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Halloween Poetry!

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/article/240370

POEM SAMPLER

Halloween Poems

Spooky, scary, and fun poems that will make your hair curl. 

BY BECCA KLAVER

Wikimedia Commons

If you dare, feast your eyes and ears upon this selection of poems, articles, and audio clips designed to give goose bumps and curdle the blood. Thomas Moore, Edgar Allan Poe, and Christina Rossetti tell rhyming tales perfect for chilling spines around the campfire. Shakespeare’s singing charmers from Macbeth and Sexton’s “lonely thing, twelve-fingered, out of mind” are some of poetry’s most infamous witches. We’ll never look at tree branches with an innocent eye again, thanks to Paul Laurence Dunbar and Louise Glück; Adelaide Crapsey and Mary Karr ensure the same for darkened windows. Michael Collier and Michael Waters mischievously depict the gender play and genial debauchery of costumes, while W.S. Di Piero and Carl Sandburg warn us that Halloween is a day when real danger might look fake, and vice versa. We get a peek into the demons and spirits of other cultures via Annie Finchand Rae Armantrout: whether you say ghost, genie, or djinn, the tingle in the spine is universal. 

POEMS

“Djinn” by Rae Armantrout
“All Souls” by Michael Collier
“To the Dead in the Graveyard Underneath My Window” by Adelaide Crapsey
“The Haunted Oak” by Paul Laurence Dunbar
“Samhain” by Annie Finch
“All Hallows” by Louise Glück
“Field of Skulls” by Mary Karr
“A Ballad: The Lake of the Dismal Swamp” by Thomas Moore
“To -- -- --. Ulalume: A Ballad” by Edgar Allan Poe
“Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti
“Theme in Yellow” by Carl Sandburg
“Her Kind” by Anne Sexton
“Song of the Witches” by William Shakespeare
“Wedding Dress” by Michael Waters

ARTICLES

“Poems Can Be Creepy” by Susan Hutton
Halloween poetry for the classroom.
“Ghost Hunting with the Dead Poets Society of America” by Kathleen Rooney
Is dying the best thing that ever happened to poetry?
“Nevermoreland” by Abigail Deutsch
In Baltimore, Edgar Allan Poe gets the funerals he deserves.

BLOG POSTS

“Happy Halloween, Happy Birthday, John Keats” by A.E. Stallings
“A Halloween Poem: Strange Are the Products” by Forrest Gander
“Ghosts in Charlotte Smith’s Elegiac Sonnets” by Javier Huerta
“Wednesday Shout Out” by Rigoberto González

POEM GUIDES

Aimee Nezhukumatathil on Linda Pastan’s “The Deathwatch Beetle”
Pastan captures the sound of mortality while echoing Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.”
Jeremy Axelrod on Thomas Hardy’s “The Shadow on the Stone”
After the poet lost his wife, he found his voice.

AUDIO

“Scary Movies” by Kim Addonizio
“There She Is” by Linda Gregg
“The Pumpkin Tree” by Robert Wrigley

Originally Published: October 19, 2010

ExSPELLiamus!

Summer Reading Assignment Reminder

For Incoming 7th Graders:

Aloha to our new Kawaikini middle schoolers. Come to the first day of class prepared to discuss and write about a book that you have read over the summer. 

Write on a piece of paper: 

the author
the title
the genre (the type of book)
the main characters
the setting (where an when does the book take place)
the plot (what happens)

For Returning Secondary Students (8-12th Graders):

Click on the link below to access the assignment form:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n8K4BhHkYADNsfPP6euGr-Aa9PZLkSD0x_z7S7qMDvo/edit?usp=sharing

Or if you'd rather write the information on your own paper, here's the assignment:

Summer Reading Assignment: 2013

Read two books over the summer. In the form below, identify the literary elements. If you're not sure what they mean, look them up.

Book Title:
Author:
Genre:
Setting:
Point of View: 1st person: --Omniscient --Limited --Unreliable 2nd person 3rd person
Protagonists:
Antagonists:
Central Conflict:

Plot Summary:
Theme (give evidence):
Find examples of Metaphor (You are a rock. My heart flies.)
Find examples of Simile (You are like a rock. My heart seems to be flying)
Hyperbole She was as tall as a tree. I was blinded by her beauty
Oxymoron The sweet pain The cruel kiss
Alliteration An army of angry alligators
List 10 new words and their defintions

Things to come...

More admonitions from The Oatmeal.

Grammar reminders from The Oatmeal: Stop misspelling these words

This is it, folks.

Plot Twist!

Stephen Fry: Creativity is More Important than Grammatical Correctness

Writing Advice from the Best Writers

Summer 2013 Reading Assignment

Summer Reading Assignment: 2013 

 Read two books over the summer. In the form below, identify the literary elements. If you're not sure what they mean, look them up.

 

Book Title:
Author:
Genre:
Setting:
Point of View: 1st person: --Omniscient --Limited --Unreliable 2nd person 3rd person
Protagonists:
Antagonists:
Central Conflict:

Plot Summary:
Theme (give evidence):
Find examples of.....
Metaphor (You are a rock. My heart flies.)
Simile (You are like a rock. My heart seems to be flying)
Hyperbole She was as tall as a tree. I was blinded by her beauty
Oxymoron The sweet pain The cruel kiss
Alliteration An army of angry alligators
List 10 new words you learned.

Making Music

What is stage presence? Good luck at Lā Hoʻike ʻike!

Experience of Music

What's the difference between hearing music and actually LISTENING to it? Is there are right way or a wrong way to listen to music? The power of music: How to listen to music

Spelling Quiz Week 37

Musicians and Genres

What ARE musical genres? Will the internet end musical genres?

Language of Music

"Why do humans find music so addictive and pleasurable?" Dr. Oliver Sachs describes what heʻs discovering about music: What is your favorite music, and why?

Spelling Quiz Week 35

Humans and nature?

Would nature be "nature" without humans to label it? Nature is "natural" compared to what, us? Are we humans NOT natural? If not, then what? Enjoy this episode of Human Planet about cities.

Experience of Nature

Enjoy this full episode of Human Planet, episode One, about how humans are able to survive with nature.

Writing about Science

Science and poetry may not seem to be obviously linked, but the mysteries of nature have often inspired writers. Watch this video about the chambered nautilus:


 And now read this poem about this creature.

The Chambered Nautilus
BY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES SR.
This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,
   Sails the unshadowed main,—
   The venturous bark that flings
On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings
In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings,
   And coral reefs lie bare,
Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.

Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;
   Wrecked is the ship of pearl!
   And every chambered cell,
Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,
As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,
   Before thee lies revealed,—
Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed!

Year after year beheld the silent toil
   That spread his lustrous coil;
   Still, as the spiral grew,
He left the past year’s dwelling for the new,
Stole with soft step its shining archway through,
   Built up its idle door,
Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more.

Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee,
   Child of the wandering sea,
   Cast from her lap, forlorn!
From thy dead lips a clearer note is born
Than ever Triton blew from wreathèd horn!
   While on mine ear it rings,
Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings:—

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
   As the swift seasons roll!
   Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
   Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea! 

Beautiful Words for Beautiful Nature

Here is a sampling of famous poems about the beauty of nature, read set to lovely images. Gerard Manley Hopkin's poem, "Pied Beauty" Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Snowflakes" And his "The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls" Now as you watch the videos below, describe what you see, hear, feel and experience in the comments.

Spelling Quiz 31 Week of March 25, 2013

Seeing the Future

What is in our future? What do YOU feel positive and optimistic about?

Help for "Type of Plot" Reading Journal, March 25

Your reading journal this week is to identify the type of plot the author uses to tell the story of your book.

First we have to remember what a plot is, right?

Simply, the plot of your book is WHAT HAPPENS IN THE STORY.

For example, the plot of "Cinderella" is: FIRST Cinderella (the PROTAGONIST)  is mistreated by her step-family (the ANTAGONISTS), THEN her fairy godmother gives her magical help that allows her to go the ball, THEN dances with the prince, and has to run off at midnight, leaving only one shoe behind. THEN the prince uses the shoe to find her again, and LASTLY they live happily ever after.

People have been telling stories for as long as we've been speaking-- so roughly 500,000 years. That means trillions of stories have been told-- and these stories' plots fall into patterns. 

Here are SEVEN basic types of plots that you can use to describe almost any story, movie, tv show, or even personal anecdote. 

You can use these seven to compare to your book. Does the plot of the book you are reading match one or more of these? Explain which one, and give evidence from your book to prove that it is a good fit. 

These plots are widely recognized, but I got these specific descriptions from: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheSevenBasicPlots

1. Overcoming the MonsterHero learns of a great evil threatening the land, and sets out to destroy it.
2. Rags to RichesSurrounded by dark forces who suppress and ridicule him, the Hero slowly blossoms into a mature figure who ultimately gets riches, a kingdom, and the perfect mate.
3. The QuestHero learns of a "great MacGuffin" (some valuable item) that he desperately wants to find, and sets out to find it, often with companions.
4. Voyage and ReturnHero heads off into a magic land with crazy rules, ultimately triumphs over the madness and returns home far more mature than when he set out.
5. ComedyHero and Heroine are destined to get together, but a dark force is preventing them from doing so; the story conspires to make the dark force repent, and suddenly the Hero and Heroine are free to get together. This is part of a cascade of effects that shows everyone for who they really are, and allows two or more other relationships to correctly form.
6. TragedyThe flip side of the Overcoming the Monster plot. Our protagonist character is the Villain, but we get to watch him slowly spiral down into darkness before he's finally defeated, freeing the land from his evil influence.
7. RebirthAs with the Tragedy plot, but our protagonist manages to realize his error before it's too late, and does a Heel Face Turn to avoid inevitable defeat.

_______________________________________

Here's a graphic way to describe the motion of all plots: Beginning, Complication, Middle, Crisis, Denoument, Resolution, End.

_____________________________________

If you are feeling like a real sucker for punishment, you can choose from one of these THIRTYSIX types of plots. 
Here is an interesting list of the 36 basic plot types, as described by Georges Polti:

The Basic Plots

Each short plot description starts with the title of the plot pattern. After a hyphen the main characters to be found in the plot are given, separated by commas.

1. Supplication - Persecutor, Suppliant, a Power in Authority
2. Deliverance - Unfortunates, Threatener, Rescuer
3. Revenge - Avenger, Criminal
4. Vengeance by Family upon Family - Avenging Kinsman, Guilty Kinsman, Relative
5. Pursuit - Fugitive from Punishment, Pursuer
6. Victim of Cruelty or Misfortune - Unfortunates, Master or Unlucky Person
7. Disaster - Vanquished Power, Victorious Power or Messenger
8. Revolt - Tyrant, Conspirator(s)
9. Daring Enterprise - Bold Leader, Goal, Adversary
10. Abduction - Abductor, Abducted, Guardian
11. Enigma - Interrogator, Seeker, Problem
12. Obtaining - Two or more Opposing Parties, Object, maybe an Arbitrator
13. Familial Hatred - Two Family Members who hate each other
14. Familial Rivalry - Preferred Kinsman, Rejected Kinsman, Object
15. Murderous Adultery - Two Adulterers, the Betrayed
16. Madness - Madman, Victim
17. Fatal Imprudence - Imprudent person, Victim or lost object
18. Involuntary Crimes of Love - Lover, Beloved, Revealer
19. Kinsman Kills Unrecognised Kinsman - Killer, Unrecognised Victim, Revealer
20. Self Sacrifice for an Ideal - Hero, Ideal, Person or Thing Sacrificed
21. Self Sacrifice for Kindred - Hero, Kinsman, Person or Thing Sacrificed
22. All Sacrificed for Passion - Lover, Object of Passion, Person or Thing Sacrificed
23. Sacrifice of Loved Ones - Hero, Beloved Victim, Need for Sacrifice
24. Rivalry Between Superior and Inferior - Superior, Inferior, Object
25. Adultery - Deceived Spouse, Two Adulterers
26. Crimes of Love - Lover, Beloved, theme of Dissolution
27. Discovery of Dishonor of a Loved One - Discoverer, Guilty One
28. Obstacles to Love - Two Lovers, Obstacle
29. An Enemy Loved - Beloved Enemy, Lover, Hater
30. Ambition - An Ambitious Person, Coveted Thing, Adversary
31. Conflict with a God - Mortal, Immortal
32. Mistaken Jealousy - Jealous One, Object of Jealousy, Supposed Accomplice, Author of Mistake
33. Faulty Judgment - Mistaken One, Victim of Mistake, Author of Mistake, Guilty Person
34. Remorse - Culprit, Victim, Interrogator
35. Recovery of a Lost One - Seeker, One Found
36. Loss of Loved Ones - Kinsman Slain, Kinsman Witness, Executioner

__________________________________

Ecclesiastes 1:9

New International Version (NIV)

⁹ 

What has been will be again,

    what has been done will be done again;

    there is nothing new under the sun.

_______________________________________

More on the usefulness of categorizing types of plots: http://www.dailywritingtips.com/types-of-plots/

A fascinating tool for writers to create interesting plot complications:

http://childrenspublishing.blogspot.com/2010/03/plotting-made-easy-complications.html

A complicated and sort of brilliantly crazy guide to the 36 types of plots, as applied to RPG games!

http://www.rpglibrary.org/articles/storytelling/36plots.php

Utopia/Dystopia

What is a Utopia? What would a perfect world for you? What would a dystopia look like for you?

Spelling Quiz 30!

Purpose of History

Why does it matter that we know history? What are the best points that this video makes?

 And is "avoiding looking stupid" a good reason to know history?

Hey! Our Mortician friend is from Hawaii!

Spelling Quiz Week 28

Love: How to make it work?

Are there ways we can avoid heartbreak? How DO you have good relationships? For teenagers:

 

 Here is Dr. Chapman talking about the five love languages he describes. Sometimes the way you SHOW love isn't the way they are able to FEEL loved.

 

 Doctor Jon Gottman can predict accurately which relationships will fail and which will succeed by looking at this ratio. How positive are you towards your friends and loved ones?

 How to build trust:

Love: Yes Please

Do we need love? And is it our brains, not our hearts that define our experiences with love?

Week 26 Spelling Quiz

Love? No Thanks.

Listen to this story about Joe, a kid who has decided he will never fall in love.

 

 What do you think? Is he right? Does love make you stupid? Is it possible to just say, "No Thanks" to the whole love thing?

Reversed Poem: Hate

What is hate? Can we reverse the habit?

 

The Lost Generation-- Which way is true for you and your generation?

 

 And anger-- can you reverse it?

 

Types of Analogies

There are specific types of analogies! Watch both of these videos. In the comment form, generate 5 of your own.


 

Spelling Quiz Week 23, January 24

Ask a Mortician!

Death is something we avoid talking about, but what is it like for the people who deal with death every day? Should we talk more about death? Watch this video and leave a comment about your thoughts.

 

 And how do you talk to someone who has lost someone? Warning, says the S*** word.

 

Journeys to the Land of the Dead

Many cultures have myths about Gods and Heroes that go to the land of the dead and are able to return safely.

This sight lists myths about the Underworld from a variety of cultures.
http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Tr-Wa/Underworld.html

Aztec story of the Journey to the land of the Dead The story of the Egyptian land of the dead, from the website "Ancient Egypt: The Mythology" :

http://www.egyptianmyths.net/mythlanddead.htm

The story of Persephone and her marriage to Hades, the King of the Dead.
The death of Baldur, son of Odin. http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=mabie&book=norse&story=balder The descent of the Egyptian Goddess Inanna to the land of the dead http://www.mythandmore.com/the-descent-of-inanna/ Orpheus and Eurydice


 Joseph Campbell talks about rituals and the way they act out descent into death and back into life.


Want to read more about myths? Here are some more myths sites:

Myths from around the world:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/mff/myths.htm

fun myth games:
http://www.abc.net.au/arts/wingedsandals/


Interactive myth and legend retellings:

http://myths.e2bn.org/mythsandlegends/

Build your own myth!
http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/mff/mythmachine.htm

Explore Greek and Roman Myths
http://www.museumnetworkuk.org/myths/index.html