Today, along with our DIALOGUE POEM, we will try this activity to help with rhyme and meter.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

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.

Please read the short Robert Frost poem with the title "Nothing Gold Can Stay." Then read it again. Consider its thematic possibilities, and different ways that we interpret the word "gold."  What is Frost ultimately saying?

THEN, in an appreciation of Frost's style, try your own version of the poem.  Each line, aside from the title and the final line (which is the title again) should be six syllable rhyming couplets.

EXAMPLE:

NOTHING SWEET IS BAD

My chocolate cake is good

It’s happy-making food.

My frosted cupcake’s fun

When the long day is done.

So sweets go to the sweet

Deserving of a treat

So sugar makes us glad:

Nothing sweet is bad.

NOW you try!  Count your lines and choose only true rhymes.

OUR FAVORITE SETTINGS

SMALL TOWNS
    --everyone knows everyone
    --if an event happens, everyone knows it
    --town gossip
    --town drunk

HOGWARTS CASTLE
    --Diagon Alley with shops and wizard clothing, products
    --Familiar--school-like setting, returning after summer, stern teachers
    --Different--witches, wizards, odd clothing, strange courses, monsters, moving staircases
    --NEW WORLD--we investigate the castle WITH the characters, every year we learn
       new things about it
    --Common rooms--students gathering in houses (mysterious paintings/passwords)
    --Quidditch

THE GIVER
     --Everything is the same
     --Scary,  Dystopian, but compelling
     --Big Brother--type setting
     --Future

THE SECRET HISTORY--college campus
     --Intense snowstorms
     --Isolaton
     --Ivy-covered stone walls--academic setting
     --Aura of mystery, suspense

DIVERGENT
--Factions in various  parts of CHICAGO
--Characters must belong to one or another
--Factions reveal description, allow reader to know characters
--We are drawn in by finding our PLACE in the setting
--in FUTURE

THE LION, THE WITCH, and THE WARDROBE

--Fantasy
--Escape
--Child goes through wardrobe into another world
--Time stops in real world so no one realizes someone was gone.

Description and Setting: An Introduction

This week we'll read and write descriptions and look at successful fictional settings.  As an introduction to setting and word choice, look at these two introductory passages.  The first one was written by Edgar Allan Poe in his famous short story "The Fall of the House of Usher."  The second is a re-phrasing of Poe's words. Why is Poe's description more memorable?

During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher.

Throughout a quiet, overcast autumn day, when gray clouds lay soft and low in the sky, I had been enjoying a solitary ride through an unremarkable expanse of countryside, and after a time found myself, as twilight faded to velvet dusk, within view of the unhappy House of Usher. 

(borrowed from http://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/improve-my-writing/enrich-your-descriptions).

The Eight Point Story Arc

Today we'll examine story structure in more detail. Right now, before revision, your stories are tending toward bland and static narratives without much detail or dialogue. In looking at a standard story arc for establishing action, you can re-structure your stories, streamline them, and make them more engaging to the reader.

None of you opted to turn in a revision of story one, but remember that in revision we find our best writing. If you do revise story two, follow these guidelines:

--Turn in original with new version

--DOUBLE SPACE revision

--Turn in by December 4,  Tuesday

We'll also give you some ideas for exploring your Christmas images poetically

Character and Dialogue

Which two characters will you pair to create an interesting dialogue? Will Snoopy meet Garfield? Will Jay Gatsby meet Juliet? How will you use the dialogue to reveal their personalities? What scenario are they a part of?

Be sure to acknowledge our rules about indenting, dialogue tags and narration.

The Highwayman and the Narrative Poem

Alfred Noyes wrote this famous poem when he was twenty-four years old; it took him about two days to finish the final draft.  It is set in 18th Century England and focuses on a young robber who is in love with the local landlord's daughter.

Noyes was inspired by his own setting (he was staying in a cottage in a desolate Scottish heath) in order to create the spooky, dreary setting of his poem.

After reading and studying "The Highwayman" today, write your own poem in which you pay homage to a particular type of man.  See the examples on previous blogs for ideas.


Post your poem by Monday!

For those who were absent, the poem can be found HERE.



For poetry ideas, think of all the words with "man" in them:

Fireman, policeman, garbage man, clergyman, ombudsman, snowman, mailman, gentleman, minuteman, weatherman, working man, cameraman, fisherman, superman, cameraman, et cetera.

Imagination and Synesthesia

How might an experience change if viewed through the lens of synesthesia? This condition lends itself to creative and poetic thinking, so imagine a world where the senses are not strictly separated. 

Then translate that into a poem in which every line contains a blending of the senses.

Just as Fitzgerald had us considering the meaning of "yellow cocktail music" at Gatsby's party, we can use sensory details to re-frame perception.

Example:


Morning

The day rises with the violin strains of the sun
As the blue feeling of coffee invigorates me
Along with its nutty scent, its warm bubbling sound . . .