A link to the scenes from the film, to be watched in class.

After reading Roger Ebert’s 1972 film review of the re-release, watch the followng scenes from Charllie Chaplin’s iconic 1936 American film Modern Times (to watch, click on the image to the left).

While watching, take notes on a blank sheet of paper. How does the main character interact with “the machine”?

Finally, when done watching, write a poem that answers this question: How do machines effect [our] lives? Use the imagery of the film as a basis for your poem.

The criterea for your poem, which is due Tuesday, 10/4, is as follows. The poem should:

contain sensory images (descriptions the reader can see/hear/feel/taste/smell)
use connotative language (words that have a feeling that matches your tone—and similar to what you want your reader to feel)
show distillation of language (get rid of small words that add little, i.e.: articles, conjunctions, pronouns)
be at least 20 lines long, but shorter than one page (each line must be at LEAST 8 words each)

These are to be typed and stapled to your notes on Modern Times, to be collected Tuesday 10/8.