27. 2. - 3. 3.

We will discuss "The Purloined Letter", on the basis of your preparation and with references to the preceding session.

Prepare for the next session: Please, prepare in groups of 4-6 people for the discussion in class

Walt Whitman, yes, more poetry, but of a very different kind from Poe´s.

Please, read this internet copy of the first, anonymously published edition of his Leaves of Grass (1855): http://faculty.wiu.edu/M-Cole/WaltWhitmanLeavesofGrass1855.pdf

The Preface is not obligatory, but I recommend it. We will discuss a part of the central poem of the collection, Song of Myself (pages 18-24 up to the line "They do not think whom they souse with spray").

1/ Think of the differences of this poetry from Poe´s, in themes, tone, and form, and prepare notes for the discussion (10 lines).

2/ As a GROUP - find some part of at least 5 verses or longer = sections resembling paragraphs  that you think worth interpreting for the message of Song of Myself, and prepare it as a question for the class.  If it seems to you that you can´t grasp the sense of lines, write down a sort of "podstročnik" - a literal translation of words in lines, in your own language; the poetic lines contain grammar, of course ! "Podstročnik" (used historically and possibly written by someone else for the translator) has been a translation device for poets who have wanted to recreate poems written in a language unknown to them. 

Entrust someone from the group to write down the group´s conclusions about 1/,  and the question about 2/ into the "forums" prepared in the section for the next week. Please add the names of the members of the group.

SEE THE STUDY MATERIALS RELATED TO WHITMAN IN THE WEEK BELOW.