Due Thursday

Please do a dual turn in of your poetry essay. Submit an electronic copy through Turnitin, and hand in a paper copy to be graded. THE PAPER COPY WILL DETERMINE IF THE PAPER IS CONSIDERED ON TIME, so make sure you have a back up in case your printer decides to hate on you.

Due Monday

Please complete your reading on Rhythm and Meter (480-492). We will be having a quiz on Monday over the specific terms associated with a study of Rhythm and Meter. Many of these terms will come from the notes we took in class. HOWEVER, there are several terms that are only presented to you in your reading. If you encounter a technical term associated with Rhythm and Meter while during your reading, learn it! Again, you will need to use whatever study technique works for you to learn all of these terms.

Also, you should really be making progress on your essay this weekend. Do not save it for Wednesday night.

For Thursday

Please read or review the information on quotation incorporation as you begin working on your paper. Please note that the styles of incorporation at the bottom of the page are considered more mature sounding than those on the top. Therefore, you should make it a goal to become comfortable with those methods.

You should also be progressing on your poetry essay. Make it a MINIMUM goal to have thought about the poem, developed an initial thesis, and begun gathering your quotations for evidence by Thursday. You will want to know what you are having troubles with before this weekend so you can ask me questions.

Due Tuesday

Please have completed your reading on the sections on Symbolism and Allegory (547-464) and Syntax (465-472). Make sure you are able to articulate the difference between symbolism and allegory. Your book does a good job discussion general effects of syntax, and we will do note taking on additional varieties of syntax in class.

Please make sure that you are keeping your long term assignments in mind and making progress towards their completion.

Due Monday and Beyond

Due Monday:

Have your "Manifesto" packet reading completed.

Begin thinking about your first poetry essay on the Cummings poem. Come to class with any questions.

Begin planning for your poetry prospectus assignment. Come to class with any questions.

Due Friday, October 1st:

Your first poetry essay on the poem "When Serpents Bargain for the Right to Squirm" is due. Obviously this is a take home essay, so DO NOT consult online resources for this poem. You need to develop your independent thinking brain. This will be a standard 5 paragraph essay following the analytical format given and modeled for you in the Manifesto. You will be typing this essay and submitted it both online and on paper.

Due Monday, October 12th:

You will be turning in 4 poetry prospectuses that follow the format available here. Each poetry prospectus will be based on a poem of your choice from your anthology. Please do not choose poems that the book explains or that we have analyzed in class. Your poem selections should be unique to you, so please do not choose the same poems as your bff. Please pace yourself so that you complete one prospectus per week. This assignment is quite reasonable if you do work along the way. It will feel ridiculous if you try to complete it the night before it's due. These will be submitted online, so please type them. (Let me know if this will be a problem).

Due Thursday

Complete the reading on diction in your book (pages 436-444).

Carefully read the packet entitled "Thesis Generation". This packet was designed to be especially helpful for you, so please give it the attention that it's due.

Using the information in that packet, come to class with a complex thesis statement written on the poem "The Battle".

Due Tuesday

Make sure you have read the handout "The Happy Synergy of Interpretation and Analysis".

Please create a chart similar to the one at the bottom of the last page for the poem, "The Battle" on page 456 from your reading over the weekend. Your chart should include 3 examples of figurative language (not imagery) and own your thoughts in the "what" "where" and "how" columns.

(For my example on the chart in the packet I actually provided two examples of personification which would count as two of your three examples. I was just trying to save space. You can do two of the same device, but try not to do three of the same device.)

Your assignment should be completed in your notes.

Due Monday

Read "Imagery" (444-451) and "Figures of Speech" ((451-457) in your AP English book. There will be an "accountability activity" on the literary devices introduced in this section. You should find around 15 literary devices and you should use whatever technique (flashcards, quizlet, flippy charts, Cornell notes) you need to learn them. When reading the poems in the section, you should be looking for examples of those devices and considering their effects on the poem. Most poems are followed by some good thinking questions. The "accountability activity" will be focused on the definitions of the terms, not information about the poems.

Due Thursday 9/10: Syllabus Signature and Poem Pretest

Write an analysis of the following poem. You may wish to consider such things as structure, diction, figurative language, and imagery. DO NOT CONSULT ONLINE RESOURCES! Please submit your assignment online through Turnitin.com. This assignment is graded on completion, so please don't worry and just show me what you can do. This entire assignment (thinking and writing) should take 40 minutes. Stop where you are when that time has elapsed, even if it is in the middle of a sentence.

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.

* heal-all: a flower that is normally blue

Robert Frost


A copy of the course syllabus is available here if you need it.