Not what you'd expect in a torture scene

In Robert Stone's Dog Soldiers, villains torture a character by pressing his hand against a red-hot stove burner. As this happens, this film plays in the background.

Hands

For Tuesday's class, please read the poem below. A quiz is possible.

Hands 

by Jean Sprackland

She peels cod fillets off the slab,
dips them in batter, drops them
one by one into the storm of hot fat.
I watch her scrubbed hands,
elegant at the work,

and think of the hands of the midwife
stroking wet hair from my face as I sobbed and cursed,
calling me sweetheart and wheeling in more gas,
hauling out at last my slippery fish of a son.
He was all silence and milky blue. She took him away
and brought him back breathing,
wrapped in a white sheet. By then
I loved her like my own mother.

I stand here speechless in the steam and banter,
as she makes hospital corners of my hot paper parcel.

Wheelbarrows and Birds

We will use this poem and image in class today.

 

William Carlos Williams: "The Red Wheelbarrow"

---

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

Bird in Space by Constantin Brancusi

Reading for Thursday

For Thursday's class, please read this brief student essay, "H's Hickory Chips." The expectation is that you will read the essay very carefully (perhaps twice) so that you are well-prepared for a detailed discussion. A quiz is likely.

As you read, consider the mental images that the essay creates for you. What specific words and phrases contribute most to those images?

Non-Required Reading

In your first assignment, many of you argued in favor of wearing casual clothing to class. The primary reason given was that being comfortable in the classroom will lead to more effective learning. I came across this article today, which makes the case for dressing nicely during public travel. It addresses the issue of comfort, but also explores a few aspects of the issue you may not have considered. If you are interested in this topic, take a look.

I may assign this article for a future class, but for the time being it is not required.

Essay I Instructions

This assignment is intended to use your skills in description and awareness of rhetorical situation.

Instructions: Choose an image that you find interesting. It could be most anything: an assortment of desserts, a group of college students walking across campus, a street-scene in the New York financial district. It may be a photo, a drawing, painting, cartoon, or something else. The only restrictions are these:

1. The image must not be famous or otherwise well-known. It should not come from a current magazine or any other source that might cause classmates to recognize it.
2. The image must be available electronically, so that we can project it in the classroom. Scanned images of personal photos are fine.

In a 1000-1200 word essay, describe the image as fully as possible. Your audience is the rest of the class. Your essay's goal is to help your readers visualize your image as completely as possible, without having seen it first. At some point after the essays are due, the class will have an opportunity to compare your image with your description.


Due date is Thursday, September 18. Submission guidelines will be announced.

Ekphrasis Example

Landscape With The Fall of Icarus

William Carlos Williams, 1883 - 1963

According to Brueghel
when Icarus fell
it was spring

a farmer was ploughing
his field
the whole pageantry

of the year was
awake tingling
near

the edge of the sea
concerned 
with itself

sweating in the sun
that melted
the wings’ wax

unsignificantly
off the coast
there was

a splash quite unnoticed
this was
Icarus drowning