The Double Face of Humanity: Two or Three Things about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Poetry Writing 2 April 2011

About the 1 st assignment Introducing the film –Objective report of the plot? –Selective focus on some of the issues? Characters? Problems addressed? –The narrator’s voice (gender, age, opinion about life and death, god, etc.) –Always an interpretation (through the lens of the narrator)

General attention in writing –Accuracy (words, and the mood) –Form and content –Consistence (within the section and within the overall story)

Important Messages… Good vs Evil: –Natural vs unnatural? –Inner human self vs external influence? –Human vs inhuman/subhuman qualities? Why is there a struggle between good and evil? (what is the attraction of being Mr. Hyde?) The content of the “good” and “evil” components What qualities are considered HUMAN?

2nd Assignment and presentation Read the extracts from Diaries of Adam and Eve. Imagine yourself to be one animal living in the Garden of Eden and write one diary entry (300 words). or Imagine you are Mr. Hyde. You have decided to keep a diary to record your feelings about your “new life”. Submit one entry to me in the next lesson (300 words).

A reminder about the final performance On 14 May 2011 (final session), there will be a group presentation/performance of your work during this course … –Short pieces of your work during the course + –New additions + –New approach + –New “message”

Today: Poetry/Lyrics Task one – understanding the subject matter What is Poetry? What does it do?

What is poetry - Dante Things that are true expressed in words that are beautiful.

What is poetry – Samuel Johnson The art of uniting pleasure with truth by calling imagination to the help of reason.

What is poetry – Samuel Taylor Coleridge The best words in the best order.

What is poetry – William Wordsworth The spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.

What is poetry – Thomas Carlyle Musical thought.

What is poetry – Thomas Hardy Emotion put into measure.

What is poetry – Emily Dickinson If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that it is poetry.

What is poetry – Gerard Manley Hopkins Speech framed … to be heard for its own sake and interest even over and above its interest of meaning.

What is poetry – Robert Frost A way of remembering what it would impoverish us to forget.

What is poetry – Wallace Stevens A revelation in words by means of the words.

What is poetry – Mina Loy Poetry is prose bewitched.

What is poetry – TS Eliot Not the assertion that something is true, but the making of that truth more fully real to us.

What is poetry – WH Auden The clear expression of mixed feelings.

What is poetry – Elizabeth Bishop Hundreds of things coming together at the right moment.

What is poetry – William Stafford Anything said in such a way, or put on the page in such a way, as to invite from the hearer or the reader a certain kind of attention.

What is poetry – Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry is life distilled.

What is poetry – Robert Bly A poem is something that penetrates for an instant into the unconscious.

What is poetry – E. M. Forster A poem is true if it hangs together. Information points to something else. A poem points to nothing but itself.

What is poetry – Archibald MacLeish A poem should not mean. But be.

What is poetry – Charles Simic Poetry is an orphan of silence. The words never quite equal the experience behind them.

Moments of possibilities in Jekyll and Hyde … Millicent waiting for Jekyll to propose Hyde looks into the mirror for the first time The final moment of Dr. Jekyll The moment when the Italian dancer puts her hands on Jekyll’s body Jekyll walking into the Human Repair Shop Lane (the servant) being told that Hyde will be given free access to Jekyll’s house Italian dancer on stage, looking at her audience

Task two Read the poem “You fit into me” –What kind of information do you get from the four lines? –How are the pieces of information carried across to you?

“You Fit Into Me” by Margaret Atwood you fit into me like a hook into an eye a fish hook an open eye

Task three Read the poem “Funeral Blues” –What do you feel is the poem talking about? –What part do you like most? –Watch the video and compare your experience of the poem regarding these two aspects

Task four Tell your partner(s) the Cinderella story that you know. Read the poem “Cinderella” and share with the class the differences What does the poet wants to do by writing a different Cinderella story?

Task Five: language game “Haiku” (also called “haikai”) Japanese word game originating in the 16th century A popular game among common people (not aristocracy) Focuses on: –Inspiration through physical senses –Landscapes, animals, plant life, weather conditions

A poem with 3 lines, using the pattern Presentation of atmosphere, not explaining

Basho ( ) An old pond! A frog jumps in – The sound of water.

In the cicada’s cry No sign can foretell How soon it must die.

No one travels Along this way but I, This autumn evening.

Temple bells die out. The fragrant blossoms remain. A perfect evening!

The falling flower I saw drift back to the branch Was a butterfly.

only one guy and only one fly trying to make the guest room do.

Task five Please refer to Linda Pastan’s poem “Ethics”. What has the narrator of the poem understood?

Rembrandt ( )

Functions of poetry … Stating the truth Expressing feelings Telling stories Offering criticism/comments/opinions Responding to previous stories/opinions Playing with the musical qualities Playing with the images created Recording events: historical facts, personal experience, etc.

Assignment today (A or B) Poems can be used for different purposes. A) Write a poem (about what happen in the story) from one of the following characters’ position: 1.Owner of the opium shop 2.Millicent 3.The Italian dancer 4.Dr. Lanyon (fellow scientist) B) Write a poem about your writing experience.