COMING VERY SOON TO A CLASSROOM NEAR YOU - HAMLET - NOVEMBER 1ST, 2006!
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Weekly Schedule for October 30th for AP English Monday, October 30th: Since so many of you will be frolicking at the College Fair today, those lucky few who will be with me will read and discuss ANTIGONE. Read the first 20 pages of ANTIGONE for today, Monday, October 30th. By the way, your second installment of the literary terms was due on Friday, October 27th. If you haven’t turned it in yet, please do so asap. Tuesday, October 31st: Please turn in your grammar handout from last week on the “absolute phrase”. We will briefly go over it. Today we will FINALLY present our Unit 2 Vocabulary presentations, and then finish reading ANTIGONE. Another fun essay on either ANTIGONE or OEDIPUS at COLONUS will be due on Friday, November 3rd. Wednesday, November 1st (All Saints’ Day!): Today, since you liked the “absolute phrase” handout sooo much, you will be given another handout but this time it will be over “adverbial clauses.” This will be due on Monday, November 6th. We will start to w...
October 23rd Weekly Schedule for AP English Literature Monday, October 23rd: Good morning! I hope you had a restful weekend. Today we will work a bit on our vocabulary presentations for Unit 2. We will present the presentations on Friday, 27th. Ti’Onae and Charisma will present theirs on Monday, October 30th. We will begin reading the essay on “The Problem with the Other”. Tuesday, October 24th: Today we will have another wee session working on the vocabulary presentations. Then we will finish reading “The Problem with the Other”. Wednesday, October 25th: I will pass out to you a cool little grammar handout from a book entitled SENTENCE COMBINING. We will figure out how to do absolute phrases - always a tricky proposition. The handout will be due on Friday, October 27th. We will begin reading ANTIGONE. Again, a wee bit of time will be set aside for rehearsing our Unit Two vocabulary presentations. Thursday, October 26th: We will read and discuss ANTIGONE. Friday, October 27th: F...
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...
Here are the OEDIPUS essays I gave you on Thursday. Please work on your essay in class on Friday and Monday. Your essay will be due on Tuesday. 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. ...
Hi guys! I just reread my blog and I realized that I had written your first literary term is due on Wednesday, the 11th and IT IS NOT! Sorry about the confusion. It's still due on the 12th; however, your outline on Aristotle's POETICS is due and payable. Some more questions and information for you to consider as you read OEDIPUS REX: 1. "From the old man skilled at hearing Fate in the wingbest of a bird....." refers to Teiresias and his skill at divination. Oracles would divine the gods' will by analyzing the flight pattern of birds or the entrails (intestines) of birds. 2. On page 25, the "the carrion woman" is a reference to the Sphinx who had the body of a lion and the face of a woman who held court on a road into the city. She hailed down pestilence on the city of Thebes, demanding that all men who encountered her on the road to Thebes must answer her riddle. The only one who could answer the riddle was Oedipus who broke the Sphinx's reig...
Some questions to mull over as you read the play, OEDIPUS REX (think of the play as a CSI: Thebes): Pages 3 - 23 1. In the beginning how does Oedipus come across as a leader and as a man? Notice the difference between Oedipus and Creon in deciding whether to reveal information regarding the city in front of the people. 2. What is the current situation in Thebes? 3. Why do the supplicants come to see Oedipus? 4. What did Oedipus do years ago for the people of Thebes? 5. Who is Creon? How is he related to Oedipus? 6. Why is there a plague on Thebes? What does this punishment reveal about the gods? 7. According to Creon, how did Laios, the former king of Thebes, die? 8. How and from whom did the story of Laios' death originate? 9. What do you think is the Chorus' function? 10. What will be done to the man who steps forward with the identity of the murderer? 10. What does Oedipus order his people to do on page 13 if they know the identity of the murderer or if they har...
October 9th Weekly Schedule for AP ENGLISH Monday, October 9th: I hope you are having or had a restful, yet fun filled weekend. We are going to go over the literary terms test today. Most of you did well on it; however, if you made anything less than an A, I encourage you to rewrite the terms you missed and find examples of those terms. If you rewrite the word, the definition and an example using the term, then I will raise your grade one letter grade. Is that a deal or what? We are also going to read and discuss Sophocles’ OEDIPUS REX. Your homework assignment is to read the first twenty pages of the play by Monday. You will be given a list of essay questions; from this list you will choose one topic on which you will write your essay. This essay will be due on Tuesday, October 17th. Oh, yeah, your essay on James Joyce’s short story, “The Dead” is due today. Sorry, guys. Tuesday, October 10th: Please bring your vocabulary book. You will team up with three other people and creat...
Some more fun literary term questions! 1. The _______________is the point in the story where the fate of the protagonist (the character whose story we follow and whose struggles exemplify the story's theme) changes irrevocably. It is generally thought to be the most exciting part of the story. 2. The ___________________is the series of events or plot complications that will lead to the climax. According to Freytag's "dramatic pyramid structure" it occurs after the exposition which sets up the setting and situation, and after the inciting event which kicks the story in motion. The inciting event begins the movement of the ________________and is the start of the second act. 3. The __________ _________is that part of the story that occurs after the climax and includes the unraveling of the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist. 4. A _____________is a set of circumstances that contradicts what one would intuitively believe. There are many different ...
Try your hand at the following little quiz and see how you do! Remember, print it out and turn it in for additional credit. 1. __________________________is a form of understatement. It may have two negations together such as: "She was not an unattractive young woman" - spoken of Beyonce, which would imply by the understatement that she was in fact quite attractive. It implies a certain irony or sarcasm. 2. " It isn't very serious. I have a tiny tumor on my brain." (CATCHER IN THE RYE by J. D. Salinger) would be an example of __________________. 3. _________________________is a form of overstatement which is usually used for humorous effect. 4. "My sister wears so much make-up she's gotta use a chisel to get it off at night" would be an example of ______________________. 5. Writers use specific details such as dialect, certain character types, cultural customs, topography, etc. to paint a very specific portrait of a region. The reference to an...