Unit 5 Flex Seminar: LITERATURE HU 300: Art and Humanities in the 20 th Century and Beyond with Laurie Smart-Pottle, M.Ed

Any Questions Before we get Started?

Unit 5 To-Do List Reading : Read the short story “The Lost Beautifulness” by Anzia Yezierska— available online: /text6/yezierska.pdf (or PDF in DocSharing). /text6/yezierska.pdf Supplemental Resources : Various Literature and Poetry clips (Both in My Humanities Kit and in My Web Resources). Lots of exposure to poetry!! Review Key Terms using the Flashcards in My Humanities Kit. Discussion 50 pts.: Participate in both discussion questions (link under Unit 5 tab). Don’t forget to respond to at least two students per question! Flex Seminar : Attend/ participate in a synchronous discussion. Note: Tools for completing Unit 7’s project (Happiness) is in the Unit 7 discussion board—just in case you would like to start thinking/ planning ahead.

Literature/Poetry Terms  Blank verse  Classic  Conceit  Couplet  Epic  Epiphany  Genre  Haiku  Iambic pentameter  Lyrical poetry  Masterpiece  Metaphor  Novella  Romance  Scanning  Sonnet

Reading in America In 2004, the National Endowment for the Arts put out a study called “Reading at Risk,” about the decline of reading in America. In 2007, another study showed that 1 in 4 adults read no books in 2006 (CBS News, 2007).

Among the Findings:  On average, Americans ages 15 to 24 spend almost two hours a day watching TV, and only seven minutes of their daily leisure time on reading.  Reading scores for American adults of almost all education levels have deteriorated, notably among the best-educated groups. From 1992 to 2003, the percentage of adults with graduate school experience who were rated proficient in prose reading dropped by 10 points, a 20 percent rate of decline.  In 2002, only 52 percent of Americans ages 18 to 24, the college years, read a book voluntarily, down from 59 percent in  American 15-year-olds ranked fifteenth in average reading scores for 31 industrialized nations, behind Poland, Korea, France, and Canada, among others.  Money spent on books, adjusted for inflation, dropped 14 percent from 1985 to 2005 and has fallen dramatically since the mid-1990s.  The number of adults with bachelor's degrees and "proficient in reading prose" dropped from 40 percent in 1992 to 31 percent in 2003.

What do you Think?  What do you think of these findings? Do they seem accurate to what you observe?  What might a decline in reading say about a culture?

Update on Reading  For the first time since the NEA began surveying American reading habits in and less than five years after it issued its famously gloomy "Reading at Risk" report -- the percentage of American adults who report reading "novels, short stories, poems or plays" has risen instead of declining: from 46.7 percent in 2002 to 50.2 percent in 2008 (Thompson, 2009).  What might explain the increase of reading in the last 6 years?

Which books/authors do you enjoy? Which have inspired you?

What is Poetry? What do you think about when you hear the word POETRY ? There are many kinds of poems: Some poems make us LAUGH. Some poems make us THINK. Some poems are SHORT & FUNNY. Some poems are LONG & SERIOUS. Some poems RHYME. Some poems DO NOT RHYME.  What KINDS of poems have you read?  What KINDS of poems have you written?

…  In our unit we discussed poetry, which is rarely a best-seller. Why might poetry be less popular than fiction?  Where are some places that poetry does exist and thrive in our culture?

Which poetry/authors do you enjoy? Which have inspired you?

Shel Silverstein (1932 – 1999) Where the Sidewalk Ends There is a place where the sidewalk ends And before the street begins, And there the grass grows soft and white, And there the sun burns crimson bright, And there the moon-bird rests from his flight To cool in the peppermint wind. Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black And the dark street winds and bends. Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow, And watch where the chalk-white arrows go To the place where the sidewalk ends. Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow, And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go, For the children, they mark, and the children, they know The place where the sidewalk ends. (Famous Poets and Poems.com, 2010)

Robert Frost (1874 – 1963) The Road Not Taken Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. (Famous Poets and Poems.com, 2010)

Challenge: Read a fun “Poem a Week.” Charles Ghigna (Father Goose), 2011

Questions? Contact Laurie:  u u  AIM: lsmartpottle

References Associated Press. (2007). Study: Americans reading a lot less: Reading skills on the decline across almost all education levels, government report says. CBS News. Retrieved from Famous Poets and Poems.com (2010). Robert Frost Pictures and Photos. Retrieved from Famous Poets and Poems.com (2010). Shel Silverstein Pictures and Photos. Retrieved from Survey shows reversal of longstanding trend. The Washington Post. Retrieved from dyn/content/article/2009/01/11/AR html dyn/content/article/2009/01/11/AR html