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.