Ms. Bridges' AP English

October 31st Weekly Agenda for AP English Monday, October 31st: Happy Halloween! Your second installment of your literary terms is now due and payable! Your vocabulary unit three is due today also. And your adverbial clause handout is due today as well! Busy, busy, busy! Tuesday, November 1st: Read page 31, “The Wife’s Lament”; pages 52 and 53, “The Ruin”; page 58, “The Violent Faces of Nature”; and page 66, “Eagle of Pengwern”. Write an elegy based on “The Wife’s Lament”, but transpose it to the present day where a woman in perhaps Iraq or India, or present day America is lamenting the loss of her beloved through war or political intrigue. Or: Using the small amount of information available in the poem “Eagle of Pengwern” as a starting point, imagine what may have lead up to the moment when Heledd speaks and then write a narrative describing the fall of Trenn. You may find it useful to recall details of weaponry and fighting from “Beowulf” and images of a fallen city from the “T...

OCTOBER 24TH WEEKLY AGENDA FOR AP ENGLISH Monday, October 24th: I won’t be here today (yeah! Just kidding! ) I will be at Make Believe Costumes getting costumes for Hot! and taking care of the programs and fun stuff like that. Adding to the complications: we will be in room #508 for today only due to C track fifth period finals. We will be back in our regular room tomorrow. So turn in your Vocabulary Workshop, Unit 3 homework today. We will go over it on Wednesday, October 26th. Use ten of your vocabulary words in original sentences using ten of the twenty (17?) sentence patterns. This fun and productive assignment will be due tomorrow. Tuesday, October 25th: Shortened day! Turn in yesterday’s homework: ten vocabulary words each used in one of the twenty (17?) sentence patterns from the handout you were given a week or so ago. We will resume reading our favorite Beowulf. Joseph will get his wish today. I will assign a handout to you that will be quite fun. It’s over adverbial cl...

OCTOBER 17TH WEEKLY SCHEDULE FOR AP ENGLISH Monday, October 17th: Begin reading Beowulf. Tuesday, October 18th: I will not be here during 3rd period today. Mr. Itkin and I are going to Sony to pick up costumes and props. Don’t get too excited - I will, however, be here for rehearsal during 6th and 7th period. This period continue reading Beowulf. You will also be assigned Unit 3 in your vocabulary book. This will be due on Monday, October 31st - Happy Halloween! For homework, use five of your vocabulary words in five different sentence patterns. Wednesday, October 19th: Continue reading Beowulf. Remember: your first “literary terms” assignment is due today. We will share a few of them for extra credit. Thursday, October 20th: Begin reading Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. Break into groups, read, analyze and then make presentations - which include making posters for your section of The Canterbury Tales. This is for a grade. Friday, October 21st: Continue making presenta...

OCTOBER 10TH WEEKLY SCHEDULE FOR AP ENGLISH Monday, October 10th: Go over Unit 2, Vocabulary. Break into groups, each group will llustrate one assigned stanza of Sylvia Plath’s “The Sow”. Then we will have a gallery walk-around of our art work. We will then peruse the “Sow” packet. I think I smell another essay coming along! “The Sow” essay will be due on Monday, October 17th. Tuesday, October 11th: Shortened day! Go over handouts on the twenty types of sentence structure! Brief exercise where you will try your hand at writing a paragraph using at least five of the sentence types - perhaps even using your vocabulary words! Read selection of Beowulf. Turn in Oedipal essays. Wednesday, October 12th: Continue reading Beowulf Another brief exercise where you will try your hand at writing a paragraph using at least five of the sentence types - perhaps even using your vocabulary words! Thursday, October 13th: Unit 2 Vocabulary Test. Multiple choice selection over a 19th Century Poem. Beg...

MORE ESSAY TOPICS FOR THE OEDIPAL TRILOGY 1. Examine the ways in which Oedipus changes from the beginning of Oedipus Rex to the end of Oedipus at Colonus. 2. Discuss the similarities between the characters of Oedipus and Creon, and how they differ. Examine the concept of hubris as it is expressed in both men, and how it contributes to the downfall of them both. You might also examine the role of fate in the lives of both men, and whether Fate or hubris alone destroyed Creon. 3. Discuss the redemptive aspect of Oedipus at Colonus and the Christlike symbolism of Oedipus at Colonus. 4. Compare and contrast the two sisters, Antigone and Ismene, and discuss the psychological profile of Antigone (as some critics have charged) that she is in love with death. Defend or attack that premise. Pay close attention to the language that Antigone uses and the language that is used to describe her. Also discuss Antigone’s refusal to allow Ismene to share her fate with her. 5. Analyze Haimon’s argu...

ESSAY TOPICS FOR THE OEDIPUS TRILOGY 1. Choose one tragedy and discuss the role of the chorus. Does the chorus change over the course of the play? How does the chorus affect the action? How does it focus and intensify the audience’s responses? 2. In Oedipus the King, Jocasta, like Oedipus, sees the horror of her identity unfolding. Compare Jocasta to the tragic hero. What are her own ideas about Fate and prophecy? How does she react to her suspicions about Oedipus’ birth? How does her final despair differ from Oedipus? 3. Choose a character who appears in two or more plays of the Oedipus Trilogy, and discuss the similarities and differences in characterization in the plays. 4. As a prophet, Teiresias speaks for the gods and for Fate. How does the character of Teiresias function dramatically in Oedipus the King and Antigone? 5. In Antigone, who is the real main character - Antigone or Creon? Make a case to support your choice. 6. Discuss the differences between Antigon...