Part One:
One of the more important things that I took from this book is about revision. Mary Oliver say in the book that she has at times revised a poem forty to fifty times before should would call it good enough, not quite done, just good enough, content with it. That seems to be one of the bigger issues with me, I lay down the ground work but I don't often go back to polish it up. Another thing that she talks about in this chapter was about making the poem more universal, don't just let it be for you, think about your audience. Sometimes when I do go back to revise something I think that my of the information in the work, whatever it may be, is commonly known and so I shouldn't bother talking about it.
Something else that is equally as important as the above is actually reading other poetic works. The more information our society has at its disposal, the less interested we become in learning things. I don't often read poems, but I guess that is something that has to change. Looking at the works of the past, seeing how they did what they did, will help us show what is possible and inspire us to try to think of something fresh.
Part Two:
The world is a big place with lots and lots of people, not everyone is going to agree on everything. When I was reading the biography, all of the quotes from critics that were mentioned seemed to either fully support or oppose her. I guess the authors of the bio didn't want much middle ground on that. On the point of her speaking about herself, her experiences those in favor of her work said that; "listening to Olds, we hear a proud, urgent, human voice."Those who opposed her seemed to think that she was too selfish in her writing. I can't really make of full opinion of her work because I have only read the poems that are in this packet, but if every one of her poems had something to do with unborn children or parents who gave them up, then I could start to see how the people who are against her feel, a little worn down.
I will be honest, her poem "Sex Without Love" got to me, I had to put a second hamster on the wheel. I mean from the title you can understand what it is about. What I gleamed from it was that; the people "who make love without love" are in a sense stronger, or need to be to survive on there own, compared to someone who is in love. She says that they, the loveless, are runners in a marathon, and like runners in a marathon, you don't worry about the guy ahead or behind of you, you just worry about yourself, being independent. I could be wrong about what I saw in this poem, but if i'm not then, well, i'm a slightly crossed, but I can still see where she might be looking from.
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Brooke Voisard - Journal Four
Part One:
Overall, I thought Oliver's wrtiting was very helpful and informative. One of my biggest takeaways was from the beginning of the novel on imitation. Oliver stresses that it's okay, even recommended by her, to imitate another artist's work. She maintains that it is essential to developing your own voice and your own style. I found this really helpful because I was always very hesitant when referencing other works, but now as I do that more, I find that I am able to tweak another artist's style in a way that is entirely my own. It definitely helped to have an accomplished writer and teacher like Mary Oliver reinforce that it is okay to do that.
I also took a lot from the chapter about The Line. I had no idea what the line was before reading this chapter. I thought every line was a complete line in itself, but after reading this I learned that this isn't true. A line doesn't stop until there is some sort of punctuation, and I didn't know that was how you read a poem. I also became familiar with enjambment and how it is used and its effects on the lines of a poem. After reading this chapter, I am able to pick out how the line is used in other poems, and I am able to understand it better, and use it creatively and effectively in my own writing.
Part Two:
When reading the biography of Sharon Olds I was surprised that I had never heard of Sharon Olds before because she seemed right up my alley. I love the phrase "proud, urgent, human voice", and I hope that one day it's used to describe me. I was anxious to get to her poems to see if they would live up to all the excitement. I felt like it was wrong to say that she "spent too much time taking her own emotional temperature", because, without her emotional tempertature, the poems would not exist. We write about our feelings and things that move us. I would hate to see a world of emotionless poetry. It would be worthless. She wrote what she perceived and the reader can take it or leave it. I love reading about controversial topics, but so many people critique them so harshly, and reading so much about how Olds wrote so many controversial, and never before written topics made me even more excited to read her work.
The poem "I Go Back to May 1937" struck me the moment I read it. My parents split up when I was two years old, and they've had a horrible relationship since then, and my sisters and I suffered because of it. Olds describes many of the things I've felt over the years. I've also imagined my parents young and tried to imagine what they were thinking like Olds does. Yes, they've hurt me, and they've been selfish, but I'm alive because of them and so are my sisters. It's beautiful that we could come out of so much hate. Aside from the personal connections, I can imagine a young man and a young woman dressed for the time period, standing together in the warm sun outside a school. I can imagine it perfectly, and that's really valuable to me when reading a poem. I like to read and let my imagination go to work, and this poem allowed me to do this.
Overall, I thought Oliver's wrtiting was very helpful and informative. One of my biggest takeaways was from the beginning of the novel on imitation. Oliver stresses that it's okay, even recommended by her, to imitate another artist's work. She maintains that it is essential to developing your own voice and your own style. I found this really helpful because I was always very hesitant when referencing other works, but now as I do that more, I find that I am able to tweak another artist's style in a way that is entirely my own. It definitely helped to have an accomplished writer and teacher like Mary Oliver reinforce that it is okay to do that.
I also took a lot from the chapter about The Line. I had no idea what the line was before reading this chapter. I thought every line was a complete line in itself, but after reading this I learned that this isn't true. A line doesn't stop until there is some sort of punctuation, and I didn't know that was how you read a poem. I also became familiar with enjambment and how it is used and its effects on the lines of a poem. After reading this chapter, I am able to pick out how the line is used in other poems, and I am able to understand it better, and use it creatively and effectively in my own writing.
Part Two:
When reading the biography of Sharon Olds I was surprised that I had never heard of Sharon Olds before because she seemed right up my alley. I love the phrase "proud, urgent, human voice", and I hope that one day it's used to describe me. I was anxious to get to her poems to see if they would live up to all the excitement. I felt like it was wrong to say that she "spent too much time taking her own emotional temperature", because, without her emotional tempertature, the poems would not exist. We write about our feelings and things that move us. I would hate to see a world of emotionless poetry. It would be worthless. She wrote what she perceived and the reader can take it or leave it. I love reading about controversial topics, but so many people critique them so harshly, and reading so much about how Olds wrote so many controversial, and never before written topics made me even more excited to read her work.
The poem "I Go Back to May 1937" struck me the moment I read it. My parents split up when I was two years old, and they've had a horrible relationship since then, and my sisters and I suffered because of it. Olds describes many of the things I've felt over the years. I've also imagined my parents young and tried to imagine what they were thinking like Olds does. Yes, they've hurt me, and they've been selfish, but I'm alive because of them and so are my sisters. It's beautiful that we could come out of so much hate. Aside from the personal connections, I can imagine a young man and a young woman dressed for the time period, standing together in the warm sun outside a school. I can imagine it perfectly, and that's really valuable to me when reading a poem. I like to read and let my imagination go to work, and this poem allowed me to do this.
Thursday, February 2, 2017
Post your Sonnet Exercise here. From Mike
Hi all, and please use the Comments section here to each post your Sonnet that you wrote with a partner in class.
Then as a response exercise, once all the Sonnets are here, pick your favorite, and use the Reply feature to explain your choice and show us what is working in that poem for you.
Work to develop your taste-- hone, through practice and working with language in this way, your eyes and ears for language and poetry.
All best,
Mike
Then as a response exercise, once all the Sonnets are here, pick your favorite, and use the Reply feature to explain your choice and show us what is working in that poem for you.
Work to develop your taste-- hone, through practice and working with language in this way, your eyes and ears for language and poetry.
All best,
Mike
Journal 3: Jake Ritzert
Part One:
Chapter: "The Line" I found the fact that the end of the line is considered the most important because I always believed the poetry was more left up for the reader to determine the importance of words or meaning. "The most important point in the line is the end of the line. The second most important point is the beginning of it"(Oliver 52). This is important but also upsetting to me.
Question: Why can't a poem have a structure where the middle of the line is the most important part?
Chapter: "Some Given Forms" I really enjoyed how Mary Oliver wrote that "No two poems are alike, not anywhere in the world, at any time, nor will they ever be"(59). I find comfort knowing that whenever we are creating a poem, it is unique to only the poet. The fact that we create this personalized poem from using the various formats, tones, rhyme, and just expressing ourselves is fascinating.
Part Two: I am bringing in a painting of the Grand Canyon: Here are some facts/ info on the National Park that I found interesting...maybe you will to!
Grand Caynon
1.) It is one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World
2.) It has metamorphic rock (formed by lots of heat and pressure) dating back 1.75billion years ago
3.) It isn't the deepest or widest canyon in the world, but it is definitely still...big, to say the least.
4.) Also called Kaibab or "upside down mountain" that's an idea waiting to be turned into a poem.
Artist: Bill Johnson
1.) Art teacher and artist.
2.) Lives in Bagdad, Arizona.
3.) Enjoys painting deserts and specifically the Grand Canyon.
Chapter: "The Line" I found the fact that the end of the line is considered the most important because I always believed the poetry was more left up for the reader to determine the importance of words or meaning. "The most important point in the line is the end of the line. The second most important point is the beginning of it"(Oliver 52). This is important but also upsetting to me.
Question: Why can't a poem have a structure where the middle of the line is the most important part?
Chapter: "Some Given Forms" I really enjoyed how Mary Oliver wrote that "No two poems are alike, not anywhere in the world, at any time, nor will they ever be"(59). I find comfort knowing that whenever we are creating a poem, it is unique to only the poet. The fact that we create this personalized poem from using the various formats, tones, rhyme, and just expressing ourselves is fascinating.
Part Two: I am bringing in a painting of the Grand Canyon: Here are some facts/ info on the National Park that I found interesting...maybe you will to!
Grand Caynon
1.) It is one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World
2.) It has metamorphic rock (formed by lots of heat and pressure) dating back 1.75billion years ago
3.) It isn't the deepest or widest canyon in the world, but it is definitely still...big, to say the least.
4.) Also called Kaibab or "upside down mountain" that's an idea waiting to be turned into a poem.
Artist: Bill Johnson
1.) Art teacher and artist.
2.) Lives in Bagdad, Arizona.
3.) Enjoys painting deserts and specifically the Grand Canyon.
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Journal Three from Dathan
Part One: The the Lines chapter, I mostly had all of that information, metric feet and lines, tucked away in some corner of my mind, but knowing and doing are two incredibly different things. It looks like you can't have two heavy stresses together at all, but you can have multiple light stresses together. I have a vague idea, but I would like to know for sure. Trying to get the correct metric length, and rhyme scheme along with everything else we have talked about seems nearly impossible. That is probably why most poems focus on one or two things.
The piece of art that I chose is called 'Ships in Distress.' That basically tells you what is in the picture, five ships being bobbed around by the waves with a storm coming, I think a sixth one when down. It was painted by a man named Ludolf Hackhuysen, a German born Dutch painter. The ship that we have the best view of has a flag, the colors are a little off, but given the he was a Dutch painter the flag could fit that red, white and blue pattern.
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The piece of art that I chose is called 'Ships in Distress.' That basically tells you what is in the picture, five ships being bobbed around by the waves with a storm coming, I think a sixth one when down. It was painted by a man named Ludolf Hackhuysen, a German born Dutch painter. The ship that we have the best view of has a flag, the colors are a little off, but given the he was a Dutch painter the flag could fit that red, white and blue pattern.
Sunday, January 29, 2017
Journal three : Britnee Conley
In the chapter "The Line", I found it interesting that the most important point in the line is the end and the second most important is the beginning. In the chapter "Some Given Forms", I found it interesting that for some poems the rhyming pattern is the important factor while in other poems the syllable number if each line is the important factor.
My piece of art is called Rain Princess and was created my Leonid Afremov. Afremov was born and live in Russia for an large portion of his life. Only in 1990 did he leave and move his family to Israel. The move was prompted by the antisemitism in Russia (He had Jewish roots), and the Chernobyl disaster that happened in 1986 which caused radiation to begin to effect his family including his two year old son. All of his art work from before 1990 have no record because they were often sold privately or given away for free. He does not have any pictures of those pieces. It was difficult for him to sell his art in Israel because the locals thought his work was less valuable because he was a Russian immigrant. His son began to sell Afremovs' painting door to door which was more effective than selling to galleries. He was able to start his own gallery but is was vandalized in 2001 so he decided to move to America where he thought he would be treated with respect. In 2004 his son found out about eBay and they began to sell Afremovs paintings there.
My piece of art is called Rain Princess and was created my Leonid Afremov. Afremov was born and live in Russia for an large portion of his life. Only in 1990 did he leave and move his family to Israel. The move was prompted by the antisemitism in Russia (He had Jewish roots), and the Chernobyl disaster that happened in 1986 which caused radiation to begin to effect his family including his two year old son. All of his art work from before 1990 have no record because they were often sold privately or given away for free. He does not have any pictures of those pieces. It was difficult for him to sell his art in Israel because the locals thought his work was less valuable because he was a Russian immigrant. His son began to sell Afremovs' painting door to door which was more effective than selling to galleries. He was able to start his own gallery but is was vandalized in 2001 so he decided to move to America where he thought he would be treated with respect. In 2004 his son found out about eBay and they began to sell Afremovs paintings there.
Jornal Three- Aziz Hamid
Part One:
"The Line"
I never knew how important the choice of line length is. Line length has a a major impact on the effect of the readers. The iambic pentameter line is the most common line used by poets. Iambic refers to the stresses, syllable sounds used in the line. Iambic foot is a light stress followed by a very heavy stress. Pentameter refers to the number of feet per line, in a pentameter there are five feet per line. Iambic pentameter comes naturally to anyone who reads the poem, it is not to long or to short. Any deviation from the iambic pentameter has a different effect on the readers.
"Some Given Forms"
In this chapter I learned about the importance of the design of a poem. There are many things that are important when choosing a design of a poem. These include rhyme, meter length of line and the sounds of the various letters. The overall length of the poem, its tone and the use imagery is also important. One thing I noticed that I think is important is that any change from an established pattern indicates that the poet wants the reader to feel something different at that point. This technique acts as guide to the way the poet wants the reader to feel and understand the poem.
Question: How do I know exactly where within the phrase itself to turn the line over?
Part Two:
Selma to Montgomery March (1965)
I took this picture when I visited the Center for Civil and Human Rights museum in Atlanta, Georgia. Unfortunately I don't know who the artist is :(
"The Line"
I never knew how important the choice of line length is. Line length has a a major impact on the effect of the readers. The iambic pentameter line is the most common line used by poets. Iambic refers to the stresses, syllable sounds used in the line. Iambic foot is a light stress followed by a very heavy stress. Pentameter refers to the number of feet per line, in a pentameter there are five feet per line. Iambic pentameter comes naturally to anyone who reads the poem, it is not to long or to short. Any deviation from the iambic pentameter has a different effect on the readers.
"Some Given Forms"
In this chapter I learned about the importance of the design of a poem. There are many things that are important when choosing a design of a poem. These include rhyme, meter length of line and the sounds of the various letters. The overall length of the poem, its tone and the use imagery is also important. One thing I noticed that I think is important is that any change from an established pattern indicates that the poet wants the reader to feel something different at that point. This technique acts as guide to the way the poet wants the reader to feel and understand the poem.
Question: How do I know exactly where within the phrase itself to turn the line over?
Part Two:
I took this picture when I visited the Center for Civil and Human Rights museum in Atlanta, Georgia. Unfortunately I don't know who the artist is :(
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