Paul Muldoon’s “Sleeve Notes” uses the form of a vinyl album’s sleeve notes (again, notes about the process of writing/recording the music–see the image of the Beatles’ sleeve notes posted in iLearn Resources) to focus on three different albums: Talking Heads’ True Stories (that was also the name of a movie), U2’s Joshua Tree and Nirvana’s Bleach.

In your second writing, I only ask you to focus on either the first section (Talking Heads) or the second section ( The Joshua Tree).

We will discuss the third one, Nirvana, in class to see what we can make of it together.

So in one *healthy* paragraph (6-10 sentences), analyze how you think Muldoon is using this note-like form to talk about things like identity and home or memory. How do the lines and the space around them make you feel? How do the longer lines vs. the shorter lines feel or seem to you? Think about what words end the line and why they might be important.

Ok, you will want to watch the Youtube videos of the Talking Heads or of U2 that I posted in our Resources. Also, you will want to look up things you perhaps, don’t know: Armagh, Armani, kef, Zippos, etc., to help you understand the materials in the poem.

You might want to also think about how these albums make the poet feel and what they make him remember or think about.

Be specific. Use lines/phrases from the section you choose as an example and a place to analyze from. In other words, don’t make generalizations.

Have fun with this! Think about this: while song lyrics are “pushed” along by the music that accompanies them, the poem’s language is pushed and shaped by the white space –or silence around them. Isn’t that cool to think about?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=616-QGQyx-I        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkJMMLcO4Fw        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkJMMLcO4Fw ActionsActions    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrJQIT66I5w