"The Power of Images" with Mr. Newsham

Today was our third in a series of five Poetry lessons with Master Poet Mr. Newsham. First we talked about how poetry is a "speaking picture". Then we read three powerful poems with strong imagery. Next students looked at five powerful art pieces from the Ventura County Art Collection. Finally students chose one to write a poem about, by giving the visual words that "speak".
Here is one of the poems we studied:

by Percy Shelley

I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;

And on the pedestal these words appear:

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Here is one of the four images the students had a choice to write on:

Students "working"

Student Poems:
The Image Lizy chose:

Lizzy U
The Flamingo Tree
By: Elizabeth U.

I came to a tree that I never thought I see
It was the most unusual thing
At first you think it’s a kite or a wind chime
But when you get up close,
You’ll see what it really is.
It is a tree made of flamingos
that forms a big kite,
with little kites to keep it company
in the dead of night.
Once you see this tree,
You will never forget it
It reminds you of a mask,
or a heart thumping loudly.
It forms a different image for every single person.
But whatever it reminds you of,
It always has on meaning.
It is meant to fill puzzle and mystery,
So everyone will think
this painting is their own.
Just like it is for me,
a flamingo tree.