Due for Monday, 1/5

Read the packet on Washington Irving and "Rip Van Winkle" - write a unified essay about gothic literature using "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle" to discuss how Irving is a gothic writing. Consider elements of gothic writing like setting, historical context, characterization, mood, tone to discuss your argument.

Make sure to cite and use both stories appropriately to show how Washington Irving is a gothic writer. these essays will be collected and graded when you return.

The paper must be typed, double spaced, 12 pt font, times new roman and 1 inch margins. Please make sure it is titled and your name is on it.

If you'd like me to look at it over break, please email it to me, mssackstein@yahoo.com

Also, please read "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allen Poe - and annotate for Tuesday, 1/6 in class.

reminders

Independent Reading assignment #3 is due tomorrow -
just a reminder that an independent reading assignment is just that, independent. You cannot, under any circumstance, use a play, novel, or short story we read as a class. This would defeat the purpose of you working on your own to complete the assignment.

Independent Reading assignment #4 will be January 23rd (Friday before Regents)

Homework for Friday 12/19

Please read "the Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving and annotate it looking for elements of gothic literature as discussed in class today.

In case you lose the handout, here is a link to read the story:
http://www.bartleby.com/310/2/2.html

Poem revisions for tonight

With the feedback received from your peers, please revise the poems written last night. If possible, please type them and attach the first draft with the revised draft as well as your picture.

Also make sure to write a reflection on the draft about your experience with this poem. How was it mimicing an author and then having to revise. Did you like reading the work of your classmates? Did you get valuable feedback?

Homework for Tuesday due Wednesday, 12/17

Write a poem with a transcendental theme in the style of Whitman. Find a picture for the inspiration, these will be shared in class tomorrow.

Use Whitman's poem as a "mentor" text - mimic or imitate the style Whitman uses in your own work.

Then reflect on the experience on this blog - is it hard to imitate some one else's style?

Walt Whitman - Modern poet?

http://www.etsu.edu/writing/mo&pomo/whitman/
Go to the blog – read the handout and/or go on the website with a partner and read the links – explore with a partner and take notes in your sourcebook.
1. What are the characteristics of Whitman’s writing?
2. What influence has Whitman’s writing had?
3. What makes Whitman a “modern” poet?
4. What makes him a transcendental writer?
5. What did Emerson have to say about Whitman’s writing as per his letter to him after it was first published? http://lcweb2.loc.gov/learn/collections/ww/langarts.html

Post one comment to this post that you found interesting about Whitman that continues to make Whitman relevant to readers today.

Typical Elements of American Gothic Fiction

1. Settings most often include large, drafty old houses that have "been in the family for years." Since castles in the American landscape were practically unheard of, early Gothic fiction writers began substituting the family estate for the traditional castle.
2. An atmosphere of mystery and suspense that is enhanced by a plot which seeks to discover the secrets lying within the supernaturally charged environment.
3. A ghostly legend, an unexplainable occurrence, or a story about a horrible death or murder that took place at the family estate in question.
4. Omens, foreshadowing, and dreams usually play a large role in the mysterious air that is created within the story.
5. Tales include highly charged emotional states like: terror, a feeling that one is on the brink of insanity, anger, agitation, an exaggerated feeling of some impending doom, and obsessive love.
6. Supernatural events: ghosts, doors that open themselves, unexplained sounds, etc.
7. Damsels in distress are frequent. Women who are frightened and confused, wandering around lost, or dying due to a slow and unexplainable ailment.
8. Words designed to evoke images of gloom and doom: dark, foreboding, forbidding, ghostly, etc.
9. Romantic themes often involve the death of a man or woman in the throes of some great passion, the obsessive nature of a man or woman in love, or excessive grief one feels upon the loss of a loved one.

Work for the weekend

After watching all of the groups share in class, what was one thing that appealed to you from any of the presentations other than your own?

What do you like about Emerson? or What do you dislike about him? Be specific. Try to really consider something you learned about transcendentalism.

Post your comments to this post.

Independent Reading Assignment due Dec. 23

Directions: Identify and present passages from your independent reading book that illustrate the qualities listed below. Limit passages to one page of text. To present them, you may type them or photocopy and paste them. After each passage, write a brief but specific explanation of hot the passage exemplifies the quality stated (three to five sentences). Remember to provide the page number of each passage.

passage that reveals an important quality about the main character (protagonist)
passage that shows an important part of setting
2 different passages that suggest the complexity of the protagonist's conflict(s)
2 passages in which the author uses language in a particularly effective way
passage that shows teh symbolic importance of something or a passage that suggests why the book has the title it has
passage that shows the protagonist's situation at the end
passage that suggests and important idea, theme, or insight the book conveys
passage that shows what you liked about the book

In class tomorrow

Make sure to bring your independent reading book
or
the Emerson essay to continue work on
or
any make up blog work

let's stay on top of our work this trimester.

Emerson Essays

Complete the reading of the Emerson essay you were assigned -

First consider the title - what are the connotations (other than literal meanings... associations) of the term? What can you expect to read about?

How does the starting poem connect to the essay? Why this poem for this essay? (Unifying idea?)

Consider SOAPStone -

Be ready to discuss with your group what the essay is about the transcendental qualities of the essay - how do we know that this is transcendental literature?

What do you think of Emerson's views in his essay? What do they make you think about? Post to this thread.

Crucible Extra Credit

If you are interested in taking on some extra work for our class - go out and view the recent movie version of The Crucible and compare the film to the play in terms of characterization, setting, point of view and historical relevance.

It will be due by Friday, December 19, 2008

Please type a formal essay - double spaced, 12pt font, times new roman... make sure you have a clear thesis with beginning, middle and end. Use the text to support your work.

Our study of Romanticism

We began discussing romanticism today and its 2 subparts - transcendentalism and gothic.
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/romanticism.html - romanticism
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/rom.html - romanticism

Tomorrow we begin to discuss Emerson - here are some characteristics to be aware of:
http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/amtrans.htm

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/transcendentalism/

http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/emerson/

http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/transcendentalism/emerson/index.html

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

http://www.gale.cengage.com/free_resources/bhm/literature/bluest_eye.htm
Above is a synopsis of the next novel we will be studying that addresses issues such as:
racism
beauty
abandonment

We are going to try to get copies of the novel. Once we know what edition we are getting, I will let everyone know so if you would like to purchase it yourself, that is an option.

Defining Romanticism

Judging by what you may or may not know from American History during the early to mid 19th century (1800s - 1860), what do you know about Romanticism? What themes are relevent to it?



Please think about romaticism, transcendalism and gothic writing. Who is associated with each of these big movements in our history?



Comment on this blog post - Discuss a definition of each of the above and find one author who may exemplify what each is about.



I look forward to reading what you write.

Romanticism and Transcendalism and Gothic novels, oh my

We have concluded our study of The Crucible by Arthur Miller and we will now be moving on to a survey study of Romanticism and the off shoots of it (transcendalism and gothic)
By the end of this unit, you will understand what Romanticism is and how it helped to shape our American literature... and in essence how beliefs during this time period helped to shape the writing.

I am hoping to have each of you complete a bunch of readings, and writings (original poetry in the style of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass and an original short story using romantic elements)
Throughout we will continue our work with writing essays

The next full length novel we will be reading is Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. I am shooting to have you have it before the break so that you can possibly read it over break. It is a modern book that examines our concept of beauty.

In Class Essay tomorrow

Please make sure to get to class on time tomorrow as we have an in class writing assessment of the Crucible. You will be expected to interpret the quote, agree or disagree with your interpretation and then use 3 specific examples from the play to support your interpretation.

Bring a pen and some looseleaf paper.

Portfolio pulling

Your portfolio pulling for first trimester should be done by tomorrow.
You should have selected your 3 best pieces of work from the first trimester.

You should reflect on each piece specifically discussing the following:

1. what standards does this piece show you have mastered?
2. what have you learned about yourself as a learner from this assignment?
3. what do you still need to work on to make yourself a better learner for future assignments based on this assignment?
4. how can you adjust your learning to get your needs met based on your experience with this assignment?
5. how do the standards and skills used in this assignment connect to other assignments you have done in this class as well as other classes?
   

Cite examples from your work to support all of your answers to the above questions... write a narrative reflection for each piece. I will want to see your selections...

Moving forward, you will be expected to reflect on your work whenever you get work returned to you graded. It should always address the above information.

Questions from class discussion today for thought

Please post your ideas to these comments:

What is Miller's purpose in having 2 characters like Danforth and Hathorne?

Why is Parris so threatened by Proctor? What does Proctor represent and how can that expose Parris?

How would you characterize the characters? Flat? Round? Stereotypical? dynamic?

Homework for tonight

Draw out a plot diagram of the play:

• exposition
• rising actions
• climax
• falling actions or denouement
• resolution

review: plot - the main actions that move a story

exposition: the background info or bulding information for the story

rising actions - usually start with the conflict and are the events that lead up the climax

climax - the turning point

falling actions or denouement - the events which lead to the resolution following the climax

resolution - how the story ends or concludes...