A FAREWELL TO AMERICA

I.
Adieu, New-England's smiling meads,
Adieu, the flow'ry plain:
I leave thine op'ning charms, O spring,
And tempt the roaring main.
...

Phillis Wheatley

Well my friends, the term is finally over, hence you can definitely say Farewell to American Literature, though some of you should say it temporally. The term was intense, and I know at times tiresome, however I like to think that not only have you widened your knowledge about American Culture, but your vision about life in general terms has also broadened. Independently of the final results, I know that for you, reading has become a more meaningful experience, it must be so, otherwise, whatever we did in class, was a waste of time.
Enjoy your vacations, get ready for next term and as Prof. Durán would say, DO READ

About the Make Up and Improvement test

Dear students,

As we agreed last Wednesday in class, you had until today at 12:oo m. to send your request to take the remedial or improvement test. So far I received (from the people who are able to take the second evaluation form) four (4) requests from the morning group, that is to say, Indiana Torres, David Duque, Maria Flores, Ernesto O. Velasquez, and one (1) request from the afternoon group, i.e. Angel Vasquez. I left my office yesterday late in the afternoon, and no one left me a written a request in my office, which means, that the people I mention in this noteare the only ones who will take the test on Monday 13th, during class session, and that any further request sent after 12:00M. today won't be accepted not even if you sent your message at 12:01. The rest, will have classes as usual.

See you Monday, have a look at the post Prof. Duran published, do your h.w. and PLEASE do read for your class.

Regards

Virtual Assignment!

Dear Students,
Your teacher just told me, off the record, that you were specially eager to show how much you've learned about the analysis of poetry in this course! So... here's the chance you were waiting for... By midnight Monday 13th (that's the DEADLINE!) you are expected to post your response to the following questions in this blog:
1.- Provide 4 specific features (two foe each) that lead us to state that "This is just to say" (William Carlos Williams) and "[my sweet old etcetera]" (e. e. cummings) ARE poems.
2.- How does "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" (Randall Jarrell) show the inteaction and relationship between culture, language and literature?

Don't forget to support your answer on information you've gathered during the course as well as evidence from the cited poems.

So... thanks for your attention, see you next term, enjoy yourselves and READ!!!

prof. D Durán

Monday July 6th - Poetry Session with D. Durán

Dear Students,
Glad to contact you again! I will be sharing tomorrow's class with you in order to deal with the analysis of poetry. This note is intended to let you know we will be analysing at least three poems: 'This is just to say' by William Carlos Williams, 'my sweet old etcetera' by e. e. cummings, and 'The Negro Speaks of Rivers' by Langston Hughes. Please, do prepare for the class: read carefully, research about the authors and the context in which the poems where written / published, revise how language is used, etc. You can also have a look at the questions we posted for the short story session we had a few weeks ago and see how many of them apply to this genre.
Finally, prepare for some assessment activity derived from this particular class.
Thank you for reading, see you tomorrow, enjoy yourselves and... READ!

D Durán