HW

Don't forget to complete your 2 HW assignments over break.

Enjoy the holidays.

HW over break

Students received copies of The Importance of Being Earnest. Students are to read the play over break and return with their favorite aphorism. Also, don't forget the voice thread assignment.

Voice Thread

Students received the following assignment to complete over the holiday break.

Go to http://voicethread.com/#home
I have a link on my blog.

Click on Register

Follow the instructions

Click About
5 Ways To Comment and view the tutorials

Go to my VoiceThread at https://voicethread.com/?#u299072.b1602475.i8469770
I have a link on my blog.

Listen to my instructions and complete the assignment by January 3.

*let me know if you have any trouble viewing my assignment

Assignment requirements:
• Must record the assignment in one take
• Must use the drawing feature
• You are not to speak an essay-this assignment should reflect your initial thoughts upon reading a poem and prompt. They need not be perfectly organized. Reason through things out loud.

Here are the answers to the multiple choice sections students completed today. Those who were not in class can check their own work. Make note of which question types posed a problem for you and which section you did better on. Also, calculate your score. There would be 3 more sections, so you can guess what your overall score might be on the full exam.

Poetry Essay

Students completed the following assignment in class today:

2002B Poem “If I Could Tell You” (W. H. Auden)
Prompt: The following poem is a villanelle, a form having strict rules of rhyme, meter, and repetition. Read the poem carefully. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how the formal elements of the poem contribute to its meaning.


If I Could Tell You W.H. Auden


Time will say nothing but I told you so,
Time only knows the price we have to pay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.

If we should weep when clowns put on their show,
If we should stumble when musicians play,
Time will say nothing but I told you so.

There are no fortunes to be told, although,
Because I love you more than I can say,
If I could tell you I would let you know.

The winds must come from somewhere when they blow,
There must be reasons why the leaves decay;
Time will say nothing but I told you so.

Perhaps the roses really want to grow,
The vision seriously intends to stay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.

Suppose all the lions get up and go,
And all the brooks and soldiers run away;
Will Time say nothing but I told you so?
If I could tell you I would let you know.

Literary Terms

Today students took notes from the poster projects that they created. Students took the following quiz home:

Quiz-write the literary term below the example/definition
1. He had to use a fire distinguisher. Dad says the monster is just a pigment of my imagination.
_____________
2. "We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on the end. We shall fight in France. We shall fight on the seas and oceans. We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost shall be."

_____________
3. "Oh, Death, be not proud."

______________
4. "It's just a flesh wound."
(Black Knight, after having both of his arms cut off, in Monty Python and the Holy Grail)
______________________
5. The hero, the outcast, the scapegoat, the quest

_______________

6. Pre-owned for used or second-hand; enhanced interrogation for torture; wind for belch or fart; convenience fee for surcharge

__________________
7. A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody has read.

_________________
8. "Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good."
(Samuel Johnson)

________________
9. Definition-: the suggesting of a meaning by a word apart from the thing it explicitly names or describes

_______________


10. A dream or illusion had haunted Lincoln at times through the winter. On the evening of his election he had thrown himself on one of the haircloth sofas at home, just after the first telegrams of November 6 had told him he was elected President, and looking into a bureau mirror across the room he saw himself full length, but with two faces. It bothered him; he got up; the illusion vanished; but when he lay down again there in the glass again were two faces, one paler than the other. He got up again, mixed in the election excitement, forgot about it; but it came back, and haunted him. He told his wife about it; she worried too. A few days later he tried it once more and the illusion of the two faces again registered to his eyes. But that was the last; the ghost since then wouldn't come back, he told his wife, who said it was a sign he would be elected to a second term, and the death pallor of one face meant he wouldn't live through his second term.

_______________________

11. Definition-the literal meaning of a word, the dictionary meaning.

_________________

12. smiling or dancing flowers, angry or cruel winds, brooding mountains, moping owls, or happy larks

______________
13. a secondary character who contrasts with a major character and, in so doing, highlights various facets of the main character's personality.

___________________
14. "I look at this as being in the form of a house...and the students are the foundation, and the teachers are the walls, and the roof itself is the school. And we know that if you have a weak foundation, the walls and the roof can't be supported. Therefore, it crumbles."
________________________
15. Definition-A placing or being placed in nearness or contiguity, or side by side, often done in order to compare/contrast the two, to show similarities or ...

___________________
16. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears
__________________
17. The suits on Wall Street walked off with most of our savings
_____________________

Forms

Students have done a nice job teaching/explaining the English sonnet, Italian sonnet, and the Villanelle. Students were given the following project, which is due Tuesday 12/14:

You will be given a literary term to teach to the rest of the class. You will NOT, however, be presenting this term. You must create some type of poster/collage that contains the following:

Definition
Example
Reason for use-what could an author accomplish by using this device
Images representative of the device



Analogy
Anaphora
Aphorism
Apostrophe
Archetype
Cacophony
Caesura
Chiasmus
Connotation
Denotation
Doppelganger
Euphemism
Euphony
Foil
Juxtaposition
Malapropism
Metonymy
Paradox
Pathetic Fallacy
Portmanteau
Spoonerism
Synecdoche
Understatement

Have a nice weekend. We will begin studying the English sonnet on Monday.

Poetry forms/patterns

Students began working on the following assignment in class today:

Poetry
Form/Pattern
Group Assignment
20pts

Your assignment is to examine a specific form of poetry. You must provide a clear explanation for the rest of the class including examples. You have to teach this. You must decide on your approach (handouts, PowerPoint, poster, etc.). You must also turn in a completed lesson plan prior to your lesson, and write an original poem in the form you are teaching.


You must provide a poem for class discussion. Your group will lead the discussion of the poem. This includes asking questions that guide the class discussion. Be prepared with specific discussion questions. You are the expert on the poem, but you must teach it, not explain it. Your goal is to analyze the poem and how the form impacts the meaning of the poem. Your classmates will decide if you are effective. All students must participate in the discussion. It is your job to see to this.

Forms:
• English Sonnet
• Italian Sonnet
• Villanelle
• Ballad
• Ode
• Sestina

Happy Thanksgiving

Only period 3 met today, but we had a very interesting discussion on the poems from the essay prompt.

Have a great holiday!

Essay

Students completed the following essay in class today:

(Suggested time - 40 minutes)
The following two poems present views on euthanasia. Read the poems carefully. Then write an essay in which you compare and contrast the two poems, analyzing how each poet uses literary devices to make his point.

*Euthanasia-the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals (as persons or domestic animals) in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy.


To the Mercy Killers

If ever mercy move you murder me,

I pray you, kindly killers, let me live.

Never conspire with death to set me free,

but let me know such life as pain can give..

Even though I be a clot, an aching clench,

a stub, a stump, a butt, a scab, a knob,

a screaming pain, a putrefying stench,

still let me live, so long as life shall throb.

Even though I turn such traitor to myself

as beg to die, do not accomplice me.

Even though I seem no human, mute shelf

of glucose, bottled blood, machinery

to swell the lung and pump the heart–even so,

do not put out my life. Let me still glow.

Dudley Randall (b. 1914)



HOW ANNANDALE WENT OUT
"They called it Annandale--and I was there
To flourish, to find words, and to attend:
Liar, physician, hypocrite, and friend,
I watched him; and the sight was not so fair
As one or two that I have seen elsewhere:
An apparatus not for me to mend--
A wreck, with hell between him and the end,
Remained of Annandale; and I was there.

"I knew the ruin as I knew the man;
So put the two together, if you can,
Remembering the worst you know of me.
Now view yourself as I was, on the spot--
With a slight kind of engine. Do you see?
Like this. . . You wouldn't hang me? I thought not."
--E. A. Robinson

Today students completed the pre-writing stage for the 2005 poetry essay. Students then discussed their approach in groups and transitioned to a class discussion. The poems were Blake's "The Chimney Sweeper" and Blake's "The Chimney Sweeper".

Field Trip

Students were given permission slips for a field trip to Medieval Times. The trip is on 12/3, but the permission slip, with payment, must be returned by Monday 11/22.

The cost is $34. Checks should be made payable to High Point Regional High School.

All students should check their email. I have attached a copy of the permission slip if you were not in class or lost it.

Click the link provided to check out the experience of Medieval Times.

Today the students were given the following poems for analysis:

We Real Cool

THE POOL PLAYERS.
SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL.

We real cool. We
Left school. We

Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We
Die soon.

Gwendolyn Brooks


Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Robert Frost

Had I the Choice

Had I the choice to tally greatest bards,
To limn their portraits, stately, beautiful, and emulate at will,
Homer with all his wars and warriors--Hector, Achilles, Ajax,
Or Shakespeare's woe-entangled Hamlet, Lear, Othello--Tennyson's fair ladies,
Meter or wit the best, or choice conceit to weild in perfect rhyme, delight of singers;
These, these, O sea, all these I'd gladly barter,
Would you the undulation of one wave, its trick to me transfer,
Or breathe one breath of yours upon my verse,
And leave its odor there.

Walt Whitman


I also returned their last essays, and we had a surprise visit from Mr. Klimas during period 6. Wait! There is 2 of them?

Today we discussed "The Oxen" and "Getting Out".

today students analyzed the 2 poems that they wrote their last essay on.

Today we compared "Design" to "To a Waterfowl". Students used the smartboard to break the poems down.

Poetry HW

Students are to read through chapter 14 of Sound and Sense.

Today students annotated "To a Waterfowl".

Poetry

Students are to annotate "To a Waterfowl" and be prepared to share their notes and analysis tomorrow. Also, we will discuss the poems from the essay prompt.

Poetry Essay

The students completed an essay from the 2007 exam. The task calls for analysis of "A Barred Owl" and "The History Teacher".


Essay

Poetry

Today students analyzed "in Just-". As a result of varying interpretations, I have asked students to find a critical interpretation of the poem that supports their own and bring it in for discussion.

HW

Students are to read through chapter 10 in Sound and Sense over the weekend. Today we analyzed "My last Duchess" and "Metaphors".

Poetry

Today students annotated and discussed "To his coy mistress"

Have fun blogging!

Figurative Language Bomb

Poetry

We discussed "After apple-picking" in class. Students were given an opportunity to annotate and explain their notes through discussion.

We also viewed the figurative language bomb clip. We will begin chapter 6 on Monday (figurative language).

Poetry

Today we discussed "There has been a death in the opposite house" and "When in Rome".

Students are to read chapter 4 for HW.

Reminder-Blogs are due at 11:59pm on Monday 11/1.

Poetry

Today we read and discussed "The Red Wheelbarrow" and "Terence, this is stupid stuff..."

Students are to read chapter 2 of Sound and Sense for HW.

Essay

Today we completed an in-class essay. The passage from the 2006 exam was the prompt.

Essay

North Korea

Today the students finished watching a documentary on North Korea. Some thoughtful discussion, connecting the reality of the DPRK to the dystopian works we have read, followed. We also briefly looked at the following article in an attempt to discuss the modern relevance of the ideas presented in The Handmaid's Tale:

Article

Passage analysis

Today we looked at a sample essay for the Mary Barton passage. We discussed strengths and weaknesses and what it takes to earn a 9. We will discuss another passage tomorrow.

The Handmaid's Tale-Essay

Students completed the following essay in class today:

(Suggested time-40 minutes)

Some novels and plays seem to advocate changes in social or political attitudes or in traditions. Choose such a novel or play and note briefly the particular attitudes or traditions that the author apparently wishes to modify. Then analyze the techniques the author uses to influence the reader’s or audience’s views. Avoid plot summary.

You MUST choose one of the following works:

The Handmaid’s Tale

The Handmaid's Tale

Today we wrapped up our discussion of the novel. We will have an in-class writing on Monday. Look over all of your notes and consider the important scenes, characters, passages, etc.

The Handmaid's Tale

Today we analyzed 2 passages from the novel with a focus on the repetition of "choice" and "loose". Students were encouraged to step outside of the novel and think globally.

Allusions

Today we finished covering the allusions that the students researched last week.

The Handmaid's Tale

Today we continued our discussion of important allusions in the novel. Students are to finish the novel by Thursday of next week.

Allusions

Today students worked in groups researching allusions found in The Handmaid's Tale. This will be the basis of our discussion tomorrow.

Open Response Essay

Today we looked at sample Q3 essays. Tomorrow students will write an open response essay for We.

The Handmaid's Tale

Students are to read through page 195 by Wednesday.

Our discussion today covered the passage containing the pillow with FAITH stiched on it. (pg 57)

Passage analysis essay

The students wrote a passage analysis essay in class today. It is question 1 from the 2004 exam (form B).

The task can be found
here

Sample Essays

Today I returned essays and summer work. We then discussed sample essays.

HW

Students now have until Wednesday to read through chapter 16 of The Handmaid's Tale.

We-HW

Select a passage or scene from We that you feel is interesting and important to the meaning of the work as a whole. Be prepared to share and discuss your selection.

HW

Students are to have finished reading We by Monday.

HW

Reflect on your summer work. Give yourself a grade on the Nicenet assignment. It is worth 20pts (I will give you a grade out of 20 as well, for a total of 40pts). You must also write a rationale as to why you deserve the grade.

Welcome

I hope everyone enjoyed the summer reading.

Nicenet Correction

Apparently on my summer assignment sheet I left a 0 off of the class key. Here is the correct key: Z295Z30A50

Sorry

For incoming AP Lit students-10-11

Check my Nicenet link for discussion prompts. If you have any issues, email me.

For 09-10 students

Have a great summer, and next year in AP Language be sure to show-

Final Project

Students have begun preparing for their final project.


Final Exam
2009-2010
AP Literature
Mr. Klimas

Part I-
The AP Literature Wiki project. 100pts

This project will be your legacy. Every AP Literature class from now until the end of time will be responsible for completing this project and adding to it.

For this assignment you will use all of the skills that we have practiced this year. You are responsible for providing a scholarly literary criticism for each of the works you have chosen to read. This is NOT a research assignment. This is NOT a review. The goal is that other students will be using your work as a source for their research assignments. This project will be published and will be a permanent fixture on both my blog and the Library/Resource Center webpage.

You will be responsible for the following:

• read 2 works by the author of your choice;
• write a scholarly criticism of each work;
• post it on the High Point Regional High School Guide to Contemporary Literary Criticism Wiki.

Your criticisms must include:

• title stating concept and novel title;
• an abstract describing the thesis;
• scholarly criticism/analysis of the work;
• passages;
• a point/argument;
• the skills we focused on during class;
• your knowledge of the author/context/literature/the world.


At the end of each criticism, you are to include your initials and the year you wrote it. Ex. (A.B. 2009) Again, this is permanent. You can view your criticisms when you are old and gray like me. Your kids will be able to view them.

http://apliteraturehp.wikispaces.com/







Part II-

Presentation-100pts

You will present your literary criticisms. You must display your wiki and outline the main points of your essays. All major aspects of the criticisms must be presented. You must also discuss the entire process or experience, including what interesting discoveries you made along the way. You will be assessed both on the content and the delivery of your presentation.

Prom

Have a great weekend. Be safe. All hail the new Queen (RS)!

Multiple Choice

Today we took a practice multiple choice test and selected some books from storage to study in preparation for the exam.

Also, students need to finish Invisible Man by Tuesday of next week.

Invisible Man

Students are to read chapters 18-22 of Invisible Man by Friday.

Chapter 18:
Anonymous letter
Filed steel from Brother Tarp-
Chapter 19:
White bed-
Chapter 20:
Foot races:
Sambo Doll:
Chapter 21:
Two black pigeons rising above a white barn-
Rotting cabbage

Invisible Man

Students are to read through chapter 17 of Invisible Man and consider the significance of the following:

Chapter 14:
Cabbage
U.S. Constitution/Ballot

Chapter 15:
piggy bank- To Mary/to IM/what does he put it in/where does he take it/etc

Chapter 16:
3 white men on black horses
Blind boxer

Chapter 17:
Frederick Douglas
Soldier

Invisible Man

Students are to read through chapter 13 by Friday. Consider the following:

Chapter 6
Leg shackle
Bledsoe’s fingers
Sealed envelopes

Chapter 7
Jim Crow

Chapter 8
Statue of Liberty
Jack the Bear

Chapter 9
Breakfast
Artifacts from college
















Chapter 10
Color
Optic white
Scabs

Chapter 11
Mother
Brer Rabbit and Buckeye
Chapter 12:
Dumping slosh on the Reverend's head
Chapter 13:
I am what I yam:

Invisible Man

Students are to read through chapter 9 by Monday.

“No one has come forward in defense of laughter. No, laughter is more meaningful and more profound than [most think]…Those who say that laughter incites are unjust. Only the dismal incites, while laughter gives light. Many things would incite man if presented in their nakedness; but illuminated by the power of laughter, they bring reconciliation to the soul.” (Gogol)
Choose a novel, play, or long poem that illuminates the human condition through the power of laughter. In a well-constructed essay, explain how the work expresses one or more profound truths about human beings and discuss the specific techniques the author uses to convey these ideas.
You may select a work by one of the following authors or another author of comparable literary merit.

Invisible Man

Students are to read the first five chapters (prologue included) by Thursday of this week. They must also write down the symbolic significance of the following:

Prologue
“What did I do to be so Black and Blue”
1369 light bulbs

Chapter 1
Briefcase
Brass tokens
Tattoo

Chapter 2
Founder’s statue
Red-tin apple
Log cabins

Chapter 3
Golden Day
Mechanical man
Mr. Norton’s illness

Chapter 4
White dividing line
Mr. Norton’s car


Chapter 5
Baptist church

spring break HW

Students are to finish reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and select a passage from each of the remaining parts (3 total). The reason for the choice is entirely up to the student. Be ready to discuss them when we return.

Also, students are to read The Importance of Being Earnest (I have provided a link to the etext) and keep track of every aphorism they encounter. This also will be a topic of discussion when we return.

Enjoy your break and Happy Reading.

Portrait

Tomorrow we will discuss the passages students received today. Bring in your sentences analyzing the passages.

Students are to read through part 2 by Wednesday.

A Portrait of Multiple Choice

Students are to complete the multiple choice packet they received on Thursday and read Part 1 of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man for Monday.

Hamlet

Students are to finish reading Hamlet for tomorrow.

Hamlet

Students received another packet, with multiple choice and a passage analysis essay on Hamlet, due Tuesday 3/23.

Poetry Forms/Hamlet

Students are currently working on the presentations for the following project:

Poetry
Form/Pattern
Group Assignment
30pts

Your assignment is to examine a specific form of poetry. You must provide a clear explanation for the rest of the class including examples. You have to teach this. You must decide on your approach (handouts, PowerPoint, poster, etc.). You must also turn in a completed lesson plan prior to your lesson.


You must provide a poem for class discussion. Your group will lead the discussion of the poem. This includes asking questions that guide the class discussion. Be prepared with specific discussion questions. You are the expert on the poem, but you must teach it, not explain it. Your goal is to analyze the poem and how the form impacts the meaning of the poem. Your classmates will decide if you are effective. All students must participate in the discussion. It is your job to see to this.

Forms:
• English Sonnet
• Italian Sonnet
• Villanelle
• Ballad
• Ode
• Sestina


Students also received a packet of work on the first 2 acts of Hamlet which is due Wednesday.

Macbeth

Period 6 is currently viewing the film version of Macbeth.

Richard III essay

The following is due Friday 3/5:
Unlike the novelist, the writer of a play does not use his own voice and only rarely uses a narrator’s voice to guide the audience’s response to character and action.

Select a play you have read and write an essay in which you explain the techniques the playwright uses to guide his audience’s responses to the central characters in the action.

You might consider the effect on the audience of things like setting, the use of comparable and contrasting characters, and the characters’ responses to each other. Support your argument with specific references to the play. Do not give a plot summary.

You MUST select one of the following:

Richard III
Richard III Part II: Bow To Klimasthocles

Richard III

Students are to finish reading Richard III.

Richard III

Students are to finish reading Act IV, and read scenes 1 & 2 of Act V.

Richard III

Students are to read Act IV, scenes 1 & 2 and respond to the following questions for HW:


How does Anne react when she learns she will be queen? Why? How do the others present react?

What alternative to Richard’s tyranny is introduced in this scene?

What roles do these royal women play in the political struggles?

What is a “cockatrice” or a “basilisk”?

What’s unusual about the way Elizabeth bids farewell to her sons in the Tower?

Why does Anne think her husband will kill her? What is the real reason he will arrange for her to die?

What is Richard’s first request when he becomes king? How many times does Buckingham avoid or ignore this request?

With whom does Richard replace Buckingham?

How does Richard propose to neutralize the daughter of Edward? How does he deal with the son and daughter of Clarence?

What does Buckingham request, and how many times does Richard ignore him?

Richard III

Students are to read Act III, scenes 5 & 6.

Richard III

Students are to read through Act III, scene 2 for tomorrow and respond to the following:

How many warning signs does Hastings ignore or miss in this scene?

Essay

Students were given a packet of information, including sample essays, based on the essay they wrote on Friday. Students are to read their own essays, score them, and write a rationale for the score.

This is the essay task.

In the following passage from the short story "The Dead," James Joyce presents an insight into the character of Gabriel. Write a well-organized essay in which you discuss how Joyce reveals aspects of Gabriel's character to the reader and to Gabriel himself. Refer to such techniques as imagery, point of view, motif, diction, and syntax.

She was fast asleep.
Gabriel, leaning on his elbow, looked for a few moments unresentfully on her tangled hair and half-open mouth, listening to her deep-drawn breath. So she had had that romance in her life: a man had died for her sake. It hardly pained him now to think how poor a part he, her husband, had played in her life. He watched her while she slept, as though he and she had never lived together as man and wife. His curious eyes rested long upon her face and on her hair: and, as he thought of what she must have been then, in that time of her first girlish beauty, a strange, friendly pity for her entered his soul. He did not like to say even to himself that her face was no longer beautiful, but he knew that it was no longer the face for which Michael Furey had braved death.
Perhaps she had not told him all the story. His eyes moved to the chair over which she had thrown some of her clothes. A petticoat string dangled to the floor. One boot stood upright, its limp upper fallen down: the fellow of it lay upon its side. He wondered at his riot of emotions of an hour before. From what had it proceeded? From his aunt's supper, from his own foolish speech, from the wine and dancing, the merry-making when saying good-night in the hall, the pleasure of the walk along the river in the snow. Poor Aunt Julia! She, too, would soon be a shade with the shade of Patrick Morkan and his horse. He had caught that haggard look upon her face for a moment when she was singing Arrayed for the Bridal. Soon, perhaps, he would be sitting in that same drawing-room, dressed in black, his silk hat on his knees. The blinds would be drawn down and Aunt Kate would be sitting beside him, crying and blowing her nose and telling him how Julia had died. He would cast about in his mind for some words that might console her, and would find only lame and useless ones. Yes, yes: that would happen very soon.

Richard III HW

Today we completed a prose passage essay. Students are to bring the passage in on Monday.

Students should also read through Act II of Richard III and respond to the following questions:

Act II, Scene 1

How is Richard able to undermine the peace accord King Edward has brought about among the members of the court?

Whom does Richard blame for Clarence’s death? Why?



Act II, Scene 2

Why does Richard go to the trouble of manipulating the children of Clarence?

Who is the first person in the play to recognize the full extent of Richard’s evil?

Following the death of King Edward, what is Richard’s first political priority? Who helps him achieve it? Why?



Act II, Scene 3

What is the purpose of this scene in the overall scheme of the play?



Act II, Scene 4

Explain the comic relief in this scene, and explain its purpose?

What event prompts the Queen to seek sanctuary? Who else joins her and why?

Richard III

Students are to read all of Act II by Monday. I will post some discussion questions tomorrow for you to respond to in writing.

We have a passage analysis essay in class tomorrow.

Richard III (The Man)

Students are to finish reading Act I, scene 3 and respond to the following questions:

-How does Richard picture himself in his argument with the Queen’s relatives? Why?
-Who is Richard trying to sway throughout this scene? Why?
-What is the dramatic function of Queen Margaret throughout the scene?
-Why does Shakespeare have Richard openly admit his evil designs in the soliloquy at the end of the scene?

Richard III

Today we dissected the opening speech from Richard III.

prompt for Blackberry Picking

1999 Poem “Blackberry-Picking” (Seamus Heaney)
Prompt: Read the following poem carefully, paying particular attention to the physical intensity of the language. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain how the poet conveys not just a literal description of picking blackberries but a deeper understanding of the whole experience. You may wish to include analysis of such elements as diction, imagery, metaphor, rhyme, rhythm, and form.

comedy

After analyzing several comedic scenes from different works, the students must complete the following assignment:



The Taming of the Shrew-20pts

Now that you are familiar with at least one of Shakespeare’s comedies, you must show your expertise in the examination of it. Each group will be responsible for staging a portion of the play. You must include the following in your presentation:

1. perform it in the style of your choosing-this means you can rewrite it
2. make it funny (if it is funny, it is 20pts)

comedy

students are to write a list (with examples) of comedic devices in Act 5, scene 1 of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Comedy

Students are to bring in a list of comedic elements found in the scenes they were given to read. Also, they must examine the formula as well as any similarities with other scenes we have read.

The scenes are from A Midsummer Night's Dream (Act 4, scene 1), and The Tempest (Act 3, scene 2).

Access the etexts if you have not received a copy.

The Taming of the Shrew

In class we are discussing the comic elements in the play.