Who did the snow dance?

So, in case you are wondering, here is what will be going on as far as assignments are concerned:

If we have school Thursday and Friday, we will be using those days to complete our Oedipus discussions. A-day will get their second day of Oedipus, and B-day will discuss Oedipus all in one day.

HOMEWORK OVER VACATION:

Your homework over vacation will be to read ALL of Hamlet. The first day back from break, we will have a comprhension quiz over the entire play. Then, in the remaining days before finals, we will discuss about one act of Hamlet each day. Here is a link to an online version of Hamlet, if you need it.

Please spread the word to those people who may not check the website regularly.

I do not know if the school will be moving finals until later, so I'm not sure what other adjustments we'll need to make.

I've been checking my school email, so please email me if you have any questions.

Due 12/8 or 12/9

Complete set of short story notes. Make sure to expand those that are on the skimpy side.

Also, you will need to review plots, character names, and important interpretive details of each story.

See previous posts for a complete list of short stories.

Due Tuesday 12/2 or 12/3

Read the following stories for 12/2-12/3:

"Araby" by James Joyce (65-69)
"A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (362-366)

Focus Topic:

Stories often focus on characters' reactions as they encounter something that is new and or unexplained to them. What are some instances in these stories where characters interact with something new and/or something they do not understand, and how do these interactions illuminate the overall meaning of the story?

NOTE: Your complete set of short story notes is due on Monday, 12/8(A) or Tuesday 12/9 (B). You will be turning in notes that address the focus topics posted online as well as any comments/additional information you added during class discussions. Many of you will need to expand your notes based on what I saw during the first checkpoint. Make sure notes on each story are clearly labeled and can be handed in. You should have notes for the following EIGHT stories:

Yellow Wallpaper
Young Goodman Brown
A Rose for Emily
The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber
Good Country People
Metamorphosis
Araby
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

Due 11/25 (A) Dec 1 (B)

You are writing a character analysis paper focusing on Charles Foster Kane. Again, it will be in formal voice, 2 pages, double-spaced, but no structure requirements. Consider discussing Kane's influences, motivations, desires, fears, relationships with others, etc. Do your best to use some quotations from the movie.

Due 11/21 or 11/24

Please write a 2 page (double-spaced) reflection paper on the use of a mimimum of 3 film techniques in Citizen Kane. Please describe the specific effect and analyze how its use contributes to the meaning of the film. There are no structural requirements for the paper.

Due Monday, November 17th

Gregor!

Due 11/13 or 11/14--Attention B-Day People...

You may want to use your day off to get started on this story...

Read "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka. Remember, this is a long story, so pace your reading accordingly.

Focus Topic: Often, the environment a character experiences has a significant impact on their sense of the world or even their own identity. Find instances in which Gregor's identity is influenced by his reactions to the changing environment around him and consider what this reveals about his character's development.

Due 11/10 or 11/12

Please read "Good Country People" by Flannery O'Connor.

Focus Idea for Notes: Characters sometimes go to unusual ends to create a sense of identity for themselves. Consider the various ways that Hulga seeks to define herself and create her self-identity.

Due 11/6 or 11/7

College Admission Essay Assignment:

Reading
“Rose for Emily” 56-62
“The Short Happy Life of Francis MacComber” 258-278

Focus Idea: Commonly in literature, characters feel dissatisfied with their current situation in life. For these two stories, write down examples of when different characters feel dissatisfied and consider how these feelings contribute to the meaning of the work as a whole.

Due 11/4 or 11/5

You will need to read the following stories AND take notes on the specified topics for each. Your notes should include page numbers and at times, some direct quotation from the text, as some thoughts about why this topic is important for the meaning of the story. Please have your notes for each story start on a SEPARATE sheet of paper. Your notes MAY be done in as a list.

"Young Goodman Brown" 93-102

Focus Idea: often times in stories, the impression characters have of other people or their behavior is shattered. Write down examples in the story of when Young Goodman Brown has his perceptions of other people destroyed. Make sure to include thoughts on why having this perception destroyed is important.

"Yellow Wallpaper" 153-164

Focus Idea: Frequently in literature, characters experience a loss of power. Write down examples from the story of how the female narrator lacks power. Make sure to include your thoughts on why her losing or lacking power is important to the meaning of the story.



Also, remember your college admissions essay assignment is due 11/6 or 11/7:

You must select a topic for either an admissions essay or a scholarship essay. Your prompt must allow for a topic that can produce an essay of at least 300-400 words. (Therefore, for many of you, short answer questions will not count.) Please do not include an essay that is significantly longer than 800 words.

If you need a prompt, go online to the Common Application site, or search for a possible scholarship topic.

You must retype the prompt at the top of the page. Then include the text of your essay and a word count. When you turn yours in, you can request comments if you're interested.

Due 10/29 or 11/3

Read the following essays:

"Cub wants to be a Pilot" (Twain)
"Once more to the Lake" (White)

Due 10/27 or 10/28

Finish reading Swift's "A Modest Proposal."

Then read Annie Dillard's "Living like Weasels" starting on page 1568.

Fun with POETRY! Original Poem Due Tues/Wed

Your original poem should be a minimum of 14 lines and explore a topic/form of your choice. You can choose to read them in class, but you are not required to do so.

Modern Poem Readings

Final Copy of Musee Paper Due 10/15-10/16

Also, some Modern Readings:

707 The Snake
769 First Fight, Then Fiddle
770 Constantly Risking Absurdity
800 My Son, my executioner
829 Digging

Victorian and Modern Readings

Ulysses 649
Channel Firing 672
Windhover 675
To an Athlete 677
Leda and the Swan 684
Sailing to Byzantium 685
Fire and Ice 695
Acquainted with the Night 699
Danse Russe 707
Ars Poetica 729
Ars Poetica 730
Anyone live in a… 733

Neoclassical and Romantic Readings Due 10/7-10/8

Poetry Prospectus Part 2 is now due on Monday, October 13 or Tuesday the 14th. Rejoice!

608 Description of Morning
609 Essay on Man
614 Clod and Pebble
619 Lines
624 She Walks…
626 Ode to the West Wind
628 When I have fears…
632 Grecian Urn

If you'd like to get started thinking about your second out of class essay, here is the poem that it will be based on:

Musee des Beaux Arts*

About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters; how well, they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;
How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
For the miraculous birth, there always must be
Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating
On a pond at the edge of the wood:
They never forgot
That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.
In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

W.H. Auden

*Museum of fine arts

Due 10/3 or 10/6

Please read and think about the following poems for next time:

Renaissance/Metaphysical Readings:

584- "One Day I wrote"
589- "Since there's no hope"
590- "Let me not...“
590- "My Mistress' eyes"
593-"The Canonization"
595- "The Flea"
596- "Death be not proud"
599- "To the Virgins"
601- "Easter Wings"
602- "When I consider"
605- "Dialogue between the Soul..."

10/1 or 10/2

Be prepared for you first in class essay. You will want to review all poetry devices on the placemat, and be sure you are familiar with all of the concepts of the "So you want to talk about..." notes.

Due 9/25-9/26

Make sure you have done your reading on Rhythm and Meter and Sound Devices. Rhythm and Meter (481-492); Sound (472-480)

Poetry Prospectus 1 Due today.

Due 9/23-9/24 "Serpents" Paper

Your first poetry paper is due today! All I need is the final copy, typed and double spaced.

Due 9/19 -9/22

Symbolism/Allegory Reading: (457-464)

Continue working on paper and poetry prospectus assignment.

Due 9/11-9/12

Part 2 of the Manifesto.

Also, you should begin your poetry prospectus assignment which will be due on 9/25-9/26. For more information on poetry prospectus', check explanation at the end of the tentative poetry syllabus available on the right.

Due 9/9-9/10

Reading: Part 1 of the Manifesto
Reading and Quiz: Figurative Language (451-456) and Imagery (444-450)

Make sure you have learned the literary terms for the quiz!

Due 9/5-9/8

Frost Diagnostic

Read and think about the poem "Design" by Robert Frost. Then, time between 40-50 minutes during which you will write as much as you can analyzing the poem. The prompt you are using for your essay is:

Explain how Frost uses literary devices such as figurative language, imagery, and structure to convey the meaning of the poem, "Design."

You may type the essay if you wish, but DO NOT consult outside sources.

THIS IS A COMPLETION POINTS ASSIGNMENT!!! As long as you produce a reasonable product in 40 minutes, you will receive full credit.

Text of Poem:

Design


I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,
On a white heal-all*, holding up a moth
Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth --
Assorted characters of death and blight
Mixed ready to begin the morning right,
Like the ingredients of a witches' broth --
A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth,
And dead wings carried like a paper kite.

What had that flower to do with being white,
The wayside blue and innocent heal-all?
What brought the kindred spider to that height,
Then steered the white moth thither in the night?
What but design of darkness to appall?--
If design govern in a thing so small.

* A type of flower that is typically blue, but in this case, white.

Due 5/21

Cat's Cradle Reading: Chapters 1-38.

Also, 2001 Reflection paper. Present and support an interpretation of the film. (2 pages, double spaced)

AP Test Studying

If you'd like the practice some open ended questions, here is an assortment. The recommended novels got a little squished, so you might just want to ignore them.

Due 4/14

Chapter 5 part 1. (Chapter 5 notes)

Due 4/10

Portrait Chapter 4 (Chapter 4 notes)

Due 4/8

Portrait Chapter 3. (Chapter 3 notes)

PAY FOR YOUR AP TESTS!

Due 4/4

Portrait Chapter 2. Click here for Chapter 2 notes.

Due 4/2

Portrait reading Chapter 1. Click here for notes on Chapter 1.

Due 3/31

Kenner Introduction reading.

Wuthering Heights Critical Essay assignment. (See Calendar for explanation)

Due 3/20

In-class essay on Wuthering Heights. Come prepared knowing specific plot details and the names of characters.

Due 3/14

Wuthering Heights Chapters 17-24

Due 3/10

Wuthering Heights Chapters 9-11.

Due 3/5

Wuthering Heights reading Chapters 1-8.

If you did not purchase your text, the are available for checkout in the library.

Due 3/3 Drama Test

Here is a guideline for studying:

Drama Test Study Guide


Works covered: Oedipus, Hamlet, Tartuffe, A Doll’s House, Death of a Salesman, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

 Authors of all of the plays
 All character names (correct spelling preferred—or at least close)

 Drama Terms
o aside, soliloquy, monologue, dramatic irony

 Greek Drama Terms, development of, and general knowledge
o Hubris, harmartia, peripeteia, epiphany, catharsis, stichomythia
o Aristotle and Aristotelian Unities (Time, location, plot)
o Thespis, Aeschylus, Sophocles

 Shakespearean Drama Terms and general knowledge
o Groundlings foil

Test format:

90 Questions (Mostly fill in the blank)

 20 True/False Questions
 5 even timeline questions for each play
 Quotations identification
 Term identification

Due 2/28

Finish reading Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

Due 2/26

Read Act I of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Remember, you will have to pick this book up from the library.

2/20

Finish Death of a Salesman.

Due 2/15

Read Act I of Death of a Salesman.

Due 2/13

Finish reading a Doll's House.

Then, choose from Nora, Helmer, Rank, Krogstand, or Kristine and write a 1 1/2 to 2 page character analysis.

Due 2/11

Read A Doll's House, Acts I and II.

(If you were absent on 2/7, you will need to make up a writing activity).

Due 2/7

Tartuffe Satire Reflection Paper

You will be writing a reflection paper on the use of satire in Tartuffe. Remember, a reflection paper does not require a specific essay structure, but still should be written in a formal, academic voice.

Consider and discuss some of the things that Moliere satirizes in Tartuffe. What does the author criticize during the course of the play? How does he create satire? What lets the audience know it is satire?

Your reflection paper should be 1 1/2 - 2 doubled spaced pages.

Due 2/5

Read Tartuffe which is in your big red book. Please read the background information included on pages 1059-1060.

You are completing the reading of the entire play to help get us caught up (at least a little caught up) from the snow days.

If you have forgotten your book, here is a link to a version online (although it's not as good as the one in your book.)

Due 1/3 Hamlet Comprehension Quiz

Your reading quiz will cover all of Hamlet.

We will be doing a discussion of Act I in class.