Course Content Surveys: FVC102.F3 Sp 08

Note: I have made minor mechanical corrections in the student responses below without indicating the corrections; more substantial errors have been indicated with standard editing conventions.

What aspect or assignment in this course has been the most difficult for you? Explain briefly.

The essays -- we were assigned essays, and then we did lots of oral presentations about them, which I found not very helpful. I would really have preferred more concentration on the reading and writing aspects. We did plenty of speaking and listening, but I feel I'm not learning enough. More reading and perhaps some shorter writing assignments might be nice. Yes, that means I'm asking for more work in a way.
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The most difficult assignment this semester would have to have been the poetry assignment for personal reasons probably shared by the whole class [I have to think about that one -- MA]. It is difficult to chose and memorize a poem 12-14 lines long and the [recite] it to others. But over all this was a great semester.
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For me the difficult lies with getting enough research time and accumulation in as well as enough processed written material done before each essay or thesis version is due. A large part of this is personal [pacing] in relation to other assignment though. Taking part in conversations is quite difficult, and I wonder that the set of the desks is a factor? [sic.] Perhaps if the class had a large table that we gathered around, like a council? I feel the majority are not entirely encouraged to share opinions, enough.
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Time management; this has always been my greatest trouble. Though not just specific to this course, it is something within the course that has caused problems.
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The slow pace at which we are moving is quite difficult. The informative analysis was also relatively difficult, but really, it's the only actual assignment we've had, so I guess it was the easiest as well. I didn't like how the poetry "assignment" was handled, either. If you wanted us to pick every word apart, you should have said so, instead of just writing about it in your blog after the assignment was done.

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MA responds: Fair enough, and perhaps that was part of the background of the comment about "docking" mentioned in the last post. I'm inclined to think, though, that if one is asked to analyze a work, and given a worksheet listing some dozen points for analysis, a response with more detail than "this poem uses fancy, old-fashioned language" might be reasonably expected by the instructor without having to say, "now, children, I want you to carefully demonstrate that you know what you are talking about."
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Presentations have been the most difficult because when I'm in front of people I feel awkward and nervous. I tend to talk fast when I'm in front of people.
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MA: Hence the exercise.
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Getting up in the morning. Getting work done on time or getting work in, but that's a personal problem. Waiting for Achtermann to start class; wait to print things at the end of class or before class not during class & [wasting] class time.
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MA: Noted; I will strive to follow this direction. It's a bit of a personal problem.
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The changing of due dates for assignment and the [misprints] that are on the list that we get in the middle of the year. Also lessons and [their] subject [manner] ([understanding]).
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It has been difficult to keep track of when things are due. We (our class) gets very side tracked in discussion so often due dates get pushed back and we get behind.
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MA: I believe the only changes to assignment due dates have been the times of the presentations in class. All the other due dates have been maintained. If you have any question or confusion about due dates, it seems perfectly sensible to ask me; I will refer to the syllabus, which you should also have (if you have lost your copy, I will provide you with a new one). It's true that the presentations have taken a long time, much longer than scheduled, but this should not impact the other due dates.
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The informative essay was the most difficult assignment. It was hard to re-write facts in my own words to make it sound like it wasn't [plagiarized]. -- Oral presentations seem to go a lot longer than they should. Only a few people get to present in one class period.
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MA: The goal of paraphrase and summary is not to "sound like it isn't plagiarized" (because in fact the grammatical implication is that the work is plagiarized, but you simply wish it to appear not to be!), but a) not to be plagiarized, in fact, and, more importantly, b) to have been taken up by you into your own awareness as your own. This, too, is difficult, but it is the acquisition for yourself of ideas that is the goal -- not disguising another's words with your own!
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MLA citations; that has always been a weakness for me. However, I have improved a lot over the year. Public speaking [has also been a difficulty].
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MA: The main question is this: do you know where to find the information you need to figure out the MLA citations? Can you figure out whether you need to cite a work as an anthology, a critical edition, a direct authorship, or some other form? Can you find the publication information in your source? If you can answer these questions affirmatively, you have what you need to succeed; otherwise, not.
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The most difficult aspect of the course for me personally has been the emphasis on oral presentation. However, I believe this to be a reflection on my own anxieties rather than a flaw of the course. However if the grading was somehow more balanced with traditional quizzes or tests, I would feel as though it was more beneficial to me and better suited to my style of learning.
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Preparing the papers because so much time was spent on completing the thesis that by the time it was done, there was little time for the rest of the paper.
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MA: I have two comments on this: First, we experimented this semester with development through topic to thesis, rather than beginning straight out with the thesis as last semester. This additional step, however, should have had the effect of refining the thesis sufficiently that when the thesis was complete, the essay would be easily prepared. I suspect, then, if there is some difficulty in completing the essay in time, the problem is with insufficient research at the earlier stages, while the thesis is being formulated.

A thesis should be constructed when one has a fairly thorough understanding of a subject -- even as an hypothesis, one must have some sense how to proceed in testing the hypothesis, and this requires previous understanding of the subject tested. While working the topic from general to specific, and in developing the thesis, you should be researching the topic, not waiting for ideas to drop miraculously from the sky. The business of topic selection is active, not passive.

Second, the thesis is the paper, in essence: the only time required after the thesis is constructed is the physical representation of words on paper. In a dialectical format, of course, the thesis is one of three sections in the essay, but in an informative essay the thesis is the barest expression of the entirety of the work: a kind of single-statement summary of the whole essay, the essay in seed form. So the writing of the paper from the thesis is like a plant growing from a seed: of course, all of the notes you have prepared on your index cards are taken up like sunlight and water and soil, but the conditions of growth are already determined, and, all other factors being equal, the growth proceeds quickly and straightforwardly.

But this is just my saying this, and I've said it before. I've shown this, too, in one form or another, over the past seven months. It's best learned, though, by practice, and you comment suggests to me that what is needed is not a greater extension of time in which to prepare the essays, but shorter assignment times and more topics, more theses, so that you will have more practice in bringing a topic through the research and thesis formulation into final essay form.

What aspect or assignment has been the least difficult? Explain briefly.

This is pretty hard to judge, considering we didn't really have many formal assignments. The listening is ridiculously easy for me, so long as the speaker is clear. I'm not sure how useful the listening worksheets really are.
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MA: I'm dubious of the worksheets, too. I think they should include a few more specific points to concentrate on. We could discuss the worksheets in class and develop better ones for the future.
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The least difficult assignment for me was the informative paper because we got the chance to pick our own topics...
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Taking notes, listening, synthesizing, processing, and reading work has all been quite easy to ge through and maintain.
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The usage of decent (or proper) grammar and spelling; I've never found that to be too difficult. If I am getting certain things wrong, no one tells me.
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MA: Believe me, if you were far off the mark, you would hear about it.
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[left blank: apparently the entirety of the course is so difficult, all assignments are equally hard]
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The listening exercises have been the least difficult.
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[It has been least difficult to] love reading and discussing selected readings..., [to] find a subject to write about on thesis papers. In class discussions [have been least difficult].
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The reading in the course and the presentations including notes.
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Learning to memorize a poem and to present it to the class as the least difficult assignment.
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If you don't understand something it's easy to ask a question and get the class involved in the answer.
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writting the papers + doing research. It seems as if we are back in high school, I already know how to write papers the way the course is now. Maybe if we were taught a more advanced level of writting it would be better. Class seems like an overview of middle-high school. [Entire comment, sic.]
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Re: Spelling and punctuation still remain essential components of writing. As a writer, too, I've found that very simple exercises can still provide a great deal of challenge. Have you milked every assignment for its full potential? Have you asked me for a further challenge?

I'm completely in sympathy with the idea of a more advanced class. In this section, I observe a range of capacity from several students who are challenged to form a complete and correct English sentence without basic structural error to several who could, if they wished, work as professional writers. In my view, we should have three tiers of FVC: one for individuals in need of training in basic writing skills, another for average college-level students, and one for advanced writers. We try to accommodate to this with the Writing Workshop, but this does not answer to the need for the higher level challenge.

Having said that, I come back to my last question. I would be pleased to show ways to "raise the bar" in assignments. I have the sense that the majority of students in this class feel ready for such a challenge. Alas! I am waiting for the demonstration of that readiness.
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The least difficult assignment has been probably the listening exercises. But there have been very few class assignments.
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MA: Yes, there have been very few, and therefore it puzzles me why I read complaints about not having enough time to meet the deadlines. It's a mystery.
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Poetry, just because I write a lot so it came easily.
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What did you think you were going to learn that you haven't learned?

More "free" writing, our own topics to express ourselves.
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MA: presumably, this is a request for more writing exercises (albeit of a peculiar character). As above, I don't believe I ever have told a student "don't write so much" (although I have placed length guidelines on assignments). But until you've been engaged in grading yourself, hesitate to suggest more graded work.

Also, I'm curious: were not your informative and persuasive essays to be written on your own topics? Perhaps you wished to write on more topics. I won't stop you -- indeed, so far from that, I encourage you! And, so long as you don't ask me to grade them, I'll be happy to read and comment on any pieces you write.
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With the assignment of the reading of Always Coming Home, which was completed at once, I was expecting more of a poetic analysis and/or series of discussions on the books' various literary strengths, pecuiarities, and perspectives raised. This could possibly have been connected to other assignments such as the five fours (which it was) but also to the thesis or poetry analysis. In any case, somehow it seemed we ditched the book a little too early for my, and a few other's, interests.
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I though we would do a lot more with the books we purchased. I read through all of Always Coming Home, for example, and now realize that I was the only one to do so, and that it was really a waste of time because we didn't do anything with it, aside from the 5/4s, which, of course, led to more oral presentations.
Mainly I was under the impression that we would have spent more time studying Always Coming Home. Though I enjoyed the book, other students were upse when they were told to buy it and read it but it has not effected their grade whatsoever., being as the exercise involving the book did not require much knowledge of it.
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I thought we were going to use the books we bought this semester; the only ones we've actually used were Tolkien and the handbook. Buying ACH was a waste of money in my opinion.
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MA: Here's a question for those students who were so upset: would you have read this book if it had not been part of this class? Having read it, did you find it to be a stimulating, frustrating, interesting, useful, meaningful, challenging book? In short, did you benefit from reading it? Well, then -- why do you need a grade? Are you a student, or a worker-bee? Do you want to learn, or do what The System tells you to do? Only you can answer these questions.

Sure, it would be great to grade you on something related to Always Coming Home, and that was my original intent in July and August of 2007. We could still do that, if you'd like. I have quizzes made up, and essay prompts. I'd hate for you to have spent $15 in vain.

If you will scroll back through this blog, you should find that I spent some time pointing to possible connections between Always Coming Home and the topics you selected. In other words, you could, in all likelihood, have used Always Coming Home as part of your informative and persuasive essays, if you really wanted to prevent a "waste of money". It seems to me that you want me to give you something you should take for yourself.

At some point you must be willing to learn for learning's sake -- because it is that which will improve your lot as artists or designers, or, frankly, anything else you might be in life. Watch movies because they are good to watch. Do good work because it is the right thing to do. Make art because you must. Grades are valuable, yes, yes, I know: I make money (in part) by identifying them, but they should not qualify your life.
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Classic english literature. Advanced college english In depth discussions about literature + comprehension. Creative writting, etc.
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MA: Apparently, I missed the memo about the extra "t" in writing, or the use of "etc." without a list, or the abandonment of capitals for proper nouns. But all of this is quite petty, I'm sure. Simply because one does not employ standards long established, we should not bar one from in depth discussions about comprehension. And I do not deny that I long for the same. And again, I do not believe I have barred anyone from participating in such.

As I say, my response may be petty, peevish, and inappropriate -- better reserved for the lofty atmosphere of the faculty lounge, had we such an appurtenance in this institution.

I think, though, a fundamental fault lies in the apparent misapprehension that this is a literature course. If we have read some fine literature, and even spent some little time examining it, yet that is not, as I understand the matter, one of the chief goals of the course. Re-examine the syllabus, if you doubt me.
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I thought we were going to learn more about poetry and not just how to [recite] it.
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More about poetry and reciting it. All about Tom Bombadil and his blue jacket and yellow shoes (or is it the other way around[?]).
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MA: May I suggest our course entitled "Poetry", debuting Fall 2008. Bombadil wore boots in the poem. They were yellow. See http://words-are-the-matter.blogspot.com.
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This semester I figured that we would continue from last semester and that's what we were doing. So there isn't anything new that I've learned.
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MA: Brian Eno notes that "repetition is a form of change."
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More English terms (not the basic but more teaching like what is in the Penguin Handbook).
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I thought that perhaps we'd go much further into grammatical and mechanical language practice. Also, it may have been nice to go into the various structures of poetry in more depth.
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MA: Ah, here's the difficulty: everyone wants something a little different from everyone else. Yes, going over mechanics could be useful, but it's time consuming and also frustrating as a spectator sport. And it's time consuming and frustrating to grade, which is likely why it would be needed at the college level at all: lower-level instructors passed it off. Shakespeare's Richard III comments,
"Look, what is done cannot now be amended. / Men shall act inadvisedly at times/ which later hours give leisure to repent" (V.iii.308-310). I guess we are now in the "later hours".
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I did not have any hopes to learn anything beyond what was included in the curriculum.
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[Blank: I'll take that as the mark of a satisfied customer.]

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What are you learning that you didn't expect to learn?

Really, I don't think I am learning anything unexpected. The unstructured thing's not working for me. I don't complain too much because it might not be good for others, but I find this class to be my least useful.
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MA: Thank you (I suppose) for not complaining in class, but I hope than in future sincere complaint such as the one you imply here (it might be seen as a heavy indictment to be the instructor of the "least useful" course -- on the other hand, that is relative; still, I'd like to be higher on the list) would be addressed directly and as forcefully as possible to the instructor in question (here, me). I think, too, that finding that a course is not advancing you is a reasonable cause for complaint, which, if not satisfied by the instructor after discussing the matter with him or her, should be directed to the chair of the department (or, in my case, since I am the chair, to the academic dean). This may seem heavy-handed and like a personal affront on your part, but either the matter is important, and therefore worthy of note to the appropriate agents (the instructor, then the chair, then the dean), or it is not. I would hope that I would not take a sincere concern personally. If a concern is worthy of note, it transcends the personal (that is, it may be a "personal problem" or character flaw in the instructor, but if there is an interference there with your learning, some accommodation should be made; that might be a restructuring of the class [or, in my case, a mere structuring!] or a reassignment to another section, if that could be arranged).
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Cannot recall a specific event or bits of information that I did not expect to learn.
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I greatly enjoy the unexpected but occasional inclusion of etymology; we should engage in the history of words and older versions a bit more, just out of the interest in the richness it offers. Learning more thoroughly the dialectic has been very useful as well.
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MA: Check out http://freerice.com/ and http://www.etymonline.com/
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I've learned a lot about the subject I chose to write about & although I like your crazy rants, I've learned a LOT about your personal life.
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I guess I would have to say how to listen better when people are talking.
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More about writing proper thesis and more about the subject I chose to write about. And pubic presentations.
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Explaining of in depth analysis of certain books. Learning why we do the things we do.

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Paraphrase, block quotation, reference etc.
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I didn't think I would get over the fear of talking in front of the room, but with more practice I'm getting better at it.
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MA: That's right: practice, practice, practice. It takes time and effort, but it produces results.
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I didn't expect the poetry. That was fun. I wish we could have gone more in depth though.
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MA: Nobody expects.... Yes, I would have enjoyed going to more depth on poetry, too, and maybe one day your wish shall be granted!
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I can't think of a specific thing, but I generally find the class or simply your "rants" interesting.
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MA: What is all this about "rants"?
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Reading and analyzing all the books.
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MA: Well, I'm glad that someone did this! Now, in case anyone supervising me happens to have read this all the way to the end, I will allow a student the final words:

[I'm learning a] great deal of things [that I didn't expect to learn]; while some of the other students may disagree, I find the times that the instructor "lectures on and on" or "talks about nothing" (as I've heard said) to be food for thought that inspires the mind and fosters creative [literary] thinking.

Docking

Today I received a comment or concern from a student that her grade had been "docked a lot of points" because she had not used complete sentences. This alleged "docking" occurred in an exercise for which a form is used in evaluation. The form is as follows:

Listening exercise evaluation
Student name:
Exercise:
Date:

Please note that the overall grade is not an "average" of the scores below, which may be weighted differently for different exercises. The numerical scores in this rubric reads from 1 (deficient) to 5 (exemplary).

Completeness of content (how much of the material presented is in your notes)

1 2 3 4 5

Accuracy of representation (how close your notes are to the material presented)

1 2 3 4 5

Essentiality of representation (how much of the most important information from the presentation is in your notes)

1 2 3 4 5


Mechanics of representation (whether you have used complete sentences, and whether the spelling and other mechanical elements are correct)

1 2 3 4 5


Overall grade:


The note before the evaluation form clearly indicates that the value of "points" in this exercise is variable. Were there really "a lot of points" docked for incomplete sentences?

But before I respond to that question, let me ask another: What is implied by the term "docked"?

What does "dock" mean? It means "cut, clip, reduce", as for example to dock the tail of an animal -- either to shorten, or to completely remove, the tail.

Applied to grading, clearly the implication must be that in a scale of 1 to 5, the initial assumption of the grader is that the grade is a 5. Then, if problems arise, the grade is reduced or "docked" in proportion to the degree of severity of the problem.

This sounds great, from the students' perspective: we all start as "fives". Perhaps "five-hood" is even perceived as a "right". Let me assure you, first, that we do not, and second, that it is not, save as a potential: a potential towards which I heartily encourage you to reach!

In point of fact, children do not leap forth from their mothers' wombs endowed with full command of language. Most have the mental equipment to acquire language, it is true, but that is not the same as having command of language.

Consider the possibility, then, that no "docking" has occurred at all, but that, instead, the student in question managed to demonstrate only (in this case) an achievement of 2 on the scale. Likely, she is capable of a 5, but this possibility cannot be considered a "right" to a 5 in the absence of evidence to the contrary.

Evaluation must be based upon evidence, on demonstration, not on assumption. Neither I, nor any other instructor, should assume knowledge or technical facility, as I am often reminded by students -- as I have been reminded, indeed, by the very student in question here. Rather, we should begin with assessment of demonstrated capacity (hence the writing exercise during orientation, and the first research paper prepared last semester). All along, it is the student who must make the demonstration of capacity, not the instructor. Oh, rest assured, instructors also must make demonstrations of their capacity, though the demonstrations are of a different sort than those the students must make.

So, let me make clear, I do not "give" grades: I observe and record grades. If any "giving" is happening, it is the students giving themselves grades. Neither do I "dock" grades; I start from a baseline of zero and work up as I find demonstration of ability. I expect to find a demonstration of a "C" level, which is average. I often encounter work which rises above that into the "B" range. Occasionally, I observe work which expresses an "A" level; this is rare -- not necessarily so, but expectedly so.

On this particular matter of complete sentences, I do not believe I have faltered from a basic position, frequently expressed, that to be logically complete, in English a statement must be a complete sentence, consisting of a subject and a predicate. This pairing should be followed by either a full stop (period), a question mark, or an exclamation mark (exclamation point). I do not believe this to be a difficult concept to master, or a difficult task to achieve.

Any skill is developed primarily through frequent practice. Construction of logically sound argument relies upon construction of complete statements. In English, this means the construction of complete sentences. Only through practice in writing sentences, then, can one gain facility in expressing sensible statements in English, which, fundamentally, is a goal of this course.

I trust that this rather lengthy explanation clarifies any uncertainty about the rationale behind the evaluation of the listening exercises.

19.iii.08 Pain, Greed, and Pride

I skipped class today.

My back pain through the night was so extreme I hardly slept; the soaking baths, yoga, Tiger-Balm and naproxen sodium regimen prescribed by my physician was simply not enough to bring relief, and by 6:45 a.m. I realized that I was too exhausted to make the drive in to Lancaster and direct a class.

So I called the Registrar and the Academic Dean and proposed a class session discussion topic: "Who is the third monster in Farmer Giles of Ham by Tolkien?" The first is the deaf and stupid giant, the second is the dragon Chrysophylax: who is the third?

This I "thought a dreadfully easy chestnut", to quote another Tolkien story (The Hobbit, ch. V). I guess to me the use "who" was a give-away, rather than "what".

The consistent answer, however, was not a "who" (a person) but a "what" (in this case an idea, feeling, or attitude):

"The third monster is greed," one student boldly asserted in beginning the narrative of the discussion. At the end of the narrative though, this writer also notes, "the discussion thing didn't work too well because no one really had a clue what the third monster was."

However, this writer hit on the crux of the matter: "Maybe it's the old king's greed." But the "maybe" is important here. "Surety you crave", to quote yet another Tolkien story (LotR, Bk V, ch. 10).

Another writer offers the possibility: "the treasure is the third monster. The treasure or gold or whatever it happens to be can make Giles or the king monsters in their lust for this treasure."

Right. This is definitely moving in the right direction.

"...another consideration we had was about the "monster" being Giles' greed."

Giles' greed?

Here we come to the learning portion of this exercise. On the one hand, I could just declare: "this is the third monster," and you might learn something about structural analysis, and you might learn nothing, and you might learn that I am simply an amazing bore. But none of that would have the joy of discovery that will come when you solve this riddle -- and I believe it has a single, definitive answer.

"The third monster is Greed and Pride," writes another student. Wait -- wouldn't that be two monsters? "This is because Farmer Giles is so caught up with himself and thinking how awesome he is, that he neglects his kingdom and his people." But when he is Farmer Giles, what is "his" kingdom and "his" people?

"The third monster is pride and greed, and he overcame them by siding with the dragon instead of the asshole king," opines a fourth writer. Now, we're getting somewhere. Let's consider deeply the degree of assholishness of Augustus Bonifacius Ambrosius Aurelianus Antoninus Pius et Magnificus, dux, rex, tyrannus, et basileus Mediterranearum Partium.

"The Story of Farmer Giles of ham [sic] has two obvious monsters, the Giant, and the Great Dragon Chrysphlax [sic] Dives. The third monster can be interpreted as Giles['] own Greed and pride. He even went so far as to tell the king to trade his crown for the sword Tailbiter," suggests a fifth. I'd like to see the specific evidence of Giles' pride and greed, and I'm particularly interested to be directed to the details of this supposed trade.

A sixth writer reports: "The story of Giles Ham clearly states two of the three monsters in the book. The two monsters are the Giant and the dragon hrysophylax [sic] Dives. The Third Monster in the story is vague. It is Farmer Giles['] pride and greed. He wents so far as to tell the king to trade his crown for the sword Tailbiter."

These two writers' reports are far too similar for comfort. Back in the day, we would call this cheating. Come to think of it, we still do. Consider, particularly, the last fifteen words of each writer's piece. Awfully close, don't you think? As in, identical.

After Mid-term: Foundations of Ethics

One of my basic questions remains: how can we approach this course more systematically, given the course texts? Another is, how can you, the students, be more engaged in analysis -- how an that analysis be more fully modelled to you? Furthermore, how can we experience, in the time remaining in the course, a more in-depth presentation of a greater range of ethical systems?

On the one hand, the answer seems to me to lie in more talks by me. These have been fine, even entertaining for some of you, I guess, but I'm not convinced of your engagement as a class. Perhaps quizzes would give a kind of motivation to concentrate on the material. I'm not sure, though, that I want to take on the extra work, and I'm loathe to change the syllabus. But perhaps in the future I could incorporate quizzes.

The frequent student answer to the kins of questions I pose is to have "discussion", but discussion should be informed dialogue, not sanctified b.s. So, how do we reach the point at which the information is sufficient to support a dialogue? My default is always to talk myself, and, hey, this is not in itself a Bad Thing. I, at any rate, generally know what I'm talking about and can make connections. Perhaps my modelling of that (by "modelling" I mean, doing it in front of you) is sufficient. I would like to have some discussion on this matter, particularly from those of you who may be feeling that you are receiving less from this course than you would like.

What do you think is missing from, or undeveloped in, the course? We have a little over a month to meet your expectations, and even though we may not be able to do everything you would like, as the Rolling Stones sang: "You can't always get what you want / but if you try sometimes / you just might find / you get what you need."

You should be thinking at this point of the careful and considerate appraisal you will give to the course in the course content surveys; you have a chance at this moment to increase the chances of a favorable review on your part, by suggesting any improvements you might wish now, rather than after the course is over.

Disclaimer:

Although I will carefully examine any and all suggestions, I must also weigh any suggestion against larger curricular and budgetary concerns. This is the double effect in asking for student input: the possibilities must be weighed against probabilities and limitations, and balanced with the judgment coming from experience. Please understand that not all suggestions can or should be actualized. But make suggestions, nonetheless.

After Mid-term: Revolution & Constitution

I had an epiphany Wednesday after class, and I'm embarrassed to say that this had not occurred to me before, so I hope to amend matters quickly in the time remaining.

After my "Come-on-folks-do-more-detailed-research" speech last week, I could perhaps have seen the coming solution. But E.G. suggested that, since there are only seven people in the class, perhaps we could take a "field trip" to the library and walk through the stages of researching a topic. I really felt silly that I had not thought of this myself earlier.

Since one of the basic goals of the course is for you all to evidence some basic mastery of scholarly research method, the sink-or-swim approach I have been taking is probably not the best. Anticipate that we will be following through on E.G.'s suggestion in the remaining class sessions.

After Mid-term: Foundations of Verbal Communications

I am in the process of reading the informative essays for FVC-102.F3. The work is going steadily, but slowly.

Begin thinking, please, about two things: first, the development of your persuasive essay thesis, which should be developed using the dialectic (more on that soon). Second, looking ahead to the end of the semester, be considering carefully and systematically your assessment of the year in FVC.

Consider your own challenges as a listener, a speaker, a reader, and a writer. We have about six weeks left in the semester to address those challenges. I hope you will be bold enough to identify both strengths and weaknesses in your work, and use the talents around you -- including mine -- to support your strengths and minimize your weaknesses.

Consider, too, the next generation of students. Were you to start again as a foundation student, knowing what you know now, what would you like to see change, and what should stay the same, in the FVC curriculum. This is not necessarily about what was fun, or what you liked, but what was useful to you as a listener, speaker, reader, and writer.

Consider the "logos" of the class: which of the readings were most valuable, and why? I basically dropped the reading component from the course, concentrating instead on writing and oral presentation: do you feel in any way cheated by that? Do you have any thoughts on developing the oral presentations and listening exercises, again, not so much so that they will be more fun (although I would welcome such suggestions, too), but more useful?

Finally, despite the fact that I do most of the talking in the class, I feel that I have not asserted myself very much, that I have not been imposing on you very much, as in, for example, asking you to read and then comment on some one work that we all encounter, and then holding you to be able to interpret that work closely. This may suit some of you very well, but my own sense is that this is a deficiency -- that I should be challenging you to closer and fuller analysis, whereas my perception is that the class is open and loose, lacking in structure. I am comfortable with the way individual class sessions happen, but I fear the looseness is not serving some people well.

Please let me know what you think about these matters. The sooner you share with me, the sooner improvements can be made based on the sharing.

Disclaimer:

Please understand that while I will give any and all suggestions a full listen, I must also weigh suggestions against larger curricular, and perhaps budgetary, concerns. So, yes, it might be a Lovely Thing to have a breakfast buffet waiting for us every morning, and I might even justify this as a meritted expense, the practical exigencies of such a notion are such that, well, it's not likely to happen this semester.

3.iii.08 A link to further discussion of poetry

I found that my considerations of poetry started to overwhelm this blog, so I created a new blog dedicated to poetry. At the moment, I am mostly considering the basic problem, "What is poetry?" and looking particularly at the relationship between poetry as a whole and the special class of lyrics as poetry.

My reflections on poetry are not entirely systematic, and in part are grounded in some earlier essays on poetic form. One of the basic premises of my non-scholarly writing (say, short stories, novels, and poetry) over the past twenty years or so has been to avoid "technical" or "jargon" language; this is a premise which has proved hard to maintain. Some of the tension of everyday language (in which, for example, "scaffold" or "telephone" might be perfectly acceptable) and the artificially-patrolled language of poetry (aiming to be "more natural than nature" or at any rate "more English than English") is illustrated in the posts on this blog.

So, if you are interested in some of the ways that poetry can come about and are not afraid of sometimes obscure discussion of language, follow this link: http:/words-are-the-matter.blogspot.com.

3.iii.08 Foundations of Verbal Communications

Phew! So, I finally prepped those packets for the poetry project. Each one should include:

1. My review of your presentation headed "Oral Presentation Rubric" (see comment below)
2. Your presentation sheet headed "Oral Presentations of Poetry"
3. The full text of the poem you memorized and presented
4. One or more than one "Listening to Oral Presentations of Poetry" evaluation forms, completed by one or more of your classmates, responding to your presentation
5. My review of your listening exercise (see 6), headed "Listening exercise evaluation"
6. One or more than one "Listening to Oral Presentations of Poetry" evaluation forms completed by you, responding to other students' presentations


Comment on "Oral Presentation Rubric": I was recently informed that this is not, properly speaking, a rubric, but an evaluation form. I will strive to use the proper terminology in future: "evaluation form".

***

Now that we are moving into the presentations of the informative essays, I can reflect more fully on the poetry project.

I've generally shied away from poetry in FVC101/102 or its predecessor courses, LA101/102, but based on this class's experience I am inclined to make with poetry practically the first project.

In poetry, for example, we have

a great memorization tool
a focus for analysis
a means by which to reflect upon the self and personality
concise and meaningful material for oral presentation
an introduction to the artistry of language

In preparing their presentations on poetry, I called upon students to research the backgrounds of their chosen poems and the poets who composed the poems: this can lead directly to an examination of bibliographic format. In presenting the analysis, students can be challenged to properly quote, paraphrase, summarize, and refer to their sources.

In brief, a poetry unit can tie into technical research training and technical format training as well as technical training in rhetorical analysis. A poem illustrates the rhetorical triangle of author/audience/material as boldly and baldly as any form.

***

The oral presentations of poetry in FVC102.F3 this semester may have seemed at times slow, but from my perspective we covered an awful lot of ground. Although I probably could have been more demanding of strict postural correctness, careful enunciation, and so on, I notice that the students are making these sorts of suggestions in the comments to the informational presentations. The main thing is that we all be aware of better versus worse posture, and strive to improve our own posture, that we be aware of better versus worse enunciation, and strive to improve our own enunciation, and so on. Scholarship -- being part of a school and studying -- is about improvement, after all, steady, ongoing improvement, not instant perfection. Although, instant perfection would be nice.

Yes, I probably could be more concise in my comments. On the other hand, I do strive to be thorough. I personally find the atmosphere of the class with presentations that turn into conversations more attractive than an entire class of me talking. Not that I don't like to talk.

I would be happy if I sensed less need for me to talk. More thorough preparation before the presentations would ease my burden of correction. At a certain point, we must move on to the next project; I have to play my desire to be fair by giving everyone a chance to present and to hear suggestions surrounding the work and the need to fit all the assignments into the semester.

One comment made at a recent informal faculty meeting was that, astonishingly, students do not make notes of the comments given during critique.

I know that I have a lot of trouble remembering things if I do not write down some notes. When discussing something as significant as one's foundational technical training in the arts, it would seem to me that any artist would want to make careful notes. I know that you may not think of yourself as being in the same league as daVinci, but Leonardo took extensive notes throughout his life. I'll say this: taking notes in and of itself won't make you the next daVinci, but not taking notes will lower your chances of reaching that goal.

It's true, I will sometimes make light jokes in class, but generally I strive to say weighty and valuable things, and I certainly hope that my comments on your work are useful. Making notes of them could save you -- and me -- a lot of trouble in the future.

Formulations of the Categorical Imperative

In PHL202, Foundations of Ethics, we have been slowly creeping through the rich landscape of Immanuel Kant's Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten in James Ellington's translation Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals (3rd ed. Indianapolis: Hackett: 1993).

I think now that we have been working on Kant for a few weeks, re-reading (or reading) Ellington's introduction may be a valuable exercise, as Ellington summarizes much of what I have been presenting in class with extended examples and explanations.


I believe it would be useful to prepare a glossary of the specialized terms Kant uses:

imperative
categorical imperative
hypothetical imperative
formulations of the moral law (categorical imperative)

duty
four cases of duty

respect

inclination versus interest

autonomy versus heteronomy

end versus means
end in itself

kingdom of ends

universality (unity)
plurality
totality

law
universal law

will
the good will

practical

practical law

practical necessity

maxim

morality

I recommend that you prepare a set of index cards, on each one of which is one of these terms; on the reverse write out the definition. You will find quickly that the terms link to each other in a variety of ways -- they are not linearly progressive, but are a network of ideas -- so having a set of such cards, you can arrange the cards in various ways while contemplating their relationships. I recognize this as something earnestly to be desired, but ideal.

Formulations of the Categorical Imperative:

Formula of the Universal Law: "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law" (30).

Formula of the Law of Nature: "Act as if the maxim of your action were to become through your will a universal law of nature" (30).

Formula of the End in Itself: "Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of another, always at the same time as an end and never simply as a means" (36).

Formula of Autonomy: Act as though "the will of every rational being [is] a will that legislates universal law" (38).

Formula of the Kingdom of Ends: Act as though a member of the (ideal) kingdom of ends (39).

Let's have all that again:

Universal Formula of the Categorical Imperative: "Act according to that maxim which can at the same time make itself a universal law" (42).

The Supreme Law of the Unconditionally Good Will: "Act always according to that maxim whose universality as a law you can at the same time will" (42).

"Act according to maxims which can at the same time have for their object themselves as universal laws of nature" (42).

"So act in regard to every rational being (yourself and others) that he [or she] may at the same time count in your maxim as an end in [her- or] himself"; "Act on a maxim which at the same time contains in itself its own universal validity for every rational being" (43).

"So act as if your maxims were to serve at the same time as a universal law (for all rational beings)" (43).

"Act in accordance with the maxims of a member legislating laws for a merely possible kingdom of ends" (43).

26.ii.08 Foundations of Verbal Communication

So, I'm waiting for You Tube to crank out Alanis Morissette's "Thank You" for my delectation while I grade the oral presentations and listening exercises, and I realized that I really missed a great opportunity here.

Now, I'm sure that students in FVC102.F3 will not be terribly disappointed that I neglected to add this component to the oral presentations, but in the future I will certainly want to:

Ensure that a bibliography of sources is included with the presentation.

Where did you folks get your information? Sure, it may be "common knowledge", which generally speaking does not require citation, but we're practicing here, and should take every possible opportunity to do so. And maybe, just maybe, in the process misattributions (like -- and not to pick on any one person, but just to give an example -- lines 40-53 of Twelfth Night II.3 presented as a sonnet) would not occur, or could be checked much more efficiently (I spent a quarter of an hour tracking that one down. If I charged the regular "professorial rate" that would be, let's see... $45?).

25.ii.08 Foundations of Verbal Communications

I'm reflecting upon our oral presentations of poetry, now several weeks in progress, and a few overall thoughts occur to me:

A prefatory and somewhat technical (some may even think "snide") remark: In the past two class sessions, several students, in discussing the diction of the poems recited, have used the phrase "old English". I suspect, since all the poems recited so far have been in Modern English (yes, even "The Ballad of Bonnie George Campbell", which as I noted merely attempts to present a Highland accent rather than a real dialectual variant on English) that by "old English" is meant merely "a vocabulary with which I am unfamiliar and which appears to be "older"", and if this is so, why, this may well be correct. But it does not really show outstanding scholarship. Most dictionaries will give information about the approximate age of words in their various meanings. Poets often use words which have passed out of everyday use for particular effects.

Very few people today use "hereafter" or "behold" or "withal" or "slay" (to give four examples) in everyday speech, but some poets even today might use these terms for effect. Today the intended effect would probably be comedic as much as anything else, but fifty years ago and more these terms, although again not commonplace, would have been used seriously to give a sense of connection to older tradition, and in a sense, as I talked about today in reference to Poe, to "legitimize" or "elevate" the poet's work, to give it a sense of age and therefore respectability.

But while these words may be "old" (and for great information on the age and history of words, see Online Etymological Dictionary, which was created right here in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania: you can take some vicarious pride in that, I think) -- they all go back at least to the 14th century in their current form -- they are not "Old English" in the sense of Old English, Middle English, Modern English. In Old English these words would have the forms heraefter, bihaldan, mid ealle , and slean, which you may agree are like the modern English words, but are certainly not the same.

1) one of my goals in establishing oral performances in poetry was to provide an opportunity for students who tend to rush in speaking, or to swallow their words, or to mumble (if that is distinct from swallowing words), to correct these patterns. I think this goal has been met in part. The struggle to memorize lines may dominate, but even to some degree that struggle has overshadowed the discomfort or distraction of public speaking. I notice that in the analytical portions of the presentation -- where the student is neither reciting nor reading, but is summarizing some question about her or his poem, speech tends to be clearer.

However, in responding to the problems of, for example, what may be the tone or the sound or the structure or the diction of the poem, students tend to be

a) exceedingly brief, and
b) necessarily (because of the above) vague and unspecific.

To counter these, I proposed that students give specific examples from their poems showing, rather than telling about, the presence of the various qualities.

Having said all of this, though, I do sense that as a general rule, some real progress has been made. I hope that the time spent as a class listening to one after another of your classmates' work "torn apart", and having to hear a poem or section of a poem repeated several times, has provided some real use.

2) I am very curious to explore why, out of the many many poems available in the world, people choose the ones they do. When one choses a poem to memorize and recite, it is a bit like choosing a significant other (a bit like): this poem is going to enter into your consciousness, become a part of you, and you should think carefully whether and why it is one you want to become so intimate with. And just as in interpersonal relationships, one must learn and perhaps learn by mistakes, so with poems.

3) In asking about structure, external form, alliteration, assonance, and so on, one might legitimately note (although no one has), "Well, we were not taught about these things in this class -- how are we supposed to comment on them?" I am working from the (perhaps faulty) assumption that rhyme schemes, metre, sound-patterns, have been presented in "English" classes over the past twelve years or so, and that it is more a matter of recalling information learned and then stowed away unused rather than encountering completely new information. I make similar assumptions about other mechanical or technical aspects of verbal communication. I assume, for example, that anyone who could be admitted into a college program understands that an English sentence must consist of two parts, a subject and a predicate; or that when one is uncertain of the meaning of a word, a dictionary is used to gain some higher degree of certainty; or that a paragraph should consist of, at very least, three sentences.

At a certain point, I simply have to move forward from these and other similar assumptions. I am perfectly happy to assist a person who is confused. At the same time, I have reached the point at which, while I desire not to embarrass a student who has apparently not a clue as to the meaning of an English word, when the assignment in which the word occurs has been standing for about a month and dictionaries are still readily available, even if the student does not own one her- or himself, and when the misunderstanding of that word may completely reverse the understanding of the passage in which it is found, that desire is overridden by the thought that this cluelessness and misunderstanding is inexcusable. Am I intolerant, or rude, to call a student on this by saying, "What does this word mean? You don't know? Well, I do, because I use a dictionary."

Before answering that question, consider, too, that I am not asking for private recitals here: the recitations of poems are given to the class as a whole, are the basis of listening exercises, and therefore are not merely personal. In a sense, without stating it in so many words, I am asking for each presenter to function as a teacher for ten minutes or so. We should all be learning something about poets and poetry here, as well as gaining experience as listeners and speakers.

The upcoming exercise in which students are to present results of their research should also meet the maxim "Simple in means, rich in ends". I am eager to learn about The Brat Pack's influence on music, the development of Celtic tree alphabets, martial art forms, foreign versus domestic adoptions, the effects of caffeine on human functioning, physical responses in love, and so on. I, for one, hope to gain some information and insight here, but I also hope to see and hear improved posture, presence, enunciation, pronunciation, and projection. The five/fours and the poetry recitations served their own purposes as well, but recognize that all of these exercises together build to something else.

4) Consider how technical knowledge, critical thinking, and understanding of the liberal arts are to be fostered. All of the examination of poetry which is the basis of this exercise (or should be the basic of this exercise) is technical. First, the process of analysis and memorization is technical: you used some sort of technique to figure out what the structure of the poem is, what the diction of the poem is, and so on. It may not have been a sophisticated technique, but in part that is why I ask of you the questions I do -- like, "what does this line mean?" or "what is the rhyme scheme in this stanza?" or "how can you find out the meaning of that word?"

Second, poetry itself is technical: one must employ techniques in forming a poem, whether it be division of lines, division of stanzas, inclusion (or non-inclusion) of specific words, of metres, of rhyme, of alliteration, of assonance, and so on. To be able to achieve a recognizable tone or theme, the poet must have a greater rather than lesser degree of technical control. My comments on Poe as a poet were largely technical: to be able to ask why he does not structure the alliteration or internal rhyme schemes of "The Raven", one must first grasp the techniques of alliteration and internal rhyme.

Remember LeGuin's definition of poetry: "patterned intensity of language". Poetry succeeds to the degree it is intense and patterned. The tension of poetry exists specifically in such points as the play between the internal rhyme and the end-rhyme (and the alliteration) of the stanza in "The Raven" and the tags at the end of each stanza: "only this, and nothing more"; "nameless here forevermore"; "this is it and nothing more"; "darkness there, and nothing more" and so on. Here we may have (depending on the critic's argument) a ghastly lack of imagination or vocabulary (really, Edgar, can you think of other rhymes than "or"?) or a brilliant grasp of the maxim expressed by Brian Eno as "repetition is a form of change". Certainly the repetition in "The Raven" is intense in a way. Perhaps intensely boring. At any rate, until one recognizes the presence of the repetition, which along with variation is the key to Poe's technique (and, to those who see "The Raven" as a triumph, to his success here), one cannot interpret the poem sensibly.

"Critical thinking" is a somewhat problematic term, because the term "critical" has become so strongly connected with "negative judgment" or "attack". It need not mean this, but I'll admit readily that the uses of "critic" to mean "opponent" and "critical" to mean "negatively judgmental" are common. "Analysis" or "analytical thought" and "judgment" or "discerning thought" have been suggested as alternatives. But "analysis" does not really replace "critical thought", because it has to do properly only with the process of dividing up a problem into its constituent parts and perhaps categorizing those parts, but not necessarily making a judgment about their relative values. And "judgment" does not necessarily imply analysis. But critical thinking involves both analysis and synthesis and judgment.

In the poetry presentations, I have asked for analysis in the process of examining the various components of a poem, the technical aspects: metre, diction, sound, and so on. In asking for the theme and the tone, I am calling for a synthesis (drawing together) of the components of the poem to see a single unified whole, and for a judgment of the most important features of the poem in forming that picture of the whole.

One of the frustrations I experience is that here is an exercise which, were it really followed through, could be a very rich experience in critical thought. I'm not convinced that it has been that. So I ask myself, "why has this not been a rich experience?"

I wish I could lay the answer at my own feet: "You made up a bad exercise for the students!"

Unhappily, I don't think that is the case. I sincerely believe that this is a case of motivation. The tools to carry out this exercise are readily available. PCA&D's library may be small physically, but the collection is excellent, and we have plenty of on-line resources. Furthermore, we have excellent staff and faculty who are more than happy to help students who ask for it.

No, I'm afraid the trouble is a lack of motivation at the student level. If students won't even investigate what a word means, or consider what the significance of a classical allusion may be, when the answers are virtually at the finger-tips in dictionary or encyclopedia, it would seem that a basic malaise needs to be addressed.

Do we need to be slipping caffeine into the drinking water supply? Should we provide some sort of negative reinforcement?

Perhaps the answer lies in a general attitude toward the liberal arts (some of the LA faculty are strongly of this opinion). Perhaps the LA staff are too complaisant, not sufficiently demanding. Perhaps we are not flamboyant enough to merit imitation. Perhaps students actually believe that it does not matter whether they know how to use scholarly (and only barely scholarly) tools like dictionaries or grammar-checks, or that they use them, "because I am an artist."

And I think part of this has to do with a misunderstanding of the liberal arts: what the liberal arts are, and what value they have to artists.

As an artist -- and by that I mean "artist" in a very broad sense, because I compose and perform music, I have acted on stage and in film, I have worked as an animator, I design type, and I write poems, essays, short stories, and novels, for example, as well as draw and paint -- I am convinced of the value of the liberal arts. Obviously, my writing is supported by understanding verbal communications, but I also benefit from my understanding of nature that comes through the life and physical sciences and mathematics, from my understanding of human beings that comes through the behavioral and social sciences and history, from my understanding of the deep workings of the mind and the soul that comes from the study of philosophy and religion. The liberal arts provide content to place into the form of the technical training provided in the studio or fine arts.

Why a model should stand in a certain way, wearing certain clothing, or no clothing, with or without props, or why the lighting should be arranged this way or that, or why I should use conte rather than charcoal rather than graphite rather than something else, or why this paper or that -- all of these decisions are not purely technical within the visual arts. The liberal arts provide the context, the framework, the means by which the technical judgments about perspective, pressure, stance, and so on are to be made.

It is possible that artists can act without the benefit of liberal arts experience or training. Their work tends to be naive. That can be fine; but it's not what PCA&D is aiming for.

I hope that students will earnestly consider the possibility that the liberal arts curriculum is not an appendage -- especially not a vestigial appendage -- not a mere burden, but a vital part of training in the visual arts.

I wish I knew what to do about what seems to be lack of student motivation to engage with the liberal arts. If I knew, I could think of a plan of action.




This is not to say that NO ONE did a good job, that no one investigated the poems presented, that no one used scholarly tools. There have been high points in each of the presentations.

Certainly I am impressed with the overall improvement in posture (well, okay, maybe not that), pronunciation, enunciation, and projection. This is great. I sense that most of the students in FVC 101/102 are far more comfortable now speaking in public -- at least in front of the class -- than six months ago. Some students have made really astonishing progress, and this is great.

I'll end on that note.

18.ii.08 Foundations of Verbal Communications

A bit of a slow day today; only two oral presentations due to my interference. A fine suggestion was made that I purchase a timer and limit my comments to the absolute essentials.

I found in examining the listening exercises that the responses were generally quite brief, which may in part be due to poor listening skills, but may also be a necessary reaction to limited analysis. I don't know how useful the model I presented in class may have been, but I summarize here in writing what I presented in class this morning orally.

In making the oral presentations of poetry, show the ways in which the biography of your chosen poet relates to the poem. Also, in showing the subject, the speaker, the setting, the tone, and so on, make direct reference to the poem, quoting pertinent passages, to defend your analysis.

So, for example, I may give a recitation of a poem by a local poet who was active in environmental organizations, worked for a time as a naturalist, and was familiar with the nearby nature preserve (owned by PPL) called Shenk's Ferry Wildflower Preserve. The poem is entitled "From Shenk's Ferry".

This hidden folding of the land
where foxes ran beneath the grape
here the leaves mouldering lay
from soil into sky turning back

shake the bells upon the tree
like the wind of hallowtide
when the silver treehall shines
with slanting golden beams

this narrow passage of the stream
where hartstongue shoots between the stones
and rabbits bite the grass then go
beneath tanglewood to stay unseen

rise up in mists when you have passed
exhaled from loam that holds your form
you cannot last although you roar
it fades into the cries of ants

The subject or situation is the place, Shenk's Ferry, but there is also a kind of advice or command given in the second stanza: "shake the bells..." and another in the last stanza: "rise up in mists..."


The speaker would appear to be the poet, and the setting, again, is Shenk's Ferry, apparently in autumn. My argument for this is that hallowtide, referenced in the poem, is the period between Halloween and winter solstice (around Christmas): this is the second half of the autumn season. Also, the "silver treehall shines/ with slanting golden beams" suggests late autumn (and indeed this is merely defining "hallowtide", for this is "when the silver treehall shines...") because at this point in the year the leaves have fallen from the trees. At Shenk's Ferry is a great stand of Beeches, trees with silver-grey bark, and it seems likely that the poet refers to this; the "slanting golden beams" are presumably sun-beams, and the angle of the sun in late autumn is low.

However, the poem also refers to "hartstongue", which is a kind of fern which I think is not evergreen, so the poem may not be describing any particular time of year but a single place in several seasons.

The overall tone of the poem I would say is mostly descriptive, but includes some interesting commands. The first stanza does nothing more than describe the place, and the third stanza does the same. "The bells upon the tree" may be a reference to a kind of bell-shaped pod on trees growing along the path at Shenk's Ferry. I don't know what the name of that tree may be, but an observant person walking there would see them, especially after the leaves have fallen. Grapes are mentioned, and foxes, hartstongue, grass, and rabbits. It seems like a straightforward snapshot of a forest.

In the second stanza, we have the rather odd command to "shake the bells upon the tree/like the wind of hallowtide". Why would a tree have bells on it? It almost suggests some sort of decoration. But the shaking is supposed to be like the wind of hallowtide -- and what would that be? Wind is often associated with the spirit or soul (in fact, in their origins, both these words meant "wind" as well as "breath"), and All Hallow's is the Day of the Dead, so the shaking of the bells may be done by or like the spirits of the departed... and the association of the bell with the spirit is maybe pretty common.

But in the fourth stanza, the tone changes, and in light of this change the whole poem takes on a different quality: here, the listener or reader is told to "rise up in mists", which echoes the "from soil into sky turning back" of the first stanza. "You cannot last although you roar" -- so even if you do wonderful things, it is natural to die, to decay, and whatever spirit you may have will "rise up in mists", while the "loam" or soil "holds your form". The direct address of "you" engages the reader. The tone, I would say, becomes maybe a bit melancholic, or maybe stoic: we are called to accept nature as it is. We gain a different view, perhaps, of the place of the foxes which "ran beneath the grape" and the rabbits which "go beneath tanglewood to stay unseen" -- unseen from the fox? -- predator and prey, the natural cycle. And there is a larger cycle of decay and renewal in the leaves "from soil into sky turning back" and the mists "exhaled from loam" -- essentially the leaves of the first stanza are like the "form" or body (presumably human body) of the last stanza: all beings collapse, degrade, and become something new. The poet might also have noted that the sky becomes the soil as the leaves take in chemicals and radiation from the sun, and then fall to the ground.

The diction of the poem, characteristic of this poet, is limited almost entirely to words deriving from the Germanic roots of English. Only "exhale" comes from another source: Latin, in this case. English has three main elements: the base in Anglo-Saxon, a language closely related to Dutch, Frisian, Icelandic, German, Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian; a strong influence of the Romance language French (which is closely allied to Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian, all of which derive much from Latin -- hence "Roman-ish" or Romance); the third element of English is "other": words like moccasin, teepee, cannibal, tobacco, from native American languages, or algebra or alchemy, from Arabic, or geometry, logical, or synthesis, from Greek. And of course we have taken many words from Latin, like exhale or corrupt or degrade.

But this poem is mostly basic English words, although some are rare, like Hallowtide and Hartstongue, and one is a bit of poetic invention, tree-hall. Tanglewood is not particularly common, but all of these oddities are really pretty straightforward in their meaning (maybe Hallowtide not so much, and it may also be an invention of the poet, on the model of Christmastide or Eastertide).

I think "From soil into sky turning back" and "exhaled from loam that holds your form" are notable phrases, as is "it fades into the cries of ants" -- these peculiar phrases also are central to the purpose of the poem (as I understand it): things changing into others through decay. The most mysterious to me is the fading "into the cries of ants", because grammatically what is fading is either the "roar" or the "form" (strictly grammatically, it must be the form) -- since the cries of ants are pretty darn faint, that a roar would fade into them seems a sensible reduction, a deflation of ego... but for the form or body to fade into the cries of ants argues for a more complex process of change, especially since ant cries are basically chemical signals... I guess that the poet was aware of this and intended to say that the chemicals in a body break down and float around and are taken up into the ants and then sent out again in their communications -- a kind of reincarnation, I suppose one might say.

The poet uses the word "this" to introduce the first and third stanzas, which in effect divides the poem into two units. "This" also gives a precision and nearness to the poem. We may ask, as listeners or readers: "This? Which?" Since "this" is the first word, it must refer to something later, or outside of the poem -- either way we are drawn into the mystery: to what does "this" refer?

As for sound, the poem does not use rhyme, but an assonance structure based on the vowels of the final words in each line, with the pattern ABBA CDDC CEEC AFFA (this also is part of the structure of the poem, obviously). The poet has repeated sounds, not necessarily in any particular order, throughout:

this/hidden; folding/foxes; land/ran; folding/mouldering; leaves/lay; soil/sky; back/bells; bells/wind; bell/hallowtide/treehall; shake/shines; silver/slanting; wind/when/with, and so on.

A good bit of this is alliteration or "head rhyme", but again, it seems not to be in any strict pattern. It's not quite a tongue-twister, but "stream/ where hartstongue shoots between the stones" comes awfully close.

The rhythm of the piece is not strictly patterned, either, but seems just to be a natural flow, although there are some strong parallels (and here I pass over into the structure of the poem).

As for musicality, the rising and falling tones of the first line, for example "this hidden folding of the land" has a progression of rising tones in the accented syllables: this and hidden are essentially the same tone, but folding rises; the unstressed syllables are lower tones, and so the whole line together has a kind of rising and falling which creates an auditory picture of the folding land which is described.

"Narrow passage" also, because of the doubled consonants, expresses a kind of constriction (one could lengthen the words, too, but this would seem unnatural; try it both ways to confirm for yourself); here there is a quick rising and falling pattern which again suggests in a way a rocky valley with tall and close sides. Perhaps this is just my own impression of the poem, but I find that it describes not only in the meaning of the words, but in the sound of the words. I don't think it would be as effective in translation into, say, French:

Ce passage étroit du jet
où pousse la langue du cerf entre les pierres
et les lapins mordent l'herbe et alors vont
sous le bois embrouillé rester invisibles

Sure, it sounds "nice" (and French), but one could not readily force this into the structure of about seven syllables, with about four stressed syllables, per line, as in English. And of course, the assonance scheme is totally lost. And speaking of syllables, here is the way the structure of this poem breaks down.

Take x as an accented syllable and - as an unaccented syllable, and the poem has a form like this:

x x- x- - - x
x x- x -x - x
x - x x- x
- x -- x x- x

x - x -x - x
x - x - x- x
x - x- x- x
- x- x- x

x x- x- - - x
x x- x -x - x
- x- x - x - x
-x x-x - x x-

x x - x - x - x
-x - x - x - x
x x- x -x - x
- x -x - x - x

The first two lines of the first and third stanzas have identical rhythms. Other than that, the structure is not exact, but no line has more than five stressed syllables, and only one has fewer than four ("with slanting golden beams" has three, which then to keep pace with the rest of the stanza demands a lengthening of the vowels, which perhaps emphasizes the "slanting").

The overall structure of the poem is that it is has four stanzas, each of four lines, all fairly compact, ten of the sixteen lines having four stressed syllables, five having five, and one having three stressed syllables. There are 7 5/8 (7.625) syllables in each line, on average, which probably has no cosmic significance at all. But poets are sometimes peculiar about hidden messages. As noted above, the first and third stanzas are descriptive, the first including a predatory animal and the third including a prey animal; the second and fourth stanzas include commands. The assonance scheme of ABBA CDDC CEEC AFFA suggests an arc or an interlacing; it may be that a longer poem would continue with BCCB DEED DFFD BAAB, CDDC EFFE EAAE CBBC, and so on, something like a pantoum. But as it stands, we have only the four stanzas, so this is mere speculation on my part. This scheme is the invention of the poet, rather than an existing external form.

The theme of the poem, I would summarize in a single word as "recycling" or "reincarnation".

From Shenk's Ferry

This hidden folding of the land
where foxes ran beneath the grape
here the leaves mouldering lay
from soil into sky turning back

shake the bells upon the tree
like the wind of hallowtide
when the silver treehall shines
with slanting golden beams

this narrow passage of the stream
where hartstongue shoots between the stones
and rabbits bite the grass then go
beneath tanglewood to stay unseen

rise up in mists when you have passed
exhaled from loam that holds your form
you cannot last although you roar
it fades into the cries of ants

MEA.

14.ii.07 Ethics on SS Valentines' Day

Yes, SS Valentines': there were two Saints Valentine, both of whom were martyred. During the colonial period, the Mennonites in this area at least found a greater resonance with Valentines' Day than with Christmas, presumably in part because of the association with martyrdom ("The Martyrs' Mirror" being a key [and quite bulky] text in the Mennonite library).

So, we're back in the educational saddle again after the better part of two days off due to weather. On Monday I left the college with no suspicions of the weather predictions, and I took no work with me, in part because my back pain was acute and I knew I would not be able to concentrate, and in part because I was figuring on being in on Tuesday to read over the descriptive ethics projects. Tuesday morning I went to my medical clinic and met with a new doctor in the practice, who examined my back and suggested that I take an anti-inflammatory medication for two weeks, at the end of which time we will meet again and determine whether I need to undergo an MRI scan. Meanwhile, I am to use hot compresses as needed and ease back into gentle yoga; perhaps, she says, I should wait to start the weight-lifting program I was planning on, or just use lighter dumbbells with more reps.

After my appointment, I drove to my parents'; by this time the snow was beginning. While I was visiting with my parents (who were eager for me to try out some chairs which they thought would be better for my back than the wooden-seated windsors I have have at home, and also to have me use a full-body massaging heating pad [very noisy and weirdly jarring -- I'm used to a sticky yoga mat or a futon, or the ground]) I received the call that classes would be cancelled. By that time, about a quarter inch of snow and the same of ice was on the ground, and I could not safely back my van out of my parents' driveway, so I stayed the night there, driving directly home about mid-day Wednesday, so again, I did not pick up student work, thinking that I would get it when I came in for class. I had some difficulty driving up the lane, although the main roads were safe. They might even have been safe with the usual quantity of traffic, but I was glad that very few drivers were out. And I was glad, too, when I found that evening classes had been cancelled, because as I was bringing some items in from the car, I slipped twice on the ice. Since my landlord is in South Africa until later this month, if I had been hurt, I might have been stuck on the ice until I could crawl indoors, and I wasn't enthusiastic about that possibility.

This morning leaving to come to the college, the driveway at my house was even more slick than yesterday, but again, once I was out to the main road, everything was fine. I arrived and then attended a series of meetings until class-time, and so I still have a stack of descriptive ethics projects to review, but I will take them home with me this evening.

***

Because of the class cancellation Tuesday, the deadline for topic selection for the classical-school exercise is postponed until Tuesday the 19th. From the handout on ethical criteria (emotive-criteria, intuitive-criteria, extrinsic-criteria, intrinsic-criteria), or from other experience, select two schools of ethics you find intriguing. Present your selections with an explanation of what you find intriguing about those schools. About a paragraph for each school should be sufficient. You need not perform much research before making the selection, although you may: the next step is the annotated bibliography. For this, be certain to list not fewer than five sources in not fewer than three media. You are welcome to begin with a key-word search, or even with Wikipedia, but be sure to use this only as a starting point; look for bibliographic suggestions and follow up on them.

A brief overview of my talk today:

In the classical system project (comparing two classic schools of ethical thought), you are to articulate principles of the schools you examine. Therefore, you must grasp clearly the notion of principle as opposed to issue.

As examples, I spoke of the principles of Stoicism as shown in Epictetus and those of Hedonism.

In Stoicism, one of the basic principles is that Nature is a controlling and limiting factor: things are as they are, and there is nothing one can do about that.

Another is that the will is essentially free: one can choose to do whatever one can do. One can also choose to do what one cannot do, but in this case one will be disappointed, because simply to will something is not to be able to do it. I may wish to fly and put a lot of effort into trying to fly, but the fact is that humans are not capable of flight, and probably I will do a good deal of injury to my body if I persist in acting as though they are.

These two principles, the freedom of the will and the limits of nature, may seem to be at odds with each other. The reconciliation, for Stoics, comes in the idea that one should attune one's will to desire to act only the way one can. If one does not understand the way things are, and acts contrary to nature, one will be unhappy, but if one understands how things are and does not wish them to be otherwise, but is contented with things as they are, one will be happy.

This position proposes that goodness, that which is right, is found when one understands logic (the organization of thoughts, but also the organization of things and processes in nature) and physics (the limits of material reality, especially cause and effect) and acts in accord with them alone.

A different approach to goodness is found in Hedonism. The term Hedonism comes from the Greek word "hedone" meaning "pleasure". In Hedonism, the good is defined by that which is pleasant, or which brings pleasure: what is evil is that which limits pleasure or causes pain, or is pain, or privation of pleasure. This might seem unsophisticated and egocentric, and hedonism can be unsophisticated and egocentric, but this depends in part upon whether pleasure is viewed simply as a matter of quantity or as a matter of quality.

Some would argue that simply having much of something pleasurable is enough to increase pleasure, and therefore to have good. But others would understand that, for example, to play a song over and over, even if it is a perfectly good song, may not increase the pleasure from that song, or one's pleasure generally. It might be better to have one bar of Lindt chocolate than five Hershey bars (but of course this may be very largely or entirely a matter of taste: someone may find Hershey to be exquisite comparable to Lindt [it is conceivable]). The emphasis of quality over quantity characterizes the Epicurean school of hedonism.

Jeremy Bentham argued that any act could be judged as to its value using what he called an "hedonic calculus", measured based on seven essential factors. His godson J.S. Mill was less sanguine about exact quantitative measurement of pleasures, and furthermore Mill argued that pleasure was not merely individual: one should act to produce the greatest possible good (pleasure) for the greatest possible number of people. The usefulness or pleasure-production of any act, its utility, in Mill's terminology, was determined largely by its relationship to this basic principle of utility: to produce the greatest good for the greatest number.

Thus, in Mill's version of hedonism, one is guided to the higher pleasures of providing for social welfare with fine medicine, education, transportation, good government, an efficient and profitable economy, and so on.

Also, throughout the hedonistic schools, one finds the need to balance momentary pains with future pleasures. It may be that eating carefully now is a pain, but compared with the pleasure of a long life with a healthy body, these pains are worthwhile. It may be that guitar practice is a pain, but the pleasurable reward comes when one can play effortlessly (for those of us who achieve such a state).

So, under the general banner of hedonism, we can see the following principles:

1. The good = the pleasurable.
2. The end may justify the means (no pain, no gain).
3. Less of high quality is better than more of low quality (Epicurus).
4. Pleasure may be measured (Bentham).
5. The highest pleasure comes from altruism (Mill).

In none of these cases are specifics put forward; these are universal principles, applicable to any moral issues. It is the principles of the classical systems you examine which are to be the focus of your next project; only in the third project should you concentrate on issues.

11.ii.08 Ethics

In Ethics, we have been moving back and forth between discussion of individual student topics for the descriptive ethics project, presenting major criteria of ethical consideration, and examining Plato's Socratic dialogues.

The basic sense I have of these lessons is that they are a bit disjointed, and I imagine that the student experience may be the same. One of the points I hoped to avoid in the course was the problem of students acting without a clear notion of what they were to do, and to know what to do in respect to ethics requires that one have some notion of

1. the nature of ethical problems, or what sorts of acts and ideas about acts are given moral weight (that is, what sorts of acts or ideas about acts may be construed as having to do with right and wrong, with good and evil)

2. the nature of ethical principles, or what sorts of fundamental ideas govern thinking about moral problems, and

3. the nature of ethical method, or what way one can or should approach either discovering principles or interpreting problems of the moral variety.

My greatest concern at this point in the course is to find a way to achieve a clear and complete presentation of each of the matters listed above. In the future, I must consider ways to present more basic information sooner in the course, so that we have a common vocabulary and common information about ethics within the first three or four weeks of the course.

For now, I think the best approach is to continue to move back and forth between the presentation of criteria and the presentation on Plato.

Last class session I spent some time talking about the difference between fact and value which is worth summarizing.
"Persons committed to Buddhism are to engage in right livelihood, which argues against, for example, work as a butcher, or as a soldier, or as a sex-worker": this is a factual statement. It asserts something about the values of Buddhism. A committed Buddhist will generally declare that sex-work, for example, does not lead to the ultimate goal of the end of suffering, and may indeed lead the sex-worker and others to increased suffering. This, again, is a factual statement about Buddhists, but it points to ethical principles, which are values.

However, so long as the statement is about Buddhists or Buddhism, it is not a value-assertion, but a fact-assertion.

If I were to say "Sex-work is wrong because it may lead to suffering," I make a value-assertion. I am no longer proposing something which can be assessed both logically and empirically, that is, both by the rules of thought and the evidence of the senses.

In making a statement about Buddhists, I say something which can be tested by the senses: I can watch what Buddhists do, I can read what Buddhists write, I can hear what Buddhists say. I can judge by my senses whether what I learn about Buddhists has logical consistency and coherence. If it has, I can accept it as being logically valid and factually correct.

But I can only assess the logical validity of the statement "sex-work is wrong because it may lead to suffering". I might be able to judge whether I myself suffer because of sex-work, and I might extrapolate that this makes sex-work wrong -- but I cannot assess this conclusion as a fact: it would be value.

This is one of the important points made in Plato's dialogue "Euthyphro": it is on points of value that the gods differ, not on matters of fact. Therefore, on the very point to which one might wish to appeal to the gods for counsel -- moral problems -- the gods differ, and therefore if the gods define morality one is certain to give offense at some level.