Loop Writing
Definition: Where you respond in writing to a text in a variety of
ways, looping around the subject in order to understand it. You will
respond to it 1) in a talk to the text, 2) emotionally, 3) analytically 4)
creatively, 5) reflectively.
Here is how you do it. Take a given poem and do the following:
1) Do a Talk to the Text in which you
a) circle all important worlds
b) box all difficult words
c) write 4-5 questions (who, where, when, why, how, if)
d) write 3-4 metacognitive statements (I think, I predict, I am
unclear about, I find it difficult to understand, this reminds me of,
this compares to, the author probably, I infer/guess, I am unclear
about)
2) Use the Impressions format to help write down all
of your first thoughts, pre-conceptions, and prejudices about the
topic of the poem. Forget about whether what you are writing is
right or wrong, good or bad. Move quickly (i.e. LOOP) from
one observation to another.
3) Use either the Poetry Analysis page or the TCPCCST
poetry analysis page to help analyze the poem.
4) Write your own poem that is either a) similar to the poem
you have read in terms of theme OR b) which is a
response to the poem. But whatever you do, make this poem
your own. Add your own images, words, sounds, etc.
5) Write a reflection on your writing process. Read your poem,
then read the original poem. What do you understand about the
original poem that you didn’t when you first read it? How do
you feel about it now? How is your poem similar/different?
What was most difficult for you in this process and what was
easy.
First Impressions (Step 2)
1. The image in this poem that strikes me the most is ____________________________
because _____________________________________________________________.
This poem makes me feel _______________________________________________.
In my own life, it reminds me (or compares to) ______________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Because _____________________________________________________________.
Then I recall __________________________________________________________.
The effect of that detail in my life has been __________________________________
____________________________________________________________________.
Feelings that brought up for me were ______________________________________.
If I could relate this event in my life to a sound it would be _____________________,
a smell it would be ______________________, a moment of contact it would be
_________________________, a place it would look like ____________________, a
color it would be _____________________, a song it would be __________________,
a food it would be ____________________, a verb it would be ___________________,
an adjective it would be ___________________, an atmospheric event it would be
_________________________, an animal it would be _________________________.
(Now go to step 3, the Poetry Worksheet or TPCASST sheet)
First Impressions (Step 2)
2. The image in this poem that strikes me the most is ____________________________
because _____________________________________________________________.
This poem makes me feel _______________________________________________.
In my own life, it reminds me (or compares to) ______________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Because _____________________________________________________________.
Then I recall __________________________________________________________.
The effect of that detail in my life has been __________________________________
____________________________________________________________________.
Feelings that brought up for me were ______________________________________.
If I could relate this event in my life to a sound it would be _____________________,
a smell it would be ______________________, a moment of contact it would be
_________________________, a place it would look like ____________________, a
color it would be _____________________, a song it would be __________________,
a food it would be ____________________, a verb it would be ___________________,
an adjective it would be ___________________, an atmospheric event it would be
_________________________, an animal it would be _________________________.
(Now go to step 3, the Poetry Worksheet or TPCASST sheet)
My Poem (Step 4) Use this space to write your own poem. If it is a long
poem, great, make columns and continue in column 2.
#1
My Poem (Step 4) Use this space to write your own poem. If it is a long
poem, great, make columns and continue in column 2.
#2
Step 5: Now, after writing your poem on the back of your Step 3 worksheet,
write your reflection.
#1
Step 5: Now, after writing your poem on the back of your Step 3 worksheet,
write your reflection.
#2
Sample Poem for Analysis – Day 1
The Trumpet Player
By Langston Hughes
The Negro
With the trumpet at his lips
Has dark moons of weariness
Beneath his eyes
Where the smoldering memory
Of slave ships
Blazed to the crack of whips
About his thighs.
The Negro
With the trumpet at his lips
Has a head of vibrant hair
Tamed down,
Patent-leathered now
Until it gleams
Like jetWere jet a crown.
The music
From the trumpet at his lips
Is honey
Mixed with liquid fire.
The rhythm
From the trumpet at his lips
Is ecstasy
Distilled from old desire...
But softly
As the tune comes from his throat
Trouble
Mellows to a golden note.
Sample Response Poem
The Andalusian Singer
By Sam Davis
The old man
With a guitar held in his lap
Has sun-wrinkled fingers
Attached to hard-knobbed joints
Which have seen long hours of toil
In the Spanish fields
Shimmering crazy with heat
About his head
The Spanish man
With a guitar held in his lap
Has skin like old leather
Wrinkled and brown
Sun-stunned now
So it looks like dust
Looks like the earth
In a man – bound.
The Music
From the guitar in his hands
Is flame
Mixed with sorrow
The notes
From the guitar in his hands
Are cool water
Refreshing the sun’s harrow.
But gently
As the song springs from his fingers
Heat
Mellows for this Andalusian singer.
Sample First Impressions Paragraph
The image in this poem that strikes me the most is the picture of
liquid fire because it seems to me that music can pour out of one
like liquid. This poem makes me feel connected to jazz music in
a new way. In my own life, it reminds me (or compares to)
having watched other jazz musicians like Miles Davis, or having
watched that one great flamenco guitar player in Spain because
both types of music can be highly emotional. Then I think of
how old he looked at first and how wrinkled his skin was. Then
it occurs to me that I didn’t know anything about flamenco
music, but now I know how to play some. Feelings that memory
brought up for me were sentimental because I missed those
experiences. I wonder whether or not that musician is still alive.
I get pictures in my head of his wrinkled skin, and of flames
dancing above a fire in a campsite at night. If I could relate this
event in my life to a sound it would be strings on fingers, a smell
would sun on skin, a moment of contact it would be the pressure
of sound on an eardrum, a place it would look like would be a
dusty Spanish piazza, a color it would be is that of red clay and
bright sun, a song it would be is Alfonsina y El Mar, a food it
would be is ceviche, a verb it would be is shimmering, an
adjective it would be is gentle, an atmospheric event it would be
is summer heat, an animal it would be is a bluebelly lizard.
Sample Reflections Paragraph.
After re-reading The Trumpet Player, and writing my own
similar poem, I think I understand the Trumpet Player
better. At first, I was confused by some of his language. I
didn’t know what he meant for example by words like
“ecstasy” or by phrases like “dark moons of weariness.”
But I circled words I didn’t know, and looked them up in
the dictionary. That helped me some. I also circled
important words and asked myself a bunch of questions. I
realized that a lot of words had to do with visual pictures of
light, such as “fire, golden, honey, jet, gleams, sun, flame,”
etc. I had the thought that maybe for Hughes the trumpet
player’s music is light, and Hughes associates music and
light. The light, gleaming on the player’s “jet”(i.e. black)
hair is like the author saying the player is expressing
African American history through the bright music. I
decided to write about a musician, like Langston Hughes
did. I remembered a musician I’d seen in Andalusia, Spain.
I wrote a poem in which, like Hughes, the guitar player’s
surrounding world is reflected in his music. By writing the
poem, I really recognized how Hughes combines music and
characterization.
TPCASTT STRATEGY
TITLE and AUTHOR (of the poem)
PARAPHRASE (Write about 3 sentences in which you put he poem into your own words)
CONNOTATION (Write several key words that seem important in this poem, and then
write their connotations (associated words), extra meanings. Why did the author use these
words and what do they mean in the context of the poem. Also, what are some
connotations for the poem as a whole?)
ATTITUDE or TONE (How does the author feel about the subject he/she is writing
about. Explain you answer by referring to a section of the poem)
SHIFTS (What major shifts in emotion, time, tone, mood, rhythm, rhyme, etc. occur in
the poem?)
TITLE: (Look at the title again. Is it clearer why the poet chose this title? What does the
title mean or how does it contribute to the meaning of the poem)
THEME: What does this poem mean? Why did the poet write it? (To answer this think
about the images and words that come up repeatedly. What is the writer trying to get at?
Is the central image of the poem a metaphor that stands for something else? If so what? (1
paragraph.