Writing Poetry

In-class activity: Look at  Vincent Van Gogh's painting "The Starry Night." Create a web or list of what you observe and notice, what you infer about the details, and connections and interpretations you have.

Look back at your notes, and write a poem.

A few suggestions on writing your own poetry:

• begin by listing or brainstorming possible topics; choose a topic or focus, and explore it through your words and imagination. Details and ideas to include:
• thoughts, feelings, and opinions
• memories
• connections
• questions
• fictional characters and events; poetry does not have to be true to your life
• specific details: sensory details, names of people and places, colors, allusions 
• although there are no real rules in poetry, words and line breaks should be intentional
• embrace complexity and mystery; writing poetry helps you explore and make discoveries
• let your writing be messy; write several drafts 
• have fun and be creative!

Homework: Choose a different work of visual or performance art, and write a poem based on it. Due tomorrow - in your notebook or typed.

Online Resources for Visual Art
1. The Metropolitan Museum of Art – over 300,000 works of art to view: http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/
2. Web Gallery – here you can search by artists from the last 500 years: http://www.wga.hu/index1.html
3. Artnet – great resource for modern art from all over the world: http://www.artnet.com/net/galleries/gallery_home.aspx
4. Brooklyn Museum: http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/collections/
5. Here is an in-depth look at American photographs from the last century. This is a good way to learn about important photographers: http://www.pbs.org/ktca/americanphotography/
6. Also, search by artists. Here are some suggestions: Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Matisse, Miro, Breughel, Andy Warhol, Diego Rivera...

Poetry on Visual Art
7. Here is a website with a list of poems on paintings and sculptures: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/tool.poem.cat.6.1.html?id=52
8. Here are some specific poems about art; read the poems and connect them to the works of art:
a. “Landscape of the Fall of Icarus” by William Carlos Williams: http://www.english.emory.edu/classes/paintings&poems/williams.html
b. Musee des Beaux Arts by W.H. Auden which is about the same painting as Williams’ poem: http://poetrypages.lemon8.nl/life/musee/museebeauxarts.htm