AP English Lit

Due Tuesday, 2/14

2012-02-10T14:26:00.000-08:00

Read Act I of Death of a Salesman.

If you know you will have a lot of other homework on Tuesday and Wednesday night, you may want to read a bit farther, since the rest of the play will most likely be due on Thursday.

Due Friday, 2/10

2012-02-09T09:24:00.000-08:00

Write an open ended essay on the following prompt topic. You may choose to limit your time to only 40 minutes; however, you may also type this assignment if you do not prefer to write it by hand.

You essay must be based on A Doll House.

Prompt:

In a literary work, a minor character, often known as a foil, possesses traits that emphasize, by contrast or comparison, the distinctive characteristics and qualities of the main character. For example, the ideas or behavior of a minor character might be used to highlight the weaknesses or strengths of the main character. Choose a novel or play in which a minor character serves as a foil for the main character. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the relation between the minor character and the major character illuminates the meaning of the work.

Due Monday and Tuesday

2012-02-03T09:51:00.000-08:00

Reading due Monday: Act V of Tartuffe (finish the play)

Reading due Tuesday: Act I of A Doll House

Reading due Thursday: Acts II and III of A Doll House (finish the play)

Due 2/2

2012-02-01T15:19:00.000-08:00

Please read Acts II and III of Tartuffe. We will probably not quite make it through a discussion of all of Act III, so if you don't quite finish, no worries.

Due Feb 1 Reading

2012-01-31T14:22:00.000-08:00

Read Act I of Tartuffe, and the preceding background information.

Red Book: 1059-1071
Black Book: Not sure...hope it's in there.

In case you do not have your book, or the book does not have the play, here is a link to an online version. However, it's not as good as the one in the red book, which is written in rhyming couplets, the way it's meant to be read.

Project Gutenberg link. (Scroll past all the notifications, and eventually you'll get to the text)

Research Paper...Due Monday, apparently

2012-01-20T19:01:00.000-08:00

Props to those of you who emailed me a copy of your research paper. But, they will be officially due on Monday since school was cancelled. Looks like you got an extra weekend to work on it after all! Make sure that you are spending time reviewing for your final.

Hamlet Re-read and Semester 1 Final Study Guide

2012-01-12T10:50:00.000-08:00

For Friday,

1. Perform a level 1 review of Act IV through scene 4.

2. Perform a level 2 review of the Hamlet's speech Act IV scene 4 line 35 "How all occasions do inform against me..."

3. No marking the text required.

Your final will consist of a passage analysis essay (Shakespearean passage) and an objective, fill in the blank component. Study guide available here.

Hamlet Re-read due Wednesday, 1/12

2012-01-10T10:33:00.000-08:00

1. Perform a level one review of plot and main events of Act III scenes 1-2.

2. Perform a leve two close review of Ophelia's conversation with Hamlet immediately following the "To be speech"

3. Perform a level three review (marking the text) of Act III, scene 1, Hamlet's speech "To be or not to be..."

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.--Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.

Hamlet Reread due Tuesday, 1/10

2012-01-09T10:49:00.001-08:00

1. Do a level one re-read of the remainder of Act II.

2. Do a level two re-read of Hamlet's poem to Ophelia (no marking the text required)

Act II, scene II, line 100-ish.

'Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.
'O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers;
I have not art to reckon my groans: but that
I love thee best, O most best, believe it. Adieu.
'Thine evermore most dear lady, whilst
this machine is to him, HAMLET.'

3. Do a level three analysis of Hamlet's speech, Act II, scene 2, line 555, "Oh what a rogue and peasant slave am I..." Please mark the text, and be prepared to turn in.

Now I am alone.
O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wann'd,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect,
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? and all for nothing!
For Hecuba!
What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
That he should weep for her? What would he do,
Had he the motive and the cue for passion
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty and appal the free,
Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed
The very faculties of eyes and ears. Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing; no, not for a king,
Upon whose property and most dear life
A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?
Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face?
Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i' the throat,
As deep as to the lungs? who does me this?
Ha!
'Swounds, I should take it: for it cannot be
But I am pigeon-liver'd and lack gall
To make oppression bitter, or ere this
I should have fatted all the region kites
With this slave's offal: bloody, bawdy villain!
Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!
O, vengeance!
Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,
That I, the son of a dear father murder'd,
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words,
And fall a-cursing, like a very drab,
A scullion!
Fie upon't! foh! About, my brain! I have heard
That guilty creatures sitting at a play
Have by the very cunning of the scene
Been struck so to the soul that presently
They have proclaim'd their malefactions;
For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak
With most miraculous organ. I'll have these players
Play something like the murder of my father
Before mine uncle: I'll observe his looks;
I'll tent him to the quick: if he but blench,
I know my course. The spirit that I have seen
May be the devil: and the devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds
More relative than this: the play 's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.

Hamlet re-read due Monday, 1/9

2012-01-06T10:32:00.000-08:00

1. Do a level one review of plot events of Act II, scenes 1 and 2, stopping before the players enter.(around line 380).

2. Do a level two reading (think carefully about literal and analytical ideas) of Act II, scene 2, Hamlet's speech beginning with "I will tell you what, so shall my anticipation prevent your discovery", but focusing on the "Oh what a piece of work is man..." portion.

What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me,
what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not
me: no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling
you seem to say so.

3. No marking the text required.

Hamlet Re-read due Friday, 1/6

2012-01-05T10:12:00.000-08:00

1. Review plot events for scenes 3, 4, and 5 of Act I.

2. Review the following speeches, practicing our close text (literal summary and analysis techniques) in your head. You do not need to write anything down, but can if you choose.

- Act I, scene 3, Laertes' speech "Think it no more/For nature crescent does not grow alone"

3. No marking the text required.

Also, since I'm actually rembembering to post information:

Hamlet Research Paper Information

(Due January 20th)

You must find and read 1 critical essays written about Hamlet. Your essays can come from the internet, a literary journal, the back of a copy the play (if included) or the introduction to the play if long enough. JSTOR would be an excellent resource for this assignment; please ask if you need login or other JSTOR information.

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 2-3 page evaluation of the 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 reaction to the validity of these points. Your summary portion should not exceed half of your total length. Please be sure to maintain a 3rd person formal voice even though you are expressing your opinion. You will also want to make sure you support your reaction/opinion with quotations from Hamlet.

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. It is also a chance for you to research an aspect of Hamlet that you find personally interesting: gender relationships, minor characters, etc.

Please use MLA formatting and include a works cited. (You will not, however, lose any points for formatting errors). Hallelujah!

Hamlet Re-read, Due Thursday, Jan. 5

2012-01-04T10:08:00.000-08:00

There are three levels of review that you will be performing, listed in order of most basic to most complicated. Only on the third listed below, do you have to write anything down, although you are welcome to mark close text reading for those speeches listed under step 2 below if you want to go the extra mile.

1. Review plot events for scenes 1 and 2 of Act I.

2. Review the following speeches, practicing our close text (literal summary and analysis techniques) in your head. You do not need to write anything down, but can if you choose.

- Act I, scene ii beginning speech by King Claudius: "Though yet our memory..."
- Act I, scene ii, speech by Hamlet: "Seems madam? Nay, it is"

3. Mark close text observations on the following speech, using your left margin for literal summary and your right for analytical analysis and associative thinking. If you are using an etext (or don't want to write in your book), I'll include the passage below so you can copy and paste and print it for ease of marking the text.

- Act I, scene ii, speech by King Claudius: "'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature Hamlet..."

KING CLAUDIUS
'Tis sweet and co
mmendable in your nature, Hamlet,
To give these mourning duties to your father:
But, you must know, your father lost a father;
That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound
In filial obligation for some term
To do obsequious sorrow: but to persever
In obstinate condolement is a course
Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief;
It shows a will most incorrect to heaven,
A heart unfortified, a mind impatient,
An understanding simple and unschool'd:
For what we know must be and is as common
As any the most vulgar thing to sense,
Why should we in our peevish opposition
Take it to heart? Fie! 'tis a fault to heaven,
A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,
To reason most absurd: whose common theme
Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried,
From the first corse till he that died to-day,
'This must be so.' We pray you, throw to earth
This unprevailing woe, and think of us
As of a father: for let the world take note,
You are the most immediate to our throne;
And with no less nobility of love
Than that which dearest father bears his son,
Do I impart toward you. For your intent
In going back to school in Wittenberg,
It is most retrograde to our desire:
And we beseech you, bend you to remain
Here, in the cheer and comfort of our eye,
Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.

Kane Essays/Oedipus Focus Notes

2011-12-12T15:02:00.000-08:00

Kane Device Analysis Paper (Due Tuesday)

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 the paper should be written in formal voice.

For your Oedipus reading (due Thursday?)

Oedipus Focus Topics:

Take notes that gather specific plot references that provided evidence of:

-Oedipus' arrogance/pride
-Moments where Oedipus is a victim of fate (events that are beyond his control)
-Moments of dramatic irony

Kane Character Analysis Paper:

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 Monday, Nov. 28

2011-11-18T11:28:00.001-08:00

Over the break, you are reading the novella "Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka. Your focus topic is as follows:

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.

In addition, to this, please look for elements of existentialism as well as apply previously discussed critical approaches.

2011-11-15T14:35:00.000-08:00

“The Short Happy Life of Francis MacComber” 258-278 (Discussion on Wednesday)

"A Rose for Emily” 56-62 (Discussion on Thursday)

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.

Feel free to also explore and take notes on the wonders of Freudian/Psychoanalytic Criticism with these texts.

2011-11-10T16:31:00.000-08:00

For Monday, please read:

"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.

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.

Due Thursday, 11/10

2011-11-08T10:56:00.001-08:00

"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.

2011-11-04T10:48:00.000-07:00

Reading:

Once More to the Lake (1605-1609)[Monday discussion]

Cub wants to be a Pilot (1598-1603)[Tuesday discussion]

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 11/2

2011-11-01T10:49:00.000-07:00

Be prepared to discuss Dillard's "Living Like Weasels" in regards to purpose (interpretation) and devices. Note the title of the text above is linked in case you need it. If you use the link, consider priting out a copy so you can mark the text as we discuss it in class.

Due 11/1

2011-10-31T14:24:00.001-07:00

Be prepared to discuss Swift's use of rhetorical devices in A Modest Proposal. There is should be a copy in your book, but I provided the link just in case.

Also, here is a link to the rhetoric packet we discussed today in class. The spacing is a bit crazy, but hopefully you can deal with it.

Readings!

2011-10-17T14:46:00.000-07:00

Modernism 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

Romanticism Readings:

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

The Poetry Prospectus Strikes Back! Due 10/21

2011-10-07T12:07:00.000-07:00

You will have three additional poetry prospectuses due on Friday, October 21st. Follow the same format for these as for your first set, although all three paragraphs this time must be body paragraphs.

New information: Each of your poems should come from a different literary movement, choosing from among those we have discussed in class.

(And don't worry; there is no "Return of the Poetry Prospectus" so this is your last set!)

2011-10-04T12:25:00.000-07:00

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

Renaissance/Metaphysical Readings:

584- "One Day I wrote" (Spenser)
589- "Since there's no hope" (Drayton)
590- "Let me not...“ (Shakespeare)
590- "My Mistress' eyes" (Shakespeare)
593-"The Canonization" (Donne)
595- "The Flea" (Donne)
594- "Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" (Donne)
599- "To the Virgins" (Herrick)
601- "Easter Wings" (Herbert)
602- "When I consider" (Milton)
604- "To his Coy..." (Marvell)

Due Thursday-

2011-09-28T14:45:00.001-07:00

Remember you have a rhythm and meter quiz today that covers information presented in class as well as the chapter in your book on rhythm and meter.

For Friday, you will need to have read the section on sound devices. Red book (472-480). Black book: (523-531).

I also recommend that you are done with two prospectuses before the weekend.

Here is Coleridge being silly:

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.

Prospectus Due Date!

2011-09-27T15:10:00.000-07:00

Please make sure that you are making progress on your prospectus assignment. Your due date will be October 7th! You should have at least one done by this point.

Due Dates

2011-09-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

Due Wednesday, 9/21: Rough draft of Paper
Due Thursday, 9/22: Symbolism and Allegory reading: red book (457-464) black book (509-523)

Due Friday, 9/23: Syntax Reading: red book (465-472), black book (516-523)

Due Monday, 9/26: FINAL COPY OF POETRY PAPER!!!

9/19

2011-09-19T15:44:00.000-07:00

Today in class we took notes on quotation incorporation, discussed "My Papa's Waltz" and talked about the paper: remember, rough draft due on Wednesday.

Due Wednesday 9/21

2011-09-16T15:17:00.000-07:00

Bring a rough draft of your first poetry paper to class to peer edit. Remember, this paper is based on the cummings poem, "when serpents bargain for the right to squirm." (see previous posts for text.)

Due 9/16

2011-09-15T11:34:00.000-07:00

Remember to have your diction reading completed for tomorrow. Today we took notes on diction, and began discussing the following poem. We will continue our discussion of it on Friday, so you may want to give it some more thought tonight, focusing on diction, imagery, and figurative language.

Living in Sin

She had thought the studio would keep itself;
no dust upon the furniture of love.
Half heresy, to wish the taps less vocal,
the panes relieved of grime. A plate of pears,
a piano with a Persian shawl, a cat
stalking the picturesque amusing mouse
had risen at his urging.
Not that at five each separate stair would writhe
under the milkman's tramp; that morning light
so coldly would delineate the scraps
of last night's cheese and three sepulchral bottles;
that on the kitchen shelf among the saucers
a pair of beetle-eyes would fix her own---
envoy from some village in the moldings . . .
Meanwhile, he, with a yawn,
sounded a dozen notes upon the keyboard,
declared it out of tune, shrugged at the mirror,
rubbed at his beard, went out for cigarettes;
while she, jeered by the minor demons,
pulled back the sheets and made the bed and found
a towel to dust the table-top,
and let the coffee-pot boil over on the stove.
By evening she was back in love again,
though not so wholly but throughout the night
she woke sometimes to feel the daylight coming
like a relentless milkman up the stairs.

Adrienne Rich

Due Friday, 9/16

2011-09-14T11:23:00.000-07:00

Have the following passages read and be prepared to discuss on Friday:

Red Book:

Diction (436-444), Voice (427-436)

Black Book:

Diction ( 488-496), Voice ( 479-488)

The poem for your first poetry paper (remember, do not consult any resources online or otherwise) but begin thinking about possible interpretations/devices to analyze. Due date, TBD.

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

I will post information about the prospectus assignment as soon as possible.

Due 9/14

2011-09-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

Read, highlight and think about the information presented to you in the "Manifesto" reading packet. You should have the entire document read for our discussion on Wednesday.

Due Thursday, 9/8

2011-09-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

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 diction, 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 PRETEST/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.

Reading Due Friday:

451-456
444-450

Reminders and Final Essay Assignment

2011-05-17T13:12:00.000-07:00

Reminders: Cat's Cradle reading through Chapter 79 due on Thursday. You will need to finish the book for Monday. Also, you will need to get a copy of Things Fall apart in time for you to have your first reading assignment done by Wednsday, May 25th.

Your final essay assignment will be due on Wednesday, June 8th. Details of the assignment are here.

Prose Passage Analysis

2011-04-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

Please print and read "Question 2", which is a prose passage. Then write an essay in 40 minutes in which you respond to the prompt.

Click here for the passage.

The copy is not great, but please do the best you can.

Bring your essay with you to class on Thursday.

Open Ended Prompts to practice

2011-04-22T13:22:00.001-07:00

Due 4/7

2011-04-05T10:17:00.001-07:00

Portrait Chapter 3.

(Chapter 3 notes)

Due April 5

2011-04-01T13:42:00.001-07:00

Portrait Chapter 2 (chapter 2 notes.)

Due 4/1

2011-03-30T07:14:00.001-07:00

Portrait Chapter 1 Reading.

(Chapter 1 Notes)

Due 3/4

2011-03-01T15:24:00.001-08:00

Chapters 1-8 of Wuthering Heights. If you did not purchase your book, the library has them available for checkout. Also, if you're 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 2/28

2011-02-25T09:05:00.001-08:00

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, blank verse

Test format:

90 Questions (Mostly fill in the blank)

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

Due 2/22

2011-02-17T13:37:00.000-08:00

Read the brief essay Tragedy and the Comman man by Arthur Miller (in your text book.) Ponder this.

Select 5 quotations from the end of Death of a Salesman that are significant and show characters coming to realizations or struggling to come to realizations. You will most likely not need to turn this in.

Finally review your characters, plot references, and MOWAAWS from your plays to be prepared to write an open ended essay.

Due 2/17

2011-02-15T16:04:00.001-08:00

Please finish reading Death of a Salesman. Also acknowledge the long-awaited syllabus posted on the right side bar for the drama, novel, and test prep unit.

Due 2/11

2011-02-09T13:10:00.000-08:00

Finish reading a Doll's House.

Then, choose from Nora, Helmer, Rank, Krogstand, or Kristine and write a 2 page character analysis. Consider internal conflicts, motivations, desires, psychoanalysis...

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

Due 2/9

2011-02-07T12:26:00.000-08:00

Read Acts I and II of A Doll's House (in textbook.) I recommend also reading the page of background preceding the play.

Due 2/3

2011-02-02T07:36:00.000-08:00

Read Acts I-III of Tartuffe (in your big red book). Pay special attention to satire, elements of Neoclassical reason, and characterization.

Due Monday, 1/10

2011-01-07T07:07:00.001-08:00

Please carefully re-read Act II of Hamlet, paying close attention to the major speeches. Make sure you are able to comment on how the importance of character information, imagery, allusions, etc. in each speech.

Additionally, here is information about your final exam:

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:

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

Due Thursday, 1/6

2011-01-04T15:10:00.000-08:00

In additon to continuing to trace the on going themes in Hamlet (appearance vs. reality, etc.) pay careful attention to the following passages and questions which are in roughly chronological order:

Characterizaiton of King and imagery in "Though yet of Hamlet..." speech
Characterization of Hamelt and imagery in "Seems, madam?" speech
Characterization in "Tis sweet and commendable in your nature" speech
Characterizaiton, imagery, allusions in "O that this too too solid flesh..." speech
Characterization of Polonius in his advice to his children

Due Tuesday after vacation, 2011

2010-12-17T13:28:00.000-08:00

(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

2010-12-09T10:42:00.001-08:00

Due Thursday, 12/8

2010-12-07T13:13:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-29T13:42:00.000-08:00

"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

2010-11-12T14:01:00.001-08:00

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

2010-11-03T13:54:00.001-07:00

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

The link for the calendar should now be operational.

Due 11/3

2010-11-01T13:30:00.001-07:00

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

Due 11/1

2010-10-28T13:12:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-27T08:45:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-22T14:12:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-19T13:51:00.001-07:00

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

2010-10-14T15:04:00.001-07:00

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

2010-10-07T13:28:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-05T13:05:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-01T14:17:00.001-07:00

Poetry Prospectus 1

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

Due 9/27

2010-09-24T15:29:00.000-07:00

Continue working on poetry paper which is due on Wednesday.

Due 9/23

2010-09-21T14:47:00.001-07:00

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

Due 9/21

2010-09-17T13:23:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-15T15:36:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-14T09:14:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-10T08:33:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-21T12:16:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-19T11:49:00.001-07:00

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

2010-05-17T15:36:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-12T13:33:00.001-07:00

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

2010-04-07T07:33:00.000-07:00

Portrait Chapter 3.

(Chapter 3 notes)

Due Tuesday, April 5th

2010-04-02T14:24:00.000-07:00

Portrait Chapter 2 (chapter 2 notes.)

Due 4/2

2010-03-31T13:55:00.000-07:00

Portrait Chapter 1 Reading.

(Chapter 1 Notes)

Due the Monday after Break

2010-03-18T13:28:00.001-07:00

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

2010-03-15T14:34:00.001-07:00

Wuthering Heights through Chapter 24.

Due March 6th

2010-03-05T14:42:00.000-08:00

Wuthering Heights through Chapter 11.

Due 3/5

2010-03-03T09:12:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-26T15:00:00.001-08:00

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

2010-02-26T15:00:00.000-08:00

Finish Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Due Thursday, 2/25

2010-02-24T12:02:00.000-08:00

Read Act I of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

Due 2/17

2010-02-16T14:31:00.001-08:00

Death of a Salesman Act I

Due Friday, February 12

2010-02-11T12:56:00.001-08:00

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

2010-02-09T12:12:00.001-08:00

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

Due 2/8

2010-02-04T13:16:00.001-08:00

Finish reading Tartuffe.

Due Thursday, 2/4

2010-02-02T13:11:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-15T13:52:00.001-08:00

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

Due Tuesday, after break, 2010.

2009-12-18T13:23:00.000-08:00

Due 12/18

2009-12-14T15:32:00.000-08:00

Read Oedipus (in your anthology).

You should read the background information provided in your anthology. (Hint: if you don't know while you're reading the play that Oedipus is really married to his mother, Jocasta, you've kind of missed the point.)

Take notes that gather specific plot references that provided evidence of:

-Oedipus' arrogance/pride
-Moments where Oedipus is a victim of fate (events that are beyond his control)
-Moments of dramatic irony

Due Monday, 12/14

2009-12-10T15:08:00.000-08:00

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

Also, you must turn in your complete Short Story Notes.

Also, you must be prepared to write your first open ended essay--without using notes!

Due 12/10

2009-12-08T13:11:00.000-08:00

Due 12/ 8

2009-12-04T13:24:00.000-08:00

Work on short story notes. Yep-that's it. I'm too exhausted after 1st period today to think of an additional assignment.

Due 12/10?

2009-12-02T14:00:00.000-08:00

I'd like you to add a chart of "plot references" to your notes for each of the short stories. A "plot reference" should be a list of specific details that you would use as evidence in an open ended essay. Even though you don't know the topic ahead of time, the plot references should be significant enough to work for any given topic. Also, you may include a brief analytical statement for your reference. For example, for Araby, I might list:

- eye imagery of street
- dynamic imagery of girl=>attraction
- light imagery surrounding girl=>religion
- Romantic imagery at market; chalice, praises, litanies
- Freudian imagery of fence
- religious imagery at Bazaar; cathedral
- flirtatious dialog; foreigness, lack of Romanticism
- disillusion at end; eyes burning

Please do not rewrite your entire notes, but instead focus on 'apt and specific references' that will make it sound like you know the story in great detail when you write an essay on it. I'd get started while you have a lull in English assignments, but if you have questions about the assignment, I'll answer them on Friday. (Note, the assignment is not DUE on Friday.)

Due 12/2

2009-11-30T15:46:00.001-08:00

You should be familiar with the following concepts for next time: (Yes, most of this should be review)Make sure you could successfully comment or use any of these terms in an analysis.

Exposition
Conflict
Rising Action
Falling Action
Denouement
Antagonist
Protagonist
Direct/Indirect Characterization
Foreshadowing
Third person omniscient
Third person limited
First person
Setting
Stereotyping/Character types/archetypes

Additional terms that will be important for analyzing a prose passage:

Repetition
Selection of Detail
Missing information
Order of events

Due Monday, November 30th

2009-11-19T13:46:00.001-08:00

"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:

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 November 17th

2009-11-13T12:42:00.000-08:00

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

Focus Topic: 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.
Posted by Kathleen

You may also want to get a head start reading the "Metamorphosis" for Thursday, since this is a LONG story. (In fact, it's a novella--a little novel!)

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 10/12

2009-11-11T07:41:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot to post your reading! What a near tragedy.

College Essay Due

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.

Read on, AP English. Read on.

Due Tuesday, November 10th

2009-11-06T13:02:00.001-08:00

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.