Shakespearean "Pop" Sonnet...Bridging the Gap Between the Elizabethans and the Millennials!!

Shakespearean “Pop Sonnet” Analysis

In a well-organized response answer the following questions:

• What is the title and who is the artist of your song?  What is the title of your sonnet?  How do these two relate?
• What is the theme of the song and your sonnet?  How did you make the connections clear between the two?  What was your strategy in making the sonnet match the song?
• On a scale of one to ten with one being the easiest and ten being the most challenging, how challenging was it to write this sonnet? Explain.
• What was the most challenging part of composing your sonnet?  Why?
• Where is the volta?  Explain what the turn or shift in meaning is.
• Did you use any figurative language?  If so, make sure you italicize them in your sonnet.  Also, explain here what it was and why you used it in your sonnet.
• Did you use any poetic sound devices? If so, make sure you italicize them in your sonnet.
• Be sure to bold any Shakespearean language used in your sonnet.  Remember, the requirement was ten words or phrases...but many of you had more than that.  What is the effect of using this type of language to convey a modern song?

Oedipus Socratic Seminars: Take a Moment to Reflect

Here is the reflection prompt and a link to summaries of the other two plays in the trilogy-Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone.  They are pretty comprehensive summaries, so I hope you take the time to read them!

http://www.enotes.com/topics/oedipus-trilogy

Socratic Seminar Reflection

Format: Typed, double-spaced, 1-2 pages, 12 pt. Times News Roman, 1” margins

 In your reflection, you should discuss the following categories:

1.      Specific ideas you found particularly interesting and why.  Give specific examples and explain your reasoning.  Please include who said the idea (this shows me you were listening carefully). 

For example, “I found Brad’s speculation that not wearing white after Labor Day is connected to the Puritan’s dress code for wearing somber outfit interesting because I had not made that connection myself.  However, I am not sure I agree with this connection because I am wondering whether those arbitrary color rules have more to do with Southern etiquette and Emily Post rather than Puritanism.  I need more information on this; however, Brad’s comment jump started my thinking on the ways in which we dress in America today and how they might be connected to Puritanism.”

2.      Unanswered questions or ideas you are still grappling with regarding the topic.  Explain why you still have these questions or intellectual tensions.

For example, “I question George Will’s argument that Puritan asceticism has led to the gross accumulation of “material delights” in our society today.  Were people truly rebelling against the Puritan way of life or was capitalism in and of itself a driving force?  Can we really link the two?  I am not convinced by Will’s reasoning.  I need more evidence suggesting that people’s extravagant spending is a response to Puritanical austerity.”

3.      Discussion of why you scored yourself on the rubric for each category the way you did and specific examples supporting your self-score. 

For example, “I responded to Oscar V’s question regarding whether President Bush is a modern-day Puritan.  I referred to the Puritan Moral Code’s rule that all sins should be punished and connected this code to Bush’s references to evil in the Middle East needing to be crushed.  This example reflects how I was listening intently to the conversation, following the ideas, and extending them by providing a relevant example that pushed the discussion forward, which is why I gave myself an “Excellent” in listening and speaking and reasoning.”

4.      The class’s overall participation and assessment of your chosen person– strengths and areas of improvement.  Please provide specific examples supporting your point. 

For example, don’t say: “Everyone was nice.”  Instead say, “Generally, everyone listened carefully to the speaker.  For example, I noticed that when Luis was speaking, every student was looking at him and taking notes.  This also happened when Stephanie talked about Edwards’s simile about God’s wrath being bent like a bow.  However, when Garrett was talking, I saw two people whispering.  This happened several other times.  Due to our class’s inconsistent listening, I would say it was a strength at times as well as an area of improvement.  Additionally, I observed [student’s name].  She was prepared because…”

Also, here is a link to our class-created rubric for you to self-assess on:

https://docs.google.com/a/cpsed.net/document/d/151vVSWXZpOmK3_BNr7a080HU3aafa35oFzQAWhMQupg/edit?usp=sharing

Great Expectations Movie Adaptation Argument Group Essay

Compare Dickens’ Great Expectations to Mike Newell’s 2013 cinematic version of the same story and develop and argument to prove which was better.

Keep in mind what is EMPHASIZED or ABSENT in each.

Essay responses need to be complete and comprehensive, demonstrating that you paid attention to the film and thought about what was shown on the screen.  Be sure that the topic sentence of each paragraph uses key words from the one or more of the guiding questions below. All responses should follow all MLA formatting guidelines and include specific evidence from both sources.

**You should develop your claims and counterclaims fairly, supplying evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience’s need for information about the book and the movie.

**Please be sure to put all group members' names on the essays.

Take a Moment to Reflect on Civil Rights Speeches and the effects of Rhetoric...

Socratic Seminar Reflection

Format: Typed, double-spaced, 1-2 pages, 12 pt. Times News Roman, 1” margins.   In your reflection, you should discuss the following categories:

1.      Specific ideas you found particularly interesting and why.  Give specific examples and explain your reasoning.  Please include who said the idea (this shows me you were listening carefully). 

For example, “I found Brad’s speculation that not wearing white after Labor Day is connected to the Puritan’s dress code for wearing somber outfit interesting because I had not made that connection myself.  However, I am not sure I agree with this connection because I am wondering whether those arbitrary color rules have more to do with Southern etiquette and Emily Post rather than Puritanism.  I need more information on this; however, Brad’s comment jump started my thinking on the ways in which we dress in America today and how they might be connected to Puritanism.”

2.      Unanswered questions or ideas you are still grappling with regarding the topic. Explain why you still have these questions or intellectual tensions.

For example, “I question George Will’s argument that Puritan asceticism has led to the gross accumulation of “material delights” in our society today.  Were people truly rebelling against the Puritan way of life or was capitalism in and of itself a driving force?  Can we really link the two?  I am not convinced by Will’s reasoning.  I need more evidence suggesting that people’s extravagant spending is a response to Puritanical austerity.”

3.      Discussion of why you scored yourself on the rubric for each category the way you did and specific examples supporting your self-score. 

For example, “I responded to Oscar V’s question regarding whether President Bush is a modern-day Puritan.  I referred to the Puritan Moral Code’s rule that all sins should be punished and connected this code to Bush’s references to evil in the Middle East needing to be crushed.  This example reflects how I was listening intently to the conversation, following the ideas, and extending them by providing a relevant example that pushed the discussion forward, which is why I gave myself an “Excellent” in listening and speaking and reasoning.”

4.      The class’s overall participation and assessment of your chosen person– strengths and areas of improvement.  Please provide specific examples supporting your point. 

For example, don’t say: “Everyone was nice.”  Instead say, “Generally, everyone listened carefully to the speaker.  For example, I noticed that when Luis was speaking, every student was looking at him and taking notes.  This also happened when Stephanie talked about Edwards’s simile about God’s wrath being bent like a bow.  However, when Garrett was talking, I saw two people whispering.  This happened several other times.  Due to our class’s inconsistent listening, I would say it was a strength at times as well as an area of improvement.  Additionally, I observed [student’s name].  She was prepared because…”

Also, here is a link to our class-created rubric for you to self-assess on:

https://docs.google.com/a/cpsed.net/document/d/151vVSWXZpOmK3_BNr7a080HU3aafa35oFzQAWhMQupg/edit?usp=sharing

Passing Notes with Great Expectations!

Hopefully everyone enjoyed the Passing Notes Activity for Chapters 31-40. I know I did!  Please take a moment and look over your original Passing Notes Sheet.  Read through the comments and think about the following questions for your blog post this week.  Please BE SURE to include the quote and chapter number somewhere in your response.

• An overview of the specific comments made-You may quote people and respond to what they wrote
• Does the quote show any or all of the following and please name it as such?
• Character development (static, flat, dynamic, round) Is the character changing and if so, how?
• A Particular Theme or Themes--How is it/they being developed through this quote?
• Conflict--name what it is and who it involves (internal/external) and explain it
• Setting--any significance of the setting?
• Anything else that you would like to comment on
• DEVELOP A THOUGHT PROVOKING QUESTION BASED ON YOUR QUOTE.  ASK IT AT THE END OF YOUR COMMENT.  
• Students may use your question to comment on 
• Your link to technology this week MAY be a link to a picture of the passing notes activity sheet; however, it doesn't have to be that!

A couple of friendly reminders:

This blog post should be posted by midnight Sunday, February 21st.  

Be sure you are following all of the previous rules and requirements of the blog.  I will be sharing an updated blog log with you to keep track of your progress on.

Reminder: Chapters 41-50 should be read by Monday, February 22nd.

Hope everyone has a great February vacation!! 

Taking the "Miss" out of Miss Havisham...(and how to do makeup to look like her too!)

So...the first thing I want to mention here is that while I was searching YouTube for different versions of Miss Havisham in Great Expectations, I came across this Miss Havisham Makeup Tutorial...A makeup tutorial?? Yup! Weird no??  I wanted to share it here because I thought it was pretty strange and interesting that her enigmatic character is still relevant in our modern times.

You certainly don't have to watch the tutorial, but feel free to if you'd like:

Please watch this link to the 2012 version of Great Expectations at the point in which Pip is taken to meet Miss Havisham for the first time:


In your blog comment this week, please use the following as guiding questions, but remember you DO NOT have to answer all of them.  They should just be used as a jumping off point for your response.

I am trying to make the questions a bit more broad so that you have more freedom and creativity in your responses.

• What did you think of the casting choices in the clip you watched?
• What about the background/setting?
• Why do you think the characters Miss Havisham and Estella especially are still mentioned in our modern culture?
• Think about the female characters in Great Expectations.  Where are they located?  What are their personalities like?  What do you think Dickens is saying about gender through his characterizations of female characters in the novel?
• Is there anything else from the Socratic seminar discussions on "Havisham" that you would like to bring up or question? 

Looking at Poetry through a Literature Lens

For your blog post this week, please read the following poem "Havisham" by Carol Ann Duffy and choose up to three questions to respond to

Also, remember to respond to at least two of your classmates' blogs!  We are going to use these questions and comments as a jumping off point for our class discussion next week.

Background:

This poem is a monologue spoken by Miss Havisham, a character in Dickens' Great Expectations. Jilted by her scheming fiancé, she continues to wear her wedding dress and sit amid the remains of her wedding breakfast for the rest of her life, while she plots revenge on all men. She hates her spinster state - of which her unmarried family name constantly reminds her (which may explain the choice of title for the poem).

HAVISHAM

Beloved sweetheart bastard.  Not a day since then

I haven't wished him dead.  Prayed for it

so hard I've dark green pebbles for eyes,

ropes on the back of my hands I could strangle with.

Spinster. I stink and remember. Whole days 

in bed cawing Nooooo at the wall; the dress
yellowing, trembling if I open the wardrobe;
the slewed mirror, full-length, her, myself, who did this

to me? Puce curses that are sounds not words.
Some nights better, the lost body over me,
my fluent tongue in its mouth in its ear
then down till I suddenly bite awake. Love’s

hate behind a white veil; a red balloon bursting
in my face. Bang. I stabbed at a wedding-cake.
Give me a male corpse for a long slow honeymoon.
Don’t think it’s only the heart that b-b-b-breaks.

Structure:

The poem is written in four stanzas which are unrhymed. Many of the lines run on, and the effect is like normal speech. 

• uses many adjectives of colour - “green”, “puce”, “white” and “red” and
• lists parts of the body “eyes”, “hands”, “tongue”, “mouth”, “ear” and “face”.

Sometimes the meaning is clear, but other lines are more open - and there are hints of violence in “strangle”, “bite”, “bang” and “stabbed”. It is not clear what exactly Miss Havisham would like to do on her “long slow honeymoon”, but we can be sure that it is not pleasant.

Questions:

1. Why does Miss Havisham use the word "spinster" to describe herself? Is she belittling herself by using such a derogatory term? Or is there a way in which this makes her stronger?  What does Miss Havisham think about this word and its relevance to her?
2. What is the effect of all of Duffy's enjambments?  (If you don't know the meaning of this word, be sure to look it up!) Why does she break the lines of the poem so seemingly haphazardly?

 3. Why does the poet omit Miss Havisham's title and refer to her by her surname only?

4. What is the effect of “Nooooo” and “b-b-breaks”? Why are these words written in this way?

5. What is the meaning of the image of “a red balloon bursting”?  What is the effect of the visual color words mentioned above?  What is the effect of Duffy's use of parts of the body? 

6.   Does the reader have to know about Great Expectations to understand the poem?  Explain your reasoning.

7.   Does Miss Havisham have a fair view of men? What do you think of her view of being an unmarried woman?

8.   Perhaps the most important part of the poem is the question “who did this/to me?” According to this poem, is Miss Havisham responsible for her own misery? How far does it support her feelings of self-pity and her desire for revenge?