Monday, Feb 27, 2012

Poetry

Learning Goals:

We need to find a way of thinking about poetry that allows appreciation - many don’t like it already, which makes it harder to deal with in school
We need some patterns and templates for analysis that allow you to get the right process in place and achieve mastery of forthcoming assignments
We need to see context and be able to implement research and so on into our poetry work
We need to be able to categorize kinds of poems and techniques
We need to be able to think about language specifically.

English Language:

The most complex language in the world.

GH-O-TI - enough, women, friction

to, too, two - MA

Old English -

450 - 1100 - common usage
the island was attacked constantly! the invaders would bring their own languages, their own stuff and their own sperm (which they would use to impregnate women) and they would stick around!
areas of England would be very much oriented to the invaders’ culture and language
England became a little patchwork of languages
there are many words that we still use from this mix of languages, this OLD ENGLISH - here is a fun one
SHIT - originally scitan - scite - shite - shit
coincidence - almost all our swear words are old english in nature
man - woman - house - town - the simple, common words that make up regular life are rooted in OE - Germanic, Scandinavian, Saxon, etc.
those crazy Latin speakers started having an influence
religion came in with a BOOM of Latin and spread like crazy - medicine, teaching, learning, Bible, culture. - anything that ends in -ology, for example
Celtic words were also involved in early English - Welsh, Irish, Cornish, Scottish people - some were also kept

Beowulf - marks the end of Old English and the beginning of Middle English
one of the most important things every written - had a huge impact, was awesome and showed the beauty of the language (this new, young, action-packed language)




Middle English - 1100-1450
an more advanced language, very rich in mixtures from other places again, and a more likely to have rules and written bits than OE.
affected a great deal by those darn French - the NORMANS
in 1066 the Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror comes in and takes over and installs his royal court and aristocracy begins to flourish in that “knights and ladies” way that was so utterly French.
English became a gutter language, and French was the language of the court
this bifurcation created a high and low tongue in England
English became very dual in nature - there were often two ways to say things - one high, one low
kine - cow - boeuf - beef
swine - pig - porc - pork
chicken - poule - poultry
hearty welcome - cordial reception
underwear - panties - lingerie
French is polite and English is vulgar in this new system, but they definitely co-exist
these are called redundancies

Another great writer emerges and produces one of the most important texts that revealed Middle English once again changing into a legitimate and mature language
This writer was Geoffrey Chaucer - and his work was called The Canterbury Tales

Chaucer is a crucial figure in developing the legitimacy of the vernacular, Middle English, at a time when the dominant literary languages in England were French and Latin.

At this time, all scholarly language and writing and learning came in French and Latin. Chaucer was a scholar and a teacher and a religious figure who wrote in English.
Shocking!

http://www.canterburytales.org/

This was a work of vibrant, excellent description and rich detail and showed that English was a most vigorous and poetic language.

From this point on, English continues to change.

The more colonization that occurs, the more languages get implanted into English, which, like a cancer, absorbs what it touches and takes it in.

This changeability is a strength and a weakness. It makes English more complex and difficult and harder to learn and understand.

There are so many conflicting rules and structures that make it difficult to master.

The beauty of poetry in English is that is can utilize all this weirdness for its benefit.

Write me a paragraph on your blog.

In this paragraph tell me why you have or have not enjoyed poetry in your school career.