Telling the Truth Anthology: Your response

Congratulations, everyone, on publishing your Telling the Truth Anthology!

Read through it today in class and finish for homework.
Take notes on aspects of literary craft and/or detail that strike you.

Use your comments below to speak to the authors.
Tell them:

• what you enjoyed...
• what got you thinking...
• what you have questions about...
• what you identify with....
• what you are amazed by...

Reflection: Telling the Truth

Since your creative writing is due today, I have a few questions for you.

A crocus from my yard

This is the first time I have assigned this type of assignment for an English class. We read several poems, memoirs, stories and a novel about telling the truth, and instead of having quizzes or open response items, essays or papers, you were directed to approach the subject creatively by composing a poem or poems, fiction, or something else non-traditional.

So, here goes:

1. What have you learned about "telling the truth" as a reader?

Consider advice about what to do, warnings about what not to do, or just a statement about human nature.

2. What have you learned about "telling the truth" as a writer?

What message did you feature in your text? Why? How did any text we read influence you?

3. What did you learn about the craft and structure of the genre you chose?

How did any feature of writing or literary term become more clear to you as you wrote and revised?

4. Should I do this again? Why or why not?

Status Reports, Please

How far are you into The Help?
When do you anticipate finishing?
How much class time, if any, do you need to complete your reading?

How close are you to completing your creative writing?
When do you anticipate finishing?
How much class time, if any, do you need to complete your writing?

Telling the Truth: Even More Models

You have read the short story "Everyday Use" and the poems "Women" and "Poem at Thirty-Nine" by Alice Walker.
The story features these literary elements:

• conflict
• falling action 
• resolution
• and inferences necesary to draw conclusions

The poems features these literary elements:

• diction
• vocabulary
• syntax
• connotation
• denotation

1. What features help you to appreciate Walker's choices as a writer?
2. What features help you as a writer in your work?

Critic's Corner: page 527

According to one critic, Walker's mother "has given Walker insight not only into the lives of black women but into the essential nature of art as a human process of illuminating and cherishing life."

 

Do you agree with this assessment? How and/or Why?

 

Please consider :

• the excerpt from "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens"
• "Everyday Use"
• The Help, and
• your own experience as a creative person and that of thecreative  people in your life.

 

Give at least TWO examples in your response.

What is art?

On page 522, in the Connect to Life exercise, you are asked to describe what you consider art.
Please respond in the comments below.

What is art?
Is there such a thing as art in everyday life?
Does anyone you know create art?
Do you?

Telling the Truth: More Models

After reading " Exile" by Julia Alvarez, consider the following elements of the poem:

• narrative structure
• form, stanzas
• imagery
• sound, senses, symbols
• tome and theme

What can you use from this poem to develop your poem?

After reading, " Initiation," by Sylvia Plath, consider the following elements of the narrative:

• conflict, internal and external
• sequence of events, flashbacks
• point of view, third person limited

What can you use from this narrative to develop your story?

The Help: Your initial reaction

Please record your initial reaction to the novel The Help in the comments of this post.

• If you like it, why?
• If you don't, why?
• If you are confused, how?
• Feel free to ask questions and make predictions

If you are unsure as to how to frame your response, check the editorial reviews for the novel on Amazon.com and scroll down to check the customers' reviews as well.
** Know that there may be spoilers there!**

Telling the Truth: Models from Poetry and Fiction

About half of you are writing poems and half are writing fiction.Consider our work this week as modesl for your creative writing.

Today we read Pablo Neruda's poem, " Tonight I Can Write..."p.352.
If you are writing poetry for this creative writing assignment, please consider the following elements of Neruda's poem:

• repetition
• similes
• metaphors
• personification
• the translation from Spanish to English

What elements of this poem can you use to enhance your writing?

Today we also read (and finished for homework), Cosby's memoir from Love and Marriage.
If you are writing fiction for this assignment, consider the following elements of Cosby's narrative:

• humor
• characterization
• dialogue
• motives
• point of view

What elements of this narrative can you use to enhance your writing?

Bonus: What can you take from the way either text appears on the page?