Literature Club Members Only Activity/Lecture Thread

Synopsis:
Colin never stops talking when it comes to the term 'magic'. It's not just him; Audrey was feeling the same way, too. Sometimes, she'd wished that she was a Muggle, and thus she doesn't need to worry about the negative consequences of being a Half-blood. Danger lurked her veins as she started seeing things that she didn't meant to see. Hospitals. Deaths. Horror. Betrayal. All in one year.

Ever since Colin discovered that magic exists, he, as an innocent Muggle, pleaded Audrey to send him to Hogwarts, in any way possible. Fights occurred. Arguments started. But yet she could not forget, the very day that Colin, her best childhood friend, betrayed her...

Blurb:
A new, undiscovered adventure that Audrey will face, each getting more dangerous than ever.

Everyone thought this was going to be a normal, boring school day. A day like all others. It seemed to go by like normal. Dangers though usually lurk in the shadows.

A strange sound echoes through the halls of the school. A sound all students can hear. A strange, disembodied voice calling that they are coming back. For vengeance. No one knows what it is about. What has happened or to whom the voice belongs. But they are scared. Very scared. The day is not a usual one after all…

Adding insult to injury, the lights go out. The blinds fall down, taped to the ground. There is no way for anyone to get out. Expect from the only emergency exit still open. But where is it really? And how might the kids escape, preferably alive?

A thrilling novel for anyone to enjoy and how strangers can unite in the face of a common threat.

ASSIGNMENT IS NOW CLOSED!

@Eryn Bailey @Ronan Ward @Ruby Night @Cass Ito @Della Barfield @Giselle Lam @Elizabeth Stonewall @Audrey Gallant @Brookline Quinn @Ayumi Faeri @Danielle Alden @Elena Clark @Zoe Lee @Colin McCoire @Tracey Bailey @Eugenia Karageorgiadi
Hi all! The activity – “Don’t Judge a Book By its Cover!” – Is now closed. Well done to those who have submitted their work! A short task that might not be as exciting as the others but every little detail counts in making your stories shine!
For those who hadn’t had the chance to submit theirs, don’t fret! Just remember all we’ve talked about and keep what you’ve learnt for next time!
Stay tuned, for the next activity will be released shortly!

ASSIGNMENT IS NOW OPEN!

SHAPING A POEM

This week is all about becoming professional poets! With some of the practice we’ve been doing over the last few weeks, now’s the time to shine! This week's activity was heavily inspired by one of the lectures in my Creative Writing module for my degree. Much of the lecture notes below are from the powerpoint presentation that day with some notes of my own added as well

LECTURE:

Unhelpful things poets say about writing poetry:
“True ease in writing comes from art, not
chance,
As those move easiest who have learn’d to
dance”
Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
“If poetry comes not as naturally as the leaves to a tree it
had better not come at all.”
John Keats (1795-1821)

Shaping a poem: Using the lessons of good prose
Poetry is not written in its own special flowery, heightened or emotional language. It’s written in the ordinary language we all use to communicate.
• Careful attention to language
• Economy (how many words you use each stanza)
• Show don’t tell
• Avoidance of cliché
As Ezra Pound put it in A Few Don’ts by an Imagiste (1918):
• Use no superfluous word, no adjective which does not reveal something (Dragging out your lines and words only makes your writing complicated to read.)
• Don’t use such an expression as “dim lands of peace”. It dulls the image. It mixes an abstraction with the concrete. It comes from the writer’s not realizing that the natural object is always the adequate symbol.
• Go in fear of abstractions. Do not retell in mediocre verse what has already been done in good prose - Refer to week 2 for info on abstractions
• Don’t allow “influence” to mean merely that you mop up the particular decorative vocabulary of some one or two poets whom you happen to admire (In other words, don’t use words unless you know what they mean and actually add depth to your writing, not just because famous poets have used them themselves – their contexts will be different from yours.)

Terminology in Poetry:
Enjambment: the running over of a sentence or a phrase from one poetic line to the next.
• End-stopped: where the phrase or sentence corresponds to the line’s length, so the sense and line end at the same time. The opposite of enjambment.
• Stanzas: a group of lines within a poem, separated from the other lines by space. A bit like a paragraph.
• Metre: organised rhythm. The naturally-occurring sounds of words organised into a regular pattern.
• Beats: the sounds in a line we emphasize or stress when reading it or saying it. Pentametre = five stresses etc.

Back in Week 1 – I noticed some of yous loved to rhyme at the end of your lines and stanzas…
RHYMING:
•End rhyme: the most common type, is the rhyming of the final syllables of a line.
•Slant rhyme (or half rhyme, near rhyme, imperfect rhyme, consonance) is rhyme in which the stressed syllables of ending consonants match, but the vowel sounds don’t match: ‘shape’/’keep’, ‘moon’/’run’, ‘hold’/’bald’.
•Internal rhyme: is rhyme within a single line of verse, when a word from the middle of a line is rhymed with a word at the end of the line = “Shine on with the little life of mine.”
HOWEVER - The most important thing to bear in mind is do not rhyme for the sake of rhyming!!!
Rhyme should only be used it if adds something to the poem.
(ie. don’t rhyme like this:
Today I saw a little worm,
Wriggling on his belly.
Perhaps he’d like to come inside
And see what’s on the telly.
Spike Milligan
The example above is children’s poetry – rhyming isn’t what necessarily drives a poem. Poetry is all about conveying a message or an image. Rhymes should never be forced.

The task? Write a short poem! Remember the importance of concrete imagery and consider the lessons learned in today’s lecture.

CRITERIA:
- Max. Word Count = 300 words.
- No more than 10 lines.

MY EXAMPLE:

Cascade

The rule of three, in the palms of my hands,

One at a time the spheres of my talent fly up in the air,

A reflection of my proudest self, my guaranteed success.

Drawn into columns upright to my arms, circling in a three-coloured rainbow,

Before landing back and flowing as stones in the stream of my act.

No claps nor cheers overpower the voice of my joy as I engage in the mess of tricks I execute.

Streetwise in the arts of throwing and catching things endlessly like a broken record.

Anywhere is my stage so long as my magic hands continue to cast my glorious purpose.

Locked in a cycle almost impossible to teach, one that will never start,

Not unless you grasp the spell of the cascade.

Things to notice about my poem;
- No rhymes - The poem itself is freeform and irregular, meaning to represent what it says in the title and the imagery of a flowing river. Breaks are meant to portray confidence and knowledge and end-stops represent the ends of "tricks."
- References to juggling tricks and their names - always write from what you know and from your experiences
- Only one cliché (let's see if yous can find it!) - fewer clichés gives your own writing a more independent identity - too many clichés means it becomes similar to something else.
Make your writing your own! Your poem, your rules. Make sure to give it the impact you're wanting to show!

OOC Note: Another fun fact? This is an old piece I wrote for an exercise I had to do for my Creative Writing class! Reviews from my classmates seemed mostly positive, so I hope this helps yous when you go to write your own!

@Eryn Bailey @Ronan Ward @Ruby Night @Cass Ito @Della Barfield @Giselle Lam @Elizabeth Stonewall @Audrey Gallant @Brookline Quinn @Ayumi Faeri @Danielle Alden @Elena Clark @Zoe Lee @Colin McCoire @Tracey Bailey @Eugenia Karageorgiadi

DEADLINE = 18/07/2024 - 11pm UTC/GMT

Jolly Ride

There once was a ship that was hooked to sea
And the name of this wretch was Wellington, indeed
We once caught all the ships to see
Whether they are worthy

Soon may the salesmen come
To bring us maté and fish and rum
One day when the bribery's done
We'll find our way and leave

OOC note: This short poem was inspired by the song 'Wellerman', it's somehow appealing

Am I the only one who hears?

The room dark and damp
When will the breakout start?
I’m locked inside for hours
To ponder on my losses

The days of the trenches
Those days are over
Where is the innocence
We used to have as kids?

The pleads of help
Can only be heard, it seems, from me.

Ok, lets give this whirl!

Let Me Come Near

The silent calls begs me to come near
When can I come closer?
This seems like the darkness

Will I ever come near?
Closer, closer, it begs me
Nearer, nearer, it calls me
Let me come near!

Let me come near the silent calls
Let me be closer, and find out what it needs
Why won’t you let me come near?

sorry I'm a little late to the club party and I've missed so many wonderful prompts!

a famous poet stands on the stage and
they sing a song of layered textures and
for a moment I am moved to
leave my brain behind
dump all my neurons on the ground—shake out the last few stranglers—
I think I would float but
in the last verse
I am tied to my seat
and with their last breath and a round of applause
reality grabs my ankles

ASSIGNMENT IS NOW CLOSED!

@Eryn Bailey @Ronan Ward @Ruby Night @Cass Ito @Della Barfield @Giselle Lam @Elizabeth Stonewall @Audrey Gallant @Brookline Quinn @Ayumi Faeri @Danielle Alden @Elena Clark @Zoe Lee @Colin McCoire @Tracey Bailey @Eugenia Karageorgiadi
Hi all! The activity – “Shaping a Poem” – Is now closed. Your poems were all fabulous! It’s taking that little step further in detail and structure that makes poetry exceptional, so keep writing and yous all might become the next Seamus Heaney!
For those who hadn’t had the chance to submit theirs, don’t fret! Just remember all we’ve talked about and keep what you’ve learnt for next time!
Stay tuned! I'm a little bit behind on the next activity so bare with me until I can get it uploaded!