Final Portfolio Project

The Final Portfolio Project (paper copy, not a blog post) will be due by May 25 (this means you have 20 days to complete this, and we will be devoting all of our class time to this from here on). There are several components to this project, and you will be graded on the completion and quality of all of them. It will count as the last grade of Quarter 4 as there is no official final exam for this course.

The assignment will trace your progress through this course , show what you have learned, how you have changed, and your ability to think about literature and theater in new and interesting ways.

Here are the elements:

1. Title and table of contents

2. Introduction essay (600-800 words) -- see description below.

3. Choose 4 short blog posts or excerpts from blog posts (200-400 words) and revise them (add 50-100 words and polish the posts). The posts should be your favorite or ones that represent your most original work or ones that show how you grew or challenged yourself in your thinking.

4. Choose 2 longer blog posts (500-600 words) and revise them (add 100-150 words and polish the post). The posts should be your favorite or ones that represent your most original work or ones that show how you grew or challenged yourself in your thinking.

5. Choose any play or musical that you would love to direct. Describe your vision for the show (300-400 words + 2 drawings, photos, or images) and say who you would cast in all the parts (you can use famous people or your classmates/CA students).

6. Write a haiku poem (5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables) that sums up this course for you.

7.  End with 5 short tips for how to succeed in Lit and Performance. Gear it toward future students. For each tip, include an image.

Introduction essay assignment:

Look back on your experience in Literature and Performance, and reflect on what you have learned. You can talk about your own experience as a reader, writer, thinker, and performer: what challenged you, frustrated you, exhilarated you?

But don't stop there -- also think back to the first day when I asked you the following questions: "What is Literature? What is Performance? How are they related and how can we learn differently about literature through the process of performance?" Revisit those questions. How do you read plot, character, dialogue, poetry, etc. differently now that you have studied it through the lens of performance? What connections have you made throughout the year as we have used literature as a basis for performance and used performance as an enhanced way to study literature?

Use specific details and examples from the course to back up your ideas. (**Go back through your blog posts to get some starting points for this and see how our thinking changed over the year.)

This is a personal piece of writing, but that doesn't mean it should be boring. Be creative, use captivating language, tell a story like a vivid scarf... Above all, be honest in assessing your growth and examining where you still need to go as a reader, writer, thinker, performer.

Video of Hope is a Thing with Feathers (see if you can see Julia!)

This song is very catchy and it might help you memorize part of this poem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRGXcafBJOE

More Emily Dickinson poems

I taste a liquor never brewed (214)

Emily Dickinson, 1830 - 1886

I taste a liquor never brewed – 
From Tankards scooped in Pearl – 
Not all the Frankfort Berries
Yield such an Alcohol!

Inebriate of air – am I – 
And Debauchee of Dew – 
Reeling – thro’ endless summer days – 
From inns of molten Blue – 

When “Landlords” turn the drunken Bee
Out of the Foxglove’s door – 
When Butterflies – renounce their “drams” – 
I shall but drink the more!

Till Seraphs swing their snowy Hats – 
And Saints – to windows run – 
To see the little Tippler
Leaning against the – Sun!

I’m Nobody! Who are you? (260)





Emily Dickinson, 1830 - 1886







I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you – Nobody – too?
Then there’s a pair of us!
Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know!

How dreary – to be – Somebody!
How public – like a Frog –  
To tell one’s name – the livelong June –  
To an admiring Bog!


Tell all the truth but tell it slant — (1263)

Related Poem Content Details


BY EMILY DICKINSON





Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

Success in Circuit lies

Too bright for our infirm Delight

The Truth's superb surprise

As Lightning to the Children eased

With explanation kind

The Truth must dazzle gradually

Or every man be blind —






A Bird, came down the Walk - (359)

Related Poem Content Details


BY EMILY DICKINSON





A Bird, came down the Walk - 

He did not know I saw -

He bit an Angle Worm in halves 

And ate the fellow, raw, 

 

And then, he drank a Dew

From a convenient Grass -

And then hopped sidewise to the Wall 

To let a Beetle pass -

 

He glanced with rapid eyes,

That hurried all abroad -

They looked like frightened Beads, I thought,

He stirred his Velvet Head. - 

 

Like one in danger, Cautious,

I offered him a Crumb,

And he unrolled his feathers, 

And rowed him softer Home -

 

Than Oars divide the Ocean,

Too silver for a seam,

Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon, 

Leap, plashless as they swim. 

Emily Dickinson

Here is a link to a biography of Emily Dickinson:

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/emily-dickinson

You may also wish to read some of the critical analysis essays about this poet, some contained on the above website (www.poetryfoundation.org) or others that you can find on other sites.

One good link is: https://emilydickinsonmuseum.org/poetry_characteristics

ANother that might be good is: http://www.emilydickinsonpoems.org/

Many of Emily Dickinson's poems can also be found as audio files, read by others, so if you are interested in listening to them read aloud, search for the audio versions. Her poetry has often been adapted into songs as well, and they may be easier to memorize as songs, so we can find some of those versions as well.

Here are the first three poems we will look at by this poet:

“Hope” is the thing with feathers - 

Related Poem Content Details

“Hope” is the thing with feathers - 

That perches in the soul - 

And sings the tune without the words - 

And never stops - at all - 

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - 

And sore must be the storm - 

That could abash the little Bird 

That kept so many warm - 

I’ve heard it in the chillest land - 

And on the strangest Sea - 

Yet - never - in Extremity, 

It asked a crumb - of me.

A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)

Related Poem Content Details

BY EMILY DICKINSON

A narrow Fellow in the Grass

Occasionally rides -

You may have met him? Did you not

His notice instant is -

The Grass divides as with a Comb,

A spotted Shaft is seen,

And then it closes at your Feet

And opens further on -

He likes a Boggy Acre -  

A Floor too cool for Corn -

But when a Boy and Barefoot

I more than once at Noon

Have passed I thought a Whip Lash

Unbraiding in the Sun

When stooping to secure it

It wrinkled And was gone -

Several of Nature’s People

I know, and they know me

I feel for them a transport

Of Cordiality

But never met this Fellow

Attended or alone

Without a tighter Breathing

And Zero at the Bone.

I dwell in Possibility – 

Related Poem Content Details

I dwell in Possibility – 

A fairer House than Prose – 

More numerous of Windows – 

Superior – for Doors – 

Of Chambers as the Cedars – 

Impregnable of eye – 

And for an everlasting Roof 

The Gambrels of the Sky – 

Of Visitors – the fairest – 

For Occupation – This – 

The spreading wide my narrow Hands 

To gather Paradise –

To use in Preparing for the Exam -- Sample Questions for Poetry Exam and Grading Rubric (remember that graded sample tests are on the portal too)

Answer one question. Refer closely to the works of at least two poets you have studied.

1. Hope and/or pessimism are sometimes reflected in poetry. In the work of at least two poets
you have studied, examine either or both of these attitudes and the way in which the poets have
chosen to convey them.

2. “The language of a poem is often that of one thing compared to another.” In the work of at least
two poets you have studied, explore how poets have made their subjects come alive through
different means of comparing them.

3. “Poets often withhold certitude, which can at the same time empower readers to think creatively.”
Consider the works of at least two poets you have studied in which ambiguity has enabled readers
to reach their own conclusions about meaning and implications.

4. What poets do with historical materials can be delivered with very different intents and effects.
Choosing at least two poets you have studied, compare two approaches found in their work and
discuss in what ways these contribute to the overall effect of the poems.

5. Poets may arrange their material to encourage the reader to move rapidly through the lines or in a
way that encourages reflection. In the work of at least two poets you have studied, consider how
the pace of poems is created and its relation to the way meaning is delivered.

6. Choose a similar subject that is covered by at least two poets you have studied and compare both

Answer one question. Refer closely to the works of at least two poets you have studied.

1. Attentive readers discover much about a poem’s meaning though its tone, ie the attitude a
poet takes to the subject or audience of a poem. In the tone, the emotional attitude a poet takes
to a subject, attentive readers hear many clues about the intended meaning. In the work of at
least two poets you have studied, discuss how they have used tone to shape your understanding of
and response to poems.

 

2. The passage of time and its significance can be handled in many ways in poetry. Consider
the ways in which at least two poets have included aspects of time in their poetry through their
effective use of stylistic techniques.

 

3. Resistance and rebellion at either a personal or a larger, social level, can lead to very
interesting poetic explorations. By what means and with what effects have at least two poets you
have studied included such impulses and actions in their poetry?

 

4. Colour and sound provide some of the most vivid effects in poetry. How have at least two
poets that you have studied used such visual and auditory aspects as these to enrich their poems?

 

5. Patterns, aimed at the mind, the heart or the ear of the reader, are used by poets to
achieve their purposes. In the work of at least two poets you have studied, examine various
patterns and their effects.

 

6. While some poems focus exclusively on a personal or private experience, others reflect on
the place of the individual in the larger human community. In the work of at least two poets,
explore the ways in which poems have conveyed the poet’s sense of the world beyond the private
sphere.

Grading Rubric

Paper 2: Poetry

Criterion A: Knowledge and understanding of texts

• How well does the student know the texts studied?
• How much understanding has the student shown of the texts studied in relation to the question answered?
• How detailed and/or appropriate are the student’s references to the texts studied?

Marks	Level descriptor
0	The work does not reach a standard described by the descriptors below.
1	There is limited knowledge of, or familiarity with, the texts used to answer the question.
2	There is some knowledge of, or familiarity with, the texts used to answer the question. There is superficial understanding of the texts used.
3	There is adequate understanding of the texts used to answer the question. There are relevant references to the texts.
4	There is good understanding of the texts used to answer the question. There are detailed and appropriate references to the texts.
5	There is perceptive understanding of the texts used to answer the question. There are detailed and well-chosen references to the texts.

 

Criterion B: Response to the question

• How well has the student understood the specific demands of the question?
• To what extent has the student responded to these demands?
• How well has the student illustrated claims?
• To what extent has the student expressed a relevant personal response?

Marks	Level descriptor
0	The work does not reach a standard described by the descriptors below.
1	There is limited awareness of the main implications of the question. The ideas are mainly insignificant and/or irrelevant, or The essay consists mainly of paraphrase and/or narration and/or repetition of content.
2	There is some awareness of, or response to, the main implications of the question. The ideas are sometimes irrelevant. The essay consists mainly of unsubstantiated generalizations.
3	There is an adequate response to the main implications of the question. The ideas are generally relevant. The analysis of the ideas is adequate and sometimes illustrated by relevant examples.
4	There is a good response to the main implications of the question. The ideas are relevant and include a personal response, where appropriate. The analysis of the ideas includes some detail and is illustrated by relevant examples.
5	There is an excellent response to the main implications as well as some of the subtleties of the question. The ideas are carefully considered and show some independence of thought, where appropriate. The analysis of the ideas is detailed and well illustrated by good examples.

Criterion C: Appreciation of literary features

• To what extent is the student aware of the presence of literary features in the texts, such as diction, imagery, tone, structure, style and technique?
• To what extent does the student appreciate the effects of the literary features in relation to the question?
• How well has the student supported claims about the effects of the literary features?

Marks	Level descriptor
0	The work does not reach a standard described by the descriptors below.
1	There is limited mention or consideration of some of the literary features of the texts in relation to the question.
2	There is mention or consideration of the literary features of the texts in relation to the question. There is a superficial analysis of the literary features mentioned.
3	There is some analysis of the effects of the literary features of the texts in relation to the question. The analysis is illustrated by some relevant examples.
4	There is adequate analysis of the effects of the literary features of the texts in relation to the question. The analysis is appropriately illustrated by relevant examples.
5	There is detailed analysis of the effects of the literary features of the texts in relation to the question. The analysis is well illustrated by carefully chosen examples.

Criterion D: Presentation

• How well organized is the essay?
• How effectively have the student’s thoughts and feelings been presented?
• To what extent are supporting examples integrated into the body of the essay?

Marks	Level descriptor
0	The work does not reach a standard described by the descriptors below.
1	Ideas are presented with limited evidence of a structure to the essay. The ideas presented are not ordered or in a logical sequence.
2	Ideas are presented with some evidence of a structure to the essay. Ideas are sometimes presented in an ordered or logical sequence.
3	There is adequate structure to the essay. Ideas are generally presented in an ordered and logical sequence. Supporting examples are sometimes appropriately integrated into the body of the essay.
4	There is a clear and logical structure to the essay. Supporting examples are appropriately integrated into the body of the essay.
5	There is a purposeful and effective structure to the essay. Supporting examples are well integrated into the body of the essay.

Criterion E: Formal use of language

• How accurate, clear and precise is the language used?
• How appropriate is the choice of register and style for this task? (“Register” refers, in this context, to the student’s use of elements such as vocabulary, tone, sentence structure and terminology appropriate to the task. Terminology relates to the forms of prose and drama.)

Marks	Level descriptor
0	The work does not reach a standard described by the descriptors below.
1	Comprehensible language is used to a limited degree. There are significant lapses in grammar, spelling and sentence construction. The vocabulary used is rarely accurate or appropriate.
2	There is some degree of clarity and coherence in the use of language. There is some degree of accuracy in grammar, spelling and sentence construction. The vocabulary is sometimes appropriate to the literary analysis.
3	There is clear and coherent use of language. There are only a few significant lapses in grammar, spelling and sentence construction. Some care is shown in the choice of vocabulary, idiom and style. The register is generally appropriate for literary analysis.
4	The use of language is clear, varied and precise. There are no significant lapses in grammar, spelling and sentence construction. The use of vocabulary, idiom and style is effective and appropriately varied. The choice of register is suitable for literary analysis.
5	The use of language is clear, varied, precise and concise. There are no significant lapses in grammar, spelling and sentence construction. There is precise use of wide vocabulary and varied idiom and style. The choice of register is effective for literary analysis.

Link to Naomi Shihab Nye's letter from NY Times

http://islam.uga.edu/shihabnye.html

Sample Questions for Poetry Analysis Blog Posts 1 and 2

Answer one question. Refer closely to the works of ONE poet .

1. Ancestors, parents, children. The connections and oppositions among these groups often provide interesting material for poets. In the work of ONE poet you have studied, examine the means by which such relationships have been explored.

2. Poets often include in their poems places that evoke strong emotion. In the work of ONE poet you have studied, show how settings in poems have been connected to the presentation of feelings.

 3. There are many strategies by which poets increase the effect of their words and one of those is the repetition of words, images, sounds and the like. In the work of ONE poet you have studied, show how various kinds of repetition have allowed poets to heighten their meaning.

4. A famous classical poet has said that the aim of literature is ‘to teach and to delight’. In the work ONE poet you have studied, examine some poems where both of these aims (instruction and something that pleases the reader) have been included, and show how that has been achieved.

5. Words said to or by another person are often included in poems. In ONE poem you have studied, show how quoting words spoken by others or the inclusion of lines of dialogue have been used by poets to add impact to their work.

6. In the work of ONE poet you have studied, consider how they have constructed their materials and their attitudes to remind us that we live in a global village where mutual respect is of utmost importance.