universal-issues-poems

universal-issues-poetry-analysis 

1. Students were reminded again that any missing assignments have to be completed and handed in by Friday. I will be gone that day, so any of the presentation-type assignments must be done by the end of the day Thursday. You will be able to hand in all assignments to the sub on Friday.
2. We reviewed quickly the notion that some issues are of concern to all people, thoughout the world and history. Some of these issues are Love, War/ Peace, History and Honor. We read and analyzed a few poems that touch on these similar ideas and, regardless of the nationality of the writer, the topic is relatable to everyone.
3. For each poem, the students had to fill in on a handout what the author’s message was, choose a phrase or few lines of the poem that stood out to them and related to the theme of Universal Issues, and then respond to how it addresses that topic. These were personal responses and their answers may be quite different.
4. For the last poem, titled “Parable”, we read through it carefully, they answered their three questions on the handout, and then they were surprised with a seven-question quiz. The questions were very specific ones regarding this poem. I discussed with the class yesterday how the poetry section of their departmental will require them finding specific responses, quoting from the poem given. Today’s quiz was a practice of that. They could give an answer, but without it being directly found in the poem they risk being incorrect.
5. We are quickly running out of time for this course. Next Friday is Grad so there will be no class (four day week) and the following week, our last day is Thursday (another four day week). We need to be careful with our time, and that includes coming to class prepared to focus. Please don’t just wait out your time. Use it to prepare yourself for your final.