Outline

Introduction

Martha Collins: quick background

definition: villanelle

Discuss title

• What could this title mean?

Look out for tone, tone shift

Read poem

• What does everything think is the theme of the poem?
• Paraphrase poem stanza by stanza
  • Stanza 1: relationships are always the same from Hello to Goodbye
  • Stanza 2 - 4: descriptions of what occurs between Hello and Goodbye
  • Stanza 5: tone shift, time passes
  • Stanza 6: realization of life and death

Why does Collins place so much emphasis on repetition?

• Find examples of repetition
• discuss their literary purpose

Discuss the affect of "The Story We Know."

• theme, audience, purpose
• how has your interpretation of the title changed?

Compare "The Story We Know" with Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night." How does each villanelle deal with the concept of death?

Compare Collins's use of cataloguing in "The Story We Know" and "cut"