Afro Psalms

Presenter Information
Lesson Information
Pre-Lesson
Tele-Lesson
Post-Lesson
Standands & Assessment

Presenter Information

Presenter: Charles Fort

Email Address:

Presentation Date: February 16, 2005

Web site URL: http://mockingbird.creighton.edu/NCW/fort.htm

Meet Your Presenter:

Charles Fort holds The Distinguished Paul W. Reynolds and Clarice Kingston Reynolds Endowed Chair in Poetry, Professor of English, and Graduate Fellow at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Selected national awards:

  • The Best American Poetry
  • 2003The Best American Poetry 2000
  • The Best of the Prose Poem:
  • An International Journal
  • Poetry Society of America
  • Poetry Award 1990
  • Randall Jarrell Poetry Prize 1985

Selected Anthologies:

  • Making Arguments About Literature, Bedford/St. Martins
  • 2004 Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers, Bedford/St. Martins, 2003

Books:

  • Frankenstein Was A Negro
  • Prose Poems, Loganhouse Press 2002
  • The Town Clock Burning, St. Andrews Press, 1985
  • Darvil , Prose Poems, St. Andrews Press 1993
  • The Town Clock Burning , reprinted by Carnegie Mellon University Press, under the Classic Contemporary Series, 1991

Mr. Fort earned his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing: Poetry, from Bowling Green State University, 1977, and a B.A. in English from Siena Heights College, 1974.

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Lesson Information

Grade Level Audience
9-12
Curriculum Targets

Art

Social Studies

Research

Creative Writing

Lesson Description:

Afro Psalms is a relationship, bringing together the art of an early twentieth-century white illustrator with the sonnet redouble of a black poet.Grant Reynard (1887, 1968) was a Grand Island native whose works have appeared in classic magazines such as Ladies Home Journal, Harper Bazaar, and The Saturday Evening Post.

Through Reynard‚ keen observations and the honest words of Fort, students will be able to experience a connection to an incredible life and time in our history.Students will be exposed to some of Reynard paintings, record their own observations, listen to Charles Fort read his poetry, and write their own sonnets.

Afro Psalms will feature writings by Mr. Fort as he connects his African-American heritage to the paintings and drawings by Grant Reynard. All the images focus on the lives of Black Americans in the 1930s and '40s and are paired with verses that Fort was inspired to compose to accompany the artworks.

Lesson Objectives:

  • Students will explore the connection between the works of art and sonnets by identifying how and why the two are interrelated.
  • Students will discuss the struggle and strife of being a Black American in the 20th Century by expressing their feelings generated from the paintings and poems.
  • Students will organize their thoughts and expressions by creating a written list based on their observations of a chosen work of art.
  • Students will demonstrate their understanding of the poetry/painting connection by composing an original sonnet based on the prompts provided by the instructor.

Resources and Websites:

Art Exemplar: (Links for art pieces and/or artists are connected to MONA site)

Title: Thomasville, Georgia
Artist: Grant Reynard
Media: watercolor on paper
Date: no date

Title: The Jazz Singer
Artist: Grant Reynard
Media: Oil on panel
Date: 1926

Poem Exemplar:

Title: Afro Psalms
Author: Charles Fort
Form: Sonnet redouble
Date: 2003

Title: Stepping Out
Author: Charles Fort
Form: Jazz sonnet
Date: 2000

Vocabulary:

  • oil paint: Slow drying paint made when pigments are mixed with an oil, linseed oil being most traditional. The oil dries with a hard film, and the brightness of the colors is protected. Oil paints are usually opaque and traditionally used on canvas.
  • watercolor: Any paint that uses water as a medium. Paintings done with this medium are known as watercolors. When made opaque with white, watercolor is generally called gouache or bodycolor. Tempera is another exception. Watercolor is the American spelling. Watercolour is the British spelling.
  • sonnet: A lyric poem in a single stanza consisting of fourteen iambic pentameter lines linked by an intricate rhyme scheme. (The two basic sonnet types are the Italian or Petrarchan and the English or Shakespearean. This lesson will focus on the latter.)
  • sonnet redouble: a collection of sonnets where the last line of each sonnet is the first line of the next and the final line of the last sonnet is also the first line of the first one.

Sonnet Prompts:

  • Line 1. Write one line with a color in it (or two colors).
  • Line 2. Write something about a small town.
  • Line 3. Finish this sentence: I would rather be......
  • Line 4. Describe your friend as an animal.
  • Line 5.Write something about a season.
  • Line 6. Make a one-line statement about food you dislike.
  • Line 7. Finish a sentence that begins, I wish .....
  • Line 8. Write something about the weather.
  • Line 9. Make a one-line statement about a large city.
  • Line 10. Write something about a famous person.
  • Line 11. You are President; what is your next decision?
  • Line 12. Describe the type of music you like.
  • Line 13. Write something on: The last time I dreamed‚......
  • Line 14. Finish a sentence beginning with the words: Next year at this time‚ ......

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Pre-Lesson

Taught by classroom teacher prior to the webcast

  • Share background information with students on Grant Reynard and Charles Fort (see Resources/Websites section).
  • Present the chosen works of art to the students as featured in the art exemplar. Share the name of each piece as well as the medium that was used (see Vocabulary).
  • Instruct students to study both of the pieces, and write a list of images they see for each painting. Advise students to be very specific with their lists, writing exactly what they see, feel, hear, or imagine is imagining in the painting. They will bring these two lists with them to the webcast.
  • Give students the 14-line prompt sheet (see Sonnet Prompts ). Have them use the prompts provided to construct fourteen sentences that will become fourteen lines of a sonnet. Their thoughts and ideas may or may not be connected at this time.
  • Students need to be prepared to present their lists and poem and receive suggestions or comments from Dr. Fort on the day of the webcast.

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Tele-Lesson

1. Dr. Fort will read two poems from his collection entitled Afro Psalms as well as share his connection with the artwork that inspired the poems.He will also share why he chose these particular paintings, how the show came together, and how to write a sonnet and sonnet redoubles.

2. Students will take turns reading from their lists and/or sharing their poem with the other students in the webcast, as well as Dr. Fort, who may offer suggestions for improvement.

3. Dr. Fort will close by answering questions from the students.

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Post-Lesson

1. Students will use the experience and the suggestions from Dr. Fort to create an original sonnet based on the previous lists they created before the webcast, as well as any notes they took during the webcast.

2.The students final drafts will be sent to ESU10 (jstritt@esu10.org) to be posted on the website.

3. Students would benefit from visiting the Afro Psalms exhibit at the MONA, January 18 - February 20, 2005.

Extended Related Activities

Art/Writing Activity Ideas

  • Activity 1
    • Observe some more of Reynard‚Äôs work (on display at MONA from 1/18/05 - 2/20/05 and also on the MONA website).
    • List what you see, feel, and imagine happening in the paintings, and create an original sonnet based on these lists.
    • Post copies of the paintings around the room next to their sonnets, creating an ‚Äúart gallery‚Äù for other students to examine and enjoy.
  • Activity 2
    • Experiment with the two different sonnet forms (Italian and English) by writing the same thematic poem using the different methods, comparing and contrasting the sounds and flow of the words that are created in each.
  • Activity 3
    • Create an original piece of art inspired by a sonnet written by a famous poet.

Social Studies Ideas

 

Research Ideas

  • Activity 1
    • Research and read from some of the greatest sonneteers of all time, including Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, Keats, D. G. Rossetti, Meredith, Longfellow, Jones Very, and E. A. Robinson.

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Standards Connection

Assessment Options
  • Dr. Fort will give students suggestions and feedback on the effectiveness of their composition on the day of the webcast.
  • Students will create an original sonnet after the webcast based on their newly acquired knowledge of its composition.
Nebraska L.E.A.R.N.S. that apply to this lesson:

Nebraska Reading/Writing Standards:

  • 12.1.3 Students will identify and use characteristics to classify different types of text.
  • 12.1.4 Students will analyze literature to identify the stated or implied theme.
  • 12.2.2 Students will write compositions with focus, related ideas, and supporting details.
  • 12.2.4 Students will use multiple forms to write for different audiences and purposes.

National Visual Arts Standards:

  • Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures.
  • Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others.

Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines

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