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?
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)
4. Revise your claims about "The Summer Day" on the whiteboards and share out.
HONORS: Let’s talk literature!
TO-DO
- JOURNAL 1.19: Existentialism Review
- Finish your Creative Expression mini-project from yesterday. If you drew a picture, add some words. If you wrote a poem, add a little drawing. How can you express your understanding of existentialism symbolically? When you are finished, tape it to the board!
- Reading for Monday: Background on Aristotle’s Eudaimonia
- Into the Wild: If you would like to get a jump on the book, sign one out and begin reading the first chunk for your first literature circle meeting on January 30. Here is a preview of the literature circle experience.
- Honors: Seminar Reflection/Synthesis for The Stranger. See syllabus for description.