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I’m publishing a book!

Coyote Canyon Press is publishing a book of Robert Frost’s early poetry, for which I did the editing, selected the poems, and wrote explanatory notes. The idea was a simple one: gather up the poems from Frost’s first three volumes and write notes for the poems that needed some sort of explanation. The title of the book is SELECTED EARLY POEMS. This is a first publication credit for me, with my name on the front cover, and I’m still not even sure how to contain my disbelief and excitement over this.

Here’s a brief overview of the book: In 1913, Robert Frost published A BOY’S WILL, his first collection of poems, a series of sharply rendered scenes of New England rural life. A second volume, NORTH OF BOSTON, followed in 1914 and contained some of Frost’s most brilliant and best-loved works: “Mending Wall,” “After Apple-Picking,” “The Death of the Hired Man,” “Home Burial,” and “Birches.” In 1916 Frost followed up these two volumes with MOUNTAIN INTERVAL, which included many of his most moving poems: “An Old Man’s Winter Night,” “The Hill Wife,” and “The Road Not Taken.” The book I edited for Coyote Canyon Press republishes all three of Frost’s first collections originally published in the United States by Henry Holt and Company, New York. My explanatory notes reveal Frost’s complex relation to modern and classical poetic traditions, his knowledge of science and philosophy, and his tremendous ear for the rhythms of English, which enabled him to write the finest blank verse since Milton.

The book should be available through Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble in about two weeks. I’ll provide links when the book hits the stores.

Great Gatsby Project

My students had to draw a creative map of the places in THE GREAT GATSBY. I gave them a worksheet with a list of what needed to be on their maps, and then told them to be creative. To my delight, many of them were. Here are some of the results.

The Voice of Sandy Ibos

This little video my journalism students shot in 2004 contains the voice of Sandy Ibos coming over the loud speaker. Sandy loved to make after-school announcements. It was something she looked forward to.

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The Great Gatsby Chapter One

The Great Gatsby is possibly the most popular book American students will read during their entire high school career. I remember reading a survey in a newspaper a few years ago when about a thousand people were asked to list their favorite books from high school. The Great Gatsby was ranked number one, followed closely by Romeo and Juliet. I’ve even done my own informal poll and discovered basically the same thing: many adults will tell you that The Great Gatsby is their favorite novel, or at least the one they remember most from their high school days.

STUDY QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER ONE

The following questions are for homework and must be answered by tomorrow.

1. Explain what Fitzgerald achieved by using Nick’s point of view to tell Gatsby’s story?
2. What do we learn about Nick Carraway in the introductory section of the novel?
3. In discussing east Egg and West Egg. Nick states: “To the wingless a more arresting phenomenon is their dissimilarity in every particular except shape and size.” Indicate what the “dissimilarities” might be.
4. Compare the homes of Nick, Gatsby, and the Buchanan’s. How does each home reflect the personality of its owner?
5. Fitzgerald’s description of Tom, Daisy, and Jordan creates not only and impression of physical appearance, but also contains added information. What do you learn about their history and interests, and from their gestures and mannerisms?
6. When Nick leaves the Buchanan’s house, he is “confused and a little disgusted.” Why?
7. Though we do not meet Gatsby until Chapter 3, we hear references to him in the conversations of others. Note each reference. What impressions do you get?

Tomorrow we’ will a take a quiz on Chapter One and begin reading Chapter Two.