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"If the dull substance of my flesh were thought, Injurious distance should not stop my way" Sonnet 44
New Shadows Make - Four Elizabethan Poems of Love: One last look at the Renaissance/Elizabethan era. What better way to do it than a cold reading (the students didn't - and yes, in my class that is very rare - read these poems for homework the night before. Because the students love him so much (and because he is so darn good) there are two poems by John Donne. For the first, we will do our usual close reading - putting lines up on the screen for the students to respond to. For the second Donne poem, I created an Illuminated Text to watch (and given the scope of the lesson, there isn't time to do much more than watch the video). Next, there is an excellent poem by Christopher Marlowe. Back a few months ago when we read the really atrocious poem by Marlowe, "The Shepherd to his Love", I promised the students that he was a much better poet (and playwright) than that work seemed to imply - and that we would eventually hear another of his poems - and here it is. His poem also gives a great opportunity to show the importance of knowing every word. Finishing it off is "Sonnet 44" by Shakespeare. Not only is this a terrific poem, but it also contradicts the poem we have just recently read, "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne. What a great opportunity for showing the myriad shades of gray in literature.
Lesson Overview
Lesson Overview
I have rearranged the handout to reflect the order that these poems are gone over and it is the order that is found in the accompanying Power Point as well. Essentially, the first three poems by John Donne, Christopher Marlowe, and William Shakespeare, are gone over section by section - using a Power Point. See my page on Understanding Poetry. The final poem, also by John Donne, is covered through the use of an Illuminated Text that I created.
Quiz
Quiz
No Quiz! For once (or thrice), the students will be reading the poems cold - and it's a good idea, I think, to see how they are processing what is happening in the class without the benefit of footnotes from the textbook.
Poem #1 - "A Lecture upon the Shadow" by John Donne
Poem #1 - "A Lecture upon the Shadow" by John Donne
For the first poem, "A Lecture upon the Shadow" we go through the lines - like we have so many times before line (or section) by line using a Power Point presentation. However, before that, we do a brief review of poetic mechanics - meter, rhyme scheme. See the Presentation below and my page on poetry for more. I have not only included the presentation - but I have included my notes (in that presentation) as well. Because, by now, the students are well acquainted with poetry - the poem is broken down considerably less than it has been in the past - say in the original Shakespeare Sonnets lesson.
Poem #2 - "Who Ever Loved That Loved Not at first Sight?" by Christopher Marlowe
Poem #2 - "Who Ever Loved That Loved Not at first Sight?" by Christopher Marlowe
As I promised the students way back in fall - I have a much better work of verse by Christopher Marlowe than the horrible "The Shepherd to his Love". As with poem #1, we will look at the poem section by section using the Power Point presentation found below.
I love this poem for many reasons - but the main one is that it gives me an opportunity to show the students how I was completely confused by the poem for the longest time and just couldn't figure out its meaning. In the poem, the persona says that "what we behold is censured by our eyes." Well - given the meaning of "censured" as a negative kind of judgement - that totally undermines what the rest of the poem is saying - that our senses decide whom we love - and not our brains.
I didn't give up on trying to figure it out and eventually found out (and I've worked this into the Power Point) that at the time it was written - "censured" did NOT have the negative connotation that it has today - and simply meant "judged". How cool to both show students that sometimes even English teachers don't immediately understand a piece of text, AND as rule #2 of understanding poetry says: "Know the meaning of every word".
I even include a slide on how a line from Shakespeare's Macbeth - also makes much more sense with that nonpejorative meaning of "censure".
Poem #3 - "Sonnet 44" by William Shakespeare
Poem #3 - "Sonnet 44" by William Shakespeare
Ah - our last encounter with Shakespeare. As with the first two poems, we will tackle the sonnet using a Power Point and breaking it down into smaller related sections, so we can figure out its meaning. I've also included notes with this poem as well for questions and comments on the poem.
The coolest thing about this poem, in terms of its place in the class, is that it really is the antithesis of John Donne's "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning". While Donne so beautifully wrote that distance apart does not matter to lovers who are as celestial and refined as him and his love - Shakespeare takes the opposite stance and says because he is apart from his love, he cannot pretend that they are near - and their distance brings him only pain and sadness.
I also do a mini review on what makes this a sonnet and point out a few Stephen Booth moments of textual wordplay.
Poem #4 - "The Good Morrow" by John Donne
Poem #4 - "The Good Morrow" by John Donne
By the time you get to this poem, there will be very little time left and so I usually just show the Illuminated Text of "The Good Morrow" (found below) that I created specifically for this lesson. If there is time after showing it - or if you can while it is being shown during the quieter moments - you can ask questions and talk about its meaning - though it is hoped that the Illuminated Text does its own fair share of explication.
Four Elizabethan Poems of Love - Power Point
Four Elizabethan Poems of Love - Power Point
This is the Power Point that you would use in class - along with the Power Point are detailed Speaker Notes that really lay out the lesson (if you choose to go that way). You can turn them on within Power Point - and off when you show the presentation to your students.
This is the same Power Point as above - without the notes and detailed teacher instructions.
Four Elizabethan Poems of Love - Student Handout
Four Elizabethan Poems of Love - Student Handout
This is the student handout, revised to have the poems in the order that they are gone over. There is plenty of room for notes - and very uncharacteristically for my textual handouts - there is a representative image that goes along with each poem. The lines are spaced to allow notes directly on the text as well as space to the right for more general notes.
The Good Morrow2.wmv"The Good Morrow" Illuminated Text
"The Good Morrow" Illuminated Text
I created this Illuminated Text as both a challenge to myself (I was asking the students to do it after all), and as an explication of John Donne's poem. I knew that we always seemed to run out of time by the time that we got to this fourth poem so it allowed us - should that happen - to still cover it (in a good way too, I think).
4_elizabethan_poems_2015.mp3Class Audio Recording
Class Audio Recording
We cover four wonderful poems today in class - using a Power Point that helps us look at the poem in small understandable segments. The first two poems are by John Donne. The next one is by Christopher Marlowe (hurray - we are not left with only his terrible Nymph poem). The final poem - a kind of argument against "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning" is one of Shakespeare's Sonnets. Finally, we watch an Illuminated Text of the first Donne poem.
Remote Enhancements
Remote Enhancements
This can all be done remotely, and I did it - the Power Point above is invaluable if you do - and of course the Illuminated Text as well.
This lesson combines his own doubts about fulfilling his own potential, with Lorraine Hansberry's incredible essay on "To Be Young Gifted and Black". We begin by reading aloud some of Milton's biography, including (and this will become very important later, some history about the wonderful support that he received from his parents in becoming the writer that scholar he wanted to be. The students are then asked to write down one thing that they are good at.
We then read an excerpt from Lorraine Hansberry's "To Be Young, Gifted, and Black". The students are being given parts of an intellectual equation that they will be putting together today. Also, before they can understand Sonnet 19 - it's necessary to know "The Parable of the Talents" from the New Testament. With that in mind, the students will be given some time to plan - and then act it out.
We then read an excerpt from Milton's "Lycidas" where the poet writes about a dear friend who died too early to have lived out the potential of what he could have become. We finish the lesson by listening to Nina Simone's "To Be Young Gifted and Black".
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
Thoughts on the Lesson
Thoughts on the Lesson
So this is the end of the Renaissance (Elizabethan) Unit - something that began at the beginning of November - and now the end of the year is sneaking into sight. The year passes so quickly.
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