Know the following literary devices: personification, ellipsis, simile, metaphor, verbals, dramatic irony, iambic pentameter, paradox, inversion, and alliteration
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
Exam - Wednesday, January 23rd - 10:00- 11:30 am
Directions: You will engage in a skills based exam. In part I, you will read a selection from Macbeth Act I and answer eight multiple-choice questions. In part II, you will be given a passage from a Jane Austen novel you have not read, and be asked to compose an essay using direct evidence from the text. Please bring a charged computer, and be ready to post the essay to Turnitin.com during the allotted time.
Know the following literary devices: personification, ellipsis, simile, metaphor, verbals, dramatic irony, iambic pentameter, paradox, inversion, and alliteration
Know the following literary devices: personification, ellipsis, simile, metaphor, verbals, dramatic irony, iambic pentameter, paradox, inversion, and alliteration
Friday, January 4, 2019
Due Tuesday, January 8th - Sing!
Directions: Engage in this creative assignment, as a means of applying your knowledge of Act I.
1) Select a theme: Ambition, Violence, Gender, Marriage, Fate v. Freewill, Nature v. Unnatural
2) Select a quotation, or brief dialogue exchange
3) Select lyrics from a song that matches the theme, passage/dialogue you chose
4) Explain the connection.
EXAMPLE: Your post should look like the following...
1) Themes:
1) Select a theme: Ambition, Violence, Gender, Marriage, Fate v. Freewill, Nature v. Unnatural
2) Select a quotation, or brief dialogue exchange
3) Select lyrics from a song that matches the theme, passage/dialogue you chose
4) Explain the connection.
EXAMPLE: Your post should look like the following...
1) Themes:
Ambition and Marriage
2) Text:
MACBETH
We will proceed no further in this business:
He hath honour'd me of late; and I have bought
Golden opinions from all sorts of people,
Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,
Not cast aside so soon.
LADY MACBETH
Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since?
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale
At what it did so freely? From this time
Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valour
As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that
Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem,
Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,'
Like the poor cat i' the adage?
MACBETH
Prithee, peace:
I dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more is none.
LADY MACBETH
What beast was't, then,
That made you break this enterprise to me?
When you durst do it, then you were a man;
And, to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place
Did then adhere, and yet you would make both:
They have made themselves, and that their fitness now
Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know
How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me:
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this.
MACBETH
If we should fail?
LADY MACBETH
We fail!
But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep--
Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey
Soundly invite him--his two chamberlains
Will I with wine and wassail so convince
That memory, the warder of the brain,
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
A limbeck only: when in swinish sleep
Their drenched natures lie as in a death,
What cannot you and I perform upon
The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon
His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell?
MACBETH
Bring forth men-children only;
For thy undaunted mettle should compose
Nothing but males. Will it not be received,
When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two
Of his own chamber and used their very daggers,
That they have done't?
LADY MACBETH
Who dares receive it other,
As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar
Upon his death?
If I said what's on my mind
You'd turn and walk away
Disappearing way back in your dreams
It's so hard to be unkind
So easy just to say
That everything is just the way it seems
You look up at me
And somewhere in your mind you see
A man I'll never be
If only I could find a way
I'd feel like I'm the man you believe I am
And it's getting harder every day for me
To hide behind this dream you see
A man I'll never be
I can't get any stronger
I can't climb any higher
You'll never know just how hard I've tried
Cry a little longer
And hold a little tighter
Emotions can't be satisfied
You look up at me
And somewhere in your mind you still see
A man I'll never be
If only I could find a way
I'd feel like I'm the man you believe I am
And it's getting harder every day for me
To hide behind this dream you see
A man I'll never be
4) ANALYSIS:
In my opinion, Macbeth is haunted by his inability to produce an heir. This will haunt him later when he becomes king. Lady Macbeth consistently questions his manhood, even when we as an audience see how much he has accomplished, it appears that it will never be enough for his wife. She calls to the spirits to "unsex me here,/And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/Of direst cruelty!" (I,iv, 120-123). This also undoes the sexual and emotional relationship between the two characters, making it impossible for them to work together as a couple. The song bu Boston calls upon this idea, as the speaker feels it is impossible to say "what's on mind/You'd turn and walk away/Disappearing way be in your dreams." Lady Macbeth has a vision for what she wants her husband to be. It will continue to get harder for Macbeth "to hide behind this dream you see/a man i'll never be."
2) Text:
MACBETH
We will proceed no further in this business:
He hath honour'd me of late; and I have bought
Golden opinions from all sorts of people,
Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,
Not cast aside so soon.
LADY MACBETH
Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since?
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale
At what it did so freely? From this time
Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valour
As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that
Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem,
Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,'
Like the poor cat i' the adage?
MACBETH
Prithee, peace:
I dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more is none.
LADY MACBETH
What beast was't, then,
That made you break this enterprise to me?
When you durst do it, then you were a man;
And, to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place
Did then adhere, and yet you would make both:
They have made themselves, and that their fitness now
Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know
How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me:
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this.
MACBETH
If we should fail?
LADY MACBETH
We fail!
But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep--
Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey
Soundly invite him--his two chamberlains
Will I with wine and wassail so convince
That memory, the warder of the brain,
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
A limbeck only: when in swinish sleep
Their drenched natures lie as in a death,
What cannot you and I perform upon
The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon
His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell?
MACBETH
Bring forth men-children only;
For thy undaunted mettle should compose
Nothing but males. Will it not be received,
When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two
Of his own chamber and used their very daggers,
That they have done't?
LADY MACBETH
Who dares receive it other,
As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar
Upon his death?
MACBETH
I am settled, and bend up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.
Away, and mock the time with fairest show:
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
I am settled, and bend up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.
Away, and mock the time with fairest show:
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
LADY MACBETH EXITS
3) Song & Lyrics:
"A Man I'll Never Be" by Boston (1978)
MACBETH
3) Song & Lyrics:
"A Man I'll Never Be" by Boston (1978)
MACBETH
If I said what's on my mind
You'd turn and walk away
Disappearing way back in your dreams
It's so hard to be unkind
So easy just to say
That everything is just the way it seems
You look up at me
And somewhere in your mind you see
A man I'll never be
If only I could find a way
I'd feel like I'm the man you believe I am
And it's getting harder every day for me
To hide behind this dream you see
A man I'll never be
I can't get any stronger
I can't climb any higher
You'll never know just how hard I've tried
Cry a little longer
And hold a little tighter
Emotions can't be satisfied
You look up at me
And somewhere in your mind you still see
A man I'll never be
If only I could find a way
I'd feel like I'm the man you believe I am
And it's getting harder every day for me
To hide behind this dream you see
A man I'll never be
4) ANALYSIS:
In my opinion, Macbeth is haunted by his inability to produce an heir. This will haunt him later when he becomes king. Lady Macbeth consistently questions his manhood, even when we as an audience see how much he has accomplished, it appears that it will never be enough for his wife. She calls to the spirits to "unsex me here,/And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/Of direst cruelty!" (I,iv, 120-123). This also undoes the sexual and emotional relationship between the two characters, making it impossible for them to work together as a couple. The song bu Boston calls upon this idea, as the speaker feels it is impossible to say "what's on mind/You'd turn and walk away/Disappearing way be in your dreams." Lady Macbeth has a vision for what she wants her husband to be. It will continue to get harder for Macbeth "to hide behind this dream you see/a man i'll never be."
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Due Monday, November 25th - "Macbeth" by William Shakespeare - Act I, scenes i-iv
Directions: Please reread Act I, scenes i-iv of Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Choose 1-2 major passages from the play and comment on the ideas, philosophy, and/or the motivations of the characters and the impact on the plot of the play. For example, what is Banquo thinking, now that he heard the witches and notices the actions of Macbeth? The Thane of Cawdor had betrayed Duncan. How are the king’s feelings about Macbeth ironic? How do the witches influence the action? Are the characters subject to freewill or not? How does Shakespeare use foil characters? How does he employ dramatic irony? Explore the possibilities for our class discussion. Please read your fellow classmates responses and engage with one another.
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Introduction to Shakespeare
First Performed
|
Plays
|
First Printed
|
1590-91
|
Henry VI,
Part I (H)
|
1594?
|
1590-91
|
Henry VI,
Part II (H)
|
1594?
|
1591-92
|
Henry VI,
Part III (H)
|
1623
|
1592-93
|
Richard III (T)
|
1597
|
1592-93
|
Comedy of
Errors (C)
|
1623
|
1593-94
|
Titus
Andronicus (T)
|
1594
|
1593-94
|
1623
|
|
1594-95
|
1623
|
|
1594-95
|
1598?
|
|
1594-95
|
Romeo and
Juliet (T)
|
1597
|
1595-96
|
Richard II (T)
|
1597
|
1595-96
|
1600
|
|
1596-97
|
King John (H)
|
1623
|
1596-97
|
1600
|
|
1597-98
|
Henry IV,
Part I (H)
|
1598
|
1597-98
|
1600
|
|
1598-99
|
1600
|
|
1598-99
|
Henry V (H)
|
1600
|
1599-1600
|
Julius
Caesar (T)
|
1623
|
1599-1600
|
As You Like
It (C)
|
1623
|
1599-1600
|
Twelfth
Night (C)
|
1623
|
1600-01
|
Hamlet (T)
|
1603
|
1600-01
|
1602
|
|
1601-02
|
1609
|
|
1602-03
|
1623
|
|
1604-05
|
1623
|
|
1604-05
|
Othello (T)
|
1622
|
1605-06
|
King Lear (T)
|
1608
|
1605-06
|
Macbeth (T)
|
1623
|
1606-07
|
1623
|
|
1607-08
|
Coriolanus (T)
|
1623
|
1607-08
|
Timon of
Athens (T)
|
1623
|
1608-09
|
Pericles (R)
|
1609
|
1609-10
|
Cymbeline (T)
|
1623
|
1610-11
|
1623
|
|
1611-12
|
The Tempest (R)
|
1623
|
1612-13
|
Henry VIII (H)
|
1623
|
1612-13
|
1634
|
This chart shows samples of the changes in English.
#1 is Old English or Anglo-Saxon (circa 450-1066 CE).
#2 is Middle English (circa 1066-1450 AD).
#3 is Modern English from about the time of Shakespeare.
#4 is another sample of Modern English, but it is more recent than #3.
Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare
Bassianus, brother to Saturninus, in love with Lavinia
Titus Andronicus, a Roman, general against the Goths
Marcus Andronicus, tribune of the people, and brother to Titus
Lucius, Quintus, Martius, Mutius, sons to Titus Andronicus
Lavinia, daughter to Titus Andronicus
Young Lucius, a boy, son to Lucius
Tamora, queen of the Goths
Alarbus, Demetrius, Chiron, sons to Tamora
Aaron, a Moor, beloved by Tamora
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Due Friday, December 14th - Austen Literary Analysis Essay
Overview: We engage in regular blog writing and discussion, and wrote and shared two pieces of creative writing. Now that your are scholars of Jane Austen it is time to put your intellect to the test.
Directions: Please choose one prompt below and compose an essay, using the work of Jane Austen. You must choose one of the two novels as the centerpiece of your discussion and use the other materials as supplementary works in your exploration. You must have a works cited with at least four pieces. Please consider the following in your study:
Prompt 1. In many novels, a character has a misconception of himself or his world. Destroying or perpetuating this illusion contributes to a central theme of the novel. Choose a novel with a major character to whom this statement applies and write an essay in which you consider the following points: what the character’s illusion is and how it differs from reality as presented in the novel and how the destruction or perpetuation of the illusion develops a theme of the novel.
Prompt 2. A recurring theme in literature is the classic war between a passion and responsibility. For instance, a personal cause, a love, a desire for revenge, a determination to redress a wrong, or some other emotion or drive may conflict with moral duty. Choose a literary work in which a character confronts the demands of a private passion that conflicts with his or her responsibilities. In a well-written essay show clearly the nature of the conflict, its effects upon the character, and its significance to the work.
Prompt 3. Choose a distinguished novel or play in which some of the most significant events are mental or psychological; for example, awakenings, discoveries, changes in consciousness. In a well-organized essay, describe how the author manages to give these internal events the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external action. Do not merely summarize the plot.
Prompt 4. Novels and plays often include scenes of weddings, funerals, parties, and other social occasions. Such scenes may reveal the values of the characters and the society in which they live. Select a novel or play that includes such a scene and, in a focused essay, discuss the contribution the scene makes to the meaning of the work as a whole. You may choose a work from the list below or another novel or play of literary merit.
Prompt 5. In a novel or play, a confidant (male) or a confidante (female) is a character, often a friend or relative of the hero or heroine, whose role is to be present when the hero or heroine needs a sympathetic listener to confide in. Frequently the result is, as Henry James remarked, that the confidant or confidante can be as much "the reader's friend as the protagonist's." However, the author sometimes uses this character for other purposes as well. Choose a confidant or confidante from a novel or play of recognized literary merit and write an essay in which you discuss the various ways this character functions in the work. You may write your essay on one of the following novels or plays or on another of comparable quality. Do not write on a poem or short story.
Directions: Please choose one prompt below and compose an essay, using the work of Jane Austen. You must choose one of the two novels as the centerpiece of your discussion and use the other materials as supplementary works in your exploration. You must have a works cited with at least four pieces. Please consider the following in your study:
Major Works and Links to Full Text
- Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
- Persuasion by Jane Austen
- Jane Austen Society
- Website: http://jasna.org/
- Becoming Jane (2007)
- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016)
- Pride & Prejudice (1995)
- Persuasion (1995)
Prompts
Prompt 1. In many novels, a character has a misconception of himself or his world. Destroying or perpetuating this illusion contributes to a central theme of the novel. Choose a novel with a major character to whom this statement applies and write an essay in which you consider the following points: what the character’s illusion is and how it differs from reality as presented in the novel and how the destruction or perpetuation of the illusion develops a theme of the novel.
Prompt 2. A recurring theme in literature is the classic war between a passion and responsibility. For instance, a personal cause, a love, a desire for revenge, a determination to redress a wrong, or some other emotion or drive may conflict with moral duty. Choose a literary work in which a character confronts the demands of a private passion that conflicts with his or her responsibilities. In a well-written essay show clearly the nature of the conflict, its effects upon the character, and its significance to the work.
Prompt 3. Choose a distinguished novel or play in which some of the most significant events are mental or psychological; for example, awakenings, discoveries, changes in consciousness. In a well-organized essay, describe how the author manages to give these internal events the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external action. Do not merely summarize the plot.
Prompt 4. Novels and plays often include scenes of weddings, funerals, parties, and other social occasions. Such scenes may reveal the values of the characters and the society in which they live. Select a novel or play that includes such a scene and, in a focused essay, discuss the contribution the scene makes to the meaning of the work as a whole. You may choose a work from the list below or another novel or play of literary merit.
Prompt 5. In a novel or play, a confidant (male) or a confidante (female) is a character, often a friend or relative of the hero or heroine, whose role is to be present when the hero or heroine needs a sympathetic listener to confide in. Frequently the result is, as Henry James remarked, that the confidant or confidante can be as much "the reader's friend as the protagonist's." However, the author sometimes uses this character for other purposes as well. Choose a confidant or confidante from a novel or play of recognized literary merit and write an essay in which you discuss the various ways this character functions in the work. You may write your essay on one of the following novels or plays or on another of comparable quality. Do not write on a poem or short story.
Prompt 6. Many works of literature contain a character who intentionally deceives others. The character’s dishonesty may be intended either to help or to hurt. Such a character, for example, may choose to mislead others for personal safety, to spare someone’s feelings, or to carry out a crime. Choose a novel or play in which a character deceives others. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze the motives for that character’s deception and discuss how the deception contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Mr. P's Ten Steps to Writing an Effective Essay
1. Read and Read and Read Prompt: Whatever you choose, make sure to think about every facet of the question. Read over and over again. Think. Digest what you are about to accomplish.
2. Return to the text. Return to your blog responses, journal, and class notes. Go back and look your work again with the prompt in mind. How is everything new now that you are seeing the plays with the prompt in mind?
3. Rehearse. What? Yes! Rehearse and perform a verbal essay using the prompt and the works. How would you address a jury of your peers with you proposed thesis? What evidence would you use?
4. Find your Evidence: Find and cite valuable passages for each of the parts of the above prompt. Go to the net and cut and paste at least 10-12 passages and or quotations to use in your piece into a word document.
5. So what’s your point? Thesis statement: The questions in the prompt are guiding your essay. Look at your 10 major passages and ask yourself…what message am I taking away from this reading experience? Write a solid one sentence thesis statement of purpose.
6. Organization: Look at the list of quotations and organize the quotations into the paragraphs. DO NOT BE AFRAID TO JUMP AROUND. JUMP AROUND. JUMP UP, JUMP UP AND GET DOWN!
7. Your thesis and 10 Quotations. Your complete thesis is the heading and the 10 quotations should be arranged in the order you would use them in your argument.
8. Compose body paragraphs: Using the prompt and your accompanying quotations - start writing your essay. Make sure you come to some sort of conclusion in the third paragraph. You may even have a brief conclusion as another paragraph.
9. Read your essay over: The professor’s eyes should not be the first set of eyes to read your essay. Make sure it is solid. Read it out loud.
10. Compose your introduction: Keep it brief and make sure the thesis statement you wrote is the last sentence.
2. Return to the text. Return to your blog responses, journal, and class notes. Go back and look your work again with the prompt in mind. How is everything new now that you are seeing the plays with the prompt in mind?
3. Rehearse. What? Yes! Rehearse and perform a verbal essay using the prompt and the works. How would you address a jury of your peers with you proposed thesis? What evidence would you use?
4. Find your Evidence: Find and cite valuable passages for each of the parts of the above prompt. Go to the net and cut and paste at least 10-12 passages and or quotations to use in your piece into a word document.
5. So what’s your point? Thesis statement: The questions in the prompt are guiding your essay. Look at your 10 major passages and ask yourself…what message am I taking away from this reading experience? Write a solid one sentence thesis statement of purpose.
6. Organization: Look at the list of quotations and organize the quotations into the paragraphs. DO NOT BE AFRAID TO JUMP AROUND. JUMP AROUND. JUMP UP, JUMP UP AND GET DOWN!
7. Your thesis and 10 Quotations. Your complete thesis is the heading and the 10 quotations should be arranged in the order you would use them in your argument.
8. Compose body paragraphs: Using the prompt and your accompanying quotations - start writing your essay. Make sure you come to some sort of conclusion in the third paragraph. You may even have a brief conclusion as another paragraph.
9. Read your essay over: The professor’s eyes should not be the first set of eyes to read your essay. Make sure it is solid. Read it out loud.
10. Compose your introduction: Keep it brief and make sure the thesis statement you wrote is the last sentence.
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