These two essays due upon our return

These essays must be submitted in MLA format and word-processed.


Essay #1

“It is a common rule with primitive people not to waken a sleeper, because his soul is away and might not have time to get back” —James George Frazer "The Golden Bough"

According to critic Northrop Frye, "Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divisive lightning." Compare T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”; in either poem, the “tragic collective voice hero” and tragic figure function as an instrument of the suffering of others. Read the poems carefully. Then write an essay in which you explain how the suffering brought upon others by these figures contribute to the tragic vision of both poems as a whole. How does either poem address the universality of human failure and redemption?


Essay #2

“I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.” —Joseph Campbell

In many works of literature, a physical journey - the literal movement from one place to another - plays a central role. However, more importantly is the wisdom and knowledge gained by such physical journeys. Read Samuel Taylor Coleridge's “Kubla Khan” and “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. Consider the two poems carefully. Then write a well-organized essay in which you compare the physical journeys of either speaker, the wisdom that they both learn in the end, and how the journey adds to the meaning of the work as a whole. Make sure to apply Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” and St. Thomas’ “integritas”, “consonantia”, and “claritas” in your final analysis.

The Scotsman between The Enlightenment and Romanticism

Pestilence, deluge, and penitence!!!Chaos comes to the world! Aye, Rab Burns is a Scotsman through n through!!! :)

Gould Ole 'Rab' Burns

Read the poem by Robert Burns, "A Man's A Man for A' That".

What's the poems central message? How do you know?
Consider diction, theme, and didactic...

Also, why do you think that it's another one of Burns' poems, that I'm sure no body knows the lyrics to, that is sung the world over at New Years?

In Peace,
Whyte

Final Exam Study Guide and Winter Assigment will be posted Friday

You must be able to apply the seven AP Poetry Stem and nine AP Prose Stem concepts to the literature pieces that we've covered in class. You will also be expected to know the various philosophers, artists, and thinkers that we've studied in correlation to the literature.

Whyte

Extra-Credit Essay!

Having researched Plato's infamously allegorical "Cave Slaves", read Samuel Taylor Coleridge ["Glencoe Literature (Green Book)] on (711).

It is critical to be able to decipher The Ancient World's concept of the universe as a giant "stereoma". The Stereoma is a concept employed in both the allegory and in the poem.

Other pointers, include: a working knowledge of Plato's seven forms, and the Warlord Kubla Khan's Shangdu.

Consider diction, imagery, theme, and figurative langauge.

And do you see Glaucon? Gnothi Seauton...

See Book 7, Plato's "Republic": "The Allegory of the Cave".

Compare to Outer Party members of Oceania.

Bakunin Vs. Rand

See "For Reasons of State" by M. Bakunin and "Anthem" by A. Rand. Draw contrasts, relating both to Orwell's work.

Extra Credit if you can connect Weber, Lippmann, and Burnham to Bakunin, Rand, and Orwell.

Walter Lippmann...

Research his "Public Opinion" and "The Phantom Public".

See if you can tie Weber, Burnham, and Lippmann to "1984".

James Burnham...

and his "Managerial Revolution". See this in relation to Orwell's thinking behind the development of "1984".

Tomorrow's Test!

Remember to have reviewed the Study Guide that I sent you last week. Also, remember to have studied the stories of No Name Woman and Crazy Mary, as well as, Fa Mu Lan and Ts'ai Yen...

How does Kingston use imagery, diction, figurative language, and tone to narrate her tale?

Crazy Mary

Consider Crazy Mary's story. Can you draw any comparisons to No Name Woman's? Could either of these women have been the other?

Also, think about Ts'ai Yen's tale in comparison to Fa Mu Lan's: why would Kingston employ the talk-stories of two very --seemingly-- different women? Mu Lan brandished a sword whereas Ts'ai Yen brandished the word...

Orwell's Influences

See Zamyatin's "We", James Joyce's "Dubliners" and Max Weber's definition for "The State".

Legend and Philosophy in "The Woman Warrior"

Research Qigong, Qi and Brave Orchid in "Shaman"...

or The Legend of the Two Empresses and "At the Western Palace"...

or the "Tao Te Ching" and "A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe...