POETRY. For our mini-unit on Poetry in English 12, we are looking at poetry from a FORMALIST perspective and a HISTORICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL perspective.

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1 POETRY is the purest form of language. It is often, short, layered, and plays to our ears. It is music and politics and emotion and humor. It, unlike any other kind of writing, gets to play with the rules. If poetry wants rules, it has them. If it wants freedom, it gets it. For our mini-unit on Poetry in English 12, we are looking at poetry from a FORMALIST perspective and a HISTORICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL perspective. The first is the structural nature of poetry. Poetry can follow or break rules, but two features discernable in nearly every poem are diction to produce intentional tone and structural or tonal shifts. As we analyze poetry, we will be focusing on these two structures and how they help to communicate meaning. The second is the contextual nature of poetry. Throughout history, poetry has been used for religious, political, and social purposes all of which are rooted in some essential philosophy about life, art, and human experience. Over time, these poetic schools and movements have emerged, each with a fairly distinct and unified approach to what their art does, is for, and how it all is constructed (or not constructed). As we examine poetic schools and movements, we will be examining: How does the historical and social context in which the poem was written influence its content, tone, and structure? How does the author s life in particular influence the content, tone, and structure of the poetry? This is all working toward a project, where you and your mates present an engaging and informative presentation that summarizes the critical discoveries of your research and presents recitations of example poems from the authors representative of your movement. You will select (or be assigned) a poetic school or movement from history. Collaboratively, you will then research the origin, essential philosophies, formalist approaches, and major artists of this movement. Each member of your will select an example poem from an author in this movement, analyze that poem, and fluidly read that poem for the final presentation. Your goal is to teach your classmates about your movement. They (and you) will have to pass a final test I create as I review the presentations. This test will cover all of the movements about which you and your classmates present.

2 abashed abrasive abusive acquiescent accepting acerbic admiring adoring affectionate aghast allusive amused angry anxious apologetic apprehensive approving arch ardent argumentative audacious awe-struck bantering begrudging bemused benevolent biting bitter blithe boastful bored brisk bristling brusque calm candid caressing caustic cavalier childish child-like clipped cold complimentary condescending confident confused coy contemptuous conversational critical curt cutting cynical defamatory denunciatory despairing detached devil-may-care didactic disbelieving discouraged disdainful disparaging disrespectful distracted doubtful dramatic dreamy dry ecstatic entranced enthusiastic eulogistic exhilarated exultant facetious fanciful fearful flippant fond forceful frightened frivolous frustrated ghoulish giddy gleeful glum grim guarded guilty happy harsh haughty heavy-hearted hollow horrified humorous hypercritical indifferent indignant indulgent ironic irreverent joking joyful languorous languid laudatory light-hearted lingering loving marveling melancholy mistrustful mocking mysterious naïve neutral nostalgic objective obsessive peaceful pessimistic pitiful playful poignant pragmatic proud provocative questioning rallying reflective reminiscing reproachful resigned respectful restrained reticent reverent rueful sad sarcastic sardonic satirical satisfied seductive self-critical self-dramatizing self-justifying self-mocking self-pitying self-satisfied sentimental serious severe sharp shocked silly sly smug solemn somber stern straightforward stentorian strident stunned subdued swaggering sweet sympathetic taunting tense thoughtful threatening tired touchy trenchant uncertain understated upset urgent vexed vibrant wary whimsical wistful withering wry zealous

3 The Presentation December 2014 English 12 Gardner is a minute presentation that follows the following pattern: (:30) Introduction: Hook the audience in, give a quick definition of what your movement is all about. (2:00) Review of the Research: o The timeframe and origin of this movement o The distinctive social, philosophical, political or cultural context within which this movement emerged, and how these influenced the artwork o The distinctive formal elements of poetry in this movement o Examples of major writers and works which exemplify this movement (3:00) Student Recitation #1 o Explanation of how recitation #1 illustrates elements of this movement (3:00) Student Recitation #2 o Explanation of how recitation #2 illustrates elements of this movement (3:00) Student Recitation #3 o Explanation of how recitation #3 illustrates elements of this movement (2:30) Conclusion: o Review the major ideas about this movement. o Review the main formalist elements of the movement, citing examples from the example poems recited. o Close with a concise statement of this movement s central idea. I expect that this presentation will be rehearsed multiple times before you present as a. I expect that all students will speak during the presentation. I expect that this presentation will utilize technology such as PowerPoint or Prezi. You will be graded three ways: first, on the quality of your oral recitation and analysis of your individual poem; second, on the accuracy and completeness of the information the provides; and last, the overall organization and quality of the presentation as a whole.

4 The Portfolio is a collection of examples and analysis that you will assemble and present to document and demonstrate your understanding of your assigned school or movement. Assembling your portfolio will directly support your development of a quality presentation. The Portfolio should contain, in this order: 1. The completed and filled out Team Action Plan 2. A collaboratively-written researched summary of a. the key ideas of your school or movement b. the timeline and/or historical context c. how the historical context influenced the poetry and poets d. key characteristics or features of poetry from this school or movement 3. A chart listing major authors and titles of works OR a collage of names, faces, or chunks of text that represent this school or movement 4. A properly formatted MLA Works Cited for sections 2 and 3 5. Each student will compile a section containing: a. A clean copy of a representative poem b. A glossed/tpcastt ed copy of the poem c. A half-page explanation of how and why this poem is representative of the selected school or movement d. A one page MLA formatted biography of the author, with sources cited e. A one-paragraph FORMALIST analysis of the featured poem focusing on tone and/or shifts in the poem and how these convey broader meaning f. A one-paragraph BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL analysis of the featured poem focusing on how the author s personal life and/or historical context directly influenced the content or structure of the poem 6. A learning scale that identifies levels of understanding a person should have about this school or movement: To achieve a Level 4, a student would be able to DO. To achieve a Level 3, a student would KNOW. To achieve a Level 2, a student would definitely KNOW but might not know. To achieve a Level 1, a student might GUESS but would be wrong because.

5 The Timeline December 2014 English 12 Gardner Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Weekend TTTC Unit Test Debrief Poetry Project Preview HW: Select School or Movement Work Time portfolio for teacher check IC: Presentation Practice and Portfolio Check in Class HW: Final preparations for presentation Due: School or Movement Choice IC: Review and Practice TPCASTT analysis HW: Practice TPCASTT, due tomorrow IC: Practice Formalist analysis Round 1 of Presentations Due: Practice TPCASTT Work Time; Team Planning HW: Team Planning Outline Report to LAB 200 Research and Work Time Round 2 of Presentations Due: Team Planning Outline IC: Debrief TPCASTT and practice analysis HW: Practice TPCASTT, due tomorrow IC: Practice Historical/ Biographical analysis Round 3 Presentations SUB Due: Practice TPCASTT Work Time Work Time portfolio due for teacher check Monday Poetry Unit Test portfolio due for teacher check Monday BREAK! Things you will need to be able to know and do by the end o Define TPCASTT and apply it to analysis of a poem o Identify dominant tones and tone shifts present in a work of poetry o Effectively scan and gloss a poem o Identify the critical features of a variety of poetic schools and movements o On demand, perform an analysis of the tone and effect of a poem as well as what stylistic features produce this tone and effect

6 Team Action Plan Specific Task Who is responsible? (Names) Deadline Completed?