English III 3rd Quarter Assignments; 1st 9 weeks:
2/11/2016 - 2/25/2016
Subject Worksheet: Grammar and Composition - A Merrill Skilltext Series
Unit One Questions from Prentice Hall: Early Literature
Research Timeline: Two Paragraphs and Citation (Student's choose a topic from the timeline out of Prentice Hall: Early Literature)
Short Story: Student's create a fictional or nonfictional story based on themselves or others
Timeline Presentation: Student's create a PowerPoint, Prezi, or other social media forum based on their research
Warm-up Writings: Prompt on board; Student's create the perfect paragraph based on the topic given
2/25/2016-3/07/2016
Unit 2 Questions from Prentice Hall: Early Literature
Predicates Worksheet: Grammar and Composition - A Merrill Skilltext Series
Kinds of Sentences Worksheet: Grammar and Composition - A Merrill Skilltext Series
5-7 Public Service Announcement Research and Citations
Tribal PSA Video Questions
Public Service Announcement: Student's create a PowerPoint, Prezi, or other social media forum based on their research
Three Interviews and Citations: Student's watch or read interviews based on their topic. They must summarize and cite.
3/10/2016-3/23/2016
3 Critiques, from peers, on PSA Project
Unit 3 Questions from Prentice Hall: Early Literature
5 Paragraph Research Paper: Student's must argue who they feel is guilty in the slaughtering of the Taino Tribe (Is it Columbus, Columbus' Men, Society, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, or Taino Tribe themselves that are guilty). It is double spaced and must include in-text citation and work cited.
Prepositions Worksheet:Grammar and Composition - A Merrill Skilltext Series
Closing Argument: Student's create a closing argument video
2/11/2016-3/23/2016
Grammar Practices 1-18: Student's may use IXL.Com, ChompChomp.Com, or A4esl.Org.
Gothic Short Story: Create a gothic short story that is 2-3+ pages, Times New Roman, 12 font. It must have dialogue, characters, exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, and mood words. It must accompany 3 critiques by peers, 3 edits by peers, and a final draft.
Early American Literature
Some notes about the Declaration of Independence. The movieNational Treasure is not all that accurate. There is something, however, written on the back of the Declaration. It reads:
Original Declaration of Independence
dated 4th July 1776.
Now, according to the National Archives, "While no one knows for certain who wrote it, it is known that early in its life, the large parchment document was rolled up for storage. So, it is likely that the notation was added simply as a label." To know more about it, go to: http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/
If you are really looking for something with a bit more of a kick, try History House's article on the Declaration entitled "Founding Fathers."
Normally History House is a great place to find little known history, but you might want to note that this particular article was published on April 1st.
franklin_virtues.docx | |
File Size: | 24 kb |
File Type: | docx |
The Romantic Period Key notes:
American Romantic Notes Handout
O.K., G.I. Joe is a Real American Hero, but just not one that completely fits the Romantic kind of hero.
The American Hero, During the Romantic time period, the ideal American hero often had these characteristics:
Transcendentalists
Ralph Waldo Emerson is the most famous of the Transcendentalists.
We read the first chapter of Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson in class. The chapter can be found on the right hand side of the screen. I have highlighted parts that are important and will be on the test.
If you wish to read the whole essay, you can do so at this web site.
Personally, my favorite line is:
If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown!
Here is the star hunt we had assigned this week to see if looking at the stars was really peaceful.
I love looking at the stars. Alas, in our day of street lights and parking lot lights, many of the stars are washed out. If you like looking at the stars, I suggest going to:
Sky and Telescope
There is also a group out there trying to get rid of :light pollution. Here is their site:
Dark Skies
Emerson's transparent eyeball idea is a famous one often quoted from Nature.
Perhaps if Bruce Banner would go out into nature more, he wouldn't get upset so easily.
~~~~~VII. Ship/boat
voyage, life quest
VIII. Desert
death, hopelessness, alone
IX. Gardens, Forests
paradise, life, beauty
X. Nature
goodness, God
XI. Christ Figure
one who sacrifices him/herself to save others
XII. Snakes
trickery, deceit
from Nature by Ralph Waldo EmersonTo go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and what he touches. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.
The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence. Nature never wears a mean appearance. Neither does the wisest man extort her secret, and lose his curiosity by finding out all her perfection. Nature never became a toy to a wise spirit. The flowers, the animals, the mountains, reflected the wisdom of his best hour, as much as they had delighted the simplicity of his childhood.
When we speak of nature in this manner, we have a distinct but most poetical sense in the mind. We mean the integrity of impression made by manifold natural objects. It is this which distinguishes the stick of timber of the wood-cutter, from the tree of the poet. The charming landscape which I saw this morning, is indubitably made up of some twenty or thirty farms. Miller owns this field, Locke that, and Manning the woodland beyond. But none of them owns the landscape. There is a property in the horizon which no man has but he whose eye can integrate all the parts, that is, the poet. This is the best part of these men's farms, yet to this their warranty-deeds give no title.
To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood. His intercourse with heaven and earth, becomes part of his daily food. In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows. Nature says, -- he is my creature, and maugre all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me. Not the sun or the summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every hour and change corresponds to and authorizes a different state of the mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight. Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or a mourning piece. In good health, the air is a cordial of incredible virtue. Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. I am glad to the brink of fear. In the woods too, a man casts off his years, as the snake his slough, and at what period soever of life, is always a child. In the woods, is perpetual youth. Within these plantations of God, a decorum and sanctity reign, a perennial festival is dressed, and the guest sees not how he should tire of them in a thousand years. In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, -- no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my eyes,) which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground, -- my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, -- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God. The name of the nearest friend sounds then foreign and accidental: to be brothers, to be acquaintances, -- master or servant, is then a trifle and a disturbance. I am the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty. In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate than in streets or villages. In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature.
The greatest delight which the fields and woods minister, is the suggestion of an occult relation between man and the vegetable. I am not alone and unacknowledged. They nod to me, and I to them. The waving of the boughs in the storm, is new to me and old. It takes me by surprise, and yet is not unknown. Its effect is like that of a higher thought or a better emotion coming over me, when I deemed I was thinking justly or doing right.
Yet it is certain that the power to produce this delight, does not reside in nature, but in man, or in a harmony of both. It is necessary to use these pleasures with great temperance. For, nature is not always tricked in holiday attire, but the same scene which yesterday breathed perfume and glittered as for the frolic of the nymphs, is overspread with melancholy today. Nature always wears the colors of the spirit. To a man laboring under calamity, the heat of his own fire hath sadness in it. Then, there is a kind of contempt of the landscape felt by him who has just lost by death a dear friend. The sky is less grand as it shuts down over less worth in the population.
Henry David Thoreau
Read the text book selection of Walden, or Life in the Woods. I will give extra credit.
Know what he did in the woods when not building his house and how long he stayed in the woods.
The Fireside Poets
Definately not Romantic in their style, these guys were for a long time known as THE American poets. Now, not so much.
Read Longfellow's "The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls" You can read it here:
The tide rises, the tide falls,
The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;
Along the sea-sands damp and brown
The traveler hastens toward the town,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.
Darkness settles on roofs and walls,
But the sea, the sea in darkness calls;
The little waves, with their soft, white hands
Efface the footprints in the sands,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.
The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls
Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;
The day returns, but nevermore
Returns the traveler to the shore.
And the tide rises, the tide falls.
To understand this poem, we paid attention to the fact that the Fireside Poets were really into convention, so we noted a few things:
The rhyme scheme (tracking the rhyming pattern by assigning a letter to the end of a line - each letter represents a sound) - In this poem, the first line ends with falls - so we give that line the letter A. The second line ends with calls - this rhymes with the first line, so it too has the letter A. The third line ends with brown - this is a new sound, so it gets the next letter, B. The fourth line ends with town - that rhymes with brown, so it gets the letter B. The last line in the first stanza ends withfalls - so it gets the letter A.
This gives the first stanza the rhyme scheme AABBA. By going through all three stanzas, we can see that the rhyme scheme is AABBA -AACCA - AADDA
We can see that since he doesn't stray from this format, he must want a consistent sound to it. This fits the subject of the poem, the tide. The tide is very consistent and does not stop.
Next we noticed that the words "The tide rises the tide falls" was repeated often. This is call repetition. Anytime a poet feels the need to repeat himself or herself, it is usually important. We checked our archetype notes and found that since other natural things that cannot be stopped (the sun, rivers) tend to mean time passing, the constant tide might also mean that.
Now, with this knowledge, we looked at the plot of the poem. A traveller hurries into town as the night falls, misses all the actions of the tide wiping the beach clean, and then leaves early morning. The traveller will never come back. We interpretted this to mean that time is always moving. We must stop and check out things for ourselves. Don't wait, you might not get another chance.
This is the poem you will need to read on the test and be able to interpret:
Rainy Day by Longfellow
The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the moldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.
My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the moldering Past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast
And the days are dark and dreary.
Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.
You will also want to know at least one other Fireside Poet other than Longfellow.
The Extra Credit on the test is: How much did Thoreau spend on his building supplies.
The Dark Romantics
Writing in the early 1800s, these writers existed during the Romantic period. While they share many viewpoints of the Romantic authors, they do have one main element that separates them form the others -- they focused on the fact that because of original sin (Adam and Eve (which we all know was Eve's fault)), mankind has a sinful nature. Therefore, when left to ourselves, we will eventually do bad things.
In most of thier writings, the main character is obsessed or racked by guilt. Often they are mad (crazy) or at least borderline mad.
~~ Read all of Horrton Hears a Heart
Quoth the Raven, "Eat My Shorts!"
We will watch the Simpson's version in class
We will read a few of Poe's stories. Each one is on the test.
"The Tell-Tale Heart"
This story is about a mad man who can't stand this guy's "vulture eye." So, if you don't like the way someone looks, you do what any sane person would do. You kill him.
You can read it here.
Our narrator is crazy and therefore cannot be trusted. Whenever you have a narrator that cannot be trusted, you have an unreliable narrator.
Some questions to know from this story are:
What does the narrator say he can hear at the beginning of the story?
What about the old man bothers the narrator?
For seven nights he creeps into the room to murder the old man. Why doesn't he?
Once the old man hears him, how long does he wait before moving again?
How does he kill the old man?
How does he hide the body?
How does he make sure there is no blood evidence?
What does he hear that makes him confess?
"The Raven"
Herman Melville was not very famous and liked in his time, but after World War I, he began to be read again. His story of Moby Dick has long sections of it where he just talks about whaling and shipping. Thankfully, the movie version leaves that out.
The rule - a sperm whale named Moby Dick is bound to raise a flurry of jokes. So, the rule of class is, a joke can only be made once. If you want to keep making up jokes, you need to be original.
Characters in Moby Dick
Yes, they actually made a cartoon where your friendly Moby Dick helped two boys save the world and fight bad guys! You can watch an episode here (it'll only take you about 6 minutes):
You Tube - Moby Dick
Moby Dick
The great white whale beholds the sail
That means to work him woe,
And plumes the breeze of southern seas
Where Bedford whalers go.
The lookouts shout, the crew turns out,
The longboats pull away;
With rope and lance and half a chance
They'll kill the beast this day.
The captain's eye regards the sky:
The gulls now tell the tale–
Their raucous cries the calm belies
Where sounds the great white whale.
He rises now and at the bow
Harpoons gleam sharp and long;
Then there's the throw! and off they go–
The rope sings out its song.
The salt spray flies and stings the eyes;
In headlong buck and leap
The whaleboats dance and dip and prance
Like sprites across the deep.
Then all is still and with a thrill
The crews gasp at his rise:
Leviathan now turns on man
His black and baleful eyes.
They watch in awe his toothy maw
Gape terrible and wide;
As if in dreams the sailors' screams
The only sound provide.
He sounds again and flukes descend
To crush the men and boats
Upon the swell the splinters tell
Where one lone seaman floats.
And down below the bilge planks show
The whale has come to call:
A crash! The din! The water in!
He means to kill them all.
The ship sinks fast until at last
The masts slip out of sight,
And on the waves but one man raves
Upon his float that night.
The story's old and often told,
But mark this hoary tale–
And learn the rule: that man's a fool
Who seeks his own white whale.
The wise man learns, where hatred burns
But naught of good can come;
Obsession's cost is ever lost
When God totes up the sum.
© 2007 Jeffrey Hull
Ishmael - protagonist He is also the narrator, but there are times when we get story that he is not around for all of the story. He was a school teacher but now wants to see the world. His inexperience makes the other crew members laugh and joke at him.
Elijah – the crazy man who gives the prophecy of the Pequod
Captain Ahab - captain of the Pequod. He is obsessed with finding Moby Dick. the whale that ate his leg. He now has a peg leg.
Moby Dick – the big sperm whale that Ahab wants. He is white and monsterous.
The Ship’s Mates
Starbuck - 1st Mate – He keeps his head about him and does not think that they should go after Moby Dick. His concern is the crew and his job to get whale oil for the ship’s owners. He is torn since he knows what he feels is right, but he also feels he must obey his captain.
"My miserable office is but to obey thee."
Stubb – 2nd Mate – He is the one with the white beard who is always laughing and careless.
Flask – 3rd Mate – He is the one who is always calling Ishmael “Pup” and has the cigar in his mouth.
Harpooners – all of them are non-Christians and each one fo them serves a particular mate.
Queequeg – son of a cannibal chief. He makes friends with Ishmael early and looks out for him. He is a strange mixture of savage and civilization – serves with Starbuck
Tashtego – the Native American harpooner – serves with Stubb
Daggoo – the African harpooner – serves with Flask
Fedallah – He is the Asian harpooner that serves with Ahab. Nobody knew he was on the boat until he emerges with Ahab. Ahab has him aboard to help him find Moby Dick.
He is symbolic of the devil.
Other characters
Pip (Pippin) – the African-American boy who goes around playing the tambourine.
He is a symbol of innocence.
The Carpenter – he just builds stuff.
The Cook – duh, he cooks. Not very well, however.
A few things to note:
The prophecy of the Pequod is, "all will perish save one."
The preacher preaches a sermon about Jonah and the whale (duh!).
The famous first three words are: "Call me Ishmael."
You probably want to know what Ahab offers the one who brings up the whale.
Quegquag is upset because the ship has no captain (they set off without the captain coming out of his cabin). This is an omen of a doomed ship.
Ahab gives a soliloquy (a speech given when a character is alone and revealing their true thoughts). In this soliloquy he reveals that he knows he is damned and he has no joy - not in his family - not in life - not in God. He feels he must get Moby Dick to get his soul back.
The captain that passes the Pequod on the has a harpoon for a hand. He warns Ahab not to pursue the white whale and calls him mad.
When the first guy dies by falling off the mast, Ahab can't read the bible and can't pray. He then turns and dares God to strike him. This emphasises his "damned soul" that we heard in his soliloquy.
The first hunt of Moby Dick we have several bad omens:
the crew has low morale
it is foggy
they lose Pip (innocence)
Ahab loses his leg
When they get Pip, he is crazy
More bad omens include Fedallah's dream that Ahab will die fighting Moby Dick and he (Fedallah) will die right before it.
They use gun powder to blow apart the ice. Remember that stagnant water is an archetype meaning a life gone wrong. Well, the ice here is water not moving, so it takes the same meaning as a life gone wrong.
Pip, having completely lost it, dresses as Ahab and becomes the "Mini Me" of Moby Dick.
The second boat they
Prophecies and curses:
Elijah - "All aboard will perish save one."
Captain Boomer - "You will have a blasphemous end."
The drunk salior who fell off the mast - "May the ocean swallow the lot of you."
Starbuck repeats the prophecy of the Pequod to the captain.
Captain Ahab says that the prophecy is, "Death to Moby Dick!" (He is a little repetitve about this).
Fedallah's dream is that he will die and then Captain Ahab will die while trying to kill Moby Dick.
Captain Ahab makes another prophecy to Fedallah that he will kill Moby Dick and he will survive it.
National Treasure Competition:
Your class is in competition to find one of our national documents that has been stolen! Somebody in this school has the treasured document. They have gotten it back from the thief, the problem is, they are worried that the thieves may have high ranking moles. This person does not know to whom the document should be entrusted to. In order to save this historic national treasure, you will, as a team, need to find out:
• Who has the document
• Which document is it? (Declaration of Independence? Constitution? other?)
• When can you get the document (the person will only give it out with answers)
• Show them what answers you have and fill in the last answer from them.
What happens if you get it? The winning person will get three 10 point coupons to be added to a grade of your choice (one coupon per grade only). This could be a big help to you! Such high amounts of extra credit will not be easy to get, but if you can pool your resources (or desert to a team that can) you may come out a winner. Oh, by the way, there is only one document per class (2nd and 3rd period: Mr. Williams). May the force be with you!
- Romantic does NOT mean lovie-dovie
- It does put an emphasis on nature
- Imagination is more important than reason and logic
- Civilization is bad Nature is good
- Individual freedom is important
- Nature is the way to find God
- Progress is bad
- Poetry is the highest expression of the imagination
- The Americans during this time did not want to be sophisticated and educated, they wanted to be as different from the English and the Europeans as they could
American Romantic Notes Handout
O.K., G.I. Joe is a Real American Hero, but just not one that completely fits the Romantic kind of hero.
The American Hero, During the Romantic time period, the ideal American hero often had these characteristics:
- Young (or at least acts young)
- Innocent and pure
- Sense of honor higher than society’s honor
- Has knowledge of people and life based on a deep understanding, not based on education
- Loves nature
- Quests for a higher truth
Transcendentalists
Ralph Waldo Emerson is the most famous of the Transcendentalists.
We read the first chapter of Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson in class. The chapter can be found on the right hand side of the screen. I have highlighted parts that are important and will be on the test.
If you wish to read the whole essay, you can do so at this web site.
Personally, my favorite line is:
If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown!
Here is the star hunt we had assigned this week to see if looking at the stars was really peaceful.
I love looking at the stars. Alas, in our day of street lights and parking lot lights, many of the stars are washed out. If you like looking at the stars, I suggest going to:
Sky and Telescope
There is also a group out there trying to get rid of :light pollution. Here is their site:
Dark Skies
Emerson's transparent eyeball idea is a famous one often quoted from Nature.
Perhaps if Bruce Banner would go out into nature more, he wouldn't get upset so easily.
~~~~~VII. Ship/boat
voyage, life quest
VIII. Desert
death, hopelessness, alone
IX. Gardens, Forests
paradise, life, beauty
X. Nature
goodness, God
XI. Christ Figure
one who sacrifices him/herself to save others
XII. Snakes
trickery, deceit
from Nature by Ralph Waldo EmersonTo go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and what he touches. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.
The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence. Nature never wears a mean appearance. Neither does the wisest man extort her secret, and lose his curiosity by finding out all her perfection. Nature never became a toy to a wise spirit. The flowers, the animals, the mountains, reflected the wisdom of his best hour, as much as they had delighted the simplicity of his childhood.
When we speak of nature in this manner, we have a distinct but most poetical sense in the mind. We mean the integrity of impression made by manifold natural objects. It is this which distinguishes the stick of timber of the wood-cutter, from the tree of the poet. The charming landscape which I saw this morning, is indubitably made up of some twenty or thirty farms. Miller owns this field, Locke that, and Manning the woodland beyond. But none of them owns the landscape. There is a property in the horizon which no man has but he whose eye can integrate all the parts, that is, the poet. This is the best part of these men's farms, yet to this their warranty-deeds give no title.
To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood. His intercourse with heaven and earth, becomes part of his daily food. In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows. Nature says, -- he is my creature, and maugre all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me. Not the sun or the summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every hour and change corresponds to and authorizes a different state of the mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight. Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or a mourning piece. In good health, the air is a cordial of incredible virtue. Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. I am glad to the brink of fear. In the woods too, a man casts off his years, as the snake his slough, and at what period soever of life, is always a child. In the woods, is perpetual youth. Within these plantations of God, a decorum and sanctity reign, a perennial festival is dressed, and the guest sees not how he should tire of them in a thousand years. In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, -- no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my eyes,) which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground, -- my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, -- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God. The name of the nearest friend sounds then foreign and accidental: to be brothers, to be acquaintances, -- master or servant, is then a trifle and a disturbance. I am the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty. In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate than in streets or villages. In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature.
The greatest delight which the fields and woods minister, is the suggestion of an occult relation between man and the vegetable. I am not alone and unacknowledged. They nod to me, and I to them. The waving of the boughs in the storm, is new to me and old. It takes me by surprise, and yet is not unknown. Its effect is like that of a higher thought or a better emotion coming over me, when I deemed I was thinking justly or doing right.
Yet it is certain that the power to produce this delight, does not reside in nature, but in man, or in a harmony of both. It is necessary to use these pleasures with great temperance. For, nature is not always tricked in holiday attire, but the same scene which yesterday breathed perfume and glittered as for the frolic of the nymphs, is overspread with melancholy today. Nature always wears the colors of the spirit. To a man laboring under calamity, the heat of his own fire hath sadness in it. Then, there is a kind of contempt of the landscape felt by him who has just lost by death a dear friend. The sky is less grand as it shuts down over less worth in the population.
Henry David Thoreau
Read the text book selection of Walden, or Life in the Woods. I will give extra credit.
Know what he did in the woods when not building his house and how long he stayed in the woods.
The Fireside Poets
Definately not Romantic in their style, these guys were for a long time known as THE American poets. Now, not so much.
Read Longfellow's "The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls" You can read it here:
The tide rises, the tide falls,
The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;
Along the sea-sands damp and brown
The traveler hastens toward the town,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.
Darkness settles on roofs and walls,
But the sea, the sea in darkness calls;
The little waves, with their soft, white hands
Efface the footprints in the sands,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.
The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls
Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;
The day returns, but nevermore
Returns the traveler to the shore.
And the tide rises, the tide falls.
To understand this poem, we paid attention to the fact that the Fireside Poets were really into convention, so we noted a few things:
The rhyme scheme (tracking the rhyming pattern by assigning a letter to the end of a line - each letter represents a sound) - In this poem, the first line ends with falls - so we give that line the letter A. The second line ends with calls - this rhymes with the first line, so it too has the letter A. The third line ends with brown - this is a new sound, so it gets the next letter, B. The fourth line ends with town - that rhymes with brown, so it gets the letter B. The last line in the first stanza ends withfalls - so it gets the letter A.
This gives the first stanza the rhyme scheme AABBA. By going through all three stanzas, we can see that the rhyme scheme is AABBA -AACCA - AADDA
We can see that since he doesn't stray from this format, he must want a consistent sound to it. This fits the subject of the poem, the tide. The tide is very consistent and does not stop.
Next we noticed that the words "The tide rises the tide falls" was repeated often. This is call repetition. Anytime a poet feels the need to repeat himself or herself, it is usually important. We checked our archetype notes and found that since other natural things that cannot be stopped (the sun, rivers) tend to mean time passing, the constant tide might also mean that.
Now, with this knowledge, we looked at the plot of the poem. A traveller hurries into town as the night falls, misses all the actions of the tide wiping the beach clean, and then leaves early morning. The traveller will never come back. We interpretted this to mean that time is always moving. We must stop and check out things for ourselves. Don't wait, you might not get another chance.
This is the poem you will need to read on the test and be able to interpret:
Rainy Day by Longfellow
The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the moldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.
My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the moldering Past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast
And the days are dark and dreary.
Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.
You will also want to know at least one other Fireside Poet other than Longfellow.
The Extra Credit on the test is: How much did Thoreau spend on his building supplies.
The Dark Romantics
Writing in the early 1800s, these writers existed during the Romantic period. While they share many viewpoints of the Romantic authors, they do have one main element that separates them form the others -- they focused on the fact that because of original sin (Adam and Eve (which we all know was Eve's fault)), mankind has a sinful nature. Therefore, when left to ourselves, we will eventually do bad things.
In most of thier writings, the main character is obsessed or racked by guilt. Often they are mad (crazy) or at least borderline mad.
~~ Read all of Horrton Hears a Heart
Quoth the Raven, "Eat My Shorts!"
We will watch the Simpson's version in class
We will read a few of Poe's stories. Each one is on the test.
"The Tell-Tale Heart"
This story is about a mad man who can't stand this guy's "vulture eye." So, if you don't like the way someone looks, you do what any sane person would do. You kill him.
You can read it here.
Our narrator is crazy and therefore cannot be trusted. Whenever you have a narrator that cannot be trusted, you have an unreliable narrator.
Some questions to know from this story are:
What does the narrator say he can hear at the beginning of the story?
What about the old man bothers the narrator?
For seven nights he creeps into the room to murder the old man. Why doesn't he?
Once the old man hears him, how long does he wait before moving again?
How does he kill the old man?
How does he hide the body?
How does he make sure there is no blood evidence?
What does he hear that makes him confess?
"The Raven"
Herman Melville was not very famous and liked in his time, but after World War I, he began to be read again. His story of Moby Dick has long sections of it where he just talks about whaling and shipping. Thankfully, the movie version leaves that out.
The rule - a sperm whale named Moby Dick is bound to raise a flurry of jokes. So, the rule of class is, a joke can only be made once. If you want to keep making up jokes, you need to be original.
Characters in Moby Dick
Yes, they actually made a cartoon where your friendly Moby Dick helped two boys save the world and fight bad guys! You can watch an episode here (it'll only take you about 6 minutes):
You Tube - Moby Dick
Moby Dick
The great white whale beholds the sail
That means to work him woe,
And plumes the breeze of southern seas
Where Bedford whalers go.
The lookouts shout, the crew turns out,
The longboats pull away;
With rope and lance and half a chance
They'll kill the beast this day.
The captain's eye regards the sky:
The gulls now tell the tale–
Their raucous cries the calm belies
Where sounds the great white whale.
He rises now and at the bow
Harpoons gleam sharp and long;
Then there's the throw! and off they go–
The rope sings out its song.
The salt spray flies and stings the eyes;
In headlong buck and leap
The whaleboats dance and dip and prance
Like sprites across the deep.
Then all is still and with a thrill
The crews gasp at his rise:
Leviathan now turns on man
His black and baleful eyes.
They watch in awe his toothy maw
Gape terrible and wide;
As if in dreams the sailors' screams
The only sound provide.
He sounds again and flukes descend
To crush the men and boats
Upon the swell the splinters tell
Where one lone seaman floats.
And down below the bilge planks show
The whale has come to call:
A crash! The din! The water in!
He means to kill them all.
The ship sinks fast until at last
The masts slip out of sight,
And on the waves but one man raves
Upon his float that night.
The story's old and often told,
But mark this hoary tale–
And learn the rule: that man's a fool
Who seeks his own white whale.
The wise man learns, where hatred burns
But naught of good can come;
Obsession's cost is ever lost
When God totes up the sum.
© 2007 Jeffrey Hull
Ishmael - protagonist He is also the narrator, but there are times when we get story that he is not around for all of the story. He was a school teacher but now wants to see the world. His inexperience makes the other crew members laugh and joke at him.
Elijah – the crazy man who gives the prophecy of the Pequod
Captain Ahab - captain of the Pequod. He is obsessed with finding Moby Dick. the whale that ate his leg. He now has a peg leg.
Moby Dick – the big sperm whale that Ahab wants. He is white and monsterous.
The Ship’s Mates
Starbuck - 1st Mate – He keeps his head about him and does not think that they should go after Moby Dick. His concern is the crew and his job to get whale oil for the ship’s owners. He is torn since he knows what he feels is right, but he also feels he must obey his captain.
"My miserable office is but to obey thee."
Stubb – 2nd Mate – He is the one with the white beard who is always laughing and careless.
Flask – 3rd Mate – He is the one who is always calling Ishmael “Pup” and has the cigar in his mouth.
Harpooners – all of them are non-Christians and each one fo them serves a particular mate.
Queequeg – son of a cannibal chief. He makes friends with Ishmael early and looks out for him. He is a strange mixture of savage and civilization – serves with Starbuck
Tashtego – the Native American harpooner – serves with Stubb
Daggoo – the African harpooner – serves with Flask
Fedallah – He is the Asian harpooner that serves with Ahab. Nobody knew he was on the boat until he emerges with Ahab. Ahab has him aboard to help him find Moby Dick.
He is symbolic of the devil.
Other characters
Pip (Pippin) – the African-American boy who goes around playing the tambourine.
He is a symbol of innocence.
The Carpenter – he just builds stuff.
The Cook – duh, he cooks. Not very well, however.
A few things to note:
The prophecy of the Pequod is, "all will perish save one."
The preacher preaches a sermon about Jonah and the whale (duh!).
The famous first three words are: "Call me Ishmael."
You probably want to know what Ahab offers the one who brings up the whale.
Quegquag is upset because the ship has no captain (they set off without the captain coming out of his cabin). This is an omen of a doomed ship.
Ahab gives a soliloquy (a speech given when a character is alone and revealing their true thoughts). In this soliloquy he reveals that he knows he is damned and he has no joy - not in his family - not in life - not in God. He feels he must get Moby Dick to get his soul back.
The captain that passes the Pequod on the has a harpoon for a hand. He warns Ahab not to pursue the white whale and calls him mad.
When the first guy dies by falling off the mast, Ahab can't read the bible and can't pray. He then turns and dares God to strike him. This emphasises his "damned soul" that we heard in his soliloquy.
The first hunt of Moby Dick we have several bad omens:
the crew has low morale
it is foggy
they lose Pip (innocence)
Ahab loses his leg
When they get Pip, he is crazy
More bad omens include Fedallah's dream that Ahab will die fighting Moby Dick and he (Fedallah) will die right before it.
They use gun powder to blow apart the ice. Remember that stagnant water is an archetype meaning a life gone wrong. Well, the ice here is water not moving, so it takes the same meaning as a life gone wrong.
Pip, having completely lost it, dresses as Ahab and becomes the "Mini Me" of Moby Dick.
The second boat they
Prophecies and curses:
Elijah - "All aboard will perish save one."
Captain Boomer - "You will have a blasphemous end."
The drunk salior who fell off the mast - "May the ocean swallow the lot of you."
Starbuck repeats the prophecy of the Pequod to the captain.
Captain Ahab says that the prophecy is, "Death to Moby Dick!" (He is a little repetitve about this).
Fedallah's dream is that he will die and then Captain Ahab will die while trying to kill Moby Dick.
Captain Ahab makes another prophecy to Fedallah that he will kill Moby Dick and he will survive it.
National Treasure Competition:
Your class is in competition to find one of our national documents that has been stolen! Somebody in this school has the treasured document. They have gotten it back from the thief, the problem is, they are worried that the thieves may have high ranking moles. This person does not know to whom the document should be entrusted to. In order to save this historic national treasure, you will, as a team, need to find out:
• Who has the document
• Which document is it? (Declaration of Independence? Constitution? other?)
• When can you get the document (the person will only give it out with answers)
• Show them what answers you have and fill in the last answer from them.
What happens if you get it? The winning person will get three 10 point coupons to be added to a grade of your choice (one coupon per grade only). This could be a big help to you! Such high amounts of extra credit will not be easy to get, but if you can pool your resources (or desert to a team that can) you may come out a winner. Oh, by the way, there is only one document per class (2nd and 3rd period: Mr. Williams). May the force be with you!