We'll start today with time for journal entry number eight:
Journal entry 8: What did you discover about your poetic voice writing your cycle of poems? Does it feel natural to write short, compact poems? Or long, rambling prose-like lines? Or do you think it depends on the subject matter? Write paragraphs reflecting on what you value in poetry and how this relates to the draft poems you've been working on.
From here, we'll talk about Flannery O'Connor's most well-known story "A Good Man is Hard to Find." O'Connor was a devout Catholic from Georgia who grew up surrounding by Protestant culture. Critics describe her stories as Southern Gothic, a genre that uses grotesque and disturbing stories and characters to explore the social milieu of the American South. O'Connor's stories are filled with violence and brutal revelations for naive characters who discover, often too late, a modicum of grace. This story is her most well-known. There are many ways into this story. We could spend the whole class talking about its meaning, but we'll keep most of our attention on issues of craft.
The rest of the time will be work time on any outstanding assignments.
Homework due Tuesday, November 3rd
No specific homework. But you should be starting on revisions of your poems and stories.