Blogger #3
Victoria Bernadskiy
Period 5 Day B
11/5/2020
Freshman Lit 2021
Aim: How can we use the poem, “This is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams as inspiration for our own poems?
Do Now: Think/Pair/Share
Describe a time when you or someone you know did something that was “technically wrong” and you should have felt sorry for it but you didn’t?
During this time, students were given time to come up with an answer to this prompt. We listened to students’ answers and reflected upon our own experiences. A common similarity between the stories is the presence of a sibling, and times when you have wronged your sibling but you do not feel bad about it. It was interesting to see that almost everyone remembered an instance like this, and this shows a lack of maturity within our classmates. However, its still important to understand these experiences and reflect upon our feelings. This would help us understand the future slides.
Next we spirit read the poem “This Is Just To Say” By William Carlos Williams.
This Is Just To Say
BY WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
This poem talks about the narrator, which has eaten another character's plums without their permission. The narrator shows understanding that he has made a mistake and that he was not supposed to eat the plums, but the narrator's word choice and diction indicate that he does not feel truly sorry for his actions. This is a freestyle poem that has a structured rhythm, but does not rhyme. We have a class discussion where we discuss the events transpiring in the poem and how the word choice affects its meaning. We come to the conclusion that the narrator does not feel truly sorry for eating the plums, because he used words such as “so sweet” and “so cold”, which tells us that he was glad that he had the chance to eat those plums and have such a delicious snack.
Next, we move on to a quick description of the previous poem. This description explains that this poem was created when a man stuck a note to his fridge for his wife, and that note contained this poem. This explains why this poem does not seem to be all too special, because it was originally just a message from a man to his wife. This poem “has no regular rhythm or syllabic count, no rhyme, and lacks any punctuation, other than line-breaks. It is true to the poetic philosophy that Williams championed - away with convention, free the line, write poems about anything, be local, be American, no ideas but in things.” The second part of that quote from the lesson is about the freedom in writing when it comes to poems, and the wide pool of options when it comes to creating a freestyle poem.
Now, we look at variations of the poem we just looked at. Students spirit read through the following poems.
1
I chopped down the house that you had been saving to live in next summer.
I am sorry, but it was morning, and I had nothing to do
and its wooden beams were so inviting.
2
I gave away the money that you had been saving to live on for the
next ten years.
The man who asked for it was shabby
and the firm March wind on the porch was so juicy and cold.
4
Last evening we went dancing and I broke your leg.
Forgive me. I was clumsy and
I wanted you here in the wards, where I am the doctor!
-- Kenneth Koch
After a brief class discussion, we were able to agree that these stories all share a common concept of faked regret. The narrator's apologize for their actions, but then give reasons that explain why their actions were beneficial. This is equal to saying “but” after apologizing. It makes the apology ingenuine.
After finding out how exactly these poems are similar to “This is Just to Say”, the class was now given 5 minutes to come up with as many variations for “This is Just to Say” as they could. These poems could be any length, even as little as 2 or 3 lines. They were all required to contain the same “fake apology” as in the previous poems. While students were individually working on this assignment, they were required to use creativity to create these short poems. After the timer was up, those who believed that they had made a lot of poems would read out the number of poems they created, until we found the student with the most poems. In the end, the student with the most poems ended up creating over 20 poems. She was required to read out the poems in order to ensure that her poems have met the guidelines provided, and after reading them out the class concluded that these poems were valid. She was declared the winner and gained 30 points for her team.
After this activity, we moved onto imagery in poetry. We were moving onto imagery, and how it has an impact on poetry. Here it is explained that the word imagery originates from the latin word imago (picture). Then they talk more about the imagination side of imagery. Imagery is linked to feeling, and impacts how we feel and how we think during the poem. For example, using a phrase such as “I’m sad” has very little impact on the imagination and does not give you a great idea of the reason or the feeling behind the sadness. Saying “I’m absolutely heartbroken and shocked” gives a better idea of the sadness that is depicted.
Next we watched a YouTube video about imagery, titled “Red Room Poetry Object Poetic Device #2: Imagery”. This video is used to better help students understand how imagery is used and how it helps the author and reader. The video also mentions awakening your five senses through imagery, and using words that best feed the imagination and the senses. The video provided many examples of imagery, and used images and music to back up and greatly amplify the effect of the imagery from the poems. After watching the video, we were asked to explain the main takeaway from the video. After discussion, we came to a conclusion that the video's main point was the benefit of imagery on the five senses.
Poetry Object Poetic Device #2: Imagery | ClickView [2:31]
We then move onto the next slide, slide 7, where there are more poems present. An example is “the clouds collapsed,
they’re touching the ground
trying to come alive,
but they can’t.
Images from a landscape are used to indicate hopelessness.
This is a quote from the slide, and is just one of the examples of the poems that include imagery. Also, an explanation is provided that explains the meaning behind the imagery and how it relates to the poem. This helps us understand the purpose of the imagery and how it's used. In this example, the use of clouds as imagery helps us imagine clouds that are trying to gain height but cannot. These clouds are being explained in a way that is relatable to us, using words such as “collapsed” and “trying to come alive”. In the next paragraph, imagery is appealing to our sense of touch and sight, where they are explaining a happy feeling that is described using imagery such as “my heart was warm” and “swelling waters”. The last poem of the slide used imagery to compare something, the feeling of disappointment, to a relatable situation, which is finishing a piece of cake. The cake is used as imagery to convey the feeling, and this is more effective than just saying “I’m upset and disappointed”.
This is the image used to describe that disappointing feeling.
After looking at these poems, we moved on to a longer poem called “Fast Break” by Edward Hirsch. The class took turns spirit reading through this poem on slides 8 and 9. This poem depicts a slow motion play-by-play of a basketball game from the perspective of one of the players. During the class discussion that follows, the students take time to clarify the events that transpired during the poem, in order to make sure that the entire class is on the same page. Lots of imagery is used throughout this poem, as the reader's attention is grabbed by the basketball that is constantly changing its course.
After going over this poem, the students were broken up into their teams to complete the TWIST chart about the poem. The TWIST chart contains Tone, Word choice, Imagery, Style, and Theme. The students were all given about 8 minutes to fill out this chart with their group.
An example of a completed chart is shown below.
Student reflection of the days lesson:
What did I learn?
In this lesson I learned about imagery and its use in poetry. I learned that the way that imagery helps the reader better understand the poem and helps the reader become more engaged with the packet is because imagery appeals to the five senses. The five senses allow us to better imagine the events in the poem, which is the whole idea when you are reading an imaginative passage. I also learned that poems do not need to have a set rhythm or have rhyme because of the poem “This is Just to Say”. That poem allowed me to see how diverse the options are for writing a poem.
Why did I learn it?
I learned about literary devices and imagery because these are concepts that will enhance my writing quality, for poems and other types of writing. Poetry is difficult to understand but even harder to create, so it's important that you know the right tools to create a piece of writing that the reader can both understand and enjoy. Imagery helps a lot with both of these aspects.
How will I use what I learned?
I will use what I learned by incorporating imagery into my future writings, as a way to make my work more intriguing and expressive. I will also use what I learned from the poem “This is Just to Say” by widening my options for my poems and expressing my thought and feelings in the poem in many different ways, whether it be with a set rhythm and rhyme or with no rhyme and an out-of-sync rhythm.
Blogger #3
Victoria Bernadskiy
Period 5 Day B
11/5/2020
Freshman Lit 2021
Aim: How can we use the poem, “This is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams as inspiration for our own poems?
Do Now: Think/Pair/Share
Describe a time when you or someone you know did something that was “technically wrong” and you should have felt sorry for it but you didn’t?
During this time, students were given time to come up with an answer to this prompt. We listened to students’ answers and reflected upon our own experiences. A common similarity between the stories is the presence of a sibling, and times when you have wronged your sibling but you do not feel bad about it. It was interesting to see that almost everyone remembered an instance like this, and this shows a lack of maturity within our classmates. However, its still important to understand these experiences and reflect upon our feelings.This would help us understand the future slides.
Next we spirit read the poem “This Is Just To Say” By William Carlos Williams.
This Is Just To Say
BY WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
This poem talks about the narrator, which has eaten another character's plums without their permission. The narrator shows understanding that he has made a mistake and that he was not supposed to eat the plums, but the narrator's word choice and diction indicate that he does not feel truly sorry for his actions. This is a freestyle poem that has a structured rhythm, but does not rhyme. We have a class discussion where we discuss the events transpiring in the poem and how the word choice affects its meaning. We come to the conclusion that the narrator does not feel truly sorry for eating the plums, because he used words such as “so sweet” and “so cold”, which tells us that he was glad that he had the chance to eat those plums and have such a delicious snack.
Next, we move on to a quick description of the previous poem. This description explains that this poem was created when a man stuck a note to his fridge for his wife, and that note contained this poem. This explains why this poem does not seem to be all too special, because it was originally just a message from a man to his wife. This poem “has no regular rhythm or syllabic count, no rhyme, and lacks any punctuation, other than line-breaks. It is true to the poetic philosophy that Williams championed - away with convention, free the line, write poems about anything, be local, be American, no ideas but in things.” The second part of that quote from the lesson is about the freedom in writing when it comes to poems, and the wide pool of options when it comes to creating a freestyle poem.
Now, we look at variations of the poem we just looked at. Students spirit read through the following poems.
1
I chopped down the house that you had been saving to live in next summer.
I am sorry, but it was morning, and I had nothing to do
and its wooden beams were so inviting.
2
I gave away the money that you had been saving to live on for the
next ten years.
The man who asked for it was shabby
and the firm March wind on the porch was so juicy and cold.
4
Last evening we went dancing and I broke your leg.
Forgive me. I was clumsy and
I wanted you here in the wards, where I am the doctor!
-- Kenneth Koch
After a brief class discussion, we were able to agree that these stories all share a common concept of faked regret. The narrator's apologize for their actions, but then give reasons that explain why their actions were beneficial. This is equal to saying “but” after apologizing. It makes the apology ingenuine.
After finding out how exactly these poems are similar to “This is Just to Say”, the class was now given 5 minutes to come up with as many variations for “This is Just to Say” as they could. These poems could be any length, even as little as 2 or 3 lines. They were all required to contain the same “fake apology” as in the previous poems. While students were individually working on this assignment, they were required to use creativity to create these short poems. After the timer was up, those who believed that they had made a lot of poems would read out the number of poems they created, until we found the student with the most poems. In the end, the student with the most poems ended up creating over 20 poems. She was required to read out the poems in order to ensure that her poems have met the guidelines provided, and after reading them out the class concluded that these poems were valid. She was declared the winner and gained 30 points for her team.
After this activity, we moved onto imagery in poetry. We were moving onto imagery, and how it has an impact on poetry. Here it is explained that the word imagery originates from the latin word imago (picture). Then they talk more about the imagination side of imagery. Imagery is linked to feeling, and impacts how we feel and how we think during the poem. For example, using a phrase such as “I’m sad” has very little impact on the imagination and does not give you a great idea of the reason or the feeling behind the sadness. Saying “I’m absolutely heartbroken and shocked” gives a better idea of the sadness that is depicted.
Next we watched a youtube video about imagery, titled “Red Room Poetry Object Poetic Device #2: Imagery”. This video is used to better help students understand how imagery is used and how it helps the author and reader. The video also mentions awakening your five senses through imagery, and using words that best feed the imagination and the senses. The video provided many examples of imagery, and used images and music to back up and greatly amplify the effect of the imagery from the poems. After watching the video, we were asked to explain the main takeaway from the video. After discussion, we came to a conclusion that the video's main point was the benefit of imagery on the five senses.
Poetry Object Poetic Device #2: Imagery | ClickView [2:31]
We then move onto the next slide, slide 7, where there are more poems present. An example is “the clouds collapsed,
they’re touching the ground
trying to come alive,
but they can’t.
Images from a landscape are used to indicate hopelessness.
This is a quote from the slide, and is just one of the examples of the poems that include imagery. Also, an explanation is provided that explains the meaning behind the imagery and how it relates to the poem. This helps us understand the purpose of the imagery and how it's used. In this example, the use of clouds as imagery helps us imagine clouds that are trying to gain height but cannot. These clouds are being explained in a way that is relatable to us, using words such as “collapsed” and “trying to come alive”. In the next paragraph, imagery is appealing to our sense of touch and sight, where they are explaining a happy feeling that is described using imagery such as “my heart was warm” and “swelling waters”. The last poem of the slide used imagery to compare something, the feeling of disappointment, to a relatable situation, which is finishing a piece of cake. The cake is used as imagery to convey the feeling, and this is more effective than just saying “I’m upset and disappointed”.
This is the image used to describe that disappointing feeling.
After looking at these poems, we moved on to a longer poem called “Fast Break” by Edward Hirsch. The class took turns spirit reading through this poem on slides 8 and 9. This poem depicts a slow motion play-by-play of a basketball game from the perspective of one of the players. During the class discussion that follows, the students take time to clarify the events that transpired during the poem, in order to make sure that the entire class is on the same page. Lots of imagery is used throughout this poem, as the reader's attention is grabbed by the basketball that is constantly changing its course.
After going over this poem, the students were broken up into their teams to complete the TWIST chart about the poem. The TWIST chart contains Tone, Word choice, Imagery, Style, and Theme. The students were all given about 8 minutes to fill out this chart with their group.
An example of a completed chart is shown below.
Student reflection of the days lesson:
What did I learn?
In this lesson I learned about imagery and its use in poetry. I learned that the way that imagery helps the reader better understand the poem and helps the reader become more engaged with the packet is because imagery appeals to the five senses. The five senses allow us to better imagine the events in the poem, which is the whole idea when you are reading an imaginative passage. I also learned that poems do not need to have a set rhythm or have rhyme because of the poem “This is Just to Say”. That poem allowed me to see how diverse the options are for writing a poem.
Why did I learn it?
I learned about literary devices and imagery because these are concepts that will enhance my writing quality, for poems and other types of writing. Poetry is difficult to understand but even harder to create, so it's important that you know the right tools to create a piece of writing that the reader can both understand and enjoy. Imagery helps a lot with both of these aspects.
How will I use what I learned?
I will use what I learned by incorporating imagery into my future writings, as a way to make my work more intriguing and expressive. I will also use what I learned from the poem “This is Just to Say” by widening my options for my poems and expressing my thought and feelings in the poem in many different ways, whether it be with a set rhythm and rhyme or with no rhyme and an out-of-sync rhythm.
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