Dulce et Decorum Est Seminar

Dulce Seminar: Main Questions

1. What is the tone of this poem?  How does the author achieve it?
2. How would the meaning or impact of this poem be different if the author just told you about these experiences, rather then writing it as a poem?
3. What is this poem trying to communicate:  Intellectually, Emotionally, Sensory?
4. Is it ever sweet and right to fight and die for your country?  Why does the author say it’s a lie?
5. (Coffins Story) During a time of war, should citizens be shown the horrors that soldiers experience, or should they be sheltered from those horrors?
6. Is poetry important in our social dialogue about war?  Should it be?
7. Can poetry make you see war in a different way?

Starter 6

1. Trade definition lists with someone who chose a different topic than you did.
2. Read someone else’s list of definitions they did yesterday.  Write down their name, and the topic they chose.
3. What is the most powerful/interesting definition?  Write it down, and explain what makes it powerful.
4. Write your own definition about this topic, then underneath it, explain why you chose the comparison you did, and what you were trying to illuminate about this topic.

Dulce Seminar Reflection

See handout linked above for guidelines.  Main seminar questions are listed above, and Lori's Choice question is below.  

Lori's Choice Question (for seminar reflection)

What did you learn about reading and interpreting poetry from this process?  (Think start to finish, from the time you started reading the poem for the first time, through the end of the seminar.)

IF YOU WERE ABSENT: SEMINAR MAKE-UP.  ONLY DO THIS IF YOU WERE ABSENT!!!

Answer two of the following questions, in a typed, 2 page paper (you should be writing 2 substantial paragraphs per question).  Make sure to use evidence from the text of the poem.

1. What is the tone of this poem and how does the author create it?  Make sure to address any tone shifts (turns)!
2. Explain what this poem is trying to communicate about war, and discuss two tools the author uses and their effects on the reader and the poem’s message.  Quote the poem!
3. What have you learned from this seminar process about reading and interpreting poetry? (Use specific examples to back up your ideas).
4. Is poetry important in our social dialogue about war?  Why/why not?

HOMEWORK

Finish Seminar Reflection.  You will have some class time (30-45 minutes) to work on it in class on Tuesday.  DUE:  Start of class, Wednesday.