English 221: Intro to Creative Writing
Agenda:  May 6, 2008

Discussion: They Feed They Lion

• Read the excerpt on the 12th Street Riots
• In groups of four, apply the following terms to the poem They Feed They Lion
  • Tone
  • Denotation and Connotation
  • Density
  • Figurative Language: Simile, Metaphor, Personification
  • Alliteration
  • Assonance
  • Rhyme and Near Rhyme (Slant Rhyme)
  • Rhythm
  • Paradox (a seeming contradiction that may nevertheless be true)
  • Oxymoron (the pairing of contradictory terms, as a deafening silence)
  • Surprise
  • Line: Enjambment, End-Stopped
• What is the poem about? What about what it's about?
• Make a list of the ten most important words or phrases in the poem. How do these words, when grouped together, form a constellation of meaninsg? What meanings?
• Why do you think Levine chose to write the poem this way? What are the advantages of this strategy? (What does Levine gain from writing the poem this way?) What are the disadvantages?

Freewrite in Class: List the ten most important words or phrases in your replacement poem. How do these words or phrases, taken together, form a constellation of meanings? What meanings?

• Add, somewhere in the poem, a word, phrase or line, to strengthen or develop this meaning.
• Subtract a wordm phrase or line to strengthen or develop this meaning.
• Replace a word, phrase or line to strengthen or develop this meaning.

FOR NEXT TIME 5/8

• 3 Poems Due, Stapled Together,
• Last day to turn in 2 Live Reading Responses

Final Exam: Tuesday 5/13, in this room, from 12:30-2:30. Bring Two Blue Books