Due: Thursday, March 29th 2012
NO HOMEWORK!!!!
You have been working so hard that I really want to give you a break. Great job, Keep up the hard work, and, RELAX tonight!
Due: Wednesday, March 28th 2012
1. Red Common Core Book: Lesson 17 & Lesson 18
2. COMPLETE the exam that you did the listening for today in class today. REMEMBER, to employ the strategies that you have learned to help you to reach your fullest potential.
3. 702, read "Hunger Games" and "You Don't Even Know Me" at your own pace. Be sure to share your predictions, questions, clarifications, and summaries with. Be sure that you cycle through these stages whenever you read and exhibit them in every decision you make.
4. 703, read "We Beat the Streets" at your own pace. Be sure to share your predictions, questions, clarifications, and summaries with. Be sure that you cycle through these stages whenever you read and exhibit them in every decision you make.
Due: Tuesday, March 27th 2012
DO YOUR PAST HOMEWORK!!! TOO MANY OF US ARE NOT DOING OUR WORK.
THIS IS NOT GOOD.
OUR STATE EXAM IS TWO WEEKS AWAY AND WE HAVE A LOT OF WORK YET TO DO.
YOU MUST DO YOUR WORK IN ORDER TO BE YOUR BEST.
Due: Monday, March 26th 2012
1. Red Common Core Book: Lesson 15 & Lesson 16
2. COMPLETE the NYS EA exam that you received today in class. REMEMBER, to employ the strategies that you have learned to help you to reach your fullest potential.
3. Make a list of all the things you have learned this year. Put a star by those that you feel will help you do amazingly well on the NYS ELA Exam. Those with the most impressive lists will each win a snack pack from Mrs. Roytblat!!!!
3. 702, read "Hunger Games" and "You Don't Even Know Me" at your own pace. Be sure to share your predictions, questions, clarifications, and summaries with. Be sure that you cycle through these stages whenever you read and exhibit them in every decision you make.
4. 703, read "We Beat the Streets" at your own pace. Be sure to share your predictions, questions, clarifications, and summaries with. Be sure that you cycle through these stages whenever you read and exhibit them in every decision you make.
5. Send me an email and let me know how class was today (on Friday). What did you do? What did you learn?
Enjoy the weekend!!!
Due: Friday, March 23rd 2012
1. Red Common Core Book: Lesson 13 & Lesson 14
2. 702, read "Hunger Games" and "You Don't Even Know Me" at your own pace. If you haven't already, form a loose partnership or group with a friend or two, to share your predictions, questions, clarifications, and summaries with. Be sure that you cycle through these stages whenever you read and exhibit them in every decision you make.
3. 703, read "We Beat the Streets" at your own pace.
Due: Thursday, March 22nd 2012
1. Red Common Core Book: Lesson 11 & Lesson 12
2. COMPLETE the NYS EA exam that you received. Be sure to time yourself and write how long it took you to complete. REMEMBER, this is the exact number of questions that you will have for Part 1 of day one.
3. 702, read "Hunger Games" and "You Don't Even Know Me" at your own pace. If you haven't already, form a loose partnership or group with a friend or two, to share your predictions, questions, clarifications, and summaries with. Be sure that you cycle through these stages whenever you read and exhibit them in every decision you make.
4. 703, read "We Beat the Streets" at your own pace.
Due: Wednesday, March 21st 2012
1. Red Common Core Book: Lesson 9 & Lesson 10
2. 702, read "Hunger Games" and "You Don't Even Know Me" at your own pace. If you haven't already, form a loose partnership or group with a friend or two, to share your predictions, questions, clarifications, and summaries with. Be sure that you cycle through these stages whenever you read and exhibit them in every decision you make.
3. 703, read "We Beat the Streets" at your own pace.
Due: Tuesday, March 20th 2012DO LAST NIGHT'S HOMEWORK OVER, THIS TIME GIVING YOUR BEST EFFORT!!!
Due: Monday, March 19th 2012
1. Red Common Core Book: Lesson 7 & Lesson 8 (skip lesson 6)
2. 702, read "Hunger Games" and "You Don't Even Know Me" at your own pace. If you haven't already, form a loose partnership or group with a friend or two, to share your predictions, questions, clarifications, and summaries with. Be sure that you cycle through these stages whenever you read and exhibit them in every decision you make.
3. 703, read "We Beat the Streets" at your own pace. I will assign group assignments on Monday.
4. Create an analysis of the following writing, much like we have been doing in school. Then compare, contrast, and contrast them in an essay. We will be spending next week on the best way to perfect this technique.
Comparison Essay
Choose 2 lines from the poem. Discuss the meaning of your selection and how the experience of the speaker in the poem is similar to the experience of the speaker in the story, “My Name.” Use ideas from BOTH the poem and the story in your essay.
In your essay, be sure to include:- all parts of an essay: introduction, body paragraphs and conclusion
- the exact lines you have selected from the poem
- an explanation of how the experiences of both speakers are similar
- check your essay for correct spelling, grammar and punctuation
Read the following excerpt from The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.
“My Name”
In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings when he is shaving, songs like sobbing.
It was my great-grandmother's name and now it is mine. She was a horse woman too, born like me in the Chinese year of the horse--which is supposed to be bad luck if you're born female-but I think this is a Chinese lie because the Chinese, like the Mexicans, don't like their women strong.
My great-grandmother. I would've liked to have known her, a wild, horse of a woman, so wild she wouldn't marry. Until my great-grandfather threw a sack over her head and carried her off. Just like that, as if she were a fancy chandelier. That's the way he did it.
And the story goes she never forgave him. She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow. I wonder if she made the best with what she got or was she sorry because she couldn't be all the things she wanted to be. Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don't want to inherit her place by the window.
At school they say my name funny as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth. But in Spanish my name is made out of a softer something, like silver, not quite as thick as sister's name Magdalena--which is uglier than mine. Magdalena who at least- -can come home and become Nenny. But I am always Esperanza. I would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees. Esperanza as Lisandra or Maritza or Zeze the X. Yes. Something like Zeze the X will do.
Now read the poem, “Miss Clement’s Second Grade Class” by Maryfrances Cusumano Wagner
They sat in even rows
like new chocolates in a long box,
quiet enough to hear pencils
trying uneven letters.
On those blue days Maria stared
at clean blue paper
while boiler heat sifted
through thumping registers
by Anthony Lombardo’s desk.
As Maria shaped vowels,
she wished to be a Smith
so she could hand out crayons
like Evelyn Brown,
have her papers on display,
During quiet writing,
when everyone seemed the same,
she almost forgot
the hours locked in the teacher’s closet,
missing how to take two from eight.
Everyday Miss Clement wore a navy dress,
tied her blond hair in a circular braid.
Every night Maria laughed
with Wilbur and Charlotte.
They didn’t mind her Italian name.
Go back and begin responding to the questions in your essay.
Due: Friday, March 16th 2012
1. Red Common Core Book: Lesson 4 and 5
Due: Thursday, March 15th 2012
1. Red Common Core Book: Lesson 2 & Lesson 3
2. Complete Test Handout that you were given.
Read "Hunger Games" (702) (703, you will get books tomorrow)
3. Write the different ways that we can improve comprehension on looseleaf paper. Also list the different techniques we can utilize effectively take our NYS ELA Exam.
Due: Tuesday, March 13th 2012
(Predict, Question, Clarify, Summarize)
1. Make up any missing or poorly done work.2. Read independently and get ready for tomorrow. (Predict, Question, Clarify, Summarize)
Due: Monday, March 12th 2012
1. After having discussed paragraph at a time, the meaning of "The Masque of the Red Death" for the last few days, both in class and as your nightly homework assignment, I want each of you on your own to form an essay, that explains what this short story is all about. I understand and expect for your to miss things and to have difficulties, but you must trust me, that this is how your grow. MAKE SURE YOU SUPPORT EACH AND EVERYTHING YOU SAY WITH EVIDENCE FROM THE SHORT STORY. Use quotation marks around the line that you are going to use so that it is understood that the line came from the short story and are not your words.
2. (702) If you haven't started already, please begin reading "Hunger Games" Assignments will go up shortly.
(703) For those students in (703) who are interested in reading this wonderful novel, please send me an email.
3. (702) Please bring in your money for "You Don't Even Know Me" Thanks!
Due: Friday, March 9th 2012
1. Discuss with your group mates, one paragraph at a time, the meaning of "The Masque of the Red Death" I understand and expect for your to miss things and to have difficulties, but you must trust me, that this is how your grow. MAKE SURE YOU SUPPORT EACH AND EVERYTHING YOU SAY WITH EVIDENCE FROM THE SHORT STORY.
2. Using details from the two poems below, explain what each poem means. After explaining what the author is saying by writing these poems, please fo on to EXPLAIN how each poem is SIMILAR (compare) and then EXPLAIN how each poem is DIFFERENT (contrast).
Be sure to go back to the poem for textual support and cite it in each part of your response. I know that you can do so well with this assignment which will be collected on Monday with your weekend assignment. Please give yoru best effort.
Poem #1
Love and Friendship
by Emily Bronte
Love is like the wild rose-briar,
Friendship like the holly-tree
The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms
But which will bloom most constantly?
The wild-rose briar is sweet in the spring,
Its summer blossoms scent the air;
Yet wait till winter comes again
And who will call the wild-briar fair?
Then scorn the silly rose-wreath now
And deck thee with the holly's sheen,
That when December blights thy brow
He may still leave thy garland green.
Poem #2
O Do Not Love Too Long
by William Butler Yeats
Sweetheart, do not love too long:
I loved long and long,
And grew to be out of fashion
Like an old song.
All through the years of our youth
Neither could have known
Their own thought from the other's,
We were so much at one.
But O, in a minute she changed -
O do not love too long,
Or you will grow out of fashion
Like an old song.
Due: Thursday, March 8th 2012
1. Below, read "The Masque of the Red Death" which is a magnificient short story by Edgar Allan Poe. Fill out the graphic organizers that you have received in class. If for some reason you misplace them, get them from this, our website, as links for them exist here.
2. Read through the guide below about poetry as you study for tomorrow's assessment on literary terms and poetic devices.
THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH
by Edgar Allan Poe
1842
THE "Red Death" had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal --the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour.
But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys. This was an extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the prince's own eccentric yet august taste. A strong and lofty wall girdled it in. This wall had gates of iron. The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the bolts. They resolved to leave means neither of ingress or egress to the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy from within. The abbey was amply provisioned. With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion. The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think. The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the "Red Death."
It was toward the close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion, and while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad, that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence.
It was a voluptuous scene, that masquerade. But first let me tell of the rooms in which it was held. There were seven --an imperial suite. In many palaces, however, such suites form a long and straight vista, while the folding doors slide back nearly to the walls on either hand, so that the view of the whole extent is scarcely impeded. Here the case was very different; as might have been expected from the duke's love of the bizarre. The apartments were so irregularly disposed that the vision embraced but little more than one at a time. There was a sharp turn at every twenty or thirty yards, and at each turn a novel effect. To the right and left, in the middle of each wall, a tall and narrow Gothic window looked out upon a closed corridor which pursued the windings of the suite. These windows were of stained glass whose color varied in accordance with the prevailing hue of the decorations of the chamber into which it opened. That at the eastern extremity was hung, for example, in blue --and vividly blue were its windows. The second chamber was purple in its ornaments and tapestries, and here the panes were purple. The third was green throughout, and so were the casements. The fourth was furnished and lighted with orange --the fifth with white --the sixth with violet. The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, falling in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same material and hue. But in this chamber only, the color of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations. The panes here were scarlet --a deep blood color. Now in no one of the seven apartments was there any lamp or candelabrum, amid the profusion of golden ornaments that lay scattered to and fro or depended from the roof. There was no light of any kind emanating from lamp or candle within the suite of chambers. But in the corridors that followed the suite, there stood, opposite to each window, a heavy tripod, bearing a brazier of fire that projected its rays through the tinted glass and so glaringly illumined the room. And thus were produced a multitude of gaudy and fantastic appearances. But in the western or black chamber the effect of the fire-light that streamed upon the dark hangings through the blood-tinted panes, was ghastly in the extreme, and produced so wild a look upon the countenances of those who entered, that there were few of the company bold enough to set foot within its precincts at all.
It was in this apartment, also, that there stood against the western wall, a gigantic clock of ebony. Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang; and when the minute-hand made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar a note and emphasis that, at each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to pause, momentarily, in their performance, to hearken to the sound; and thus the waltzers perforce ceased their evolutions; and there was a brief disconcert of the whole gay company; and, while the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was observed that the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused reverie or meditation. But when the echoes had fully ceased, a light laughter at once pervaded the assembly; the musicians looked at each other and smiled as if at their own nervousness and folly, and made whispering vows, each to the other, that the next chiming of the clock should produce in them no similar emotion; and then, after the lapse of sixty minutes, (which embrace three thousand and six hundred seconds of the Time that flies,) there came yet another chiming of the clock, and then were the same disconcert and tremulousness and meditation as before.
But, in spite of these things, it was a gay and magnificent revel. The tastes of the duke were peculiar. He had a fine eye for colors and effects. He disregarded the decora of mere fashion. His plans were bold and fiery, and his conceptions glowed with barbaric lustre. There are some who would have thought him mad. His followers felt that he was not. It was necessary to hear and see and touch him to be sure that he was not.
He had directed, in great part, the moveable embellishments of the seven chambers, upon occasion of this great fete; and it was his own guiding taste which had given character to the masqueraders. Be sure they were grotesque. There were much glare and glitter and piquancy and phantasm --much of what has been since seen in "Hernani." There were arabesque figures with unsuited limbs and appointments. There were delirious fancies such as the madman fashions. There was much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust. To and fro in the seven chambers there stalked, in fact, a multitude of dreams. And these --the dreams --writhed in and about, taking hue from the rooms, and causing the wild music of the orchestra to seem as the echo of their steps. And, anon, there strikes the ebony clock which stands in the hall of the velvet. And then, for a moment, all is still, and all is silent save the voice of the clock. The dreams are stiff-frozen as they stand. But the echoes of the chime die away --they have endured but an instant --and a light, half-subdued laughter floats after them as they depart. And now again the music swells, and the dreams live, and writhe to and fro more merrily than ever, taking hue from the many-tinted windows through which stream the rays from the tripods. But to the chamber which lies most westwardly of the seven, there are now none of the maskers who venture; for the night is waning away; and there flows a ruddier light through the blood-colored panes; and the blackness of the sable drapery appals; and to him whose foot falls upon the sable carpet, there comes from the near clock of ebony a muffled peal more solemnly emphatic than any which reaches their ears who indulge in the more remote gaieties of the other apartments.
But these other apartments were densely crowded, and in them beat feverishly the heart of life. And the revel went whirlingly on, until at length there commenced the sounding of midnight upon the clock. And then the music ceased, as I have told; and the evolutions of the waltzers were quieted; and there was an uneasy cessation of all things as before. But now there were twelve strokes to be sounded by the bell of the clock; and thus it happened, perhaps, that more of thought crept, with more of time, into the meditations of the thoughtful among those who revelled. And thus, too, it happened, perhaps, that before the last echoes of the last chime had utterly sunk into silence, there were many individuals in the crowd who had found leisure to become aware of the presence of a masked figure which had arrested the attention of no single individual before. And the rumor of this new presence having spread itself whisperingly around, there arose at length from the whole company a buzz, or murmur, expressive of disapprobation and surprise --then, finally, of terror, of horror, and of disgust.
In an assembly of phantasms such as I have painted, it may well be supposed that no ordinary appearance could have excited such sensation. In truth the masquerade license of the night was nearly unlimited; but the figure in question had out-Heroded Herod, and gone beyond the bounds of even the prince's indefinite decorum. There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion. Even with the utterly lost, to whom life and death are equally jests, there are matters of which no jest can be made. The whole company, indeed, seemed now deeply to feel that in the costume and bearing of the stranger neither wit nor propriety existed. The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat. And yet all this might have been endured, if not approved, by the mad revellers around. But the mummer had gone so far as to assume the type of the Red Death. His vesture was dabbled in blood --and his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror.
When the eyes of Prince Prospero fell upon this spectral image (which with a slow and solemn movement, as if more fully to sustain its role, stalked to and fro among the waltzers) he was seen to be convulsed, in the first moment with a strong shudder either of terror or distaste; but, in the next, his brow reddened with rage.
"Who dares?" he demanded hoarsely of the courtiers who stood near him --"who dares insult us with this blasphemous mockery? Seize him and unmask him --that we may know whom we have to hang at sunrise, from the battlements!"
It was in the eastern or blue chamber in which stood the Prince Prospero as he uttered these words. They rang throughout the seven rooms loudly and clearly --for the prince was a bold and robust man, and the music had become hushed at the waving of his hand.
It was in the blue room where stood the prince, with a group of pale courtiers by his side. At first, as he spoke, there was a slight rushing movement of this group in the direction of the intruder, who at the moment was also near at hand, and now, with deliberate and stately step, made closer approach to the speaker. But from a certain nameless awe with which the mad assumptions of the mummer had inspired the whole party, there were found none who put forth hand to seize him; so that, unimpeded, he passed within a yard of the prince's person; and, while the vast assembly, as if with one impulse, shrank from the centres of the rooms to the walls, he made his way uninterruptedly, but with the same solemn and measured step which had distinguished him from the first, through the blue chamber to the purple --through the purple to the green --through the green to the orange --through this again to the white --and even thence to the violet, ere a decided movement had been made to arrest him. It was then, however, that the Prince Prospero, maddening with rage and the shame of his own momentary cowardice, rushed hurriedly through the six chambers, while none followed him on account of a deadly terror that had seized upon all. He bore aloft a drawn dagger, and had approached, in rapid impetuosity, to within three or four feet of the retreating figure, when the latter, having attained the extremity of the velvet apartment, turned suddenly and confronted his pursuer. There was a sharp cry --and the dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon which, instantly afterwards, fell prostrate in death the Prince Prospero. Then, summoning the wild courage of despair, a throng of the revellers at once threw themselves into the black apartment, and, seizing the mummer, whose tall figure stood erect and motionless within the shadow of the ebony clock, gasped in unutterable horror at finding the grave-cerements and corpse-like mask which they handled with so violent a rudeness, untenanted by any tangible form.
And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.
THE END
Analyzing Poetry (www.studyguide.org)
What is poetry? How is it analyzed? What are the elements of poetry? Good questions! This information provides a quick overview of poetry analysis. Please note that this handout discusses the basics of poetry; there is much more to know about it than there is room to discuss here.
What is poetry ?
Poetry goes beyond the rhyming of words. The object of writing a poem is usually to make a very complicated statement using as few words as possible; as Laurence Perrine says, poetry "may be defined as a kind of language that says more and says it more intensely than does ordinary language" (517). Thus every word and stanza is packed with meanings. Poetic language could be said to have muscle because, in a sense, it is powerful. When a poet writes, he is trying to communicate with the reader in a powerful way. He uses the elements of poetry to get his point across, and these elements consist of a variety of ways to use words to convey his meanings. In the analysis of poetry, then, two important questions the reader must ask himself are: What is the poet trying to say? How does he or she try to say it?
What does a poetry analysis paper look like?
Individual teachers may have specific requirements for papers written in their classes. A critical analysis includes an introduction, a thesis statement, perhaps a map of the essay, the body of the essay, and aconclusion. The critical analysis paper will consist of a proof or a demonstration of the thesis statement. Always begin with a thesis statement, which usually appears at the end of the introductory paragraph. The thesis of a critical paper should include a statement of the poem's theme; everything in the body of the paper should apply in some way towards proving the thesis statement.
In critical analysis, one looks both analytically and critically at a short story, a novel, or a poem and makes an argument about what the meaning of the story or poem is. What follows is a discussion of what the words "critical" and "analysis" mean:
What is "analysis"?
It is helpful to think of analysis as decoding. Creative writers rarely say what they mean in a straightforward, obvious way, and this is especially true of poets. However, they are trying to communicate with readers. In doing so they use a variety of tools to enrich their purpose, and these tools are the elements of poetry. The combination of elements the poet uses makes up the "code" of the poem. Analysis means literally picking a poem apart--looking at elements such as imagery, metaphor, poetic language, rhyme scheme, and so on--in order to see how they all work together to produce the poem's meaning. By looking at a poem in terms of its elements, one decodes the poem. This guide is to help readers learn what to look for and what questions to ask in decoding a poem.
What does "critical" mean?
To criticize means to judge the merits and faults of a poem. Questions to consider in this regard are: What has the poet done well, and what has he done less well? Has he successfully expressed his theme? Has he written a "good" poem or a "great" poem according to Laurence Perrine's standards?
How to interpret a poem?
- Read the poem more than once.
- Check for word meanings.
- Read the poem slowly.
- Pay attention to what the poem is saying; do not be distracted by the rhyme and rhythm of the poem.
- Try reading the poem out loud to get a sense of the way the sounds of the poem effect its meaning.
Elements of Poetry
Denotation and Connation Words in poems have denotations, or literal, easy-to-understand dictionary meanings, and connotations, or figurative, less specific and less direct meanings. The latter is the more important in poetry than the former. The figurative, or connotative, meaning of a word means everything that the word might imply besides its direct, dictionary meaning.
For example, the literal, denotative meaning of the word apple is something like this: It is the fruit of the apple tree, anywhere from gold to dark red in color, and it has seeds and a sweet taste. The literal meaning of a word, its denotation, can usually be defined in simple, clear language and can be understood right away.
The connotative meaning of a word, however, is much different. A red apple in a poem is never merely a red apple, but probably implies a lot of different things. The red color may symbolize passion, fertility, anger--anything one can associate with the color red could be a possible meaning. The apple itself could symbolize the Tree of Life, it could symbolize knowledge, Adam and Eve and their Fall from Grace, the harvest in fall, the forbidden, Sir Isaac Newton or Johnny Apple seed--perhaps a combination of these things. In this way a poet uses a word or an idea in a poem to express a variety of ideas at one time, and so deepens our experience.
Thus, in reading poetry one should look at words as having two kinds of meaning. They have dictionary meanings, but also mean other things besides. One should look at individual words and at phrases in the poem and brainstorm; that is, one should think about the literal meanings, but then try to think of every possible idea that the word or phrase could imply. Importantly, words do not mean anything and everything in a poem. Thus the reader should look at the poem as a whole and try to figure out which implications make the most sense within that poem.
Imagery
Images are very concrete "word pictures" having to do with the five senses--touch, smell, taste, sound, movement, and especially sight. As Perrine points out, images make readers experience things vividly. To figure out the imagery in a poem, the reader should first make a list of every single mental picture, or visual image, that comes to mind as he reads the poem. He can then go back and find other kinds of ideas that have to do with physical sensations--sounds, tastes, smells and so on. Finally, he can go back and think about all the ideas these different images could imply--figure out their connotations, in other words.
For example, if a poet compares something to a ship, the reader might think about what ships look like, and then think about what it feels like to be on a ship. How do ships move? Where do they go? What sights, sounds, smells and sensations can we associate with ships and being on ships? After thinking about these questions, the reader can go back and attach these ideas that a ship implies to the thing to which the ship is compared, and finally try to fit these ideas into the overall meaning of the poem. See Emily Dickinson's poem "There is No Frigate Like a Book" on page 575 of Structure, Sound, and Sense.
Importantly, poets often place images in opposition to each other. This creates what is known as "tension." Tension is often an important clue to the meaning of a poem; it also creates drama and interest and is a key to paradox (see below). One should look out for strange contrasts in images in the process of analyzing poems, and think about the responses they arouse in a reader. Images can be part of similes and metaphors, though they are not always (see below).
Figurative Language
Figurative language involves a comparison between two things--a literal term, or the thing being compared, and a figurative term, or the thing to which the literal term is being compared. As Perrine states, figurative language is a way of describing an ordinary thing in an un-ordinary way.
Simile
A simile is an explicit, or clear and direct, comparison between two things that are basically unalike using dead-giveaway words such as "like", "as though", "seems", "similar to", "than", or "as". For example, "The woman moved like a fish--she moved as though she were as weightless as a fish in water. Her movements were certainly as graceful and fluid as those of a sea creature. She seemed ready to swim away at any moment, like a startled school of fish." Here, the woman is theliteral term, while the fish, sea creatures, and school of fish are allfigurative terms.
Metaphor
A metaphor is a comparison that is not made explicitly--that is, it is not made clearly and directly and is not made with clues such as "like" or "as". It is, instead, an indirect comparison between two things that are basically unalike. In metaphor, the figurative term is substituted for or identified with the literal term, the thing being compared. This is done to make the meaning of a poem more forceful.
For example, the expression "The apple never falls far from the tree" contains a metaphor in which parents or family (literal term) is compared a tree (figurative term), while children (literal term) is compared to an apple (figurative term). The metaphor expresses that children are never very different from the parents or family from which they come. For further example, "The fire eye in the clouds survives the gods" (Wallace Stevens) also uses metaphor. Here, the sun is compared to an eye--one that has seemingly eternal life, and thus can watch the full course of human events. Here, one figurative term is "fire eye in the clouds" while the literal term is "the sun". The term "eye" may give the reader the idea that the sun is kind of like a conscious being, since conscious beings have eyes for purposes of perceiving the world; what a thing "sees" it can presumable think about in a conscious way. Also, the idea that the sun "survives" reinforces the idea that it is like a living thing, though it is not, in fact living. See also, "The Road Not Taken" and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," both by Robert Frost and appearing inStructure, Sound and Sense. These are good examples of easy-to-understand uses of metaphor.
Personification
Personification is a kind of metaphor, and it means to speak of an impersonal thing, such as a season, a natural element, any object, a country, etc., as though it were a person. For example, look at the line from the popular Seals and Crofts song, "Summer Breeze": "July is dressed up and playing her tune." Here the month of July is spoken of as though it were a woman. July is "dressed up", that is, July is in full swing--flowers are blooming and butterflies are flying, resembling the pattern of a summer dress. Also, to say that July is "playing her tune" is a metaphorical way of saying that birds are singing and nighttime insects and frogs are voicing their mating calls. Thus the figurative term, a woman in a dress playing a tune, is identified with the literal term, a summer month in which nature is at its peak of activity.
Synecdoche
Synecdoche is a way of naming a thing: the word for a part of a thing is substituted for the whole. For example, in the sentence "I bought a new set of wheels this morning," the word "wheels" is substituted for the word "car." Wheels are part of any car; here the part is substituted for the whole. The following are further examples: "How do you like my newthreads?" and "All hands on deck!" both represent synecdoche.
Metonymy
Metonymy is a way of naming a thing: a thing closely related to the thing actually meant is used to name it. For example, "He came from excellent blood" substitutes the term "blood" for "family", and expresses the idea that an individual comes from a "good" family, perhaps a noble one. "Blood" and "family" are related because families are made up of people who have similar characteristics; people have blood, and people in families, being related to one another, are often said to share the same blood. Furthermore, "blood," a biological thing, is not part of a "family," which is a cultural institution. However, blood, part of the human body, can be substituted for "family," a group of biologically related bodies. Thus the figurative term "blood" is substituted for the literal term "family".
Symbol
A symbol means what it is, but at the same time it represents something else, too. For example, "the straw that broke the camel's back" is asymbol of a last, remaining bit of patience with a difficult, ongoing situation.
Allegory
An allegory is very similar to a symbol. Laurence Perrine describes it in this way: "Allegory is a narrative or description that has a second meaning beneath the surface one. Although the surface story or description may have its own interest, the author's major interest is in the ulterior meaning." (597) What this means is that in addition to the surface meaning of the poem there is also a more important, deeper meaning. Allegories relate especially to subject matter from the Bible and from mythology. For example, a garden in a poem may be not just a garden, but it may represent also the Garden of Eden and all of the ideas that accompany the idea of the Garden of Eden become potentially important in the poem. These might include ideas such as the seven days of creation, paradise, utopia, the Fall of Man, disobedience, human rationality, God's power, Eve's origin as Adam's rib, and so on. References to mythology are harder to catch because most Americans simply are not familiar with Greek, Roman, and Norse gods and goddesses and their stories. However, there are dictionaries of mythology in any public library, so use one if need be.
Paradox
A paradox occurs when two things that should not be able to exist at the same time are said, in a poem, to exist at the same time. For example, it is impossible that it be both night and day, both spring and fall, both past and present at the same time. If, however, one were to say that night and day coexist in a poem, one would be expressing a paradox. Because human beings frequently experience two or more emotions at the same time (mixed feelings, ambivalence) or can see things from two points of view at the same time, they often use paradox in poetry to express such a situation. For example, if a poem were to say that the speaker of the poem is experiencing the past and the present at the same time, this may mean that his memories of the past are so vivid that the past seems to be existing in the present.
For example, "A poem should be palpable and mute/As a globed fruit" (Archibald MacLeish, p. 650 of Structure, Sound and Sense). This line expresses a paradox because poems are constructed through words--why should a poem be "silent"? A poem has the "silence" of a globed fruit because the poem should be able to communicate the non-verbal aspects of the fruit (the things we experience without words)--the fruit's roundness, its smooth or fuzzy texture, its sweet fragrance, its crunchy or soft texture once it's bitten into, and so on. These are all things which are not experienced nor understood in a verbal way but which a poem may paradoxically communicate through words. Thus a "silent poem" is a paradox.
Oxymoron
An oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines contradictory terms. Oxymorons appear in a variety of contexts, including literary oxymorons crafted to refeal a paradox.
The most common form of oxymoron involves an adjective-noun combination of two words. For example, the following line from Tennyson’s Idylls of the King contains two:
“And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.”
Other examples of this kind are:
· Dark light
· Living dead
· Open secret
· Original copy
Less often seen are noun-verb combinations of two words, such as the line “The silence whistles” from Nathan Altermnan’s Summer Night.
Overstatement and Understatement
Overstatement is very similar to exaggeration. To say "You'll tear down that house over my dead body!" is overstatement; what is actually meant is that the speaker will do everything in his power to prevent the house being torn down. He will probably not, in fact, submit to death in order to prevent that from occurring.
Understatement is the opposite of exaggeration--one states less than one's full meaning. To say "It is on warm side in July and August on the Gulf Coast" would be an understatement. In fact, it is blazingly hot on the Gulf Coast. See Burns' "A Red, Red Rose" and Frost's "The Rose Family" on pages 611 and 612 of Structure, Sound, and Sense for good examples of over- and understatement in poetry.
Hyperbole
Hyperbole is the use of an exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke strong feelings and/or used to create a strong impression, but it is not meant to be taken literally. Hyperboles are exaggersate to create emphasis or effect. As a literary device, hyperbole is often used in poetry and is frequently encountered in casual speech. An example of hyperbole is: “The bag weighed a ton.” Hyperbole makes the point that the bag was extremely heavy although it is not probable that it would actually weigh a ton.
Irony
Irony is a situation in which one thing is said but another is actually meant, or in which the outcome of a situation is the opposite of what one would have expected it to be. Irony is packed into the line, "The fire eye in the clouds survives the gods." Human beings are often said to create their gods, beings frequently presumed by humans to be immortal, all-knowing, and all-powerful because they are presumed to have created things like the earth, the moon, the sun. Rather, this line of poetry emphasizes the mythical nature of gods and goddesses; their existence, so to speak, is tied to a culture, and once that culture has run its course, those gods can be said to have "died". It is the sun, supposedly created by the gods, which actually "witnesses" the passage of time and the events of human history. Thus the opposite of what one would think to be the true situation is occurring: The sun, not the gods, can make a better claim to being immortal and all-knowing because it "watches" the rise and fall of cultures and of the gods associated with those cultures. Furthermore, it is the sun which has, in fact, inspired human beings to create gods in order to account for its existence. See the section inStructure, Sound, and Sense that covers irony for good examples of this element in poetry.
Meaning and Idea
Remember that a poem might be summed up in a literal, one-sentence statement, a theme. Also remember that along with that simplified statement a poem has other ideas connected with it. For example, "The fire eye in the clouds survives the gods" means literally that the sun has a very long "life expectancy" of several billion years. However, other ideas are associated with this literal meaning; the line expresses ideas about the nature of time, history and the "immortal" gods. For example "the fire eye in the clouds" implies that the sun is in some way godlike because gods are often said to live in the sky, among the clouds, on mountaintops. Likewise, those aspects of the sun are represented here. Furthermore, eyes see, and the idea of the sun as an "eye" implies an all-knowing and perhaps all-powerful quality; for instance, God's eye is depicted above a pyramid on US dollar bills, and so we are "one nation under God." The words "fire-eye" allow us to experience the sun in an entirely new way, above and beyond its being a star in the sky which produces heat. (See above discussions of metaphor and irony.)
Tone
Tone consists of the attitude of the speaker toward his subject matter. It involves practice working with the other elements--especially under- and overstatement, language, irony, imagery, the meanings and connotations (implications) of words--of poetry to judge the tone of a poem. In assessing tone, nevertheless, one might begin by asking oneself the following questions: Is the speaker involved or detached (uninvolved, unemotional?) How does he seem to feel about his subject matter? Is the speaker serious or joking, ironic or straightforward, condemning, approving or dispassionate, lighthearted or depressed, loving or angry? Does the tone change as the poem progresses? Is the tone mixed? For instance, is the speaker at once sad and apprehensive, happy and nostalgic, loving and angry?
Musical Devices
To determine what musical devices are used in a poem, one should ask how sounds are arranged and used in a poem. What sounds and words get repeated? What are repeated but with slight changes? Is there rhyme? The following are kinds of musical devices. Keep in mind that the vowels are a,e,i,o,u and sometimes y, and the consonants are all of the other letters in the alphabet.
Alliteration--the repetition of beginning consonant sounds For example, "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers."
Assonance--the repetition of vowel sounds found anywhere in a word For example, "mad as a hatter," "blackjack," "knick- knack, paddy-wack," "picnic"
Consonance--the repetition of consonant sounds found at the ends of words For example, "knick-knack, paddy-wack," "bric-a-brac," "flip-flop"
Rhyme--also spelled "rime" rhyme is the repetition of ending sounds between words; poems can have end rhyme, in which words at the ends of lines rhyme; this is what we usually mean when we say a poem "rhymes." A poem can also have internal rhyme, in which words inside of individual lines for example, "Go with the flow, Joe."
The sounds used in a poem can effect its meaning and tone. The use of consonants, vowels and rhyme can effect the way the reader feels about the poem's subject matter; they can effect the poem's tone and reflect its meaning. One should think of the sounds of letters in terms of the range of feelings they may express. For example, lots of long vowel sounds accompanied by soft consonant sounds may contribute to a tone of sleepy restfulness in a poem. Short vowel sounds plus hard consonant sounds may express anxiety, quick movement, anger or happiness.
Due: Wednesday, March 7th 2012
1. Read the poem below and write an interpretation of it on a sheet of looseleaf paper. Make sure that you reference and make any connection that you feel is worthy and can be made. Discuss literary techniques used and and explain WHY the author used them. It will be collected.
Thoughts
by David Michael Schmidt
our mind loves to wonder, like a leaf in the wind
floating from one thought to another
controlled by the whim of a gust
the difference between hot and cold
thoughts leads to another like a game of tag
ideas love to explore all the aisles of our library
looking for a title that brings a smile or a surprise
or both
what creates an inspiration ?
it's magic
one thoughts taps another, “you're it”
like a dance with your eyes closed
swaying with the rhythm and feeling the sound
then opening your eyes for a second
only to resume the dance anew
it's hard to force a thought
climb to the top of a hill overlooking a field of random words
that are flowing with the breeze
and try to connect any of it
the words don't even look up at you
it's an acre of blooming poppies in beautiful hues
like a brilliant rainbow
run through them with your arms open
grasp them, smell them
take them home and arrange a bouquet
then stand back to admire it
play with it
try to make it better
be creative, be open
try not to frame it
let it run
like a new puppy that thinks anything is a toy
and has to touch everything
and sniff it and chew it
use all the senses
From:
David Michael Schmidt
2. Below is the test that you took on Monday. Go through and make sure that you are not only able to identify each term, but that you are also able to create an example of each. Your will have a timed test on Thursday.
LITERARY TERMS
TEST
Select the best answer
1 A person or thing fighting against the hero of a story
a) protagonist b) narrator c) character d) antagonist
2. The highest point (turning point) in the action of a story
a) climax b) conflict c) essay d) plot
3. The problems and/or complications in a story
a) climax b) conflict c) essay d) plot
4. The feeling or emotion a word brings to your mind
a) connotation b) essay c) denotation d) figurative language
5. The dictionary meaning of word without the emotion or feeling connected with the word
a) connotation b) essay c) denotation d) figurative language
6. Putting yourself in someone else's place and imagining how that person must feel
a) theme b) empathy c) foreshadowing d) figurative language
7. A piece of writing that gives the author's ideas or point of view about a subject
a) climax b) conflict c) essay d) setting
8. Words or phrases which don't mean what they first appear to mean that are used in a special
way to create a special effect
a) theme b) empathy c) foreshadowing d) figurative language
9. The writer's hints or clues about what is going to happen in a story
a) theme b) empathy c) foreshadowing d) figurative language
10. A word or phrase that a writer uses to mean the exact opposite of its normal meaning
a) foreshadowing b) setting c) figurative language d) irony
11. A person or character who is telling the story
a) protagonist b) narrator c) character d) antagonist
12. The action of the story that is usually made up of a series of events
a) climax b) conflict c) essay d) plot
13. The hero of the story
a) protagonist b) narrator c) character d) antagonist
B14. The subject or message being written about or discussed
a) theme b) empathy c) foreshadowing d) plot
15. The part of a story which follows the climax or turning point leading to the ending of the
story
a) plot b) foreshadowing 0 rising action d) falling action
16. A form of figurative language in which an idea, object, or animal is given characteristics of a
person. The rock stubbornly refused to move.
a) identity b) personification c) simile d) metaphor
17. A form of figurative language in which two different things are compared using "like" or "as".
The car handled like a tank.
a) similar identity b) personification c) simile d) metaphor
18. A form of figurative language in which two different things are compared without using "like"
or "as". The car was a tank when it came to handling.
a) comparative identity b) personification c) simile d) metaphor
19. The central part of a story during which various problems arise, leading up to the climax
a) plot b) foreshadowing c) rising action d) falling action
20. The time and place in which the action of the story takes place
a) characterization b) setting c) plot d) irony
Due: Monday, March 5th 2012
1. Go to https://nyc-acuity.mcgraw-hill.com to log onto ACUITY to practice the skills that you need help with. Please focus and give your best effort. Practice how you hope to compete, and come game day you will do wonderfullly. Your user id is your first and last name, no spaces. Your password is your ossis #.
2. Using the notes that you took today during our notetaking exercise, re-read your notes, take your time, and answering the following PT2 Listening Questions.
NYS 2006 Book 2 Link: http://www.nysedregents.org/Grade7/EnglishLanguageArts/20060117book2.pdf
3. As was explained in class, you are to answer the following questions concerning "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. Anserwer all questions and fully and completely as you can.
QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED ON LOOSELEAF (or using Microsofe Word)
Write the Questions.
1. How do the commonplace details of life and the folksy language
contribute to the impact of the story? Why had Jackson chosen common
people for her characters? Could she have chosen characters from other
levels of sophistication with the same effect? What is the irony of the trite
dialogue and casual tone of this story?
2. What seems to have been the original purpose of the lottery? What do
people believe about it?
3. Is it important that the original paraphernalia for the lottery had been
lost? What do you suppose the original ceremony was like? Why have some
of the villages given up this practice? Why hasn't this one?
4. What is the significance of Tessie's final scream, "It isn't fair, it isn't
right"? What aspect of the lottery does she explicitly challenge; what aspect
goes unquestioned?
5. How many hints of the seriousness of the occasion can you find in the
early parts of the story? (for this question, underline in your story places
where foreshadowing occurs). From which characters do you get the best
indication of what is to follow?
6. Some critics insist that the story has an added symbolic or allegorical
dimension. Do you agree? If so, what is Shirley Jackson trying to tell us
about ourselves?
Due: Friday, March 2nd 2012
1. Check the 2006 NYS ELA Exam that you did in your notebooks earlier in the week. Send me an email ravensunset@gmail.com TONIGHT letting me know the number of each question that you answered incorrectly. Click the link below to find the answer key.
CLICK HERE FOR 2006 PT1 ANSWERS: http://www.nysedregents.org/Grade7/EnglishLanguageArts/20060117scoringkey.pdf
2. Go to our BLOG
http://ravensview.edublogs.org/discussions-of-class-books-poetry-short-stories-and-non-fiction-materials/
and use your critical thinking skills and the questions below
to deeply examine this "The Lottery" If you do not discuss your work online, you will not get credit for your homework.
1. How do the commonplace details of life and the folksy language
contribute to the impact of the story? Why had Jackson chosen common
people for her characters? Could she have chosen characters from other
levels of sophistication with the same effect? What is the irony of the trite
dialogue and casual tone of this story?
2. What seems to have been the original purpose of the lottery? What do
people believe about it?
3. Is it important that the original paraphernalia for the lottery had been
lost? What do you suppose the original ceremony was like? Why have some
of the villages given up this practice? Why hasn't this one?
4. What is the significance of Tessie's final scream, "It isn't fair, it isn't
right"? What aspect of the lottery does she explicitly challenge; what aspect
goes unquestioned?
5. How many hints of the seriousness of the occasion can you find in the
early parts of the story? (for this question, underline in your story places
where foreshadowing occurs). From which characters do you get the best
indication of what is to follow?
6. Some critics insist that the story has an added symbolic or allegorical
dimension. Do you agree? If so, what is Shirley Jackson trying to tell us
about ourselves?
7. Is the lottery a collective act of murder? Is it morally justified? Is
tradition sufficient justification for such actions? How would you respond to
cultures that are different from ours that perform "strange" rituals?
1. By restating the question in your answer, respond to your group's question as thoroughly and completely as you can. Put these responses in your notebook. If you have to go back to the story for more clarity, do so. If you re-read this short story, the lotter again, it is a good thing.
2. On a sheet of looseleaf paper and IN YOUR OWN WORDS, define the following as thoroughly as you can. You can use class and online materials to help you create a complete and accurate definition.
a. plot
b. setting
c. author's purpose
d. theme
3. Describe the strategies we have been talking about and using in class all week in order to become better readers. Make sure you name the terms as well as describing them.
Have you ever been bullied? Have you ever bullied someone? What were the specific conditions of this situation? How were you effected by the experience? Please share additional thoughts not embodied in the previously asked question.
opening paragraph of the story? Why is it unnamed?