Jane

(You should be running WORD behind your browser. It's probably easier to work with the poem if you highlight it and copy and paste it into WORD.)

1. Read "Autumn" by Amy Lowell

Autumn
Amy Lowell (1897-1925) They brought me a quilled, yellow dahlia,

Opulent, flaunting.
Round gold
Flung out of a pale green stalk.
Round, ripe gold
Of maturity,
Meticulously frilled and flaming,
A fire-ball of proclamation:
Fecundity decked in staring yellow
For all the world to see.
They brought a quilled, yellow dahlia,
To me who am barren
Shall I send it to you,
You who have taken with you
All I once possessed?

2. Circle all the uses of figurative language.

3. Choose one image you circled and write a 75-100 word paragraph in which you talk about why you consider this image especially striking. Explain EXACTLY what the appeal of the image is and why it strikes chord in you. Also explain what you think the image contributes to the poem as a whole. Be specific about the ways the language of the image works.

4. Write the paragraph to the WebBoard. Remember to use the words of the image as the heading of your paragraph, but make sure you write the name of the poem (in quotation marks) and the name of the author in the first sentence of the paragraph.

5. Read the poem again while you are waiting for your classmates to finish writing their responses.

6. Then read the messages from your classmates. Select one message about an image different from the one you wrote about, and write a 75-100 word reply. Explain what you like about that person's response, and be specific about what you agree/disagree with.

7. When everyone has responded to someone else's posting, begin the group writing assignment:

In groups of four/five, gather around one keyboard and divide roles so that you have (1) a typist, (2) an editor to review the text you are writing, (3) a moderator to ensure that everyone participates, and a (4) a speaker to read the group writing assignment to the class. (If your group has fewer than four people, people will have to assume more than one role. If time does not permit finishing this assignment in class, you can continue via e-mail.)

One person in the group should read the poem aloud. Then, based on the reading, the responses you've read, and your own thinking (collectively and separately), select an image to discuss in a lengthy paragraph (300+ words).

Pick a focus for your discussion, and quote the image in your text. Develop your paragraph as a clear explanation of the image for a person who has read the poem as a whole. Be sure that everyone in the group contributes to the discussion, and sign everyone's name and role (see above roles) at the end. Save the paragraph on the WebBoard.

8. Finally, each person in the class should write an assessment (300-500 words) of this assignment.
Identify the specific benefits and drawbacks of this assignment in relation to your understanding of this poem and of poetry in general. In other words, did the assignment help you to understand and enjoy reading this poem, and did the assignment have implications (and if so, what) for your future reading, understanding, and enjoyment of other poems.
Be specific. In particular, discuss the use of shared information (other people's writing and the group writing) and also the use of electronic conferencing (such as it is) as a tool.
Make sure to quote from the poem and also from at least one person's response (you may also quote from your own response) and the group's writing assignment. By the time you finish, you should have quotations from two different sources. This means you should either have mentioned the source in your text and/or created a "bibliography" listing the two sources.

NOTE: If you were students in my English 201 class, this is where the assignment would end. We still have more work to do:
                  1. Alone or with your group, critique the assignment from the point of view of its utility for your class.
                  2. How would you change or modify it for a better fit?
                  3. Jot down notes, for presentation to the whole group, on a collaborative assignment in your course.