Gloucester Poems

I was going to pass out Gloucester poem packets today but ran out of time.
Your assignment is to annotate* particular poems in the packet. (Look for your name below.)
Bring the poems and annotations to class on Monday, May 14.
Post a substantial commentary on the poems Monday night (or before).

Here are the poems each of you has been assigned:
Pauline C: Olson & Ferlinghetti's "The Sea and Ourselves at Cape Ann"
Katie R: Olson & Eliot's "Dry Salvages"
Jessie C: Olson & Crane's excerpts from Sea Birds
Matt C: Olson & Moody's "Gloucester Moors"
Meryl G: Olson & Crane's excerpts from Sea Birds
Romy H: Olson & Moody's "Gloucester Moors"
Rachel M: Olson & Longfellow's "The Wreck of the Hesperus"
Winslow P: Olson & Ferlinghetti's "The Sea and Ourselves at Cape Ann"
Elizabeth S: Olson & Lansing's three poems from Heavenly Tree Soluble Forest
Danielle P: Olson & Longfellow's "The Wreck of the Hesperus"
Abby A: Olson & Dorn's "From Gloucester Out"
Maddy M: Olson & Eliot's "Dry Salvages"
Zoe P: Olson & Dorn's "From Gloucester Out"
Mr. J. Cook: Olson & Lansing's three poems from Heavenly Tree Soluble Forest

You'll each get a hard copy of the packet on Friday but I've attached a copy to an email I've sent to you in case you want to get started and/or in case you prefer to read on the computer.

*Annotating poems is a little different from annotating prose passages. Use whatever is useful in the following three methods. (1) To help take notes on what the poems "says" (both literally and figuratively), on how the poems "play" with language (rhymes, rhythms, alliteration, metaphors, puns, allusions, spacing on the page), and on what the saying and playing might "suggest" or imply". This is say-play-imply annotation. (2) Also annotate based on the SOAPSTone method. Think about the poem's speaker, the occasion, the audience, the purpose, the subject, and the tone. (3) Finally, consider the TPCASTT method. Think about the title, a paraphrase, connotations of words and images, the speaker's attitude (or tone), shifts in the poem's structure, reconsider the poem's title now that you have read it thoroughly, and end by considering themes. (4) Write down very specific questions that might help us generate meaning and a richer experience of the poems.


See you Monday.
all the best,
Mr. James Cook