Anne Doelman
  • Blog: Joy of Elevated Thought
  • About Me
    • Digital Portfolio
    • Influences

The Dark Sycamore Tree: To Teach or Not To Teach the Five Paragraph Essay

3/11/2012

0 Comments

 

The day is come when I again repose 
Here, under this dark sycamore, and view 
These plots of cottage-ground, these orchard-tufts, 
Which at this season, with their unripe fruits,
Are clad in one green hue, and lose themselves
'Mid groves and copses.

Picture

In the poem "Lines", Wordsworth is revisiting a place he had been five years before. In his opening description, he draws a picture while he is retracing his steps: the rolling rivers, the "lofty" cliffs, the cottages, the orchards and a "dark sycamore" tree where he takes a rest.

On my most recent read in getting ready for this blog, the "dark sycamore" jumped out of the text. Is that a symbol of something? I thought. I am missing some obvious cultural references? Like any good English teacher now living in the internet age, I did a google search to find out the following questions.  They are linked to my answers:
  • What does a sycamore tree look like?  (Leafs on. From underneath)
  • Is it native to England?  (Not strictly but grows everywhere.)
  • Is it the same tree as the one in the Bible story with Zachheus? (Yes but the one in the Bible is probably a fig tree)
  • What are other cultural references? (Lots of references but mostly after the poem was written: Sycamore Tree lyrics for Twin Peaks, The Tolpuddle Martyrs' tree, restorative justice program in New Zealand)

Read More
0 Comments

    About This Blog


    This blog began when I asked my Grade 10 students to blog for an English class in 2011.  I chose to focus on an exploration of Wordworth's poem "Lines above Tintern Abbey". 

     Why? I wrote a very bad essay about this poem in first year university and in my own way, I am trying to make amends with that failed attempt.

    Its evolving into a reflection on my adventures in education, motherhood, life and most recently as a student in  UBC's Optional- Residency MFA Creative Writing program and WRDSB's 1:1 Chromebook Pilot Project.

    Currently, I am teaching with the Waterloo Region District School Board in Ontario, Canada. Opinions are my own.

    Archives

    August 2015
    May 2014
    January 2014
    March 2012
    February 2012
    August 2011

    Categories

    All
    Body Image
    Ffp
    Jean Kilborne
    Media Literacy
    Spam
    Twitter
    Vma
    Wordsworth
    Writing
    Writing Process

    RSS Feed