Freshmen - Wednesday and Thursday, January 21-22

Block days this week were spent continuing with inaugural poems. I played video of Elizabeth Alexander reciting her poem "Praise Song for the Day" at the inauguration, and we read over the text. We discussed content of the poem versus the delivery, and how a poet's reading of his or her poem could be different from how you read and interpret it. How does hearing a poet read their work differ from how you read it? Do different interpretations of the same poem often result? Next, the class split up into groups and each group analyzed different inaugural poems of the past (there are only three others! Read each poem by scrolling down to Tuesday's post and clicking the links). Each group analyzed their poems by focusing on tone, allusion, theme, and possible references to politics or cultural views at the time and/or presidential character attributes. Groups answered a set of questions on the board and also discussed why there have only been four inaugural poems. We looked for common threads in the poems themselves and also in the Presidents these poems were written for. At the end of class you turned in your group responses for credit. If you were absent, please see me as soon as possible for make up work.