Poe's "To Helen"

http://www1.assumption.edu/WHW/Hatch/ToHelen.html

Mr. Otton's Vocabulary and Spelling Schedule

Each Friday you are required to bring your vocabulary workbooks to class.  During that period we will review the vocabulary words for the week, and you will be quizzed the following Monday (or Tuesday) on the material.  Please refer to the following schedule throughout the year.  Please be mindful of potential changes to be announced in class.  Also, please note that this schedule only applies to Mr. Otton's classes.

Mr. Otton's Vocabulary and Spelling Quiz Schedule

John Knowles

The following link is to a website maintained by Exeter Academy--Knowles's high school alma mater and the model for Devon School.  Feel free to explore the various items on the site, but pay particular attention to the essay John Knowles wrote about his experience at Devon.

John Knowles Essay

Sophomore Spelling List

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Moh0n8XIB87IpBcxXrurADJk9A6ymNi6Q5rszucCQb4/edit?hl=en_US

The Relevance of Poetry

All naysayers, doubters, cynics, scoffers, questioners, dissenters, nonbelievers...behold!

The following link provides a poem for just about any occasion--from losing a tooth to celebrating Halloween, there is always a poem to relate to the every day.

Enjoy!

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/children/article/180221

Modern Literature Supplement - Amy Lowell

Born into a wealthy Harvard-associated family, Amy Lowell lived the life of a poet and at times a contrarian.  She is a talented story-teller with a talent for subtle meaning in her floral language.

A Contemporary New York Times Review

Selected Works

Venus Transiens
Autumn
A Fixed Idea

Robert Frost--The Intersection of Poetry and Politics

Robert Frost was invited to write and recite a poem to lyrically commemorate the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy in 1961.

Initially he intended to read a poem which he had previously written called "The Gift Outright".  However, inspiration struck in the weeks leading up to the event, and Frost composed a new poem called "Dedication" which he would read before those gathered for the inauguration.  The day was bright and windy.  Frost, then 87 years old, could not see the paper on which he had written "Dedication" and instead recited "The Gift Outright" from memory.

The following link is to a video recording of the inauguration.  Frost appears at the 37:00 minute mark. (Our apologies, but the video does have advertisements.  Hearing Frost on this occasion is worth them, however.)

Robert Frost reads at JFK's Inauguration

The following link is to the text of both poems:
Robert Frost's "Dedication" and "The Gift Outright"

Modern Literature Supplement - Wallace Stevens

The following is supplemental reading and information for important and thoughtful modern literature which time does not allow the syllabus to cover.

Wallace Stevens
-An American poet who has only within the past several decades begun to receive the critical attention his work deserves.  Stevens worked as an insurance salesman in Hartford, Connecticut and wrote in his study at night.  His focus includes the inter-dependence of opposites, and the wildly transformative power of the imagination.

A critical, easy-to-read review
--Selected Poems
     Anecdote of the Jar
     The Emperor of Ice-Cream
     The Snow Man
     Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
     Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock ***Includes a digital reading of the poem

20th Century Poets

A link to some biographical information for each of the poets we will cover:

                                                                      E.A. Robinson

Robert Frost

Carl Sandburg

Mark Twain: The Greatest Fiction from Samuel Clemens?

In what ways do the above pictures represent Mark Twain's own impressions of his identity?