X

At the sight of blackbirds
Flying in a green light,
Even the bawds of euphony
Would cry out sharply.

XI

He rode over Connecticut
In a glass coach.
Once, a fear pierced him,
In that he mistook
The shadow of his equipage
For blackbirds.

XII

The river is moving.
The blackbird must be flying.

XIII

It was evening all afternoon.
It was snowing
And it was going to snow.
The blackbird sat
In the cedar-limbs. 

Wallace Stevens

The Second Coming

  William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

       THE SECOND COMING

    Turning and turning in the widening gyre
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.

    Surely some revelation is at hand;

    Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
    The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
    When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
    Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
    A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
    A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
    Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
    Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.

    The darkness drops again but now I know
    That twenty centuries of stony sleep
    Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
    And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
    Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Ozymandias of Egypt and Nothing Gold Can Stay

Ozymandias of Egypt
by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said:—Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away. 

Nothing Gold Can Stay
by Robert Frost
Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.

Poems

Marginalia by Billy Collins

I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died by Emily Dickinson

Hope Is a Thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson

My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun by Shakespeare

O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman

Fire and Ice by Robert Frost

Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening

The Spider and The Fly by Mary Howitt

The Lake Isle of Innisfree by Yeats

The Raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore--
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visiter," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door--
Only this and nothing more."

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;--vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow--sorrow for the lost Lenore--
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore--
Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me--filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
"'Tis some visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door--
Some late visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door;
This it is and nothing more."

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you"--here I opened wide the door--
Darkness there and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore?"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!"--
Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping something louder than before.
"Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see, then, what thereat is and this mystery explore--
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;--
'Tis the wind and nothing more.

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he,
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door--
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door--
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then the ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore--
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning--little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door--
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as "Nevermore."

But the Raven, sitting lonely on that placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if its soul in that one word he did outpour
Nothing farther then he uttered; not a feather then he fluttered--
Till I scarcely more than muttered: "Other friends have flown before--
On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before."
Then the bird said "Nevermore."

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore--
Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore
Of 'Never--nevermore.'"

But the Raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore--
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking "Nevermore."

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er
She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
"Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee--by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite--respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!--prophet still, if bird or devil!--
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted--
On this home by Horror haunted--tell me truly, I implore--
Is there--is there balm in Gilead?--tell me--tell me, I implore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!--prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us--by that God we both adore--
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore--
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore."
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting--
"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul has spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken!--quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadows on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted--nevermore!

For Monday, 3/5

Today we read the sonnets we wrote yesterday.  I must say, they are really great!  Tomorrow we will be discussing the two Shakespearean sonnets (on Edmodo), so we can write the comparison/contrast paragraphs.

Homework:  Submit your sonnet to Edmodo.  Compare/Contrast paragraph on the two sonnets due Thursday.  

A Sonnet for You

To grade an essay is to find true bliss;
There's nothing on the earth nearly as cool.
I'd rather grade papers than have a kiss.
When I have none to do, I feel the fool.

Kayaking, watching TV or to cook,
spending time with my friends or lovely wife
cannot compare to quizzes on a book
where each one takes a day off of my life.

I hold onto students papers for weeks.
When the beg for grades, I say they must wait,
Because it's not a grade one should seek.
Though they say it's just that I procrastinate.

  Admittedly, I know it may sound dumb
  to find joy in work that is never done.

No Sonnet Due Monday...Tuesday

Hi class,

I hope you've been enjoying your vacation.  I've been sick with a cold up until today, unfortunately.  I will have the video up tomorrow explaining a Shakespearean Sonnet, but we will not have it due Monday...we will wait until Tuesday...so go have fun!

Healthy Relationships

Today we had a presentation from S.A.S.S. on healthy relationships.  So that means we will go over our typed rap drafts tomorrow - don't forget to bring them in!

Also, I've put my top three choices for your class' haikus...vote on your favorite!

Poetry Terms

Check off these terms...the first three you Must include...then identify ten of the remaining.  There are a few more (at the bottom of the list) that we will go over on Monday.

Pun
Verbal Irony
Allusion

Imagery
Full Rhyme
Assonance
Consonance
Alliteration
Oxymoron
Symbolism
    Metaphor
    Simile
Repetition
Enjambment
End-Stopped
Internal Rhyme
End-Rhyme
Hyperbole
Onomatopoeia
Refrain
Personification
Sibilance
Slant Rhyme
Denotation/Connotation

More Work on Rap Battles

Today we met our partners again and went over the first half of the rap battles, the boast.  This is where you boast about your accomplishments and why you are famous.  It is important to revise to include sound devices such as assonance, consonance, and alliteration, along with full rhyme and repetition.

You might find http://www.rhymer.com/ helpful to find rhymes.

Remember, the more specific, factual evidence you can include, the better off your raps will be.

Tomorrow we are talking about the second half of the battle, where you must "diss" or discount your opponent's boasts, proving that you are superior to them.

Homework:  Your second half of your battle is due tomorrow.

Haikus and Poetry Terms

Today, periods 6, 7 had to take the vocabulary quiz.  The rest of us were introduced to some basic poetry terms in preparation for tonight's assignment (and later the rap battle).

Imagery- creating a strong picture with words, usually involving sensory details.

Haikus - traditional Japanese poetry involving strong imagery and heavy symbolism.  It is three lines, 5-7-5 syllables per line, involves nature and a season.

Examples: (these are both translated from Japanese, so the syllables don't match)

The old pond
A frog jumps in -
The sound of water


No sky
no earth - but still
snowflakes fall.


Symbolism:  Having a thing (object, season, or color) represent some bigger idea.
       Metaphor: two things compared using a form of "TO BE"
       Simile: using "like" or "as" to compare two things.

Oxymorons: when you place two "opposite" things close together to show their contrast

Enjambment: when a line of poetry does not end in end-punctuation (periods, colons, or semicolons)

End-Stopped:  when a line of poetry does end in end-punctuation (periods, colons, or semicolons)

Homework:  Reply to the post on Edmodo, submitting a haiku of your own!

Puns and Vocab

Today only periods 1, 2, and 5 met.  We shared the puns we came up with (see video in prior post) and then took the vocabulary quiz.  It seemed to go quite well!

I may have mentioned that there will be a new video tonight, but alas, there is none.

Homework:  None

Periods 5, 7 - be sure to study for vocab quiz and have your pun ready!

Vocabulary Flash Cards for the Blizzard!

So, you have no school today...how about review your vocabulary for Monday's quiz?

Full and Half-Rhymes

The human brain is a pattern finding machine...it even tries to create patterns when there aren't any.  Rhyming are repeating sounds...and poets use these repeating sounds to form a pattern...which are therefor pleasing to the ear.

Have lyrics from a song ever gotten stuck in your head?  There's a reason for that, it has either a half-rhyme or a full rhyme or both in it!

Full Rhyme:  when the endings of two or more words sound the same.

                    rhyme, time, crime, dime, slime....all end with an "ai" sound and and "em" sound.

Half-Rhymes: when one part of two or more words sound the same.  There are three kinds of half-rhymes:

• Alliteration: When two or more words begin with the same sound.

                    Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Pepper

• Consonance: When two or more words share a consonant sound in the middle or ends of the words.

                    In basketball, I gave Mike the smackdown! 

• Assonance: When two or more words share a vowel sound in the middle or ends of the words.

                    We have a meeting every spring season. 

Now, in poetry, full-rhymes and half-rhymes show up in two paces:  at the ends of lines or within a line.

End-Rhyme:  When a rhyme happens at the ends of two or more lines of poetry.

Internal Rhyme:  When a rhyme happens within a line of poetry.

Puns

Homework:  Reply to the Edmodo post for music lyrics and identifying alliteration, consonance, or assonance.  For tomorrow, watch the above video.

Epic Rap Battles and Vocabulary

We briefly touched upon the start of our next unit, which are Epic Rap Battles of History and Literature.  To do this, you need some poetry skills to become good rappers.  You will need to watch the below video to learn three of these terms.

The rest of class today we spent practicing lesson one of the iPad vocabulary unit.  The app is called Brain Snacks SAT, if you want to practice at home.

Homework:  Vocabulary quiz by Friday.  Watch the above video for one more checkin assignment.

The Introduction Paragraph

Today we went over the requirements for the introduction paragraph:

Intertextuality Essay

The FIRST paragraph: The Intro

For this particular essay, the main point is to compare how two protagonists from different “texts” compare and contrast as they go through the Hero’s Journey.  Now we have to introduce these protagonists to a reader (Mr. Stowell) who is somewhat familiar with the works.

Part 1: Hook

Get your poor, bored, tired teacher something interesting to read that separates your essay on heroes from the other 120.  Start it off with a thought-provoking question about heroism, a bold statement about heroism, or heck, if you if you can find a shocking statistic (make sure you cite your source) … awesome!  Don’t have it go over 3-4 sentences.

Part 2: Background

Remember that I (your teacher) have either read your book and/or watched your movie, or are at least somewhat familiar with them.  You don’t need to tell me everything.  What you do need to do is mention each protagonist, each “text,” and roughly describe what challenge they face and what reward they get as they go through the Hero’s Journey.  This is usually done within 6-8 sentences.

Part 3: Thesis

THIS IS ONLY ONE SENTENCE AND IS THE LAST SENTENCE OF THE PARAGRAPH!

It’s simple, it’s short, and it’s to the point.  It says what the essay is about.  What is the essay about?  It’s about how two protagonists from two different “texts” have some similarities and some differences as they go through the Hero’s Journey.  Don’t say “In this essay, I will show you...” because I’m sick of hearing that.

Homework: Submit a completed introduction paragraph to Edmodo tonight.  All paragraphs need to be "turned-in" to Edmodo, rough draft by Friday.

Intertextuality Essays

On Monday, you will have finished your novels and your movie.  We will begin to compare the two of them for an essay due Friday.

First, we'll go over what belongs in your body paragraphs, then we'll worry about the intro and conclusion paragraphs.

Your essays will be typed at home and turned in through Edmodo.

Homework:  You must come to class Monday with a completed Hero's Journey Worksheet for the movie you chose. You must also submit one of your body paragraphs by the end of the day, Monday to Edmodo.

Honors English class candidates:  You must fill out the form (see the last post) by Monday.

Do you want to be in Honors?

Finishing the Book!

Hi folks,

I expect you to have finished your book by Friday night, and finished watching your movie by the following Monday...because on Monday we will officially begin writing the essay!

However, some of you will be finishing your book tonight, and that means you will have two days to get a jump start on your essays.  Look over the rubric I gave you at the beginning of this unit, and tomorrow in class I'll have some graphic organizers for you to start on your body paragraphs!

Standard:  You will have to do three body paragraphs for three stages of the Hero's Journey.
College Prep:  You have four ... for four stages
Honors:  You have five ... for five different stages!

Continuing Film Study

Today we continued tracking the protagonist's progress through the Hero's Journey cycle.  Be prepared to do "Day 5" in your reading groups tomorrow.  If your movie needs to be finished, we will finish it on Wednesday.

Hero's Journey - Film

Today we began watching a film that follow's the Hero's Journey.  Each class has a different film.  One person in your book group may use that film for your comparative essay (see the rubric I gave you at the beginning of the unit).  Also, The Goonies and Wizard of Oz are also options you may use for the essay.

You are responsible for tracking the protagonist through the steps of the Hero's Journey.  We will finish the film on Monday.

Day 5 of the reading unit will recommence on Tuesday.


Homework:  You only have homework if you are behind for day 4 of the reading unit.  Do not read ahead.  Tuesday we will finish the film for the Hero's Journey progression in preparation for your essays.

Day 4 of 10: Allies, Enemies, and Trials

Today in class we will read, looking specifically for passages that show Allies (including god/goddess), Enemies (antagonist), and trials.

See the video below...

Homework:  On Edmodo, find a passage that shows either an ally, an enemy, or a trial that the protagonist faces.

Rhymes

The human brain is a pattern finding machine...it even tries to create patterns when there aren't any.  Rhyming are repeating sounds...and poets use these repeating sounds to form a pattern...which are therefor pleasing to the ear.

Have lyrics from a song ever gotten stuck in your head?  There's a reason for that, it has either a half-rhyme or a full rhyme or both in it!

Full Rhyme:  when the endings of two or more words sound the same.

                    rhyme, time, crime, dime, slime....all end with an "ai" sound and and "em" sound.

Half-Rhymes: when one part of two or more words sound the same.  There are three kinds of half-rhymes:

• Alliteration: When two or more words begin with the same sound.

                    Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Pepper

• Consonance: When two or more words share a consonant sound in the middle or ends of the words.

                    In basketball, I gave Mike the smackdown!

• Assonance: When two or more words share a vowel sound in the middle or ends of the words.

                    We have a meeting every spring season.

Now, in poetry, full-rhymes and half-rhymes show up in two paces:  at the ends of lines or within a line.

End-Rhyme:  When a rhyme happens at the ends of two or more lines of poetry.

Internal Rhyme:  When a rhyme happens within a line of poetry.

Step 3 of the Hero's Journey: The Refusal of the Call

Steps 1 and 2 of The Hero's Journey

Hi Class,

Today you read the first tenth of your book.  In it, you were supposed to see how your protagonist has felt unsettled with their ordinary world.

Watch the video below.



Homework:

1)  Watch this video (above)
2)  Join your Edmodo class, and reply to the question posted there.

Homework AND Youtube blocked from school

Here is today's homework.  Unfortunately, they just blocked all Youtube videos from school, so you have to watch them from home.

You must diagram the two following sentences:


1)  The crazy sentence on the board isn't really hard.

2)  After their class, the students threw Mr. Stowell a tasty pizza party.

If you have a tough time with this, I'll post a video to give you some hints later tonight.

Diagramming and Literature Unit Discussion

Today we will briefly review indirect objects, direct objects, predicate nominatives, predicate adjectives, prepositional phrases and how do diagram sentences with them!  Don't forget that there is a sentence diagramming video posted right before vacation.

There is a quiz on Friday where you will be given the diagrams for four sentences and have to properly fill in the blanks, and then you will be given three sentence for which you have to draw the diagram completely by yourself.

Afterwards, we will introduce the next unit.  You should have begun reviewing the book talk videos on your own (they are below).  If you haven't finished, do so tonight.  We will pick groups tomorrow.

You need to have a group (within your class) of at least 3-4 people.  You need to decide the level of book you want to read as a group, so you all have to pick the same level.

The level of book you read (standard, college prep., or honors) does not necessarily have to be the level of essay you write.

Homework:
Watch book talk videos if you haven't already.
You need to pick your group by tomorrow in class, and book level.
Books need to be chosen by Friday, signed out or acquired by Monday (or lunch detention)
Sentence diagramming quiz on Friday.

Check out some of the videos below!

So...I just made a bunch of little book talk videos.  Check them out if any of them seem interesting.  You will have to choose one of these (be sure to check the level: Honors, College Prep., or Standard) by Friday (or find your own title).  You will also have to choose your group by Friday.

At the beginning of this List is an overview of the unit...you might want to check it out first!

SL - Rash

SL - Running Out of Time

Standard Level - Tuesdays with Morrie

CP - The Hunger Games Series

Oh yes, we have all three....

CP - Into the Wild

CP - Nothing But the Truth

CP - Ender's Game

College Prep. - Z for Zachariah

Honors - A Break with Charity

Honors - Flowers for Algernon

Honors - Kindred

Honors - Fahrenheit 451

Literature Unit - Watch this first!

I hope you had a lovely vacation!  Below you'll find the intro video for the next unit.  Choices must be made by Friday.  I'll be posting book talk videos for the options we have available tonight!