CONNECT WITH YOUR GRANDCHILDREN: LESSON #10

CONNECT WITH YOUR GRANDCHILDREN: LESSON #10

 

Hi William,

Four more days to my birthday! I’m excited. I know that I’m getting a haiku from you!

Here is some trivia-

 

May 14

FACT OF THE DAY:

Because of its continuous volcanic eruptions, Hawaii is the only state in the nation to have an increasing land area.

 

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." - Eleanor Roosevelt

 

WORD OF THE DAY - add to your words please & define & place in a GOOD sentence to ILLUSTRATE the meaning. Use modifiers to help with this. So instead of “he,” use “the clever forward.” Instead of “was going,” use “craftily ran outside the defender.”   

 

NEW WORD palpitate

 

Okay

Definition:      (verb) Shake with fast, tremulous movements.

Synonyms:      quake, quiver

Do you see why this sentence illustrates the meaning? “The encounter with the robber made me palpitate with fear, and hours passed before I stopped shaking.”

 

HAIKU OF THE DAY

 

whitecaps on the bay
the overhead cries     
of migrating birds      

 

Did you like it? Notice that the Japanese often do not stick to the 5,7,5 syllables formula.

 

Okay, I thought we might finish off the gospel-poetry section with a modern-day piece.

 

Read -

This modern classic was written by Simon and recorded in 1970 by the acclaimed duo Simon & Garfunkel

 

 

"Bridge Over Troubled Water"

 

When you're weary, feeling small,

When tears are in your eyes

I will dry them all

I'm on your side

Oh when times get rough

And friends just can't be found

 

Like a bridge over troubled water

I will lay me down

Like a bridge over troubled water

I will lay me down

 

When you're down and out

When you're on the street

When evening falls so hard

I will comfort you

I'll take your part

Oh when darkness comes

And pain is all around

 

Like a bridge over troubled water

I will lay me down

Like a bridge over troubled water

I will lay me down

 

Sail on, silver girl

Sail on by

Your time has come to shine

All your dreams are on their way

See how they shine

Oh if you need a friend

I'm sailing right behind

 

Like a bridge over troubled water

I will ease your mind

Like a bridge over troubled water

I will ease your mind

 

Let me know when done

 

Watch -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrcwRt6J32o

 

let me know when done

 

What is this song about?

 

Do you have any friends like that?

 

 

 

Okay, another form of poetry today. The prose poem. Prose is the ordinary language people use in speaking or writing

 

BUT

 

A prose composition that, while not broken into verse lines, demonstrates other traits such as symbols, metaphors, and other figures of speech common to poetry.

 

Here is an example

 

Bath by Amy Lowell

 

The day is fresh-washed and fair, and there is a smell of tulips and narcissus in the air.

       The sunshine pours in at the bath-room window and bores through the water in the bath-tub in lathes and planes of greenish-white. It cleaves the water into flaws like a jewel, and cracks it to bright light.

       Little spots of sunshine lie on the surface of the water and dance, dance, and their reflections wobble deliciously over the ceiling; a stir of my finger sets them whirring, reeling. I move a foot and the planes of light in the water jar. I lie back and laugh, and let the green-white water, the sun-flawed beryl water, flow over me. The day is almost too bright to bear, the green water covers me from the too bright day. I will lie here awhile and play with the water and the sun spots. The sky is blue and high. A crow flaps by the window, and there is a whiff of tulips and narcissus in the air.

 

Let me know when done

 

Amy Lowell uses great, vivid and powerful, unusual verbs -

pours

bores x  The sunshine pours in at the bath-room window and bores through the water

cleaves x It cleaves the water into flaws like a jewel, and cracks it to bright light.

wobble x their reflections wobble deliciously over the ceiling;

 

cracks

dance

whirring

reeling

 

Please add x words to your list.

Define each please and place in a sentence to illustrate the meaning.  Show me when done.

 

Notice that each verb indicates a metaphor, produces an image!

Wow! She is clever. She is neat!

 

So the idea is that you can write something in prose that is actually a poem! It’s all about the words that you select. The more imagery, the better. She takes a simple item like a bath and cleverly transforms it into colours and sounds and rich images that make a simple bath poetic and memorable. Next time you take a bath, think about her poem!

 

 

 

“Manhattan” is the name of a movie made by Woody Allen who starts the movie off with George Gershwin’s incredible music - “Rhapsody in Blue.” He talks a bit but just listen to the music and view the images that Allen employs to showcase the city.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z4FgnAVFgM&t=94s

 

 

Let me know when finished.

 

Woody Allen tries to put into words what New York City means to him.

 

Here is a prose poem that I wrote about George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue that Allen uses in his movie to illustrate NYC.

 

 

Read-

 

A Prose Poem - George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue

 

Rhapsody suggests joy, bliss, enthusiasm, ecstasy, New York City’s quintessential music that director Woody Allen chose to open his 1979 film, Manhattan with a montage of time-lapse photos that depict the architectural magic of the Big Apple that weaves its way into one’s spirit, a merging of jazz and the classical with cross-cultural allure, like NYC itself, the sophisticated and brash rubbing shoulders, a melting pot for America’s greatest city, its skyscrapers carving compliant air with an intoxication that sprouts themes and melodies inspired from a standard poetic structure - a, a, b, a, simplistic yet deceptively pliable with just the right amount of repetition and variety in the middle before the comforting return home to the familiar such that we are grounded in its core despite its five themes, the first, the ritornello that features the famed clarinet glissando, robustly sexual in its mesmerizing magnetism, followed by the train that races like a subway car across the city, then the lengthy stride in which one struts like a mob boss amidst playful streets that give way to the shuffle, appropriate for big city haste and finally ending with the compelling theme of love, the composer’s deep affection, Gershwin repeating fragments yet constantly changing key for diversity and connection such that we are persistently in flux yet anchored to a firm base of resilient, reassuring emotion with unexpected diversions, improvisations and sequences that dissolve into new directions, lusty, exciting foreplay that provides delicious momentum as one covets completion with an euphoric shout of glee - it’s great to be alive! 

 

William,

How many sentences did I use in my prose poem?

 

We will finish for today. Guess what you are doing tomorrow?!