Week 4/25 - 4/ 29

 Monday - I'd like the class to talk about the novel. Things to discuss: the ending. What is going on with it? How does it reinforce meaning/themes? Why leave the characters where they are? Also, what is up with the geography of the book? Desert, villa, oasis how do they all relate? What about love, betrayal? How does one fall in love according to the book? What is the ultimate betrayal? What is going on with the ideas of nations and/or people who are nationless? The English Patient is not English - is this important? How is the book structured? How does the structure reinforce the main ideas?

It's very possible that you could get an AP question about geography or some object or place in the book acting as a symbol to be connected with a larger theme. Of course, I could be completely wrong. I do hope you get something on character, but who knows.

Tuesday - Test on Novel

Wednesday - Prose question (from 2016)

Thursday - Poetry question

FRIDAY. Poetry review.

 (note the questions for Tuesday - Thursday will be in your email)

Here is the poem and prompt for Thursday

2016 Poem: “The Juggler” (Richard Wilbur) Prompt: Read carefully the following poem by Richard Wilbur, first published in 1949. Then, write an essay in which you analyze how the speaker describes the juggler and what that description reveals about the speaker. You may wish to consider poetic elements such as imagery, figurative language, and tone.

THE JUGGLER

A ball will bounce; but less and less. It's not
A light-hearted thing, resents its own resilience.
Falling is what it loves, and the earth falls
So in our hearts from brilliance,
Settles and is forgot.
It takes a sky-blue juggler with five red balls

To shake our gravity up. Whee, in the air
The balls roll around, wheel on his wheeling hands,
Learning the ways of lightness, alter to spheres
Grazing his finger ends,
Cling to their courses there,
Swinging a small heaven about his ears.

But a heaven is easier made of nothing at all
Than the earth regained, and still and sole within
The spin of worlds, with a gesture sure and noble
He reels that heaven in,
Landing it ball by ball,
And trades it all for a broom, a plate, a table.

Oh, on his toe the table is turning, the broom's
Balancing up on his nose, and the plate whirls
On the tip of the broom! Damn, what a show, we cry:
The boys stamp, and the girls
Shriek, and the drum booms
And all come down, and he bows and says good-bye.

If the juggler is tired now, if the broom stands
In the dust again, if the table starts to drop
Through the daily dark again, and though the plate
Lies flat on the table top,
For him we batter our hands
Who has won for once over the world's weight.

Richard Wilbur

READING SCHEDULE

 Here is your reading schedule
For Monday read to 181
For Tuesday read to 205
For Wednesday read to 229
For Thursday read to 265
For Friday read to 287
And finish the book for 4/25 - TEST on 4/26
BOOYAH

The English Patient

 Today we going to go over the final questions on the AP MC, and begin the English Patient.

Poetry 3/28 - 3/30

 The following is for the poetry packet that was emailed to you.

For the following poems you will need to read, annotate, mark up, write in the margins, look up allusions etc. I will be collecting your annotations for a grade. Further you need to choose one poem to fill out the Poetry Analysis Tools: TPCASTT sheet. Another poem to fill out the Poetry Analysis Tools: DIDLS (Tone) sheet. And a third poem to answer the questions on the Poetry Analysis Worksheet

Here are the poems that you will need to read from each section:

Section 1

Dulce et Decorum Est

Section 2

A Study of Reading Habits

Mirror

Section 3

A Hymn to God the Father

Section 4

The Widow’s Lament in Springtime

Section 5

Dream Deferred

Section 6

To the Virgins to Make Much of Time

Section 7

Southern Cop

Section 8

Out Out

Leda and the Swan

 

Section 9

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Section 10

The Coming of Wisdom with Time

Section 11

We Real Cool

Section 12

Had I the Choice

Section 13

Sound and Sense

Section 15

Prufrock (yes, again)

The Ending of Bleak House

 Today we are going to discuss the ending of the book Bleak House and how we should feel about the themes and characters. We are also going to talk about Mrs. Maisel and AP prompts.

Richard

Ester

Mr. Jarndyce 

Ada

Leicester Deadlock

Mr. George

Skimpole

Caddy

Mrs Jellyby

Mrs. Flite

Mr. Woodcourt

Mrs. Snagsby

Smallweed

Mr. Krook

Inspector Bucket

Lady Deadlock

Mr. Guppy 

 THEMES:

Poverty

Reputation 

Class Structure and Lineage

Power and moral principles

Appearances and Identity

Law vs Justice

Duty or Social Responsibility (Philanthropy)

Family

Passion and Madness

 

2021. In many works of fiction houses take on symbolic importance. Such houses may be literal houses or unconventional ones (e.g., hotels, monasteries, or boats). Either from your own reading or from the list below, choose

 

2019. In his 2004 novel Magic Seeds, V. S. Naipaul writes: “It is wrong to have an ideal view of the world. That’s where the mischief starts. That’s where everything starts unravelling.” Select a novel, play, or epic poem in which a character holds an “ideal view of the world.” Then write an essay in which you analyze the character’s idealism and its positive or negative consequences. Explain how the author’s portrayal of this idealism illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole.

 

2014. It has often been said that what we value can be determined only by what we sacrifice. Consider how this statement applies to a character from a novel or play. Select a character that has deliberately sacrificed, surrendered, or forfeited something in a way that highlights that character’s values. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how the particular sacrifice illuminates the character’s values and provides a deeper understanding of the meaning of the work as a whole.

 

2005. In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening (1899), protagonist Edna Pontellier is said to possess “That outward existence which conforms, the inward life that questions.” In a novel or play that you have studied, identify a character who outwardly conforms while questioning inwardly. Then write an essay in which you analyze how this tension between outward conformity and inward questioning contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid mere plot summary.

Thursday

 You need to do the following things:

1) Work on your deconstruction essys.

2) Finish reading the novel

3) Work on reading blogs after chapter 22 (for some of you)

Next week we will be doing the following:

A) Taking a test or tests on BLEAK HOUSE (it depends how much I think people have caught up and finished the book).

B) Looking at poetry again. As 1/3 of the test is on poetry and we will need to review poetry and make sure you can write about it. 

Wednesday

 Today we are going to discuss - EVERYONE - BLEAK HOUSE and how to interpret it. You will have two tests on it next week.

We will also discuss, for the final time, DECONSTRUCTIONISM.