Poetry Unit

Poetry and Memory, Short Writing Assignment (Creative Piece and Reflection)

Assignment: 

This is the third of three module assignments. It is a creative piece and Short Writing Assignment (SWA) Compose your own prose-poem inspired by Joe Brainard’s “I Remember”  based on your own memories. This piece will be in the range of 1.5 pages. After you read and compose your prose-poem, think about how you experienced the act of remembering. Consider this: How might your experience connect to the ideas you have read about in the academic articles you read? How is your own piece similar to or different than the Brainard piece? Is remembering in a creative setting valuable to you, and how is it so (or not so)?

Required Reading:

  • Any "I Remember" (Brainard) excerpt
  • The article discussed in Discussion Board #2

Purpose: 

This assignment will give the student an opportunity to use a model work to produce expressive writing in an accessible prose-poem form. Additionally, it will provide an opportunity to evaluate the students’ own experience in light of previously elaborated ideas about memory in literature.

Learning Outcome(s) Addressed: 

Students will learn to:

  • Read and interpret model work by an established author.
  • Compose a piece of first-person writing based on a model work.
  • Reflect on the composition experience.
  • Use relevant aspects of MLA style.

Skills: 

This assignment will focus on interpreting poetry in expressive writing, developing personal style and diction. Additionally, the student will practice discrimination between the use of casual or creative language and academic language. Students will practice:

  • Reading a model work.
  • Composing an original work based on or inspired by a model.
  • Revising original writing, including proofreading the piece.
  • Reflecting on the composition experience
  • Creating a concise response to a writing experience.
  • Differentiating between casual/creative language and diction and academic language and diction.

Knowledge: 

The skills necessary to interpret a work of literature in an expressive personal composition.

Task: 

To complete this assignment you should:

  1. Re-read the selected excerpt of “I Remember.”
  2. Compose a 1.5 (approximate) page personal prose-poem in the spirit of “I Remember.”
  3. Proofread and revise your piece as needed.
  4. Consider what you have learned in this module through from reading, analyzing and composing on the theme of memory and remembering. Use the questions in the highlighted part of the assignment description (following “Consider:”) for this.
  5. Compose a short (4-6 sentence) paragraph reflecting on your work based on these considerations. Use MLA style conventions in this brief statement. Type this into the document at the end of your piece.
  6. Submit your work as assigned.

Point of View: 

Write your prose-poem in first-person POV in an expressive style. Write your following 4-6 sentence reflection in first-person, but make sure the reflection uses more formal diction or academic language.

Criteria for success: 

Students will compose an expressive piece based on the model work. The piece will be approximately 1.5 pages. Students will then write a brief reflection on their piece using the highlighted assignment questions as a guide, adding this reflection at the end of the document, separate from their prose-poem (expressive composition).