homework due Wednesday, 9/8/10

1. Read through the course syllabus. I'll send it to you by email.

2. Read the Humanities Department policies under "Other Resources" at http://www.walnuthillfaculty.org/Humanities.

3. Take a video of thirty seconds or less and attempt to send it to me at sdurning@walnuthillarts.org. The point is to give a test-run of the technology involved, not to make an excellent video. Making an excellent video will come later. If this part of the homework takes more than forty-five minutes, stop and try again tomorrow.

4. Read the following poem and then write a three to seven sentence description of it. Then

a) save the description in a safe place on your computer.

b) send a copy of the description to me at sdurning@walnuthillarts.org.

We'll eventually be writing descriptions of some forty-five poems. When you've written a page's worth, print out that page so you'll have it saved in two places--in the computer and on a printed piece of paper.

Write your name and the name of the poem at the top of your description and double space your description. Please proofread it. Do your best, but don't be anxious; we'll learn from each other as we go along how to write good descriptions. For now, just go for it, describing the poem in whatever way seems best to you.

If you want to get ahead on your homework, you may go ahead and work on a description of the second poem as well--that description will be due Thursday. Here is poem one:

1. Hymn to the Sun

The fearful night sinks

Trembling into the depth

Before your lightning eye

And the rapid arrows

From your fiery quiver.

With sparking blows of light

You tear her cloak

The black cloak lined with fire

And studded with gleaming stars—

With sparking blows of light

You tear the black cloak.

Fang people (Gabon)

If you want to get ahead:

2. Song for the Sun Disappeared Behind the Rainclouds

The fire darkens, the world turns black.

The flame extinguishes, misfortune upon us.

God sets out in search of the sun.

The rainbow sparkles in his hand,

The bow of the divine hunter.

He has heard the lamentations of his children.

He walks along the milky way, he collects the stars.

With quick arms he piles them into a basket

Piles them up with quick arms

Like a woman who collects lizards

And piles them into her pot, piles them

Until the pot overflows with lizards

Until the basket overflows with light.

Hottentot people (South Africa)