As I Lay Dying motifs 169-end

Due by Monday (2/22) night pumpkin time.

1. Write your first name, last initial, and motif.

2. List every reference to the motif you have found. Write the chapter name (the name of the narrator), a short description, and the page number. For example, if the motif is "eyes" you might write "Darl (re: Jewel's eyes--like wood) 4; Cora (re: Addie's eyes--like candles & blank) 8 and 9; [etc.]"

3. Choose two quotations that seem especially significant to the novel so far. Type the whole quotation, include the chapter name (the name of the narrator) and page number.

4. Write one paragraph (about 100 words) analyzing the significance of the motif in the first quotation and another paragraph (same length) analyzing the significance of the motif in the second quotation.

5. Write a third paragraph (about 100 words) exploring the significance of the motif in the novel so far.

6. Write a fourth paragraph (about 100 words) exploring the significance of the motif in relation to another motif. Make direct reference to comments made by your peer who is tracking this other motif.

Writing your own poems...

You must bring a poem you have written to class tomorrow (Friday, February 12).

Ideas...

Here's what we talked about in class:

Write using a form you've studied: sonnet, villanelle, sestina, etc.
Write modifying a form you've studied.
Write using an invented form.
Think about rhythm (meter, stresses, syllables), sound (rhyme, alliteration, assonance, consonance), number of lines (per stanza, per poem), acrostics (or double acrostics or mesostics), typography (shape, poem-as-picture, l(a leaf falls)oneliness, font style, font size), repeating or omitting words or letters (anaphora, epistrophe, no words with the letter "e", etc.)

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Here are a few other ideas:

Write a poem based on a dream you've had related to your theme. (Or invent a dream related to your theme.) Check out "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and "The Librarian" [scroll down to Reading in Boston, June 1962 #16] for examples of poems based on dreams.

Freewrite for five minutes about your topic. Write whatever you're thinking. Follow the wanderings of the mind. Try to be true to your stream of consciousness. Then, circle ten or fifteen or twenty (or any other number of) words from the stream. Finally, write a poem in which the number of words you've circled determines the number of lines in the poem. Make sure you use at least one of the circled words in each line and make sure you use each circled word at least once. Choose a phrase from one of the poems you've found to be the title.

Start with a line from one of the poems you've found. Write your own poem spinning outward from that line. Your poem might correspond with the line lengths and number of lines of the poem you've borrowed the first line from. (Here are two poems that use this technique: one by Robert Duncan and the other by Lisa Jarnot.)

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Here are the directions for the poems you will write for the Personal Poetry Project Anthology (You can read the rest of the directions here).

8. A poem that you have written
containing an allusion
9. A poem that you have written
using a traditional or invented form
10. A poem that you have written
that is a strict, loose, or homophonic translation
11. A poem that you have written
in any form

*note four poems will be "free choice"; these can be poems you have found, written, and/or translated.

As I Lay Dying motifs pages 85-168

Due by Wednesday night pumpkin time.

1. Write your first name, last initial, and motif.

2. List every reference to the motif you have found. Write the chapter name (the name of the narrator), a short description, and the page number. For example, if the motif is "eyes" you might write "Darl (re: Jewel's eyes--like wood) 4; Cora (re: Addie's eyes--like candles & blank) 8 and 9; [etc.]"

3. Choose two quotations that seem especially significant to the novel so far. Type the whole quotation, include the chapter name (the name of the narrator) and page number.

4. Write one paragraph (about 100 words) analyzing the significance of the motif in the first quotation and another paragraph (same length) analyzing the significance of the motif in the second quotation.

5. Write a third paragraph (about 100 words) exploring the significance of the motif in the novel so far.

6. Write a fourth paragraph (about 100 words) exploring the significance of the motif in relation to another motif. Make direct reference to comments made by your peers who is tracking this other motif.

Poetry Searches

Looking for poems?

Try these websites.

Poetry Magazine (This site keeps expanding. [Several years ago a very wealthy woman gave the Poetry Foundation a lot of money. & this website is one of the ways they're using it.] I found many interesting poems -- including a poem by C.P. Cavafy called "The Afternoon Sun" -- by searching for several of the themes you have chosen.)

American Academy of Poets (Click on the "advanced search" underneath "Find a poem or poet". One of the categories is "vampire".)

Jacket Magazine (The search function is here)

As I Lay Dying motifs pages 3-84

Due by Wednesday night pumpkin time

1. Write your first name, last initial, and motif.

2. List every reference to the motif you have found. Write the chapter name (the name of the narrator), a short description, and the page number. For example, if the motif is "eyes" you might write "Darl (re: Jewel's eyes--like wood) 4; Cora (re: Addie's eyes--like candles & blank) 8 and 9; [etc.]"

3. Choose two quotations that seem especially significant to the novel so far. Type the whole quotation, include the chapter name (the name of the narrator) and page number.

4. Write one paragraph (about 100 words) analyzing the significance of the motif in the first quotation and another paragraph (same length) analyzing the significance of the motif in the second quotation.

5. Write a third paragraph (about 100 words) exploring the significance of the motif in the novel so far.