The Public Life

We began by reviewing Monday's quiz, noting the correlation between attendance and academic success. (Of those who were here both Wednesday and Thursday, 4 of 6 scored 44+ on the 45 point quiz. The average for those students missing one or both days was 27/45.) An extra credit assignment related to the quiz was distributed, due Friday.

Then, we talked (in a general sense) about the final group project and paper. Each person was asked to submit 3-5 ideas for the final project. From those, the following list was generated:

Poems Related to Relationships (Love/Marriage, Parent-Child, )
Performance Poetry/Poetry Slams
Nature Poetry
Women’s Rights/Feminist Poetry
Elegies
Music/Song Lyrics (Queen, Blue October)
Poems of the Harlem Renaissance (Jazz poetry)
Poems related to Civil Rights
Holiday poems (Halloween, etc.)

Wednesday, students will be asked to select their top three choices, and groups will be assigned by the end of the week, taking into consideration both topic and partner preferences.

During the last 15 minutes, we discussed general categories of poetry related to "The Public Life." Per Vendler, these included poems that commemorate communal celebration (the 4th of July), poems concerned with a crucial single public event (the bombing of an Alabama church in 1963), and poems written about "the state of common life, shared by some population in a certain time and place" (9). Then, in groups of 2-4, students analyzed groups within this tradition including Dunbar's "We Wear the Mask," Hughes' "Harlem," Hughes' "The Weary Blues," and Johnson's "Lift Every Voice and Sing." Students will continue work on their Six Steps for Analyzing a Poem (courtesy of Marcie Sims) tomorrow, reporting out during the latter portion of class.