Thursday, March 31
We compared three of Emily Dickinson's poems about nature, and concluded that the third of them, "Apparently with no surprise," was much darker and raised troubling questions about God's universe, than the other two ("Some keep the Sabbath . . . " and "I taste a liquor never brewed").
We also compared the original text of "Because I could not stop for Death" in our textbook (we discussed it yesterday) with "The Chariot," the poem as edited and published by Higginson and Todd shortly after Dickinson's death, and concluded that it is a darker poem than its original editors wished it to be.
In periods 2 and 3 students received the assignment sheet for a comparison between Whitman's and Dickinson's treatment of death in the form of an imaginary dialogue between the two poets, to be written in class on Friday, April 15.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Wednesday, March 30
We continued reading poems by Emily Dickinson, concentrating especially on unlocking the attitudes and emotions regarding death in her poetry of indirection, reading the lines and between the lines. Poems included "Because I could not stop for death"; we also read the letter to T. W. Higginson, Dickinson's first editor, in which she wrote "I sing . . . because I am afraid."
We continued reading poems by Emily Dickinson, concentrating especially on unlocking the attitudes and emotions regarding death in her poetry of indirection, reading the lines and between the lines. Poems included "Because I could not stop for death"; we also read the letter to T. W. Higginson, Dickinson's first editor, in which she wrote "I sing . . . because I am afraid."
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Tuesday, March 29 Students took a five question "quizlet" over the assigned reading, after which we turned to Emily Dickinson's poetry, beginning with "If you were coming in the fall," "I heard a fly buzz when I died," and "Tell all the truth but tell it slant." We paid especial attention to the images in the first two poems, and to the third as a statement on Dickinson's practice of poetic indirection.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Thursday, March 24:
We began with section 31 of "Song of Myself," which we regarded as a central credo of Whitman's, and discussed what Whitman's creed seems to be, based on that section, the following section, and the final sections of the poem (48-52). Did he reject Christianity or merely Christian practice? If he rejected religion, can we accept his claim that he nonetheless that he "behold[s] God in every object? What sort of "eternal life" does he believe in? Does he believe in reincarnation? We reviewed certain basics of Transcendentalist thought.
HW due Monday:
Read poems (and a letter) by Emily Dickinson. Read them closely, thoughtfully, and repeatedly. Think how they compare with Whitman, especially on the subject of death.
Pages 374, 376, 378, 381-383, 385, 386, 388, 391-394. Possible quizlet.
We began with section 31 of "Song of Myself," which we regarded as a central credo of Whitman's, and discussed what Whitman's creed seems to be, based on that section, the following section, and the final sections of the poem (48-52). Did he reject Christianity or merely Christian practice? If he rejected religion, can we accept his claim that he nonetheless that he "behold[s] God in every object? What sort of "eternal life" does he believe in? Does he believe in reincarnation? We reviewed certain basics of Transcendentalist thought.
HW due Monday:
Read poems (and a letter) by Emily Dickinson. Read them closely, thoughtfully, and repeatedly. Think how they compare with Whitman, especially on the subject of death.
Pages 374, 376, 378, 381-383, 385, 386, 388, 391-394. Possible quizlet.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Wednesday, March 23
We explored further the democratic Transcendentalism of Walt Whitman's poetry. For Whitman (unlike Emerson, for example) being at one with the universe -- or kosmos, in Whitman's term -- is also to be at one with everyone; our common participation in nature is allied with our fundamental equality.
We read sections 15, 16, 17, 21, and 24 of "Song of Myself," taking turns reading lines and stanzas.
We explored further the democratic Transcendentalism of Walt Whitman's poetry. For Whitman (unlike Emerson, for example) being at one with the universe -- or kosmos, in Whitman's term -- is also to be at one with everyone; our common participation in nature is allied with our fundamental equality.
We read sections 15, 16, 17, 21, and 24 of "Song of Myself," taking turns reading lines and stanzas.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Monday, March 21
Students received a worksheet with multiple passages from student Nature and Humanity essays exhibiting errors of three types: excessive informality of style, subject-verb disagreement, and problems with pronoun use.
After completing the worksheets and going over several examples, students received their graded essays back.
HW due Tuesday:
Any completed worksheets from class not turned in today and corrections of errors marked on the essays returned today, per the directions at the bottom of the sheet of Editing and Proofreading marks (see Documents page).
Students received a worksheet with multiple passages from student Nature and Humanity essays exhibiting errors of three types: excessive informality of style, subject-verb disagreement, and problems with pronoun use.
After completing the worksheets and going over several examples, students received their graded essays back.
HW due Tuesday:
Any completed worksheets from class not turned in today and corrections of errors marked on the essays returned today, per the directions at the bottom of the sheet of Editing and Proofreading marks (see Documents page).
Friday, March 18, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Tuesday, March 15
Students wrote down six or more specific concrete details from their outside reading books. Later in the period they were given time to read in those books.
We wrapped up our reading of "O Captain, My Captain!" and our discussion of poetic form, and began to read the first edition of Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself."
Students who are uncomfortable with Whitman's frank celebration of the body are encouraged to speak with Mr. P about an alternate plan for the Whitman unit.
HW due Thursday:
Read pp. 342-50 and pp. 372-3 in the textbook (an introduction to Whitman and Dickinson and a biography of each). There will be a quiz over the reading.
Students wrote down six or more specific concrete details from their outside reading books. Later in the period they were given time to read in those books.
We wrapped up our reading of "O Captain, My Captain!" and our discussion of poetic form, and began to read the first edition of Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself."
Students who are uncomfortable with Whitman's frank celebration of the body are encouraged to speak with Mr. P about an alternate plan for the Whitman unit.
HW due Thursday:
Read pp. 342-50 and pp. 372-3 in the textbook (an introduction to Whitman and Dickinson and a biography of each). There will be a quiz over the reading.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Monday, March 14
We continued to explore the question "What is poetry?" and specifically focused on the idea that "poetry is what is lost in translation" (Robert Frost) -- that how things are said is central to poetry as well as what.
We read a passage from Alexander Pope's "Essay on Criticism," making and illustrating the proposition that in poetry "the sound must be an echo to the sense."
We then moved on to our first of Walt Whitman's poems, his very popular but very atypical "O Captain! my Captain," an elegy for Abraham Lincoln. We began to analyze its metrical form, reviewing terminology in the process.
HW due Tuesday (1st, 2nd, 3rd pers.) or Wednesday (4th per.):
Be sure you have begun your outside reading book and come to class prepared to supply CD.s from what you have written. Be sure to bring the book as well; you will have a few minutes to read from it in class.
We continued to explore the question "What is poetry?" and specifically focused on the idea that "poetry is what is lost in translation" (Robert Frost) -- that how things are said is central to poetry as well as what.
We read a passage from Alexander Pope's "Essay on Criticism," making and illustrating the proposition that in poetry "the sound must be an echo to the sense."
We then moved on to our first of Walt Whitman's poems, his very popular but very atypical "O Captain! my Captain," an elegy for Abraham Lincoln. We began to analyze its metrical form, reviewing terminology in the process.
HW due Tuesday (1st, 2nd, 3rd pers.) or Wednesday (4th per.):
Be sure you have begun your outside reading book and come to class prepared to supply CD.s from what you have written. Be sure to bring the book as well; you will have a few minutes to read from it in class.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Thursday, March 10
We looked at the three extra credit options now posted on the class website (see Extra Credit. The Tolo assignment is due by next Wednesday, the others are available until notification to the contrary.
We also briefly reviewed the four options for Senior LA enrollment.
Each student chose one key passage from "Young Goodman Brown" and wrote briefly about which (s)he felt it to be central to the meaning of the story. We then shared passages and explanations and discussed possible meanings of this tale of lost faith.
HW due Friday:
What is poetry?
(1) Answer the question yourself in one or two sentences;
(2) Find and reproduce at least six other definitions of poetry from at least three different respected sources (poets, scholars, reference works);
3) Cite the sources for all your quotations in correct MLA format (see pp. 17-19 of your planner).
YES! It needs to be typed
We looked at the three extra credit options now posted on the class website (see Extra Credit. The Tolo assignment is due by next Wednesday, the others are available until notification to the contrary.
We also briefly reviewed the four options for Senior LA enrollment.
Each student chose one key passage from "Young Goodman Brown" and wrote briefly about which (s)he felt it to be central to the meaning of the story. We then shared passages and explanations and discussed possible meanings of this tale of lost faith.
HW due Friday:
What is poetry?
(1) Answer the question yourself in one or two sentences;
(2) Find and reproduce at least six other definitions of poetry from at least three different respected sources (poets, scholars, reference works);
3) Cite the sources for all your quotations in correct MLA format (see pp. 17-19 of your planner).
YES! It needs to be typed
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Wednesday, March 9
Students took a brief quiz over Nathaniel Hawthorne's biography, after which we read (Mr. P and a recording read) the short story "Young Goodman Brown," and we began to discuss it. What it a dream?
HW due Friday:
What is poetry?
(1) Answer the question yourself in one or two sentences;
(2) Find and reproduce at least six other definitions of poetry from at least three different respected sources (poets, scholars, reference works);
3) Cite the sources for all your quotations in correct MLA format (see pp. 17-19 of your planner).
YES! It needs to be typed
Students took a brief quiz over Nathaniel Hawthorne's biography, after which we read (Mr. P and a recording read) the short story "Young Goodman Brown," and we began to discuss it. What it a dream?
HW due Friday:
What is poetry?
(1) Answer the question yourself in one or two sentences;
(2) Find and reproduce at least six other definitions of poetry from at least three different respected sources (poets, scholars, reference works);
3) Cite the sources for all your quotations in correct MLA format (see pp. 17-19 of your planner).
YES! It needs to be typed
Monday, March 7, 2011
Monday, March 7
We explored the dark Romanticism of Herman Melville's "wicked book," by looking at Captain Ahab as a Prometheus or Lucifer figure, shaking his fist at the cosmic powers that be.
We began by reading, and writing briefly about, William Blake's famous poem "The Tyger," which like Ahab, is preoccupied with "the problem of evil." If God is purely good and all-poweful, where does evil come from. Is God perhaps good but not omnipotent? Or omnipotent but not entirely benevolent?
HW due tomorrow:
Read the biography of Nathaniel Hawthorne on pages 296 and 297 of the textbook.
We explored the dark Romanticism of Herman Melville's "wicked book," by looking at Captain Ahab as a Prometheus or Lucifer figure, shaking his fist at the cosmic powers that be.
We began by reading, and writing briefly about, William Blake's famous poem "The Tyger," which like Ahab, is preoccupied with "the problem of evil." If God is purely good and all-poweful, where does evil come from. Is God perhaps good but not omnipotent? Or omnipotent but not entirely benevolent?
HW due tomorrow:
Read the biography of Nathaniel Hawthorne on pages 296 and 297 of the textbook.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Friday, March 4
Students received a handout of two poems by Herman Melville, and read silently the first of them, "The Maldive Shark," after which they wrote paragraphs saying what they thought the theme of the poem was and what in the poem led them to think so.
Afterwards certain students read their paragraphs aloud and we discussed their paragraphs and the poem.
Students received a handout of two poems by Herman Melville, and read silently the first of them, "The Maldive Shark," after which they wrote paragraphs saying what they thought the theme of the poem was and what in the poem led them to think so.
Afterwards certain students read their paragraphs aloud and we discussed their paragraphs and the poem.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Thursday, March 3
We finished our dramatic reading of "The Quarter-Deck," after which we identified details in the drinking scene (as per question #7 on p. 320) which establish the scene as a parody or mockery of a religious ritual, a black communion service, and we began to discuss the nature of Ahab's monomaniacal quest for The White Whale.
We finished our dramatic reading of "The Quarter-Deck," after which we identified details in the drinking scene (as per question #7 on p. 320) which establish the scene as a parody or mockery of a religious ritual, a black communion service, and we began to discuss the nature of Ahab's monomaniacal quest for The White Whale.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Tuesday, March 1
WE finished watching Into the Deep.
Students signed up for parts in tomorrow's gramatic reading of the Quarter Deck chapter of Moby Dick.
HW due Wednesday:
Read pp. 311-27 in Elements of Literature, which include a biography of Herman Melville and two excerpts from Moby Dick. There will be a quiz to begin class on Wednesday over the film and the readings. Notes on the film will be turned in at that time as well.
WE finished watching Into the Deep.
Students signed up for parts in tomorrow's gramatic reading of the Quarter Deck chapter of Moby Dick.
HW due Wednesday:
Read pp. 311-27 in Elements of Literature, which include a biography of Herman Melville and two excerpts from Moby Dick. There will be a quiz to begin class on Wednesday over the film and the readings. Notes on the film will be turned in at that time as well.
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