Mary Oliver, The Summer Day
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean--
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down--
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
Announcements
- Into the Wild: Who might want to buy a copy?
- Scholarship opportunity with Colorado Rural Scholars Program
- Honors exhibition, Tuesday, Steaming Beam, 5:30-7
- Next Wednesday 2-3, Meeting about Gold King Spill at the Powerhouse, 5-7pm
Mini-workshop on making interpretive claims about literature
1. Make an interpretive claim about the Mary Oliver poem. Write it on the whiteboard.
2. What makes for a good claim about literature/film/art, etc?
- It states your conclusions/interpretations about the work. Whatever the claim, you must be able to support it with evidence.
- It doesn’t just state the obvious; it expresses an interpretation that reasonable people could disagree with.
- It is specific and focused without being so narrow that there is insufficient evidence.
- It generally expresses one main idea. If compound ideas are stated in a thesis, the relationship between them is very clear.
- Try to use sophisticated phrasings beyond "This poem is about...."
And, as ever, good claims ....
- debatable
- are specific and focused
- avoid stating the obvious
- are clearly and eloquently stated
- avoid the first person (AVOID “I think, I believe, My opinion is, etc.”)
- can be supported with sufficient evidence
3. Examples
- “Slip of the Tongue” by Adriel Luis examines how minority women have been oppressed by society’s unrealistic expectations of feminine beauty.
- In The Outsiders, Cherry Valance represents the obligation felt by some members of the upper class to help those less economically fortunate than themselves.
- In “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” Walt Whitman uses structure and imagery to contrast the scientist’s perception of the night sky with his own poetic perception.
- In Guernica, Picasso shows us the horrors and senselessness of the collateral damage brought about by indiscriminate bombing as a tactical strategy.
- Montana 1948 is an allegory for America’s pursuit of its "manifest destiny"; it describes the way in which the Indian minority was exploited and abused in the process of America’s westward expansion (-Tucker Leavitt)
5. Revise your claims about Harold and Maude in your seminar synthesis. Highlight what you consider to be the claim before you turn it in.
HONORS SEMINAR: The Stranger
For your reflection this time, do THE EXACT SAME format as the Harold and Maude seminar. One part self-assess and one part synthesis rooted in an interpretive claim.
WORK TIME DURING HONORS SEMINAR
1. Seminar Reflection and Synthesis (due today!)
Seminar Rubric
2. Read and annotate "The Meaning of Life" (due Monday!)
Honors:
A CHANGE OF PLANS! Sign out copy of Cat's Cradle! We are going to do this for our next round of Book Club.
Honors Independent Study crew: See me!
TURN IN SEMINAR PREP AND REFLECTION/SYNTHESIS TODAY!
HOMEWORK:
- Finish reading and annotating "The Meaning of Life" if you did not do so in class.
- Honors: Reflection/Synthesis on The Stranger
- Prepare for Exhibition