Students are given a poem cold and asked to begin an analysis. Over the next 8 months students return periodically to the poem to reflect on the reading process and their understanding of the poem. In the end, students offer tips to other students.
The Fly
by Charles Simic
He was writing the History of Optimism
In Time of Madness. It was raining. One of the local butcher's largest Carrion fanciers kept pestering him.
There was a cat too watching the fly,
And a gouty-footed old woman
In a dirty bathrobe and frayed slippers
Bringing in a cup of pale tea.
With many sighs and long pauses
He found a bit of blue sky
on the day of the Massacre of the Innocents.
He found a couple of lovers,
A meadow strewn with yellow flowers ...
But he couldn't go on . . . O blue-winged, shivering one,
he whispered.
Some days it's like using a white cane
And seeing mostly shadows
As one gropes for the words that come next!
