Look in the Mythic Mirror

Week 4: That's a Classic...Composition

Essential Questions ]|[ Standards ]|[ Objectives for this Lesson ]|[ Instructional Plan ]|[ Assessment

OVERVIEW

This lesson introduces the concept of composition and structure in writing. Students will be able to understand how composition can influence the effect of a story on its audience. They will also compare composition and structure in literature to composition and structure in music.

OBJECTIVES FOR THIS LESSON

At the end of this week, students will be able to:

• Define composition and its dependence upon the author's perspective.
• Recognize composition and structure as tools the artist has in telling a story.
• Recognize contributions of various art forms in sustaining myths.
• Tell one or more versions of the story of a myth.

INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN

1. Assess students' understanding of the unit thus far by assigning a journal entry at the beginning of class.

Activities - Students:

• Draw the name of a myth out of a hat.
• In your journal, rewrite the story of that myth in your own words, reflecting upon the presentations of the prior week.
• At the end, write a summary paragraph about why the archetype represented in the story is still important today.

2. Begin the study of composition (form). Establish that we have thus far concentrated on the narrative of the myths and the cultural impact of their content. Assert that there is another aspect of myths – indeed of all the arts – that is also a cultural force: the form in which the myth is presented. (Remind students that they had a glimpse of this aspect when examining myths presented in art prints and in music.)
3. Use one myth as a way of beginning to explain composition and the relation of composition to both the artists' perspective and the audience's response. As an example, use Orpheus or another myth that is available in several forms: through prose, poetry, artwork, and/or music. Divide the class into their cooperative groups, providing each with a packet. In the packet, include a prose version of Orpheus (e.g., Bulfinch, Edith Hamilton), cut into strips. Their task is to reassemble the entire set of strips into a cohesive, understandable story.

Activities - Students:

• Take the strips out of the packet you've been given and lay them out on the table.
• Each group member should read a strip, then pass it to the left. Continue reading and passing until the entire group has read the strips.
• Determine which strip represents a beginning for the story, and which represents an end. Fill in the strips in between.
• There is no right or wrong.
• When you have completed your story, tape the strips together in order.
• When called upon, each group will be asked to read their story. Be prepared to read it and to discuss why the rationale behind your choices to put the story together in the way you did.

4. After all students have shared their versions of the Orpheus story, read aloud the version of the original version of the myth that was cut into strips. Elicit responses to questions that lead to the following conclusion: order and structure are not necessarily "set in stone." The way a story unfolds depends upon the perspective of the writer. How can this be possible? It is because a story is made up of parts, and many parts make the whole.
5. The peeling of an orange (or a 3D puzzle, or other object with parts making up the whole) works well to lead to the question, What is composition? Use this type of teacher-directed activity to demonstrate that a total entity (sentence, paragraph, essay, poem, story, painting, piece of music, etc.) emerges from the interrelationship of parts.

• The peel of the orange can be perceived as an aesthetic dimension that binds the total elements together with distinct color, shape, and texture.
• When the peeling is stripped away, the "logic" that produces the basic entity is revealed.
• The orange can be broken into segments and reassembled to draw an analogy to the way words bind together to produce a paragraph, paragraphs bind together to produce an essay, poem, etc.
• The segments can be divided into equal divisions to reflect subordination and emphasis, subordination and coordination.
• The orange pieces can be reassembled into an harmonious whole or used to reflect distortion and disharmony as compositional forces.

This demonstration can, in numerous ways, be used to instruct students in various aspects of the logical and rhetorical qualities of composition.

6. Focus students on classical patterns in composition, by introducing elements of patterns in music, composition in painting, and structure in poetry. Refer back to the orange [or other] analogy throughout this lesson, when considering the parts that make up the whole in all three genres. Be sure to maintain the focus on composition as a tool the artist has in telling the mythological story—thus controlling how the story of the myth is sustained and communicated.

7. Have the students think back to the Greek myth, Orpheus. Explain that opera was inspired by the Greeks. Many operas have been written about Greek myths. Lead students to an exploration of how mythological stories are expressed through the medium of music.

8. Play Gluck's "Dance of the Blessed Spirit" from Orpheus and Eurydice. Begin with simplistic questions, such as: What does the story of Orpheus tell us about the Ancient Greeks' attitudes towards music? and What part of the story do you think we are listening to? In their journals, have students respond to at least three of the questions provided in this unit while listening to the music.

CORRESPONDING ASSESSMENTS

• Journal: telling of mythological story in own words
• Cooperative learning group: collaborative work on structure of a myth
• Discussion: comparisons of various versions of the myth
• Journal: responses to music

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