Reading, Listening and Viewing to Think Lesson R8: Poetics

Elements of Poetry

View to Analyze 


Stayceyann Chin “Feminist or a Womanist”
(2007, approximately 3½ minutes)


It is best to watch the above film on a large screen.

Non-narrative Film


“Ruttmann Opus IV” (Walter Ruttmann, 1925)


“Charlot présente le Ballet Mécanique”
Ballet Mécanique is a 1924 avant-garde silent film by French artist Fernand Léger in collaboration with American filmmaker Dudley Murphy.


“21-87” (Dir. Arthur Lipsett, 1964)
This is an abstract succession of unrelated views of the passing crowd. A commentary on a machine-dominated society. (George Lucas sites this as a source for his conceptualization of “The Force” in his Star Wars films.)


“Meshes of the Afternoon” (Maya Deren, 1943)

Case Study: “Tomorrow Belongs to Me”

The sun on the meadow is summery warm.
The stag in the forest runs free.
But gather together to greet the storm.
Tomorrow belongs to me.
The branch of the linden is leafy and
Green,
The Rhine gives its gold to the sea.
But somewhere a glory awaits unseen.
Tomorrow belongs to me.
Now Fatherland, Fatherland, show us the sign
Your children have waited to see
The morning will come
When the world is mine
Tomorrow belongs to me
Tomorrow belongs to me
Tomorrow belongs to me
Tomorrow belongs to me


“Tomorrow Belongs to Me” (Cabaret, 1972)