Pamela Worth
ENG 611
Final Project
Lesson Plan: Sex, Food, & Poetry • Class 1 • 90 minutes
Materials:
- In class: students will read Baca’s “Green Chile” and Sally Croft’s “Home-Baked
Bread”
Two objectives:
- Students will open their exploration of this unit on sexuality and poetry (and this
course on literature and sexuality) with some tamer readings, and explore
connections between food, sensuality, and sexuality
- Students will prepare to write their own food (and/or sex) poetry
Procedure:
I.
Stand Up/Sit Down! Icebreaker game. (3-5 minutes)
II.
Freewrite: Students will write down how “Green Chile” made them feel: how
they reacted to it, what they think it’s about. (5 minutes)
III.
Focused group work: students will break into groups and identify (and write
down) words and phrases in the poem that illustrate sensuality: touch, smell,
taste, feel, consumption, sight, sound. Students should also make notes of
any words, phrases, or ideas that seem strange to them. (10 minutes)
IV.
Focused discussion: students will share their words or phrases using
‘pointing.’ I will facilitate another discussion, this time using more focused
questions and providing helpful context for the poem. We’ll discuss
symbolism and sensuality and make connections. (20 minutes)
V.
Poetry workshop: using Sheridan Blau’s “An Experiment in Reading Poetry”
workshop (36-59), students will close-read and discuss “Home-Baked Bread”
by Sally Croft, and then discuss similarities and differences between the two
poems. (30 minutes)
VI.
Brainstorm for at-home poetry writing assignment: we’ll list our favorite
foods and/or foods that have some meaning to us, then adjectives that
describe these foods, and finally words for the emotions we feel when we
eat or prepare them. We’ll take these lists home to write our own food
poetry as an assignment. Students should feel free to dive right into the
sensual or sexual aspect of food, or not, according to their comfort level. (20
minutes)
Assessment:
- class participation
- reviewing freewriting
- at-home writing assignment: students will complete assignment described
above. Poetry will be judged on how closely it adheres to the assignment, not on
its ‘quality.’
- these poems will be options for the unit’s larger assignment
Lesson Plan: Getting Edgier: Contemporary Poets on Sexuality • Class 2 • 90 minutes
Materials:
- At home, students will have read Sexton’s “The Ballad of the Lonely
Masturbator,” Isherwood’s “On His Queerness”, Lord’s “Love Poem” and
“Recreation,” Gunn’s “In Time of Plague”
Two objectives:
- Students will discover different perspectives on love and sexuality from the
messages they are used to in the media, and explore art and the media’s role in
representing sexuality
- Students will attempt to understand and define modern sexuality and sexual
expression
Procedure:
I.
Freewrite: Did anything in the readings make you uncomfortable? If so, what
and why? (5 minutes)
II.
Cultural anthropology: it’s far in the future, and an anthropologist is
examining a few relics of our civilization: copies of Cosmopolitan and Maxim
magazines. Using one magazine per group of 3-4, identify and write down
conclusions such an anthropologist could make about men, women, and
sexuality in our culture. (10-15 minutes)
III.
Group discussion: Each group will present their findings, and then the class as
a whole will discuss whether these conclusions seem reasonable. (10-15
minutes)
IV.
Freewrite: Did the poems we read or the exercise we just did make you more
uncomfortable? Why? (5 minutes)
V.
Students share freewrite responses, beginning a conversation on media and
art and how they represent sexuality. Questions: is it offensive to frankly
address sex? Masturbation? Why or why not? Is it offensive to sell products
using sex? What responsibility do poets have to represent sex and sexuality?
What about the media and advertising? (15-20 minutes)
VI.
Scaffolding exercise: I will model interpretation using Audre Lord’s
“Recreation,” discussing on what the poem might mean and its importance.
(10 minutes)
VII.
Group work: class will break into four groups to discuss the interpretation of
the remaining four poems, and present their findings. (15-20 minutes)
Assessment:
- class participation
- reviewing freewriting
- at-home writing assignment: students will complete assignment described
above. Poetry will be judged on how closely it adheres to the assignment.
- these poems will be options for the unit’s larger assignment
Lesson Plan: Sex in Harlem • Class 3 • 90 minutes
Materials:
- At home, students will have read Bennett’s “To A Dark Girl,” Hughes’ “Café: 3
A.M.,” “To F.S.,” “Juke Box Love Song”
- In class, students will watch Josephine Baker’s “Banana Dance,” listen to Bessie
Smith’s “Empty Bed Blues,” Lucille Bogan’s “Shave ‘Em Dry,” and Ma Rainey’s
“Sissy Blues”
Two objectives:
- Students will understand the historical period known as the Harlem Renaissance,
and receive an alternative perspective on the writings from that time
- Students will explore representations of African-American sexuality, and place
them in a broader context – including the context of modern hip-hop music
Procedure:
I.
Stand up/sit down (I’d like to figure out how much students know about the
Harlem Renaissance) (3-5 minutes)
II.
Freewrite: Were you surprised by anything in the readings for class? Why?
(5 minutes)
III.
Free discussion: students share their responses. (5-10 minutes)
IV.
Focused discussion: what does this poetry mean? What is the significance of
celebrating the beauty and sexuality of African-Americans at this time? (1520 minutes)
V.
Providing context: students will watch a short video of Josephine Baker
performing her “banana dance,” and listen to Bessie Smith’s “Empty Bed
Blues,” Lucille Bogan’s “Shave ‘Em Dry,” and Ma Rainey’s “Sissy Blues” (20
minutes)
VI.
Freewrite: respond to the songs you just heard. What are the differences
and similarities between their depiction of African-American sexuality, and
the depictions you encounter today in hip-hop/rap music? (If you aren’t
familiar with modern hip-hop music, pair up with someone who is, and write
and discuss together.) (10 minutes)
VII.
Focused discussion: students share their responses, and discuss what is
similar and different. How do these blues songs tie into the poetry you read?
How is expressing sexuality empowering for a disenfranchised population? Is
there artistic value in a song like “Shave ‘Em Dry”? Why do people like songs
about sex? (15-20 minutes)
Assessment:
- class participation/reviewing freewriting
- at-home writing assignment: provide line-by-line commentary on one of the
stanzas of Bennett’s “To a Dark Girl” (students will be assigned one of the three)
- these poems will be options for the unit’s larger assignment
Lesson Plan: Sex in the Jazz Age • Class 4 • 90 minutes
Materials:
- At home, students will have read Parker’s “Unfortunate Coincidence,” “General
Review of the Sex Situation,” and Millay’s “Oh You Will Be Sorry,” “I Shall Forget
You Presently, My Dear,” "O Think Not I Am Faithful," “How Innocent We Lie
Among,” and “I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed”
Two objectives:
- Between this lesson and Lesson 3, students will learn the historical context for
modern feminism, and modern expression of female sexual agency
- Students will learn about the form of the sonnet through studying one of its
masters, and prepare to write one of their own
Procedure:
I.
Freewrite on one of the two Parker poems. Do you agree with it? Why or
why not? (3-5 minutes)
II.
Students share their responses and discuss their opinions of Parker’s poetry,
with context provided as needed (10-15 minutes)
III.
Quick history lesson on the U.S. in the 1920’s: the Harlem Renaissance, the
Jazz Age, industrialization, feminism, women’s suffrage, World War I, and the
Great Depression, including appended YouTube video and handout (10
minutes)
IV.
Focused content- and context-themed discussion of St. Vincent Millay’s
poetry: does the context in which Millay wrote affect your judgment of her
poetry? How do you think she was received in her time? (20 minutes)
V.
Scaffolding intro to sonnet lesson: I start with one of the Millay poems, and
note the form-related attributes of the poem, marking down rhyme scheme,
syllables per line, stresses, number of lines, etc. (10 minutes)
VI.
Sonnet lesson: break class into small groups. Each group is assigned one of
the remaining four Millay sonnets, and will note the form-related attributes
of the poem, using this site if possible. (15-20 minutes)
VII.
Class shares findings; I present sonnet assignment. (10 minutes)
Assessment:
- class participation/reviewing freewriting
- write a sonnet on any topic/theme, using the appended fill-in-your-own-sonnet
handout (from here)
- these poems will be options for the unit’s larger assignment
Extra credit: Students seeking extra credit may volunteer to research Victorian morality
in the United Kingdom and in the U.S. – including laws on private and public expressions
of sexuality. Students can write up a few bullet points summarizing the most important
information they learned, and present their findings for the next class.
Lesson Plan: Gay As We Know It • Class 5 • 90 minutes
Materials:
- At home, students will have read Thoreau’s “I Knew a Man By Sight,” Whitman’s
“We Two Boys,” Housman’s “The Street Sounds to the Soldiers’ Tread,” Douglas’
“Two Loves”
- In class, students will read Dickinson’s “Wild Nights!”
Two objectives:
- Students will understand the evolution of homosexuality as it is discussed and
understood today
- Students will prepare for less familiar future encounters with seemingly gay texts
Procedure:
I.
Freewrite: Do you think that sexual expression should be kept in the private
sphere? How much sexual expression is okay in public? Who should make
and enforce rules on such expression? (5-10 minutes)
II.
Extra credit-seeking students present on their findings (10 minutes)
III.
Guided discussion: What do these poems reveal about their authors? I’ll
write down what students say, grouping comments by author, and we’ll
discuss what we know about their lives. Are these poems ‘gay’? What does
‘gay’ mean today? What do these poems tell us ‘gay’ meant then? (30-40
minutes)
IV.
Popcorn reading of “Wild Nights!” – two or three times. (5-7 minutes)
V.
Focused discussion on “Wild Nights!”, incorporating freewrite responses on
expression and repression. Does art suffer when expression is limited? Is it
more fun to find hidden meanings than to understand sexual connotations
upfront? (10-15 minutes)
VI.
Review of sonnet assignment – due next class. (5-10 minutes)
Assessment:
- class participation/reviewing freewriting
- these poems will be options for the unit’s larger assignment
- progress on sonnet assignment
Lesson Plan: Rose and Dick and Don Juan • Class 6 • 90 minutes
Materials:
- At home, students will have read Blake’s, “The Sick Rose,” and “The Question
Answered,” Byron “Don Juan” (Canto IX), “Remember Thee!”, and “We’ll No
More Go A’Roving,” and Prior’s “A True Maid”
Two objectives:
- Students will share and assess their own sonnets
- Students will receive a quick survey of some of the poets writing about sexuality
from the early 19th century to the mid-17th century
Procedure:
I.
Stand up/sit down (3-5 minutes)
II.
Sonnet workshop: students will pair off and read each other their sonnets.
Each student will use this site if possible to parse out the rhyme scheme and
structure of their partner’s sonnet. Then we’ll reconvene as a larger group
and discuss how the formal structure of the poem affected their expression –
especially as compared to the food poetry they wrote after Class 1. Sonnets,
along with their partner evaluations, will then be turned in. (30-40 minutes)
III.
Freewrite: which of the assigned poems was your favorite to read, and why?
(3-5 minutes)
IV.
Free discussion: students share responses (10 minutes)
V.
Focused discussion: what worldviews do these poems present? What gender
roles? How do they contradict each other? Together, students will place
each poem into a Venn diagram of gender roles and worldviews. (20
minutes)
VI.
Snowball activity: students will write down any questions they have about
the reading, the class in general, or the upcoming lessons, and then crumple
up and throw the paper somewhere else for someone else to read aloud and
answer. (10 minutes)
Assessment:
- class participation/reviewing freewriting
- these poems will be options for the unit’s larger assignment
- completion of sonnet/evaluation assignment
Dirty Old Men and Women I • Class 7 • 90 minutes
Materials:
- At home: students will have read Herrick’s “To the Virgins, to Make Much of
Time;” Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress;” and Campion’s “I Care Not for These
Ladies”
- In class: students will read Donne’s “The Flea”
Two objectives:
- Students will participate in a facilitated discussion of the similarities and
differences of the readings and develop opinions on what the poems indicate
about sexuality in the 17th century
- Students will understand the “carpe diem” trope, and its variations
Procedure:
VIII. Freewrite: students will write on the cheesiest pick-up line they’ve ever
personally delivered, heard, or heard of. What are the goals of these lines?
Do they ever work? (5-10 minutes)
IX.
Free discussion: students will discuss what they wrote and then informally
discuss how today’s pick-up lines relate to the poetry they read for
homework. (5-10 minutes)
X.
Variation on Blau’s ‘Goldilocks’ assignment: students will break into small
groups (3-4) to pick the poem among the three assigned that was most
difficult for them to understand. They will identify the hardest lines and
discuss them in their groups, trying to come up with interpretations and
writing down lingering questions. (15 minutes)
XI.
Larger Goldilocks discussion: groups will present their findings. I will write
down questions that are presented. (10 minutes)
XII.
Context: from this discussion, I will provide historical, cultural, and linguistic
context for the poems, attempting to strike a balance between what
students can grasp themselves and what they could not know without more
information. (10 minutes)
XIII. Poetry workshop: students will close-read and discuss John Donne’s “The
Flea,” and place it thematically with one of the three poems they read for
homework. (25-35 minutes)
Assessment:
- Class participation
- Reviewing freewriting
- These poems will be options for the unit’s larger assignment
Extra credit: Read Richard Wilbur’s “A Late Aubade,” and write a paragraph on how you
think this poem, written in 1968, relates to Marvell and/or Herrick’s poems.
Lesson plan: Dirty Old Men and Women II • Class 8 • 90 minutes
Materials:
- At home: students will have read Behn’s “To the Fair Clarinda,” Philips’ “To My
Excellent Lucasia,” and “A Married State,” Shakespeare’s “Spring” song, and
Sonnets 20 and 29
- In class: students will read Behn’s “The Disappointment”
Two objectives:
- Through the readings, students will understand that the idea of homosexuality as
we understand it today is a modern development (which will hopefully
contribute to my overall goal of them understanding that sexuality and sexual
expression in general are fluid)
- Through discussion, students will piece together a big-picture understanding of
sexuality and its expression in the 16th and 17th centuries
Procedure:
I.
Freewrite: students will pick the poem that surprised them the most from
the readings and explain their surprise. (5 minutes)
II.
Free discussion: students will share what surprised them and why. (15
minutes)
III.
Focused discussion: I will facilitate a conversation on what these poems
reveal about sexuality in the 16th and 17th centuries, and how these
revelations do not quite fit into today’s norms for gender and sexuality,
providing context where needed. (20-30 minutes)
IV.
Bawdy Bard activity: using the Bawdy Bard handout and an excerpt from
Hamlet, students will identify and decipher ‘disguised’ sexual language (1520 minutes)
V.
“The Disappointment”: students will read the poem popcorn-style, jumping
in when they feel like it. (10-15 minutes)
VI.
Focused discussion: what is this poem about? Why would someone write a
poem like this? What does it say about gender relations? (10 minutes)
Assessment:
- Class participation
- Reviewing freewriting
- These poems will be options for the unit’s larger assignment
- At-home writing assignment: If you had to align your own philosophy/world view
on sexuality with that of just one of the poems from Class 7 and 8, which would
you choose and why? (Eg: I chose “My Excellent Lucrasia,” because I value
intellectual and companionate love between female friends, and this poem
expresses those values in x, y, and z ways.) Responses will be kept confidential.
Lesson Plan: The Miller’s Prologue and Tale • Class 9 • 90 minutes
Materials:
- At home: students will have read Chaucer’s “The Miller’s Prologue and Tale”
Two objectives:
- Students will understand the structure and real-world context of The Canterbury
Tales, and how “The Miller’s Prologue and Tale” fit into both (the latter
especially examined in terms of gender and class)
- Students will think about how narration affects writing and understanding
Procedure:
I.
Freewrite: have you ever told a dirty joke? How did your audience react?
What is the point of telling dirty jokes? (5-10 minutes)
II.
Free discussion: students will share responses and discuss how this topic
relates to their reading (5-10 minutes)
III.
Brief context lesson on The Canterbury Tales. (5-10 minutes)
IV.
Activity: I’ll ask students to imagine we’re locked into our classroom with no
electricity, and the only way to pass the time is to tell stories. They’ll
brainstorm their best and most entertaining story, write down its gist, and
then break into small groups of 3-4 to tell their stories and pick a winner.
Meeting again as a large group, students will tell the best story from each
group. Then we’ll discuss what each story says about the teller. (30-40
minutes) (adapted from Blau 108-121)
V.
Segue into focused discussion of “The Miller’s Prologue and Tale.” What
does the Miller reveal about himself? What does his tale say about him?
What does it say about medieval sexuality? Does the tale have anything in
common with modern anxieties about fidelity? (15-20 minutes)
Assessment:
-
Class participation
Reviewing freewriting
The tale will be an option for the unit’s larger assignment
At-home writing assignment: Use narration worksheet to place the Miller and
Chaucer himself on a series of spectrums (Smith and Wilhelm 111-135)
Extra credit: Up to six students may volunteer to do a 10-minute research project on
different references or allusions in “The Wife of Bath’s prologue” – eg, the writings
of St. Jerome, Alisoun’s gap teeth, Ecclesiastes, Jesus and the Samaritan, etc. They
may use google/Wikipedia/different academic sources. Students can write up a few
bullet points summarizing the most important information they learned, and present
their findings for the next class.
Lesson Plan: The Wife of Bath’s Prologue • Class 10 • 90 minutes
Materials:
- At home: students will have read “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue”
- In class: students will read the Wife of Bath’s description in the “General
Prologue”
Two objectives:
- Students will understand the real-world context of “The Wife of Bath’s
Prologue,” and what the prologue reveals about 14th-century attitudes toward
women and marriage
- Students will debate whether Alisoun makes a compelling argument against
medieval misogynists – or whether she plays right into their worst stereotypes
Procedure:
I.
Stand up/sit down (3-5 minutes)
II.
Extra credit-seeking students present on their findings (10-15 minutes)
III.
Students will read Chaucer’s description of the Wife of Bath from the General
Prologue, using popcorn reading (10 minutes)
IV.
Focused discussion on the reading: what is similar in “The Wife of Bath’s
Prologue” to “The Miller’s Tale”? Whose views are represented: Chaucer or
the Wife of Bath? What is she saying about medieval views on marriage and
women? (15 minutes)
V.
The Final Word activity: Students will respond to the appended survey on
their opinions on the role of women and marriage, and then break into
groups to discuss the four most contentious responses. Then they will
defend their responses with evidence from the text in a round. (30-40
minutes)
VI.
Explanation of unit paper assignment: students will compare a new poem (I
provide a range of options) to one of the works we read together, in terms of
its representation of sexuality, providing evidence from close-reading and
interpretation of both. (10 minutes)
Assessment:
-
Class participation, especially in the Final Word activity
Extra credit-seeking students’ presentations
The tale will be an option for the unit’s larger assignment, explained above