9th Grade - Students continued working with the narrative form of poetry, and we have shifted back from contemporary music (Aesop Rock) to earlier American literature. Students listened to "The Raven," as presented by Christopher Walken, and we discussed several aspects of the poem as a class.
First, we made sure the class had a full understanding of the vocabulary found in the poem, and that everyone understood the general plotline before going in greater depth. As mentioned yesterday, Poe disliked allegory and extended metaphor, and aimed at being very clear with the purpose and theme behind his writing, making "The Raven" a very useful poem for analysis.
We discussed the theme of death that is prevalent in his work, which is attributed to the fact that Poe saw death as a universal theme - everyone experiences it.
Another major theme is beauty, and Poe felt that the best way to combine the two themes would be to incorporate the death of a beautiful woman.
The symbolism of the raven is also a major point of the story. It is a dark bird that symbolizes death, and by providing an animal not usually associated with high intelligence as the interrogator of the narrator, it helps frame the state of mind of the narrator.
Other key point - While writing "The Raven," developed guidelines for effective poetic writing. One of these is that a good story should be able to be read in one sitting.
Homework - Develop idea for your own narrative poem. It should have a rhyme scheme, though the exact style is not as important (can model after "The Raven," "Fishtales," "No Regrets"). Goal is to have AT LEAST 8 quatrains.
10th Grade - Sophomores wrote rough drafts for the literary analysis B.O.E. I collected the drafts for participation credit for the day, and we will work on typing up the final drafts tomorrow. Overall, sophomore classes worked very effeciently today and I was pretty impressed. Props.
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