Response Journal Directions:

1. In your reader’s journal, you should record your ideas, questions, comments,
interpretations, predictions, reflections, challenges – response you have to the books you are reading.

2. Keep the reader’s journal with you while you’re reading. Stop as you read and take time to write. Capture your thoughts while they’re fresh in your mind. Date each entry and note the pages read during that reading session. I expect entries every 25 pages or less.

3. This should NOT be a summary of the plot though references to what is occurring in the plot are essential as you respond. What you are noting is your engagement with the reading.

4. Suggested starters:

-As I read the opening chapter, I think…

-I changed my mind about…because…

-So far the most interesting character is…because…

-I am confused by…

-I predict that…

-I like the way the writer…

-Repeated imagery I see includes…

-Repeated figurative language or motifs I see includes…

-This part of the reading reminds me of…

-This part of the reading makes me realize…

-While I was reading today, I pictured…

-I’d like to tell the writer…

-I’d like to ask the writer…

-If I were (name the character), I would (wouldn’t) have…

-What is happening is realistic (unrealistic) because…

-One thing I’ve noticed about the author’s style is…

-I agree with (disagree with) the writer about…

-A good title (or a better title) for this novel would be…because…

-If I could talk to (name the character), I would say…

-I think the main things the writer is trying to say are…

-I think the writer must be…because…

-(Name the character) reminds me of myself because…

-(Name the character) reminds me of…because…

-This book is similar to (different from) other books I’ve read …

-I would change the ending…

-The most important word (sentence, paragraph) in this book is…because…

Novel Annotation Directions:

1. Circle unfamiliar words and write synonyms in the margin.
2. Highlight or underline descriptions of characters and their relationships, important
quotes, setting information, plot details, and anything related to theme.
Label reason for noting.
3. Put a box around symbols and literary devices (personification, metaphor,
similes, alliteration, hyperbole, irony, allusion, etc.)
4. Record personal connections that you make with the novel in the margins.
5. For each chapter, compose at least two discussion questions that a teacher might ask.
6. At the end of each chapter, write a brief summary.

Welcome AP Literature 2009-2010!

I will begin providing you here with some critical thinking resources that will prove invaluable.

Bibliography Cards Cancelled

1. Research Paper Final Draft: 5/29
• Rough Draft 5/22
• MLA format
• 15 pages
• Bibliography cards cancelled (Extra-credit)


2. Cinematography Project: 6/1
• Must demonstrate literary technique
• Master plot development
• Character arc
• Setting, location, and perception manipulation

3. Final Examination
• Period 1: 6/4 & 6/5
• Period 2: 6/8

Correction...

The two essays are due tomorrow, 30 April: Thursday.

Two Essays due this Wednesday!

Question 1 (Suggested time—40 minutes)

Read the following passage carefully. Considering such literary elements as style, tone, and diction, write a well-organized essay that examines the speaker’s view of bad carpentry work.

We recently had a carpenter build a few things in our house in the country. It’s an old house, leaning away from the wind a little; its floors sag gently, like an old mattress. The carpenter turned his back on our tilting walls and took his vertical from a plumb line and his horizontal from a bubble level, and then went to work by the light of these absolutes. Fitting his planks into place took a lot of those long, irregular, oblique cuts with a ripsaw that break an amateur’s heart. The bookcase and kitchen counter and cabinet he left behind stand perfectly up-and-down in a cockeyed house. Their rectitude is chastening. For minutes at a stretch, we study them, wondering if perhaps it isn’t, after all, the wall that is true and the bookcase that leans. Eventually, we suppose, everything will settle into the comfortably crooked, but it will take years, barring earthquakes, and in the meantime we are annoyed at being made to live with impossible standards.

From “Assorted Prose.”

Question 2 (Suggested time—40 minutes)

Read the following passage carefully. Then, write a well-written essay in which you discuss the manner in which the narrator shows the setting of the barn quickly diminishing Rusty’s presence.

A barn, in a day, is a small night. The splinters of light between the dry shingles pierce the high roof like stars, and the rafters and crossbeams and built-in ladders seem, until your eyes adjust, as mysterious as the branches of a haunted forest. David entered silently, the gun in one hand.... The smell of old straw scratched his sinuses.... the mouths of empty bins gaped like caves. Rusty oddments of farming — coils of baling wire, some spare tines for a harrow, a handleless shovel — hung on nails driven here and there in the thick wood. He stood stock-still a minute; it took a while to separate the cooing of the pigeons from the rustling in his ears. When he had focused on the cooing, it flooded the vast interior with its throaty, bubbling outpour: there seemed no other sound. They were up behind the beams. What light there was leaked through the shingles and the dirty glass windows at the far end and the small round holes, about as big as basketballs, high on the opposite stone side walls, under the ridge of the roof.

From the story “Pigeon Feathers.”

MLA Bibliography cards

Your MLA bibliography cards are now due 20 May, Wednesday. I am hereby postponing this Friday's deadline, so that you may focus all your studies towards passing every AP Exam that you have challenged!

May the Force Be With Us!

In Peace,
Whyte

Here's another way to better

understand what Hesse is talking about: check out the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path...

The Feminine and Masculine Journeys...

The Feminine Journey

Act 1: Containment
1. The Illusion of the Perfect World
2. The Betrayal or Realization
3. The Awakening—Preparing for the Journey

Act 2: Transformation
4. The Descent—Passing the Gates of Judgment
5. The Eye of the Storm
6. Death—All is Lost

Act 3: Emergence
7. Support
8. Rebirth—The Moment of Truth
9. Full Circle—Return to the Perfect World

The Masculine Journey

Act 1: Challenge
1. The Perfect World
2. Friends and Enemies
3. The Call

Act 2: Obstacles
4. Small Success
5. Invitations
6. Trials

Act 3: Transformation
7. Death—A Fork in the Road
8. Awaken or Rebel
9. Victory or Failure

Specific research resources...

Many of you have inquired about specific book titles from the three required Philosopher/Artists. Amongst many of their works, here are some:

Campbell, Joseph. Myths of Light.
Campbell, Joseph. Occidental Mythology.
Campbell, Joseph. Oriental Mythology.
Campbell, Joseph. Pathways to Bliss.
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces.
Campbell, Joseph. The Inner Reaches of Outer Space.
Campbell, Joseph. Mythic Image.
Campbell, Joseph. The Power of Myth.
Campbell, Joseph. Thou Art That.
Campbell, Joseph. Transformation of Myth Through Time.
Goethe, JW. Faust: Part 1.
Jung, Carl. Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious.
Jung, Carl. Man and His Symbols.
Jung, Carl. Memories, Dreams, Reflections.
Tsu, Lao. Tao Te Ching.

Works Cited and Research...

You must use the following three artists in your research:

Campbell, Joseph
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang
Jung, C.G.

Philosophers to consider:

Descartes, René
Kant, Immanuel
Nietzsche, Friedrich
Schopenhauer, Arthur
Swedenborg, Emanuel

Poets to consider:

Blake, William
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor
Emerson, Ralph W.
Joyce, James
Keats, John
Mann, Thomas
Paz, Octavio
Shelly, Percy Bysshe
Wordsworth, William
Yeats, William

AP Practice Exam...

To be held tomorrow, 10 Friday at 3P.M.

On Research

Folks, run a Google search on literary themes. There's plenty out there to research. Make sure that you have an idea for your research direction tomorrow!

Some Literary Themes:

Ambition
Beauty
Betrayal
Courage
Duty
Fear
Freedom
Happiness
Jealousy
Loneliness
Love
Loyalty
Past
Perseverance
Prejudice
Prejudice
Time

Friday

How would you be able to identify a particular genre from an AP Literature passage?
—Themes, word choice, style, symbols, content, religion, class, gender?...

1. English Literary Renaissance
Elizabethan-The Age of Playwrights
Jacobean
Metaphysical poets
Cavalier poets
2. Commonwealth
3. Restoration

4. Age of Reason
The Age of Prose
The Satirists
5. Romanticism
6. Victorianism
The Rise of the Novel
Realism
Naturalism
Existentialism
Impressionism
7. Modernism
Cubism
Stream-of-consciousness
Surrealism
8. Post-modernism
Multiculturalism
Feminism

Consider the span of Rahel’s life, the good, the ugly, and the sublime. Then, in a well-written essay, examine the ways in which Rahel must confront and return to her past, her family, and to her native India in order to discover some sense of redemption and peacefulness for herself.

For this week...

Book Analysis for Flaubert's “Madame Bovary” is due upon on our return to school 30 Monday. Hardy’s “Tess of the D'urbervilles” BA can be submitted for extra credit by 10 April.

Both classes are responsible for completing AP practice tests #2 and #3. Take your time. Study questions and passages thoroughly, remember AP stems, and other AP multiple-choice taking strategies.

In Peace,
Whyte

The God of Small Things Essays 20 Friday...

Note:

Composition for The God of Small Things due this 20 Friday in MLA, hand-written (cursive). Make sure that you have an argument (a thesis) that tells the reader what to expect in your body paragraphs. DO NOT RETELL the summary in the conclusion! In the conclusion, show the reader how the thesis statement has been proven.


Question 1 (suggested time 30 minutes)

In some novels, certain parallel or recurring events prove to be significant. In an essay, describe the major similarities and differences in a sequence of parallel or recurring events in The God of Small Things and discuss the significance of such events. Do not merely summarize the plot. Consider figurative language, tone, and diction.

Question 2 (suggested time 30 minutes)

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 an episode from The God of Small Things in which a character confronts the demands of a private passion that conflict 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. Consider irony, symbolism, and diction.

Question 3 (suggested time 30 minutes)

Some works of literature use the element of time in a distinct way. The chronological sequence of events may be altered, or time may be suspended or accelerated. Analyze how Roy’s manipulation of time contributes to the effectiveness of The God of Small Things as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot. Consider style, structure, and diction.

Creative Writing 101

In the spirit of Sandra Cisneros, Maxine Hong-Kingston, Amy Tan, James Joyce, and Arundhati Roy, write a FICTITIOUS short story about the span of a family’s generational struggle to find peace within itself (or at least a fragment of a short story). Make sure that you produce two pages.

Consider style. Like the novelist that you have covered throughout this year’s studies, you may employ dialogue, dramatic monologue, internal monologue, first or third narration, and other literary technique(s), such as stream of consciousness. Be creative and be mindful of your application of tone and mood.

Who is your fictitious central character? What is this character’s arc? What is your master plot, journey, point, or didactic lesson? You might think ahead to wonder how, if you were a famous Hollywood director, this story might be filmed… Setting can be important.

Follow Roy’s lead. Try not to write in a linear tradition. Use flashback, In Medias Res, digression, and flash forward to tell your CIRCULAR, fragmented tale.

The God of Small Things

Book Analysis is due this Friday!

Reminder...

If you plan on taking the AP Literature Exam, bring your school #ID, green order form, and your $30 deposit. We go to the MHS Student Store as a class first thing tomorrow!

Peace,
Whyte

Question 1 (Suggested time 40 minutes)

Carefully read Robert Browning’s “My Last my Duchess” and “Porphyria’s Lover.” Both poems employ characterization in dramatic monologue where the speaker reveals the “most horrific example of a mind totally mad [and jealous] despite [their] eloquence in expressing [themselves].” Compare the two poems for style, irony, and poetic meaning.

Also, submit a 1/2 page precis on the strategy of multiple-choice as based on the AP prep books that each of you have taken home.

Both assignment are due Monday.

Three PL Essays due Monday

Handwrite them in cursive. Make sure to employ MLA formatting. I've also attached an extra-credit essay in case you're feeling cavalier.


Time: 2 Hours
3 Essay Questions (Plus an Extra Credit one!)

Question 1 (Suggested time—40 minutes) Read the passage carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the speaker employs rhetorical devices to support his position. Develop your essay with SPECIFIC references to the passage.

Moloch Argues:

“My sentence is for open Warr: Of Wiles,
More unexpert, I boast not: them let those
Contrive who need, or when they need, not now.
For while they sit contriving, shall the rest,
Millions that stand in Arms, and longing wait [ 55 ]
The Signal to ascend, sit lingring here
Heav'ns fugitives, and for thir dwelling place
Accept this dark opprobrious Den of shame,
The Prison of his Tyranny who Reigns
By our delay? no, let us rather choose [ 60 ]
Arm'd with Hell flames and fury all at once
O're Heav'ns high Towrs to force resistless way,
Turning our Tortures into horrid Arms
Against the Torturer; when to meet the noise
Of his Almighty Engin he shall hear [ 65 ]
Infernal Thunder, and for Lightning see
Black fire and horror shot with equal rage
Among his Angels; and his Throne it self
Mixt with Tartarean Sulphur, and strange fire,
His own invented Torments. But perhaps [ 70 ]
The way seems difficult and steep to scale
With upright wing against a higher foe.
Let such bethink them, if the sleepy drench
Of that forgetful Lake benumm not still,
That in our proper motion we ascend [ 75 ]
Up to our native seat: descent and fall
To us is adverse. Who but felt of late
When the fierce Foe hung on our brok'n Rear
Insulting, and pursu'd us through the Deep,
With what compulsion and laborious flight [ 80 ]
We sunk thus low? Th' ascent is easie then;
Th' event is fear'd; should we again provoke
Our stronger, some worse way his wrath may find
To our destruction: if there be in Hell
Fear to be worse destroy'd: what can be worse [ 85 ]
Then to dwell here, driv'n out from bliss, condemn'd
In this abhorred deep to utter woe;
Where pain of unextinguishable fire
Must exercise us without hope of end
The Vassals of his anger, when the Scourge [ 90 ]
Inexorably, and the torturing hour
Calls us to Penance? More destroy'd then thus
We should be quite abolisht and expire.
What fear we then? what doubt we to incense
His utmost ire? which to the highth enrag'd, [ 95 ]
Will either quite consume us, and reduce
To nothing this essential, happier farr
Then miserable to have eternal being:
Or if our substance be indeed Divine,
And cannot cease to be, we are at worst [ 100 ]
On this side nothing; and by proof we feel
Our power sufficient to disturb his Heav'n,
And with perpetual inrodes to Allarme,
Though inaccessible, his fatal Throne:
Which if not Victory is yet Revenge” [ 105 ].

Question 2 (Suggested time—40 minutes) Read the passage carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the speaker employs rhetorical devices to support his position. Develop your essay with SPECIFIC references to the passage.

Belial Argues:

“I should be much for open Warr, O Peers,
As not behind in hate; if what was urg'd [ 120 ]
Main reason to persuade immediate Warr,
Did not disswade me most, and seem to cast
Ominous conjecture on the whole success:
When he who most excels in fact of Arms,
In what he counsels and in what excels [ 125 ]
Mistrustful, grounds his courage on despair
And utter dissolution, as the scope
Of all his aim, after some dire revenge.
First, what Revenge? the Towrs of Heav'n are fill'd
With Armed watch, that render all access [ 130 ]
Impregnable; oft on the bordering Deep
Encamp thir Legions, or with obscure wing
Scout farr and wide into the Realm of night,
Scorning surprize. Or could we break our way
By force, and at our heels all Hell should rise [ 135 ]
With blackest Insurrection, to confound
Heav'ns purest Light, yet our great Enemy
All incorruptible would on his Throne
Sit unpolluted, and th' Ethereal mould
Incapable of stain would soon expel [ 140 ]
Her mischief, and purge off the baser fire
Victorious. Thus repuls'd, our final hope
Is flat despair; we must exasperate
Th' Almighty Victor to spend all his rage,
And that must end us, that must be our cure, [ 145 ]
To be no more; sad cure; for who would loose,
Though full of pain, this intellectual being,
Those thoughts that wander through Eternity,
To perish rather, swallowd up and lost
In the wide womb of uncreated night, [ 150 ]
Devoid of sense and motion? and who knows,
Let this be good, whether our angry Foe
Can give it, or will ever? how he can
Is doubtful; that he never will is sure.
Will he, so wise, let loose at once his ire, [ 155 ]
Belike through impotence, or unaware,
To give his Enemies thir wish, and end
Them in his anger, whom his anger saves
To punish endless? wherefore cease we then?
Say they who counsel Warr, we are decreed, [ 160 ]
Reserv'd and destin'd to Eternal woe;
Whatever doing, what can we suffer more,
What can we suffer worse? is this then worst,
Thus sitting, thus consulting, thus in Arms?
What when we fled amain, pursu'd and strook [ 165 ]
With Heav'ns afflicting Thunder, and besought
The Deep to shelter us? this Hell then seem'd
A refuge from those wounds: or when we lay
Chain'd on the burning Lake? that sure was worse.
What if the breath that kindl'd those grim fires [ 170 ]
Awak'd should blow them into sevenfold rage
And plunge us in the flames? or from above
Should intermitted vengeance arm again
His red right hand to plague us? what if all
Her stores were open'd, and this Firmament [ 175 ]
Of Hell should spout her Cataracts of Fire,
Impendent horrors, threatning hideous fall
One day upon our heads; while we perhaps
Designing or exhorting glorious warr,
Caught in a fierie Tempest shall be hurl'd [ 180 ]
Each on his rock transfixt, the sport and prey
Of racking whirlwinds, or for ever sunk
Under yon boyling Ocean, wrapt in Chains;
There to converse with everlasting groans,
Unrespited, unpitied, unrepreevd, [ 185 ]
Ages of hopeless end; this would be worse.
Warr therefore, open or conceal'd, alike
My voice disswades; for what can force or guile
With him, or who deceive his mind, whose eye
Views all things at one view? he from heav'ns highth [ 190 ]
All these our motions vain, sees and derides;
Not more Almighty to resist our might
Then wise to frustrate all our plots and wiles.
Shall we then live thus vile, the race of Heav'n
Thus trampl'd, thus expell'd to suffer here [ 195 ]
Chains and these Torments? better these then worse
By my advice; since fate inevitable
Subdues us, and Omnipotent Decree
The Victors will. To suffer, as to doe,
Our strength is equal, nor the Law unjust [ 200 ]
That so ordains: this was at first resolv'd,
If we were wise, against so great a foe
Contending, and so doubtful what might fall.
I laugh, when those who at the Spear are bold
And vent'rous, if that fail them, shrink and fear [ 205 ]
What yet they know must follow, to endure
Exile, or ignominy, or bonds, or pain,
The sentence of thir Conquerour: This is now
Our doom; which if we can sustain and bear,
Our Supream Foe in time may much remit [ 210 ]
His anger, and perhaps thus farr remov'd
Not mind us not offending, satisfi'd
With what is punish't; whence these raging fires
Will slack'n, if his breath stir not thir flames.
Our purer essence then will overcome [ 215 ]
Thir noxious vapour, or enur'd not feel,
Or chang'd at length, and to the place conformd
In temper and in nature, will receive
Familiar the fierce heat, and void of pain;
This horror will grow milde, this darkness light, [ 220 ]
Besides what hope the never-ending flight
Of future dayes may bring, what chance, what change
Worth waiting, since our present lot appeers
For happy though but ill, for ill not worst,
If we procure not to our selves more woe” [ 225 ].

Question 3 (Suggested time—40 minutes) Read the passage carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the speaker employs rhetorical devices to support his position. Develop your essay with SPECIFIC references to the passage.

Mammon Argues:

“Either to disinthrone the King of Heav'n
We warr, if Warr be best, or to regain [ 230 ]
Our own right lost: him to unthrone we then
May hope when everlasting Fate shall yeild
To fickle Chance, and Chaos judge the strife:
The former vain to hope argues as vain
The latter: for what place can be for us [ 235 ]
Within Heav'ns bound, unless Heav'ns Lord supream
We overpower? Suppose he should relent
And publish Grace to all, on promise made
Of new Subjection; with what eyes could we
Stand in his presence humble, and receive [ 240 ]
Strict Laws impos'd, to celebrate his Throne
With warbl'd Hymns, and to his Godhead sing
Forc't Halleluiah's; while he Lordly sits
Our envied Sovran, and his Altar breathes
Ambrosial Odours and Ambrosial Flowers, [ 245 ]
Our servile offerings. This must be our task
In Heav'n, this our delight; how wearisom
Eternity so spent in worship paid
To whom we hate. Let us not then pursue
By force impossible, by leave obtain'd [ 250 ]
Unacceptable, though in Heav'n, our state
Of splendid vassalage, but rather seek
Our own good from our selves, and from our own
Live to our selves, though in this vast recess,
Free, and to none accountable, preferring [ 255 ]
Hard liberty before the easie yoke
Of servile Pomp. Our greatness will appeer
Then most conspicuous, when great things of small,
Useful of hurtful, prosperous of adverse
We can create, and in what place so e're [ 260 ]
Thrive under evil, and work ease out of pain
Through labour and indurance. This deep world
Of darkness do we dread? How oft amidst
Thick clouds and dark doth Heav'ns all-ruling Sire
Choose to reside, his Glory unobscur'd, [ 265 ]
And with the Majesty of darkness round
Covers his Throne; from whence deep thunders roar
Must'ring thir rage, and Heav'n resembles Hell?
As he our darkness, cannot we his Light
Imitate when we please? This Desart soile [ 270 ]
Wants not her hidden lustre, Gemms and Gold;
Nor want we skill or Art, from whence to raise
Magnificence; and what can Heav'n shew more?
Our torments also may in length of time
Become our Elements, these piercing Fires [ 275 ]
As soft as now severe, our temper chang'd
Into their temper; which must needs remove
The sensible of pain. All things invite
To peaceful Counsels, and the settl'd State
Of order, how in safety best we may [ 280 ]
Compose our present evils, with regard
Of what we are and were, dismissing quite
All thoughts of warr: ye have what I advise”.

…………Extra Credit…………

Question 4 (Suggested time—40 minutes) Read the passage carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the speaker employs rhetorical devices to support his position. Develop your essay with SPECIFIC references to the passage.

Beëlzebub argues:

“Thrones and Imperial Powers, off-spring of heav'n [ 310 ]
Ethereal Vertues; or these Titles now
Must we renounce, and changing stile be call'd
Princes of Hell? for so the popular vote
Inclines, here to continue, and build up here
A growing Empire; doubtless; while we dream, [ 315 ]
And know not that the King of Heav'n hath doom'd
This place our dungeon, not our safe retreat
Beyond his Potent arm, to live exempt
From Heav'ns high jurisdiction, in new League
Banded against his Throne, but to remaine [ 320 ]
In strictest bondage, though thus far remov'd,
Under th' inevitable curb, reserv'd
His captive multitude: For he, be sure
In heighth or depth, still first and last will Reign
Sole King, and of his Kingdom loose no part [ 325 ]
By our revolt, but over Hell extend
His Empire, and with Iron Scepter rule
Us here, as with his Golden those in Heav'n.
What sit we then projecting peace and Warr?
Warr hath determin'd us, and foild with loss [ 330 ]
Irreparable; tearms of peace yet none
Voutsaf't or sought; for what peace will be giv'n
To us enslav'd, but custody severe,
And stripes, and arbitrary punishment
Inflicted? and what peace can we return, [ 335 ]
But to our power hostility and hate,
Untam'd reluctance, and revenge though slow,
Yet ever plotting how the Conqueror least
May reap his conquest, and may least rejoyce
In doing what we most in suffering feel? [ 340 ]
Nor will occasion want, nor shall we need
With dangerous expedition to invade
Heav'n, whose high walls fear no assault or Siege,
Or ambush from the Deep. What if we find
Some easier enterprize? There is a place [ 345 ]
(If ancient and prophetic fame in Heav'n
Err not) another World, the happy seat
Of some new Race call'd Man, about this time
To be created like to us, though less
In power and excellence, but favour'd more [ 350 ]
Of him who rules above; so was his will
Pronounc'd among the Gods, and by an Oath,
That shook Heav'ns whol circumference, confirm'd.
Thither let us bend all our thoughts, to learn
What creatures there inhabit, of what mould, [ 355 ]
Or substance, how endu'd, and what thir Power,
And where thir weakness, how attempted best,
By force or suttlety: Though Heav'n be shut,
And Heav'ns high Arbitrator sit secure
In his own strength, this place may lye expos'd [ 360 ]
The utmost border of his Kingdom, left
To their defence who hold it: here perhaps
Som advantagious act may be achiev'd
By sudden onset, either with Hell fire
To waste his whole Creation, or possess [ 365 ]
All as our own, and drive as we were driven,
The punie habitants, or if not drive,
Seduce them to our Party, that thir God
May prove thir foe, and with repenting hand
Abolish his own works. This would surpass [ 370 ]
Common revenge, and interrupt his joy
In our Confusion, and our Joy upraise
In his disturbance; when his darling Sons
Hurl'd headlong to partake with us, shall curse
Thir frail Original, and faded bliss, [ 375 ]
Faded so soon. Advise if this be worth
Attempting, or to sit in darkness here
Hatching vain Empires”.

on the Epic Catalog...

Know Milton's nine levels of angels as well as his list of fallen ones.

Extra Credit...

Extra Credit: Read and submit a book analysis on Gustave Flaubert’s “Madame Bovary” by 10 April.

Extra Credit...

Extra Credit: Read and submit a book analysis on Gustave Flaubert’s “Madame Bovary” by 10 April.

Extra Credit...

Extra Credit: Read and submit a book analysis on Gustave Flaubert’s “Madame Bovary” by 10 April.

Multiple-Choice Power Point

Power Point: Strategies for AP Multiple-Choice Questions Assignment: 6 March

Look for AP Multiple-Choice strategies across the Internet. You will need to cite three Internet sources and you will need a total of five strategies. Create a Power Point show to present your findings.

25 February, Wednesday's Timed Essays...

AP Composition timed at 30 minutes. Pick two of the three prompts. Then handwrite two complete essays. They are due 25 February. Paradise Lost: “Book 1”

Essay 1

Read lines 84-124, 128-55, 157-91 carefully. Examine whether or not it could be argued that Satan is a skilled rhetorician? How so? Consider Milton’s use of figurative language, diction, and rhetorical devices.

Essay 2

Read lines 84-124, 128-55, 157-91 carefully. Argue whether or not Satan errors in his application of logic. Consider Milton’s use of figurative language, diction, and rhetorical devices.

Essay 3

Read lines 84-124, 128-55, 157-91 carefully. Does Beelzebub know something Satan doesn't; or does he admit something that Satan will not admit? Make an argument. Consider irony, diction, and theme.

Tone and Adjectives...

Define in handwriting the terms on tone that I gave to you. Know them by next Friday: test!

Tomorrow's Multiple-Choice quiz...

will be lifted from the following passage:

“Between the World and Me”

And one morning while in the woods I stumbled
suddenly upon the thing,
Stumbled upon it in a grassy clearing guarded by scaly
oaks and elms
And the sooty details of the scene rose, thrusting
themselves between the world and me....
There was a design of white bones slumbering forgottenly
upon a cushion of ashes.
There was a charred stump of a sapling pointing a blunt
finger accusingly at the sky.
There were torn tree limbs, tiny veins of burnt leaves, and
a scorched coil of greasy hemp;
A vacant shoe, an empty tie, a ripped shirt, a lonely hat,
and a pair of trousers stiff with black blood.
And upon the trampled grass were buttons, dead matches,
butt-ends of cigars and cigarettes, peanut shells, a
drained gin-flask, and a whore's lipstick;
Scattered traces of tar, restless arrays of feathers, and the
lingering smell of gasoline.
And through the morning air the sun poured yellow
surprise into the eye sockets of the stony skull....
And while I stood my mind was frozen within cold pity
for the life that was gone.
The ground gripped my feet and my heart was circled by
icy walls of fear--
The sun died in the sky; a night wind muttered in the
grass and fumbled the leaves in the trees; the woods
poured forth the hungry yelping of hounds; the
darkness screamed with thirsty voices; and the witnesses rose and lived:
The dry bones stirred, rattled, lifted, melting themselves
into my bones.
The grey ashes formed flesh firm and black, entering into
my flesh.
The gin-flask passed from mouth to mouth, cigars and
cigarettes glowed, the whore smeared lipstick red
upon her lips,
And a thousand faces swirled around me, clamoring that
my life be burned....
And then they had me, stripped me, battering my teeth
into my throat till I swallowed my own blood.
My voice was drowned in the roar of their voices, and my
black wet body slipped and rolled in their hands as
they bound me to the sapling.
And my skin clung to the bubbling hot tar, falling from
me in limp patches.
And the down and quills of the white feathers sank into
my raw flesh, and I moaned in my agony.
Then my blood was cooled mercifully, cooled by a
baptism of gasoline.
And in a blaze of red I leaped to the sky as pain rose like water, boiling my limbs
Panting, begging I clutched childlike, clutched to the hot
sides of death.
Now I am dry bones and my face a stony skull staring in
yellow surprise at the sun....
--Richard Wright

1. Look for speaker’s observation
2. Look for speaker’s description in lines 1-2
3. “charred stump”
4. Describe the scene of the ghastly event
5. The speaker says that he can still smell the scent of what item?
6. The speaker personifies what in lines 4-17
7. The speaker relies on what images
8. How does the speaker emphasize his helpless situation at the end of the second stanza?
9. How is the realism of the final stanza achieved?
10. “Leaped to the sky” suggests?
11. Why is “Yellow surprise” used twice?
12. What is the structure of the poem?
13. “What does the title mean?

1/3 Essays due 22 Monday...

Pick one of the three AP Literature and Composition Writing Prompts. Develop an entire, coherent essay based on the prompt that you have chosen.

Must be hand-written.

Question 1

(Suggested time-30 minutes. This question counts as one third of the total essay section score)

Frequently a literary character is thrust into a predicament that makes little or no rational sense. As a result, the character either concedes to the situation’s absurdity or takes actions that defy it. Explain how the central character encounters an irrational predicament in "Pride and Prejudice". Then, in a well organized essay, asses the course which the character takes to resolve it and show how the character contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.




Question 2

(Suggested time-30 minutes. This question counts as one third of the total essay section score)

Many times in literature a character is tempted to make a decision that runs counter to his sense of morality, loyalty, social position, or upbringing. Analyze a character who is tempted to act against her/his moral, social, or spiritual foundation in "Pride and Prejudice". Then in a well-organized essay, show what decision the character makes and indicate how that decision later impacts both the character and the work as a whole.



Question 3

(Suggested time-30 minutes. This question counts as one third of the total essay section score)

Oftentimes a belief, a value, or possession can become a source of fierce contention, causing dissension that threatens the bond between family members, colleagues, friends, or members of a social class. Explain how a belief, a value, or possession causes such a drift in "Pride and Prejudice". Then, in a well-organized essay, show to what extent the dissension damages the relationships of the individuals embroiled in the conflict.

"Paradise Lost" BA

is due tomorrow, 19 Friday. Must follow MLA Guidelines, be well thought out, and word-processed.

Paradise Lost and Areopagitica

Research what the English Puritan had to say on the freedom of press, knowledge, and censorship in his essay "Areopagitica". WOW! What's his premise for arguing in favor of knowledge through books. What's his response to the Archbishop of Canterbury?

"Paradise Lost" Books 1-3 is due this Friday.

Eliot's Labyrinth: The Holy Grail or the Waste Land?

Through allusions to Dante's "Inferno" and Arthurian Romance tales, all the speakers in "The Waste Land" combine to place this question at the foot of their readers: Which would you choose given you were thrust into the same situation, poetically and metaphorically speaking? The Holy Grail or the Waste Land? Remember that Eliot's works center around characters who do not have the "moral" courage to make "important decisions".

As for "Pride and Prejudice", remember the passage in question this week will be taken from Chapter 34's first three paragraphs. Know every word and location.

on The Novel of Manners...

Examine criticism on The Novel of Manners. Explore the expected etiquette of English aristocratic and upper-gentile, the so-called "polite" society. What was the role of men and women who hailed from the upper-classes? What is the expected norm for courting? Why? Explain.

Don't cut and paste from Wiki or any Internet cite. I want your words, your understanding of the concepts posted here.

Whyte

"P&P" M-C quiz this Monday...

Have read 1-51, Chapters l - XV.

Tentative Reading Schedule...

1. "Pride and Prejudice" BA 2/6
2. "Paradise Lost" (Books 1-3) BA 2/20
3. "The God of Small Things" BA 3/13
4. "Madame Bovary" BA 3/30
5. "Crime and Punishment" BA 3/30

6. "Siddhartha" and Final Term Paper.
Final draft: 5/29
Rough draft: 5/22
Bibliography cards: 4/17
Thesis statement: 4/13
Works Cited: 4/9

"OF Man's First Disobedience" and J. Milton

Look up the English (rightly put, a British Isle and Irish) Civil War. What was King Charles 1 attempting to do? Why did the English and Scottish Parliament have such a problem with this dude? Who was Oliver Cromwell? Although some parts of Great Britain admonished him, Wales, the Scots, and the Irish detested the man. Explain.

How does John Milton fit into the picture? What happened to Cromwell’s Commonwealth and why did Parliament henceforth oppose Puritanism vigorously?

With the restoration of the Stuart King, Charles ll, Milton was placed under house arrest. The Stuart Kings claimed 'absolute monarchy' in a time of evolving political 'enlightenment'.

So then, what are the parallels between “Paradise Lost” and the English (British) Civil War?

Jane Austen and the Regency Novel...

Explore and explain this quote from "Pride and Prejudice": "Indeed, Sir, I have not the least intention of dancing".

What is a Regency Novel and what is meant by it? Who or what influenced Austen's work?