Sunday, February 4, 2007

Course Poetry

Poetry? In this course?

The horror. The horror.

I hear this sound from students.

I say, Relax. Think of a happy place. Be well. Peace, my sister; Joy, my brother.

Read the assigned pages of Margaret Avison in an easy and gentle spirit. Take the gifts being offered with grace from the good heart of a kind & humble Canadian woman. In the future, it may bring you bliss and benison during some unforeseen long and dark night of the soul.

My own gift is a promise that I will not make it a heavy burden on your end-of-term studies for the final exam. I will also show you that poetry is a form of fiction, and that you can use what you learn here for fun & profit....

5 comments:

DarthVader said...

yes agreed, please concisely tell me the meaning behind the selected readings because they are at this time senseless musings from an old woman that require years of life experience to understand, and you, being so much more aged, and not in an insulting way, should be able to shed some light,

about the stockings questions, i think that these are simply different ways for men to profess that women have become "unruly" and ill-managed now that they are not under the control of man, very true, especially for man, nobody would like to lose control of woman in a relationship because that is not a relationship, there should be give and take, and bluestalkings are too mired in their intellectual readings(though not bad) to be aroused by male sexuality and new women are too assertive in their sexuality and feminine prowess that they have come to despise men, and i think this is what wilson is trying to tell us through the crumbling relations of mrs porter,
so, in effect, these 2 types of ppl are really socially inept, its one thing to embrace feminine dignity, but quite another to ostracize urself due to it

what do you think?

Dr. Stephen Ogden said...

I think I like your comment!
On the aged Miss Avison, Innocent Traveller is the musing of an aged woman....

DarthVader said...

and this is why i need clarification
because musings of an old women are not readily understandable for the young and beautiful
no offense to anybody

on the lecture today, i found that you when you talk about wilson's book, you touch upon alot of little things, how much of those little things do we need to know?(stuff like snobbery, and little themes contained only within its own chapter, if not paragraph)

Anonymous said...

im guessing we just have to write everything down and know it all, just in case...?
unless you're a wicked awesome prof who tells us EXACTLY what will be on the exam.

ps. i'll be your best friend if you do.

pps. thats not a bribe, but i am pretty awesome.

Dr. Stephen Ogden said...

Dear "Anonymous":
No bribe necessary! You're pretty canny to ask these types of questions here -- it's a cool thing about blogging courses, actually.

You hit the mark pretty close, in fact! Write lecture notes, talk to classfellows, come into Office Hours, & study before the Final.
PLUS, I will be having a "dummy Final" about two-thirds into the term, where I'll give you a preview of exactly what the Final will look like, & strategies for approaching it. All I'll do is change the specific questions on the day ;--)