A.P. Literature and Awesomeness: September 11, 2014

Focus: How can we unlock the extended metaphors in poetry?

1. Warming up: Sharing with you my 9/11 experience

2. Returning to our favorite shut up poet: Emily Dickinson

Can I get two or three volunteers to walk us through your thought process and annotations for "They Shut Me Up in Prose?"

3. Trying to uncover the elusive extended metaphor in "To Paint a Water Lily" with a color coding exercise

• Round 1: What object serves as the central symbol? (The title often gives it away.)

• Round 2: What might it symbolize? (What connotations do you have with this object?)

• Round 3: What action/verb goes along with this object?  (What connotations do you have with this action?)

• Round 4: Which images contribute to the extended metaphor and how?

• Round 5: Does the metaphor's meaning shift throughout the poem? How so?

• Round 6: Try out a thesis that goes something like this: ______ uses the extended metaphor of painting a water lily in order to _____________________ but also to __________________.

4. Outlining how you would rephrase your thesis and support it if you were actually writing this essay

HW:

1. Continue following the East of Eden reading schedule, but you do not need a reading ticket tomorrow.  In fact, remember that most (if not all) of your class time tomorrow will devoted to East of Eden reading time.

2. College essay due September 19.