Monday Dec. 5, 2011
L.O. SWBAT describe the themes of two poems and synthesize
the information.
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Silent Reading
Upcoming Week
Conditional Synthesis
Group Brainstorming
HW:
– Poetry Portfolio due Friday
– Conditional Synthesis Brainstorm Sheet
– Vocabulary Crossword
– Poetry Review + Poetry Presentation
This Week
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Dec. 6 Tuesday – Hand in Vocab Crossword
Dec. 7 Wednesday – Work Period
Dec. 8 Thursday – Poetry Review – Work Period?
Dec. 9 Friday – Poetry Portfolio Due/Poetry Test
Dec. 12 Monday – Poetry Presentations
Dec. 13 Tuesday – Poetry Presentations
Dec. 14 Wednesday – Creative Writing Intro +
Conditional Synthesis Paragraph
• Dec. 16 – Grade 10 Vocab Matching Test
Dylan Thomas–
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
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Welsh Poet (1914-1953)
Written for his dying father
One of his most popular poems
Doctor gave him four years to
live
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Explanation #1
• Watched his father, formerly in the Army,
grow weak and frail with old age
• Speaker tries to convince his father to fight
against imminent death
• Uses “wise, good, wild, grave” men – illustrate
the same message that no matter how they
have lived or what they feel at the end, they
should die fighting
• One should not die without fighting for one’s
life or after life
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Explanation #2
• Speaker admits that death is unavoidable, but
encourages all men to fight death
• This is not for them, but to give closure and
hope for their loved ones left behind
• “Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I
pray”
• Never showed this poem to his father, so he
composed it more for his own benefit
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Explanation #X
• The author’s own fear of death
• Fear having little separation between life and
death
• Father’s own catharsis before passing on
• Wild hope that he will see his father before he
passes
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
• Structured as a villanelle
– Only has two rhyme sounds
– The first and third lines of the first stanza are
rhyming refrains that alternate as the third line in
each successive stanza and form a couplet at the
close
– 19 lines long, consisting of five tercets (3 lines
forming a stanza) and one concluding quatrains
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
• Villanelles usually imply a light gay tone
• Profound paradox: unavoidable death in the
face of the perpetual rhythm of rebirth
• The refrains – courage and frustration,
strength and grieving
• The different epithets (word or phrase applied
to a person or thing to describe an actual or
attributed quality) “wise”, “good”, “wild”, and
“grave” – attitudes of men in front of their last
challenge
John Donne –
Holy Sonnet X: Death, Be Not Proud
• Sonnet # 10
• A metaphysical poem
• Written around 1610 and
pushing posthumously in
1633
John Donne –
Holy Sonnet X: Death, Be Not Proud
• Sonnet addresses Death, telling him not to be
proud, because death is not to be feared
• Sleep is a type of death, and that is
pleasurable; then death must be even more so
• Death is a slave to fate, chance (accidental
death), kings (who have the power of life and
death), and desperate men
• ABBA ABBA CDDC AE rhyme scheme
John Donne –
Holy Sonnet X: Death, Be Not Proud
• Lines 1 – 2
– Addressing Death as an equal, apparent later as
inferior
– Death likes to think of himself as powerful and
terrifying
– Some people have called him that, but that is not
truth
John Donne –
Holy Sonnet X: Death, Be Not Proud
• Lines 3-4
– Death thinks that he is “overthrowing” men when
he takes them (i.e. conquering, vanquishing,
ruining, etc.)
– Death is a means by which man finds
Resurrection, eternal life and immortality through
Christ in heaven
– “poor Death” – sarcastic, patronizing
– “nor yet canst thou kill me” – Death does not kill,
but is the enabler of new, immortal life
– Cannot kill, so holds no power over the speaker
John Donne –
Holy Sonnet X: Death, Be Not Proud
• Lines 5 - 8
– Idea of sleep as death’s image
– (Parallel of sleeping/waking and dying/waking is noted
later in the sonnet)
– Best man of the era go unhesitatingly to their deaths
– They wisely realized death is another form of sleep
– Their bones go to their rest (graves) and their soul gets
“delivered” (set free)
– Multiple meanings: being freed from the human body,
freed from the fear of death, delivered into heaven,
delivered in the sense of being born
John Donne –
Holy Sonnet X: Death, Be Not Proud
• Lines 9-10
– Death is a slave
– Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men as his “master”
– Personified Death does not always have the power to choose who is to
die
– Fate and chance may suddenly take someone
– Kings on a whim may doom people to their deaths
– Desperate men, who see no way out, may take their own lives
– Cheats Death of his control and mastery
– Likens Death to a scavenger who cleans up where poison, war, and
sickness have raged – How proud is his position now?
John Donne –
Holy Sonnet X: Death, Be Not Proud
• Lines 11-12
– Back to sleep/Death image
– Drugs alike have the power of producing sleep, and in fact, create a truer sleep than
Death (since Death is a fleeting moment’s sleep before resurrection)
– Death’s self-image is belittled and shown as false
– Question: What reason have you, Death, to be proud? (Image is that of a chest swelling
with pride)
John Donne –
Holy Sonnet X: Death, Be Not Proud
• Lines 13 – 14
– “One short sleep past” – fleeting moment
– “We wake eternally” – we will wake up resurrected, to eternal life,
never to sleep or die again
– “Death, thou shalt die” Then, death will cease to exist altogether, will
die
– Death is a mere mortal, or rather less than mortals
– Idea that Death is the one who should be afraid, not the one to be
feared
HOMEWORK
• Vocab Crossword
• Thesis + 3 Supporting Points
• Read Poetry Cafe
Poetry Review
1. Poetic Devices
– See Poetic Device Sheet
– See ENG 12 Literary Terms Sheet
2. Poetic Forms Assignment (Forms + Types)
– Be able to read a poem and label them
– E.g. Narratives, Didactic, Lyric, Etc.
3. Synthesis Hook + Synthesis Structure
– You will be writing a Synthesis Essay
Tuesday Dec. 6, 2011
L.O. SWBAT present a thesis and understand
synthesis structure.
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Silent Reading + Collect Vocab
Synthesis Discussion
Group Discussion on Poems
Present Brainstorm to Class
HW:
– Poetry Portfolio due Friday
– Conditional Synthesis Brainstorm Sheet
– Poetry Review (Test Friday) + Poetry Presentation
Wednesday Dec. 7, 2011
L.O. SWBAT…
• Work Period
• HW:
– Poetry Portfolio due Friday
– Conditional Synthesis Brainstorm Sheet
– Poetry Review: Test Friday
– Poetry Presentation (Dec. 12/13)
Thursday Dec. 8, 2011
L.O. SWBAT demonstrate their understanding of
the main concepts in poetry.
• Review Period
• HW:
– Poetry Portfolio due tomorrow
– Poetry Test tomorrow
– Poetry Presentation (Dec. 12/13)
Friday Dec. 9, 2011
L.O. SWBAT demonstrate their understanding of
the main concepts in poetry.
• Poetry Test
• HW:
– Poetry Presentation (Dec. 12/13)
– Conditional Synthesis Package
– Grade 10 Vocab Dec. 16