Final Exam

As we discussed in today's class, your final exam will cover all assigned readings since the midterm. There will be an essay question as on the midterm, and also five short answer questions on individual readings. The short answer questions may involve terminology and concepts, key themes and symbols, or material covered in our discussion questions.

Exam times:
Section 02 5/4 10:45-1:15
Section 03 5/4 1:30-4:00

"The Underground Stream"

Here is the ending of Dickey's "The Underground Stream," which did not make it into your packet:

I turned from the girl I had found
In a song once sung by my mother,
And loved my one true brother,
The tall cadaver, who
Either grew, or did not grow,
But smiled, with the smile of singing,
Or a smile of incredible longing
To rise through a circle of stone,
Gazing up at a sky, alone
Visible, at the top of a well,
And seeking for years to deliver
His mouth from the endless river
Of my oil on water smile,
And claim his own grave face
That mine might live in its place.
I lay at the edge of a well;
And then I smiled, and fell.

For several classes, starting 4/18, we'll be reading a selection of poems by James Dickey, which I'll hand out as a packet today. Here are the "pre-reading" questions to help generate some insight into Dickey's poetry:

1) Try to identify the tone of each poem. Which poems are intense, urgent? Which ones are more contemplative?
2) Which ideas and images get repeated throughout the selection of poems?
3) For each poem, underline some phrases that strike you as unique and arrest your attention. How does the poet's choice of words convey an emotional or intellectual effect?
4) Characterize the relationship between human beings, animals, and nature in these poems.

For our next blog, due Sunday evening at the usual time, write a brief response to one Dickey poem of your choosing.

Easter Break

A few of you have e-mailed to ask whether you need to blog this week, given our Easter holiday. Why don't we say this--you can skip this week's blogging requirement BUT you should compensate for this by finishing the O'Connor readings if you haven't already. Chances are, given the fact that so many people neglected to read her last week, a question about her work will appear on the final exam.

If you have already done the blog assignment, don't worry--I will go ahead and give you a bit of extra credit for it.