Vocabulary Hits, Part One

Hello Class,

The words you have been choosing for your vocabulary assignments have been very high-level and applicable to the literature we have studying, so I put together a list of my favorites to share.  Take the time to look this list over.  It contains exactly the level of language you are likely to find on the exam, and there are many words here that you can begin using in your own writing.

Vocabulary Hits, Volume 1, Number 1

Online Poetry Glossary (Or, Here, Have Your Weekend Back)

While I always encourage a lazy Saturday afternoon spent in your local library, I realize some may have made other plans for their weekend.  And so, to help you with this week's vocabulary assignment, here is a place to begin your poetry vocabulary scavenger hunt:

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/glossary-terms

If you missed class on Friday, this is your newest vocabulary assignment.  It is due Tuesday, December 13.

Poetry Vocabulary Assignment #1

George Herbert Constructed Responses

In case you missed it, here is your constructed response assignment due tomorrow (12/9):


Considering literary techniques such as imagery and diction, write a constructed response analyzing the relationship of the speaker to rules and restrictions.


And for extra credit, you may do this one as well:


Analyze the poem "Love (III)" by George Herbert using the TP-CASTT method. Then, answer this question: How does the speaker's relationship with Love shift over the course of the poem? Consider literary techniques such as personification and symbolism in your analysis.


The website poetryfoundation.org is an excellent resource for all things poetry.  Here is their profile of Herbert:  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/george-herbert

Happy Feet Two Review

We have been talking a lot about blending examples and analysis, and using the 1:1 ratio.  This is a very funny review that reviews Happy Feet Two as if it were a serious piece of art.  The content is silly, but the author has excellent technique.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/happy-feet-two,65291/

Tableaus

We have our first entry in the Great Expectations photo contest.  Congratulations Megan and Olayinka!  I appreciate their trailblazing spirit.  I think they capture the absurdity and pure joy that is the game of flags, although they leave themselves open to competition by omitting swords, a carriage, and a cabinet full of jams and pills.  Anyone think they can do better?  I will be accepting photos of any absurd moment in the novel until the end of this marking period.  Attention to detail will be rewarded.

Tips for Writing About Literature

This handout, by a college English major, is well worth reading.  I stand by everything Ms. Martin suggests.

Insider Tips from Literature Tutors to Non-Literature Tutors

Write Like Dickens

Just taking responses from the Do Now I gave you about leaving home, I could write a composite essay by my students that would go something along these lines:

I woke up feeling sad.  I heard the noise on the street and gazed down to the street and looked at the snow.  Before heading downstairs to see my family, I said one last goodbye to my goldfish and kittens.  I knew I would miss the food, and also my friends.

Okay, I feel a little sad for this person.  But compare that to Dickens describing Pip leaving home:

All night there were coaches in my broken sleep, going to wrong places instead of to London, and having in the traces, now dogs, now cats, now pigs, now men - never horses. Fantastic failures of journeys occupied me until the day dawned and the birds were singing. Then, I got up and partly dressed, and sat at the window to take a last look out, and in taking it fell asleep.

Biddy was astir so early to get my breakfast, that, although I did not sleep at the window an hour, I smelt the smoke of the kitchen fire when I started up with a terrible idea that it must be late in the afternoon. But long after that, and long after I had heard the clinking of the teacups and was quite ready, I wanted the resolution to go down stairs. After all, I remained up there, repeatedly unlocking and unstrapping my small portmanteau and locking and strapping it up again, until Biddy called to me that I was late.

It was a hurried breakfast with no taste in it. I got up from the meal, saying with a sort of briskness, as if it had only just occurred to me, "Well! I suppose I must be off!" and then I kissed my sister who was laughing and nodding and shaking in her usual chair, and kissed Biddy, and threw my arms around Joe's neck. Then I took up my little portmanteau and walked out. The last I saw of them was, when I presently heard a scuffle behind me, and looking back, saw Joe throwing an old shoe after me and Biddy throwing another old shoe. I stopped then, to wave my hat, and dear old Joe waved his strong right arm above his head, crying huskily "Hooroar!" and Biddy put her apron to her face.

For extra credit, write me a paragraph.  What are the important differences?  Be very specific about at least two methods or techniques that make Dickens' prose better than my own here.

Funny Grammar Guide

Sarah shared this link with me.  It is hilarious, and if you read it you will never spell a lot wrong again in your life.

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html

Reading for Monday, November 7

Please read from the beginning of Chapter 15, through some of Chapter 19.  You should stop as soon as you come across Mr. Trabb.

New Great Expectations Movie!

Check it out!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/nov/04/helena-bonham-carter-miss-havisham

Who is George Barnwell? (And what does he have to do with Great Expectations?)

For the curious, here is more background on this now-obscure play.  The author of this paper makes very helpful connections between Pip and George, explaining the significance of Dickens' allusion.

http://www.umd.umich.edu/casl/hum/eng/classes/434/geweb/GEORGEBA.htm

Vocabulary Articles, Round Three

Hello Class,

Here are your round three vocabulary article choices.  Enjoy.

Halloween Poems
Read some Halloween poems and learn new, spooky words!  If you dare!

Ruby Cohn, Theater Scholar and Expert on Beckett, Dies at 89
We will be reading Beckett towards the end of the year.  Get a sneak peek here!

When It's Not Your Turn
Well-written review of the TV show The Wire, which compares it to Dickens.  Be warned, contains intentional inaccuracies.

What Made the Novel Radical? (Or, Characteristics of a Nascent Genre)

I have compiled a list of your observations about the novel.  Many of you pulled out important characteristics of the novel when it was new, and together as a class I think you have compiled a thorough and insightful list!  We will soon find out how Great Expectations fits into this picture!

comic

humanitarian warmth

psychological and emotional intensity

rebellion against society

doesn’t borrow plot from ancient stories

combined prose, comedy and epic(?)

about ordinary people

interesting to everybody

sheds light on the darker side of humanity

lead people to question their own selves

title (and focus!) is main character

about everyday life

told about the ambitions and dreams of common people

about regular people’s thinking

narration reveals protagonist’s opinions and thoughts

from the 1600s and 1700s, from early-to-mid 18^th c.

middle-class audience

spotlight on an interesting protagonist, their thoughts and feelings with detail and emotion

written in more straight-forward style than poems and plays

can be very touching

covered scandalous topics

adventurous, fictional life

covered everyday people in everyday life

simply life stories

spoke to adults about pursuing their dreams

controversial topics

story revolves around protagonist’s character

taken from someone’s life

realistic

tragedy and humor combined

focus is more on one character

mock-autobiographical

point-of-view of the protagonist

very detailed and realistic

character-centric

somewhat mundane, ordinary lives

vivid picture of how a normal life can be flipped upside down

journey of a brave protagonist

Lunch Forms Are Imperative! DOUBLE Homework Grade.

Class,

Most of you have not turned in lunch forms.  Without these, many students find the test prohibitively expensive.  Your lunch forms are going to be a double homework grade due next Wednesday, November 2.  I have extra forms if you need them.  You absolutely must fill out a lunch form.  If you think you turned in your lunch form, check Engrade and make sure you have credit for the lunch form assignment.

Ms. Dame

Vocabulary Reading Choices Part 2: Allusion Edition

Vocabulary articles are back with a new twist!  I want you to practice recognizing allusions.  An allusion is a reference in one work to another work.  In Western literature, biblical allusions are rampant.  Of course, this is due to the cultural history of the West, in Indian literature, references to the Ramayana, a sacred Hindu text, are just as common.  And, as the Western canon has grown and grown, works begin reference one another more and more.  For example, James Joyce's Ulysses, a candidate for the best modern novel, is modeled after the adventures of Odysseus, and has an entire chapter devoted to the characters debating about Hamlet.  From now on, you may replace one of your vocabulary words with an allusion you noticed in an article.  If you see another book referenced, look it up and tell me what you learned.

Here are your reading choices.  Remember, you only need to read one article of your choice.  New vocabulary words are due Friday, October 28.  You may turn them in in class or email them to msdame3@gmail.com

The Catch in Catch-22
Joseph Heller's satire Catch-22 was a sensation when it came out, and gave us the phrase "catch-22."  This article considers the book on its 50th anniversary.  The original Catch-22 was that only insane people could be discharged form the army, but anyone who applied for discharge was obviously sane.  It is now used for any situation in which a supposed option obviates itself.  (Yes, you can use obviate as one of your vocabulary words.)

Elizabeth and Hazel
A review of a book that follows up on the lives of two women in a famous photograph that scandalized the nation.  Take a look at the photo!  Can any good come out of a conversation between these women?


Paris Review Interview:  Ray Bradbury
The Paris Review has a deep archive of excellent interviews with authors on their craft.  This one is with Ray Bradbury, perhaps best known among high-schoolers as the author of Fahrenheit 451.  If you choose this article, look up some of his allusions!

A Good Milton Resource

This website offers full-text of many Milton poems and prose pieces, as well as quality pieces of criticism that may help you understand his work.  It is maintained by a Dartmouth English professor and his students. To get to the articles about Paradise Lost, click on Paradise Lost and then Introduction.

John Milton Reading Room

Here is a good overview of the political situation in 17th c. England.  Milton was a supporter of Cromwell.  Given this, some people have found his portrayal of Satan ironic.  Why?

http://www.historyguide.org/earlymod/lecture7c.html

Desperately Seeking Shakespeare

Some of you have questioned whether Shakespeare's plays have been accurately attributed. Perhaps we will never know, but here is a solid refutation of at least one alternative theory:

The Shakespeare Shakedown

I have a confession to make. I love literature, but I hate Metaphysical poetry. Unfortunately, College Board loves to include it on the test. So I was hoping you would teach it for me. All of these Mini-Research Projects are up for grabs, but I only need one person to do each. E-mail me at msdame3@gmail.com if you'd like to take one on.

What is Metaphysical poetry, when did it happen, and what made it new for its time? Who were the major Metaphysical poets?

Read and research "The Flea" by John Donne. How does Donne use extended metaphor in this poem?

Read and research "Virtue" by George Herbert. What makes this a "metaphysical poem"? (Note: You will need to also look up characteristics of a metaphysical poem.)

Extra-Credit Opportunity: Read "Easter Wings" by George Herbert. Research concrete poetry. What is similar about these poems? What is different? What does this tell us about the Big Question: How does literature change over time?

Vocabulary Reading Choices

Good Morning!

As I announced, as part of our initiative to raise multiple-choice scores, you will now be required to read one "Vocab-Building Article" a week. You may choose any of the articles below. You only need to read one article.

When you finish, choose three or four words that were new to you. This will be most helpful if you choose words that may be on the AP exam. So, for example, a scientific noun like "neurotransmitter" is a fascinating thing to learn about, but will not be on the exam. Adjectives describing art or literature are a much better bet.

For each word:

- copy the whole sentence from the article and underline the word you are learning

- look up the definition and write it down

- use the word in a new sentence

Your first vocabulary assignment is due Friday, October 21. You may hand it in in class or as an e-mail attachment to msdame3@gmail.com.

Here are your article choices:

Art Spiegelman’s Genre-Defying Holocaust Work, Revisited

Of Love, etc.

A Keats Brother on the American Frontier

"The most effective disturber of complacency in our time...”

This piece from the NYTimes gives a great description of Freud's ascendancy in the early 20th century. We should all aspire to be "disturbers of complancency!"

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/health/11first.html?src=rechp

By the way, I mentioned earlier that another author had labeled Freud one of the three most influential thinkers in the world. That wasn't quite right. In her book The Moral of the Story, Nina Rosenstand writes:

"On occasion, philosophers talk about three major events that have occurred in the history of human self-awareness. Three times in Western cultural history, humanity has been shaken from its foundations, with irrevocable effects."

Those three events?

1. Copernicus discovers we revolve around the sun.

2. Darwin publishes The Origin of Species.

3. Freud claims we are not in total control of our minds, and, in fact, our subconscious is partly in control of us.

What pattern do you notice?

For an extra homework grade, write me a paragraph comparing these and other human events in history to Aristotelian tragedies. Does human history follow a tragic storyline? Why or why not?

For Fun

Hamlet as Facebook Updates

What Will the Test Be Like? (and Dragons)

Here are some basic facts, as presented in the Course Description from College Board:

"Ordinarily, the exam consists of 60 minutes for multiple-choice questions followed

by 120 minutes for free-response questions . Performance on the free-response

section of the exam counts for 55 percent of the total score; performance on the

multiple-choice section, 45 percent."

Here is my description: You will have about an hour to answer 55 multiple-choice questions. For these questions, you will be given complex texts and asked a series of difficult questions about them. Then, you will have two hours to write three essays:

Essay 1: Read a poem and describe how the author uses a specific technique to produce a specific effect.

Essay 2: Read a short story or prose passage and describe how the author uses a specific technique to produce a specific effect.

Essay 3: Open-Ended Question. Take a stance on an issue of ongoing curiosity (e.g. Does compassion make you vulnerable?) and use a literary text to discuss your stance. (Sound familiar? This is similar to the Critical Lens essay.)

I encourage everyone to go try the sample exam starting on page 54 of this document:

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap-english-course-description.pdf

It will likely be a humbling experience, but that's okay! It is only October, and the best way to prepare to beat a dragon is to fight lots of dragons!

(For THREE free homework grades, research Edmund Spenser's "The Fairie Queene" and tell me: What is the allegorical significance of the dragon in The Fairie Queen? Use the text to back up your answer.)

But, let's say you finish the sample test and the Fairie Queen bonus homework, and you still want to know: What other questions might be on the test? Here are four more links to occupy your time. They include many questions which could likely appear on exams throughout the year. Do I care if you practice beforehand and become an expert at answering AP exam questions? Does killing a dragon once make you less prepared to kill it again?

(Still thinking? The answer is no.)

I want to know what kind of Multiple-Choice Questions might appear on the test:
http://homepage.mac.com/mseffie/AP/MC_Stems.pdf

I want to practice Prose Essays (this will require looking up the original story. Ask me if you need help finding a story):
http://homepage.mac.com/mseffie/AP/Prose_Essays.pdf

I want to practice Poetry Essays:
http://homepage.mac.com/mseffie/AP/Poetry_Essays_with_Poems.pdf

I want to practice Open Questions:

http://homepage.mac.com/mseffie/AP/Open_Questions.pdf

By the way, Ms. Effie's page, where I found these questions, is a treasure trove of other resources.  I encourage you to browse it.

Good luck, young knights!

Freudian Slips

Here is an article about what it means when a politician makes a Freudian slip. A good chance to consider issues of rhetoric and Freud together!

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2004/04/condis_inner_life.html

Important Resources for AP Literature

Welcome to AP Literature!

Here are some websites that will be useful to you throughout the course.

AP Lit Course Description Here is a course description provided by College Board, the organization that creates and administers the test. Scroll down to page 54 to see sample questions. Are you ready?

Norton Literature Online Browsing the introductory sections of Norton Literature Anthologies is a fast and reliable way to familiarize yourself with the important periods of literature and major authors from each period. This site also offers a lot of full-text literature in pdf format. Well worth spending some time exploring - tell me if you find a period or author you want to cover in class!

Check back for more resources!