Ekphrasis Weekend Homework

1. Do read the essay on the blog regarding Ekphrasis (That line-up of poems and the essay are hot links.)

2. Bring your own essay about an example of ekphrasis in on Tuesday.
3. Make a postcard--just the visual aspect--and bring it in on Tuesday.

4. Type your imaginary artist notes in and save the file for your upcoming assignments.

EKPHRASIS

Texts of Additional Interest: (not required, but suggested for your own further studies into ekphrasis)

Dimestore Alchemy, Joseph Cornell
Inflorescence by Sara Hannah
 By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham. It deals with art, and some of the literary allusions will be familiar after some of our studies.
Also, the very pricey but intriguing: The Gazer's Spirit by John Hollander
Week One:

T: Introduction. What is ekphrasis in its broader use? What will it be in our class?

Summary: Ekphrasis as a vocabulary term must grapple with the notion of expression in speech of that which is silent (the work of art or effect of the work of art upon the viewer).  In our class, we are going to see speech or the spoken response as one that might be rendered in a variety of figurative methods or genres from paint to keyboards and strings, as well as the keyboard that yields poems, stories and plays in response.  

H: Discussion of Musee de Beaux Art by W.H. Auden,  Gretel in Darkness by Louise Gluck

Week Two:

Much of what we will be focusing on is how much we need to be able to "see" the piece rendered in language. 
Torso of Apollo
Archaic Torso of Apollo
Shield of Achilles
The Shield of Achilles
More about the original piece of art
Stealing the Scream
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus
Musee de Beaux Arts
Essay: Ekphrasis or Not?

Week Two:

T: Discussion of treatments of Icarus including the Ovid

All Classes (I posted this on Go Studio, as well)

Required Course Materials:

Required Text(s):

LA 496/05

EKPHRASIS:

Text Title	ISBN#	Publisher’s Price
Text # 1 Poets on Painters	0520069714	31.95
Text #2 Art and Artists: Poems	0307959384	13.50

-------------------------------

LA 424/01

ADV. CREATIVE WRITING

Text # 1 The Making of a Poem	0393321789	12.89
Text #2 Making Shapely Fiction	039332124X	15.95

--------

LA 496/02

CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE

Text # 1 The Heath Anthology of American Literature Contemporary Period

054720180X

18.50

Recommended Text(s): Various.

Schedule of Classes (including key events including assignments, projects due dates/exam dates): See below

Methods/weights of Evaluation (this is a list of items that will be used as the basis for calculating students’ grades in the course, i.e., projects 30%, tests & quizzes, 30%, class participation 10%):

Course Grading Policies (this is a list of policies regarding due dates, late submissions, standards and expectation regarding work, etc.):

CCAD Academic Policies:
DISABILITY SUPPORT SERVICES (see the Student Handbook for complete policy information)	ADA STATEMENT If you have a documented cognitive, physical, or psychological disability, which includes learning disabilities (LD), attention deficit disorder (ADD), depression, anxiety, or mobility, as described by Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), it is recommended that you contact Disability Services at 614-222-3292. They will assist you in arranging appropriate accommodations with the instructor.
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY	(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information)
ATTENDANCE POLICY	Students are required to attend all classes on their schedule. (see the Student Handbook for complete policy information)
REQUESTING AN INCOMPLETE	(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information)
STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT	The college expects students to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the high ideals and standards that CCAD has set for its community and its students. (see the Student Handbook for complete policy) PLEASE NOTE: YOUR UPDATED DAILY SCHEDULE AND ANY ADDITIONAL CHANGES WILL BE LOCATED HERE. ADDITIONALLY, ANY ANNOUNCEMENTS MADE IN CLASS AND THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN MISSED BY A STUDENT ARE THE STUDENT'S RESPONSIBILITY TO LOCATE. MANY THINGS ARE ANNOUNCED IN CLASS AND IT IS VERY HARD TO GET COMPLETELY CAUGHT UP WITH EVERYTHING MISSED AND IS NO REPLACEMENT FOR COMMITTING TO REGULAR ATTENDANCE.

Advanced Creative Writing

Group One: Remember your pieces with twenty-one copies. We'll go over workshop etiquette before class but for those being workshopped, there's no talking nor explaining during the workshop, so be sure that if you have special instructions for us, or things that you need for us to keep in mind while reading your piece, that those things are written in what you distribute to us. Also, if you are giving us additional pages (ex: I am giving you the whole forty pages of my project, but I would like for this workshop to focus on the first twenty,) make note of that, too.

For Tuesday, please have read this story:  http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/huntsnow.html

as well as this poem:  http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/may-1968/  and have a letter*(200 words) for each author plus comments for class. We will "workshop" these imaginary folks as if they were with us, so be prepared.

*Your letter might begin something like:
Dear Mr. Hemingway: I really enjoyed your story. It was well-crafted and very clear overall. I found that there were moment where I was less certain of where I was as a reader, temporally, than others. Page seven, the scene with the rainbow trout, was an example. Did this happen before or after the ice cream social? And is there a significant distinction between Dot and Rosemary?  I sometimes struggled with conflating them. Perhaps, Rosemary might be a little older, or perhaps the characters are not both needed? I loved the sentence about the mountain lion and the sycamore. Great simile. Also, your spare but throughful use of metaphorical devise is noted. Although the sentence on page twenty-one that reads "The waiter poured on into the glass so that the brandy slopped over and ran down the stem into the top saucer of the pile seemed somehow less graceful, your story is, overall a well-made thing. --Sophia Kartsonis (sign your note so that people know where to go for clarification or with further questions.

Finally, I liked this week's prompt over at Poets and Writers magazine, so I present it to you. If it helps you to move a story along or to start something new, feel free to use it:

If I Hadn't  

Think about a choice you or your character made in life that led to specific consequences or outcomes. Explore the alternative reality that could have been if you'd made a different choice in an essay that begins If I hadn't...  (If only s/he hadn't, If only you hadn't, If only Throckmorton hadn't, etc.)  

MANDATORY ATTENDANCE, Sharon Olds Reading February 28

This is important for all of our classes. Please make arrangements to be there. More on Olds in your respective classes. There will be reading assignments from her work for each class.

http://www.ccad.edu/events-2013/va-olds

ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING A little late, but...

Your assignment for Thursday/tomorrow as stated in class was to produce one-two pages of a project description or what you hoped to gain from the course. Feel free to discuss influences, such as authors, books or methods that you might wish to employ. If you have an ongoing project, give a sense of how far you'd like to advance the piece in our class. If you've yet to begin something, talk about the kinds of things that you'd like to be working on or thinking about in preparation for that project.

Required Course Materials:

Required Text(s): 

 LA 496/05

EKPHRASIS:  

Text Title	ISBN#	Publisher’s Price
Text # 1  Poets on Painters	0520069714	31.95
Text #2  Art and Artists: Poems	0307959384	13.50

  

-------------------------------

LA 424/01

ADV. CREATIVE WRITING

Text # 1  The Making of a Poem	0393321789	12.89
Text #2  Making Shapely Fiction	039332124X	15.95

--------

LA 496/02 

CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE

Text # 1   The Heath Anthology of American Literature Contemporary Period

054720180X

18.50

Recommended Text(s): Various.

Schedule of Classes (including key events including assignments, projects due dates/exam dates): See below

Methods/weights of Evaluation (this is a list of items that will be used as the basis for calculating students’ grades in the course, i.e., projects 30%, tests & quizzes, 30%, class participation 10%):

Course Grading Policies (this is a list of policies regarding due dates, late submissions, standards and expectation regarding work, etc.):

CCAD Academic Policies:
DISABILITY SUPPORT SERVICES (see the Student Handbook for complete policy information)	ADA STATEMENT If you have a documented cognitive, physical, or psychological disability, which includes learning disabilities (LD), attention deficit disorder (ADD), depression, anxiety, or mobility, as described by Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), it is recommended that you contact Disability Services at 614-222-3292. They will assist you in arranging appropriate accommodations with the instructor.
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY	(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information)
ATTENDANCE POLICY	Students are required to attend all classes on their schedule. (see the Student Handbook for complete policy information)
REQUESTING AN INCOMPLETE	(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information)
STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT	The college expects students to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the high ideals and standards that CCAD has set for its community and its students. (see the Student Handbook for complete policy)