Due Tuesday after vacation, 2011

(Someone doesn't have her calendar out.)

Please read all of Hamlet and be prepared for a comprehension reading quiz over this material. To help guide your notes, pay attention to:

- moments of internal conflict/inaction
- moments when Hamlet is bothered by something appearing to be something it is not.
- moments when there is a conflict between reason and emotion.

Be preprared to turn in your complete short story notes.

Have a great break!

Due Monday, 12/13

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 Thursday, 12/8

Please write a 2 page minimum (typed, 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 but please write in formal voice. You may wish to include an analysis of:

Camera Shots
Camera Angles
Lighting
Mis-en-scene
Movement
Sound
Editing

Due Wednesday, Dec. 1

"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?

And, of course, GREGOR is due on Friday, Dec. 3rd:

5 meaningful adjectives
3 significant quotations from the story
1 picture of symbolic importance
1 poem (minimum of 5 lines) honoring Gregor's spirit
1 philosophical, thought provoking question for us to ponder.

Due Tuesday, 11/16

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, analyze different examples of when characters feel dissatisfied and consider how these feelings contribute to the meaning of the work as a whole.

Your College Essay will be due on Thursday. Here is the formal assignment information:

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. Here are the document guidelines we discussed in class.

Due 11/5

"Living like weasels" and "Battle of the ants"

The link for the calendar should now be operational.

Due 11/3

Be prepared to discuss Swift's use of rhetorical devices in A Modest Proposal.

Due 11/1

Nothing.

Really.

This is not a typo.

However, some of you owe me make-up work.

Enjoy your first AP English free weekend.

Due 10/28

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.

Additionally, please include a short paragraph that analyzes your poem by explaining the effect that the literary devices you used has on the interpretation. Enjoy referring to yourself in the third person.

Due 10/26

THE BEAST!!!!!!

(and your poetry glossary) Here is a good list of terms that you might want to have for your glossary)

Due 10/20

Please read these poems in preparation for our discussion tomorrow:

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

Due 10/18

Prospectus Part II

Assorted poems:


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

Also,

If you didn't receive a copy of the poem for your second out of class essay, here it is:

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 10/12

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..."

Due 10/7

Today is your first in-class essay, so as preparation, you might want to:

- Review terms on the poetry placemat
- Review key concepts of the Manifesto, specically information on Topic Sentences
- Review reading on Sound Devices

Here are the poems we looked at today in class, if you'd like copies for your own use.

Trochee trips from long to short;
From long to long in solemn sort
Slow Spondee stalks; strong foot yet ill able
Ever to come up with Dactylic trisyllable.
Iambics march from short to long-
With a leap and a bound the swift Anapests throng.

Sound and Sense

True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,
As those move easiest who have learned to dance.
'Tis not enough no harshness gives offense,
The sound must seem an echo to the sense:
Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows,
And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows;
But when loud surges lash the sounding shore,
The hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar;
When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw,
The line too labors, and the words move slow;
Not so, when swift Camilla scours the plain,
Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main.
Hear how Timotheus' varied lays surprise,
And bid alternate passions fall and rise!

Alexander Pope

Due 10/5

Poetry Prospectus 1

Reading on Rhythm and Meter and Sound Devices. Be prepared for a quiz on Rhythm and Meter.

Due 9/27

Continue working on poetry paper which is due on Wednesday.

Due 9/23

Rough draft of poetry paper. (See previous post if you do not have the poem for the paper)

Due 9/21

DiYanni Diction (436-444) and Voice (427-436) Due Tuesday, 9/21.

Hopefully, this link will provide you with some additional information about your poetry prospectus assignment which is due 10/5.


Rough Draft of 1st Poetry Paper will be due (9/23)


First poetry paper poem:

when serpents bargain for the right to squirm
and the sun strikes to gain a living wage-
when thorns regard their roses with alarm
and rainbows are insured against old age

when every thrush may sing no new moon in
if all screech-owls have not okayed his voice
-and any wave signs on the dotted line
or else an ocean is compelled to close

when the oak begs permission of the birch
to make an acorn-valleys accuse their
mountains of having altitude-and march
denounces april as a saboteur

then we'll believe in that incredible
unanimal mankind(and not until)

e.e. cummings

Due 9/17

Follow information on the Poetry Syllabus. Although you may not feel like actually starting to write a Prospectus, it may be a good idea to go "shopping" for some poems from your text book that you might be able to use for each Prospectus. Remember, they must be from the book, but not one that we or the book discuss in detail.

Due Wednesday 9/15

Read part one of the Manifesto

Read section on Figurative Language (451-456) and Imagery (444-450)

Scroll down on the right, and acknowledge the complete Poetry Unit Syllabus.

Due Monday 9/13

Here is a bit more specific of a prompt than I said in class:

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 or other people.

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.

Cat's Cradle Reading AND Final Essay Assignment

Due 5/24: Chapters 1-37
Due 5/26: Chapters 38-79
Due 5/28: Chapters 80-End

Begin work on:

Final Essay Assignment Due June 8

Yes, I know the essay information says due June 2nd, but I really want them due on the June 8th, and don't feel like changing the document.

Due 5/20

Please write a 2 page analysis of the meaining of 2001, making specific references to scenes, ideas, quotations, etc. You may find this overlaps a bit with devices, but the primary focus shoudl be on advancing an interpretation(s) of the film.

Cat's Cradle Reading will be due on MONDAY! Please make sure you have read chapters 1-38 by then. Consider a book partnership with someone if you don't have your own copy.

Due 5/18

Please write a 2 page device analysis on 2001 focusing on a minimum of three film devices and the effect they have on either the reader or, if you have a sense of MOWAAW, connect it to a larger meaning of the work.

Open Ended Prompts

Here is a document with some open ended prompts to practice. It's a good idea to think about how you would answer these questions with specific plot details and to practice coming up with insights and causality statements for why the prompt topic is important.

On another note, I thought we had finally beaten the spammers until SOMEONE taunted them. Still working on it...

Due 4/14

Portrait Chapter 5 part 1 (end before "towards dawn he awoke")


End of the year Calendar and Review Sheet assignment information

(I don't know why google docs took the squares away from my calendar.)

Due 4/8

Portrait Chapter 3.

(Chapter 3 notes)

Due Tuesday, April 5th

Portrait Chapter 2 (chapter 2 notes.)

Due 4/2

Portrait Chapter 1 Reading.

(Chapter 1 Notes)

Due the Monday after Break

Essay assignment over spring break:

Wuthering Heights Critical Essay Assignment

 You must find and read 2 critical essays written about Wuthering Heights. Your essays can come from the internet (please include the website address), a literary journal, the back of a copy the novel (if included) or the introduction to the novel if long enough.
 If you choose to use an essay from the internet, it must be from a reputable, academic source. This excludes essays from Sparknotes, Echeats, Purple monkey, Debbie’s Book Report Grade 8, etc.
 Then you must write a 2 page evaluation of each essay. Your evaluation should include a summary of the thesis/argument of the essay you read (use quotations to refer to this) as well as your personal opinion on the validity of these points. You will also want to make sure you support your opinion with quotations from WH.
 Pay special attention to the language used by the authors of the critical essay—this is a chance for you to experience the language of literary analysis and learn from it stylistically

Due 3/16

Wuthering Heights through Chapter 24.

Due March 6th

Wuthering Heights through Chapter 11.

Due 3/5

Chapters 1-8 of Wuthering Heights. If you did not purchase your book, the library has them available for checkout. Also, if your desperate, there is an annotated online copy available here.

Some hopefully useful background:

Wuthering Heights is told non-linearly, which means that it will make extensive use of flashbacks. The story is first narrated in the first person by a wealthy man named Lockwood, who is renting a house, Thrushcross Grange, from a man named Heathcliff, who also owns and lives at a house called Wuthering Heights (hereafter WH). We meet two younger people living at WH when Lockwood makes a journey there, who are children of people who have died—during your reading you should be able to figure out who they are related to. After a second visit to WH, Lockwood falls ill and must spend time convalescing, at which point he asks his housekeeper, Ellen (also called Nelly or Mrs. Dean) about the people currently living at WH since she used to work as a servant there. Nelly then begins a flashback towards the beginning of chapter 4 with her as the first person narrator which tells us the back story that resulted in odd set of circumstances that Lockwood witnesses at WH.

As you do your reading, make analytical note of:

-The use of symbolic environments—descriptions of houses and the outdoors
- Issues of class—manners, clothing, speak, appearance,
- Character identity—sense of self, characterization, etc.

Due Monday, March 1

Finish Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

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

Oedipus Chronology
Check out Carly's cool Doll House Chronology


If you create a chronology that you'd like me to attach, email it to me and I'll try to get it posted.

Due Monday, March 1

Finish Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Due Thursday, 2/25

Read Act I of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

Due 2/17

Death of a Salesman Act I

Due Friday, February 12

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. Consider internal conflicts, motivations, desires, psychoanalysis...

Make sure to use direct quotations from the text to support your ideas.

Due 2/10

Read Act I and pertaining background information for A Doll House.

Due 2/8

Finish reading Tartuffe.

Due Thursday, 2/4

Read Acts I and II of Tartuffe paying careful attention to satire. Before you read the play, please read the background information immediately preceding it on French Neoclassical theater. You may also want to make note any thematic parallels to the two other plays we have read so far.

Final Exam Information

Your final will consist of an objective fill in the blank section (Beast style) and a passage analysis essay. Here is a study guide for the objective portion:

Semester 1: Review Sheet

Note: Topics in bold are emphasized more on the test
 Poetry Terms
 Poetry Time Periods
 Names of Poets of major poems studied in this course (Think papers and discussions)
 Drama Terms
o aside, soliloquy, monologue, dramatic irony

 Greek Drama Terms, development of, and general knowledge
 Shakespearean Drama Terms and general knowledge
 Literary Criticism
o New Criticism
o Psychoanalytic Criticism
 Freud’s theories of development
 Short Story Titles
o Quote Identification
 Short Story Authors Short Story and Drama Characters
o Quote Identification
 Short Story Terms
o Point of View, (1st, 3rd lim, 3rd omnisc.) Direct/Indirect Characterization, Internal/External Conflict, foreshadowing,
 Existentialism
o Basic Principles and important Writers of…
 Sentence Structures