Week 1 (09/10-09/11/09)
09/10
Aim:
1. What goals have we set for the fall term? How will we achive them?
2. What's the difference between "literal" and "symbolic" or "metaphorical"?
Activities:
Read and study the poem "Numbers" and discuss how the poet uses numbers either in a literal way or symbolic way.
HW#1 Read the poem "numbers" and pick any 5 numbers to discribe yourself either in a literal way or symbolic/metaphorical way.
I like the generosity of numbers.
The way, for example,
they are willing to count
anything or anyone:
two pickles, one door to the room,
eight dancers dressed as swans.
I like the domesticity of addition--
add two cups of milk and stir--
the sense of plenty: six plums
on the ground, three more
falling from the tree.
And multiplication's school
of fish times fish,
whose silver bodies breed
beneath the shadow
of a boat.
Even subtraction is never loss,
just addition somewhere else:
five sparrows take away two,
the two in someone else's
garden now.
There's an amplitude to long division,
as it opens Chinese take-out
box by paper box,
inside every folded cookie
a new fortune.
And I never fail to be surprised
by the gift of an odd remainder,
footloose at the end:
forty-seven divided by eleven equals four,
with three remaining.
Three boys beyond their mothers' call,
two Italians off to the sea,
one sock that isn't anywhere you look.
from Poetry magazine
Volume CLXXVI, Number 3, June 2000
09/11
Aim: Why is it important to "Know Thyself"?
Do Now:
Activities:
Question:
The most elusive knowledge is self-knowledge, and it is usually acquired through solitude, rather than through interaction with others.
Answer:
Self-knowledge is a very mysterious thing and during all our lives we try to learn it as completely as possible. Often, it is so hard, that only some extreme events or emotions could reveal new corners of our minds. I believe that it’s possible to acquire such kind of knowledge from different sources: from thinking in solitude or from communicating with other people. All of them are equally important to understand ourselves thoroughly.
Certainly, solitude provides us with a great opportunity to understand ourselves. When we could think undistracted, we are able to concentrate on the deep thoughts, we think our past deeds over and we contemplate global things, not just movies or popular books. During the Middle Ages there were a lot of monks, living in seclusion during many years. They had tried to abstract from the everyday life and concentrated on the interaction with God, through self-analyzing. When some of them returned to the civilization, they were considered as the sages, knowing not the certain area of science, but rather the nature of the men’s mind. Therefore, we could consider the contemplations in loneliness as invaluable tool to perceive ourselves.
On the other hand, there are several techniques, which help us to investigate the secret nooks of our minds, but which are disruptive by their nature. Of course, I mean alcohol, LSD and other drugs. When a person uses some of them he obtains infinite freedom from the weekday occupations and he could express his emotions clearly, without concerns about the others’ attitude. Many great musicians, painters and other artists have been drug addicted; it has given them necessary inspiration. Observing the masterpieces of Vincent van Gogh, we learn something new about ourselves because emotions, they represent, are so clear and deep. Many people, admiring his pictures, don’t know about Vincent van Gogh’s addictions. On the other part all this stuff is quite destructive, particularly for artists themselves; a lot of them dying as madmen or self-murderers.
But acquiring self-knowledge through thinking in solitariness is not the one possible and safe way. Communication with other people is a very powerful tool to learn about new emotions, like love or hate; therefore it helps to investigate our own characters more completely. Many people already express their internal struggles in the books and it’s very useful to skim through them. As for me, I use several ways to study myself, but I especially like one of them. I enjoy talking with people from different countries by the free Internet phone and these conversations are useful not merely to learn English, but to understand more deeply other cultures and me in new contexts. No matter where my pen pales were born, in Finland or Brazil, all of them provide me with absolutely new points of view, widening my senses.
I completely agree with the statement that self-knowledge is a very hard thing to learn. At the same time there are varieties of methods which can help us to do so effectively, not merely by contemplating in solitude, but also by intercourse with others.
Read-
When a poet writes about self image, they are reflecting a mirror image of what has taken place in their lives. These events can be major, or minor in infraction upon that person's ego. When I write about things that impacted my life, I find poetry to be the best medium, because poetry expresses one's feelings, and the mood that the person is in. Ego plays a major role in the self image poems that I write, because, I am in a certain mood or are experiencing a certain feeling at the moment, whether it be anger, sadness, or joy.
When you write a poem that reflects self image, you should first delve deep into your inner self and find out what mood you are in, or the feeling that you are experiencing at the moment, and just let the words flow out like an endless stream of picture and rhyme. Self image poems also reflect emotion, and emotion can also play a major role in the way the poet styles the poem. Remember when you write about self image you are writing about YOU!
The Woman Inside of Me by Cynthia L Parker
Arms, long and shapely, strong and tone;
Legs, lean thighs, strong calves, defined, well-honed;
Dancing freely, leaping surely, my body plays,
I leap and twirl, turn and bend, stretch and sway.
Walking through a crowd, with pride I stride;
Head up, shoulders back, confidence in my eyes;
Smile on face, laughter bold, power in my step;
Heads turn, I'm alive; I have no regrets.
Proud of self, full of life, confident, able, strong;
I believe in myself my mantra, my song.
In the mirror, in the eyes, of those who pass by
There is another, different woman that I often spy.
She is full-cheeked, fleshy-faced, oval, round;
Arms are soft, a bit flabby; legs are heavy, not sound.
Belly rounded, hips broad; why can't they see
The other woman, hiding, inside of me.