AP Literature and Composition 9/18

Agenda Explicate Prosody 101 individually and discuss as a class. Chapter 2 AP Literature Notes Analyze “Break of Day” Homework: Read poems on pgs. 31-41. Choose four of the eight poems to analyze and complete questions for. I will check questions and award points for completion. Study for Poetry Vocabulary Test Agenda

Prosody 101 Annotate the poem individually. Who is the speaker? What is the occasion? What is the purpose or central idea that the author is trying to convey? Any important devices to note? Prosody 101

Prosody 101 Compares the insights of genuine poetry to moments in the speaker’s life that have brought her moments of insight. First lines argue that poetry does not mechanically reproduce iambic metrical patterns, but rather contain the surprise of difference. It’s the occasional meaningful variation from expected metrical or rhythmic schemes that produces the desired “tension” in the poem. Compares truth she has stated about poetry to life experiences. Recollection of springtime when a late-season cold front has swept into the landscape “like common language” Metaphor within a metaphor: compares her emotion at the destructive force of the cold front to a positive moment in her relationship with her spouse. Just when she was ready to say goodbye for good, he unexpectedly lifts her upward in his arms in a celebratory gesture that reminds her of springtime. So this is poetry is an appropriate closure to all three experiences –ultimate message is affirmative, stressing reconciliation and healing over the destructiveness of a lingering winter. (poetry, nature, and a human relationship)

Chapter 2 Reading the Poem Understating and appreciating poetry Read the poem more than once. Think of your favorite song. You wouldn’t only listen to it once. Keep a dictionary nearby, book of mythology, the Bible, and the works of Shakespeare. (3 Classic works alluded to frequently in literature. Read to hear the sounds. Lip-read it if you cannot read aloud (AP Exam) Make sure you pay attention to the meaning of the poem. Determine the subjects of the verbs Antecedents of pronouns Grammar in general Chapter 2 Reading the Poem

Chapter 2 Reading the Poem Read it to your friends  Read it affectionately Do not try to do artificial flourishes Not necessary to put emotion into reading a poem because it is already there. It is a good practice to paraphrase a poem. Put it in your own words so you can understand it to get at the meaning or theme. Practice writing theme statements along with paraphrasing. Understand that the paraphrased version is inadequate; however, helpful in understanding what the poem is about. Chapter 2 Reading the Poem

Chapter 2 Reading the Poem Theme statement-not a moral or lesson Based off of the purpose: Tell a story Reveal human character Impart vivid impression of a scene To express mood or an emotion Convey vividly some idea or an emotion Don’t say “you shouldn’t…” Say “A person may…” Keep the poet and the speaker separate entities. Chapter 2 Reading the Poem

Break of Day Go through the preliminary suggestions for reading poems. Read through an annotate individually Get into groups Someone read the poem aloud Discuss possible theme statements Write theme on a white board Break of Day

Two lovers. Man makes a gesture toward getting up out of bed. The woman protests – gives three reasons why he might be thinking of leaving (it’s day, fears to expose their relationship, because he has business to attend to) shows each to be invalid. Speaker is conclusively the woman-it was the woman, under the double standard of morality, risked her reputation. Man would have been more likely than a woman to be drawn away by “business” Speaker makes complaint against the busied man not the busied person. Speakers compares the offender to a married man who woos another, not a married person, married woman, or wife. Break of Day

Woman clearly has a scale of values that puts love at the top. She is not ashamed of her relationship She expects equal commitment from him. His “business” threatens that commitment, and she is jealous of it as she would be jealous of any rival. Title not only means Morning, but suggests the threatened separation (break) between them. Light is personified in stanza as unable to speak Sun is metaphorically compared to a large eye (refers back to personified light) The sun may discover the two lovers in bed together, but having no tongue, it can spread no scandal; even if it could the woman would not be ashamed by anything it could say. Break of Day