English 1302

Homework for July 31, 2014

1. Create your own poem (choose one method below)

a. Summer Poem Creation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iAOSBJT qYU

b. Poison Tree Creation

2. One half page essay on the following three questions. You will be graded on

The quality of your essay answer (rubric on critical thinking).

a. What is poetry to you?

b. What is your exposure or experience with poetry?

c. Do you think it is important or not for society to support the

Genre of poetry. Explain.

Don't Touch!

By Andy Croft

This is an exercise in making emotional abstractions come alive, based loosely on William Blake’s 'The Poison Tree’. Blake’s poem is about the consequences of repressing anger (‘I was angry with my foe; / I told it not, my wrath did grow’). The speaker takes pleasure in nurturing his anger in private (‘And I watered it in fears, / Night & morning with my tears’) until it grows into a terrible tree bearing poison fruit.

Stage 1

• Make a list of all the most negative or destructive feelings you know (pride, dishonesty, arrogance, prejudice, humiliation etc).

• Choose one which you have either experienced yourself or seen in other people close to you.

• Make a list of adjectives and nouns which you associate with this word.

• Add any colours, tastes, smells, textures or sounds which you associate with this word.

• Think of any books you have read or films you have seen which try to address this feeling.

• Think of any songs you know that express this feeling.

• Make a map of all these words, placing the negative feeling in large letters in the middle.

Tips

• Don’t choose a negative feeling which you have only read about or seen in films.

• Avoid the ‘obvious’ big negative feelings (hatred, anger, cruelty etc).

Stage 2

Now imagine that you are going to plant this negative feeling and tend it like a little tree. Using your map of words, fill in the missing words in the following template, as though describing the growth of a poisonous tree :

I found the seeds [where did you find them?]

I planted them [where did you plant them?]

And I watered them with [with what did you water them?]

Until the tree grew [describe the shape of the branches]

And at night the sound of the wind in the tree was the sound

of [what kind of sound did it make ?]

And in its highest branches there grew [what kind of fruit

did it grow?]

And I knew then that this poisonous tree was mine

Mind of Words

I found the seeds _______________________________________________________________

I planted them _________________________________________________________________

And I watered them with _________________________________________________________

Until the tree grew ______________________________________________________________

And at night the sound of the wind in the tree was the sound

of ___________________________________________________________________________

And in its highest branches there grew ______________________________________________

And I knew then that this poisonous tree was mine.

Tips

• Make sure each line connects as far as possible to your original word.

• Don’t use your original word anywhere in the poem except in the title.

• Try to avoid using other abstract words.

• You can use more than one image per line if you want.

• Read your poem aloud and slowly; ask yourself how it sounds.

The result should be a little poem that looks something like this:

The Poison Tree of Gossip

I found the seeds in a letter I shouldn’t have opened,

I planted them in the loose soil of casual acquaintance,

And I watered them with tears of friendship,

Until the tree grew twisted and deformed,

And at night the sound of the wind in the tree

was the sound of false rumors whispering,

And in its highest branches there grew

the sweet fruits of deceit.

And I knew then that this poisonous tree was mine.

A Poison Tree

I was angry with my friend:

I told my wrath, my wrath did end.

I was angry with my foe:

I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears

Night and morning with my tears,

And I sunned it with smiles

And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,

Till it bore an apple bright,

And my foe beheld it shine,

And he knew that it was mine,--

And into my garden stole

When the night had veiled the pole;

In the morning, glad, I see

My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

Follow-Ups

• Show your poem to other people without the title; see if they can guess which bad feeling you have described.

• Choose another negative feeling and plant it without using any of the same phrases or images.

• Choose a positive feeling, plant it and see if it grows into a poem.