Poem Discussions

You will need to buy two published collections of poetry (or borrow them from the library) to read during the semester. Pick a poet who inspires you, or a poet you've always wanted to study. (Please try to pick a collection you haven't read before, because the point of this class is to extend your knowledge, not just to rehash poets you've already read.) You will write two brief reports on these collections, which will be due with your portfolio on May 1st.  But in the meantime, you will need to pick poems out of these collections to share with your classmates every week. (You'll need to post the first one by Feb 6, so get cracking on finding your collections!)

The Poems Discussions folder can be found HERE, and you can also click the link in the schedule each week to access that week's poems.

Pick a poem in the collection that strikes you--that makes you think, and that you'd like to talk about.

Type out the poem, either straight into Google Doc, or in your word processor to cut and paste into the Google doc. The act of physically writing out a published author's poem can be profound, I've found. Be sure to include the title, author, and collection.

Include a paragraph after the poem about why you chose it, or what you find interesting about it.

Comment on the poem at some of the specific lines or images that struck you.

The rest of the class will then read at each poem and add their thoughts and commentary.

I plan to review and grade these on Monday afternoons, so please have your comments for your classmates' poems, and your poem posted for the following week, in the Google Doc by 12pm on Mondays.

So to be clear about what's expected:

You will each need to copy and post a poem from one of published collections you're reading into the Poem Discussion #1 folder by 12pm on February 6.

You will then have until Feb 13 by 12pm to comment on the poems posted by your classmates, by which time you will have also posted a new poem to read and discuss into the Poem Discussion #2 folder.

And so on, and so on. . .

*If you really aren't feeling any of the poems in your collection for that week, I will allow you to post another poem by a published author-- perhaps a poem that you feel has always inspired your own work, or a poem you'd like to study. My only rule here is that the poem must be a published poem by a professionally published poet.

Does this all make sense? Please post questions into the comments below.