First by Loconte was devotions,
An interview of the Devil’s motions.
Scary though it was,
We knew it was true without a pause.
Second came the questions,
A review from the past two sessions.
Discovered was Belinda the victor,
With Jaclyn ending the bicker.
She was immortalized forever,
Unlike the baron, name known never.
Third came the note-filled board,
Which we were supposed to record.
(They are attached if you had missed them
Due to the lack of quickness in your pen)
The words were filled with Johnson and his Age,
Filling at least one page.
Fourth was an attempt,
Trying in the Elegy to make a dent.
Her hope was to read at least one line,
But the constant discussions were a sign,
That a line was not to be read.
Thus, ‘tis homework she said,
Just don’t forget these notes,
Or simply stick them in a tote.
Alors, here is the homework,
Until completion it will lurk,
So please do it soon,
Do not wait until the last moon.
Your review of the play by Tuesday,
Unless already handed in today.
Read Preface to Shakespeare for the test
Read it today and you can take a rest.
Well, there is still Johnson’s bio to read,
As well as the Elegy to heed.
The Elegy is the only one,
Containing questions to be done.
Finally, I bid thee a good long weekend,
Let your mind be on the mend,
As we have a lit test next Friday
But at least no school until Tuesday.
Homework:
1) Good copy of your review of The Importance of Being Earnest – TUESDAY
2) Read Preface to Shakespeare (pg. 422) - TUESDAY
3) Read Johnson’s Bio (pg. 418) - TUESDAY
4) Read Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard and answer STUDY and DISCUSSION questions - TUESDAY
AGE OF JOHNSON
ReplyDelete- A distinctly different age than Pope
o Social and economic changes had changed reading public
o Tastes changed and writers tried to supply it
- Literary market place (going up), literary patronage (down)
- This age gone way to the Age of Sentiment
- Although common sense and reason remained most important principles, people became interested in experience and emotions of others
Johnson, Samuel
- Poet, essayist, biographer, lexiconographer
- “Dictionary of the English Language” (not 1st but 2st full featured, 1st to reference other authors for examples, and 1st to described has words are used and not how they should be used.) a masterpiece, but struggled against feeling idle and lazy his whole life
- Against solid and political reform, American independence, and changing literary tastes
- Good sense of humour but impatient w/unclear thinking
Elegy Written in a Country Courtyard
GRAY ponders:
o Universal human experience
o Humility
o Peace of mind
o Inevitability of death
Poem in 7 sections
1) Setting
2) Imagined life of “rude forefathers of the hamlet”
3) Death, the common end to all
4) Unused potentials of some villagers
5) Desire of even the lowliest to be remembered
6) Speaker anticipates own death
7) Epitaph of the speaker