Insert Famous Line Here

(It's too cliche to write the line as the title.  Just saying)

To be or not to be a high school student, that is the question.  I don’t know about you, but soon we won’t be and first I went yay! Then I went wait… and then finally…awwww.  It’s been four years of work, fun, craziness, and other things that we shall not mention.

Entirely random, though not it you think about what occurred in class today.  Now what would be random is if I started talking about ponies or a pink fluffy unicorn.  Probably one of the most repeated phrases on the band trip, or maybe not.  See?  That’s random.  Sorry, seemingly distracted like we get in class. 

Back to the point.  We started with Mrs. Loconte and a devo about how to lessen stress from a Christian perspective.  I very much enjoyed it and remember this one point the most: rest properly.  Maybe that means I’ll go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight instead of like usual.

Going on, we stepped into the Act 2 quiz.  Now agree with me: it was pretty good.  And your marks seem to agree.  Here is where I remind you that each Act quiz will be EXACTLY the same format. 

But that doesn’t really matter for the moment.  What does is the fact that we read Act 3 Scene 1 (with some… interesting voices for Hamlet and Gertrude WHO IS THE QUEEN, QUEEN GERTRUDE).  That is how the first paragraph with “to be or not to be” came from by the way.  And I just have to mention how mean Polonius was for putting Ophelia is such a horrid position where Hamlet now hates the world because his friends, family, and girl he liked have basically betrayed him. 

Then the bell rang. 

Don’t run away just yet.  We have homework.

Read Act 2 Scene 2 of Hamlet.

Answer the questions for Scene 1 and 2.

Bonus Assignment (Inner Shakespeare) due May 31^st.

Enjoy your weekend!  Hopefully I didn’t ramble too much.  Maybe I should eat less sugar…hmmm…anyways, see yas!

The Madness of a Prince

Salutations.

Today's Lit class was quiet and focused, quite unusual considering our normal morning antics. I began the class with a quick devotional, and then we were off to study further into the tragedy of Hamlet.

We looked further into Hamlet's "madness" and discovered that through his mask of insanity, he continues to converse in a clever (and often insulting) way. He is quickly able to detect the intentions of his childhood friends-turned-spies, whom Claudius has sent to watch, observe, and report back to him Hamlet's behavior. Polonius continues to act in deceit. He, too, has intentions of spying on Hamlet, using Ophelia as a pawn in his plan.

Hamlet (fed up with his lack of action concerning his father's death) has decided to determine if Claudius is responsible for his father's murder. He has added lines to the play that he and his family will watch the next day that coincide with the events of his father's murder. If Claudius flinches with conviction as the lines are read, it will be enough proof for Hamlet that Claudius is guilty.

After we concluded Act II, we took a break from Shakespeare and read "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen on p.956 of our Lit textbook. Although many of us have read it before in English 12, the poem remains a shocking and gruesome depiction of the realities of the battlefields. The author uses vivid language and images - a trudging line of blood-sodden soldiers, the writhing panic of an unmasked man drowning in a sea of gas - to transport readers to the heart of the war. Owen successfully paints a picture of a situation that none would likely want to experience.

We polished off the class with a trial lockdown. Unfortunately, we had no way to lock our doors, and so if the lockdown had been a reality, we would probably all be dead right now.

Except the Track Team.

They would still have to write the quiz tomorrow.

Homework:

1. Hamlet Act II Quote Quiz will be Tomorrow, May 25. Remember to study the speakers and the meanings of the quotes!
2. "Dulce et Decorum Est" Study and Discussion Questions, p. 957 #1-3 are due Tomorrow, May 25.
3. Hamlet Bonus Assignment is due on Thursday, May 31 - a week from today.

The Second Coming and Hamlet

So, last night I was supposed to blog, and to my dismay, I found out 20 minutes ago that I published it on my other blog.  Thus, I have decided to blog today since a) no one got to enjoy my blogging yesterday and b) Jaclyn was not able to grace us with her presence today.  **If you were here for today's class, scroll down until you see the green words that say "today"**

     For those who weren't here yesterday or today, here's a recap of yesterday's class: To begin, Mrs. Loconte read us a devotion titled Letter From the Father, which was a compilation of different promises given to us from God via verses in the Bible.  In this letter, God promises us that he knows each and every part of us, and that he loves us and desires to lavish us with his love.  He also promises a great future for each of us if we listen closely to his commands and follow him.  

    After devotions, we had our Hamlet Act 1 quiz, which was surprisingly doable if you actually read all the scenes.  When the quizzes had been finished and collected, we moved on to look at Mr. Yeats and his poem Second Coming.  It is a very diverse, and indeed baffling, poem with everything from staunch Christian themes and interesting occult philosophy, to perhaps even some colourful nonsense.  The imagery of the poem though, is extremely powerful, and makes it a worthwhile read.  I especially liked the image given of a falcon as a metaphor for reason, circling and circling until it can no longer hear the falconer.  

     Homework from Yesterday:  Act 2, Scene 1 Questions

    

     Now, we shall move on to today.  Today's class began with another devotion from Mrs. Loconte, titled P.U.S.H, which was a story about how sometimes we think God isn't answering our prayers, when in actuality, he's growing us and making us patient or strong or whatever it may be. In the end, all we have to do is keep Praying Until Something Happens.  

    Next, we moved on to presentations for those of us who did the extra credit projects.  Jeff started us off with a dramatic presentation of how "The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire", showing us all the countries that were once under British Rule (i.e England, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, etc.).  After that, Kathleen gave us a nice poem countering the pessimism of Matthew Arnold's Dover Beach.  I preceded to also give a poem countering Arnold's pessimism.  

     After everyone had been put to sleep by my poem, we moved on to (or should I say back to?) Yeats and finished analyzing Second Coming.  Personally, I am of the opinion that Yeats was enjoying some recreational activity (read: DRUGS), and I'm pretty sure the rest of you all agree.  Either that, or he was into some pretty wacky voodoo that was conjuring up some strange images in his head.  

     Speaking of crazy people, we also continued to discuss Hamlet, reiterating what we read in Act 2, Scene 1, as well as starting to read part of Act 2, Scene 2.  We all kind of agreed that Polonius is, in Emmett's words, "a scumbag", or at the very least, crafty, manipulative, and distrustful of his children. Ok, yeah, a scumbag.  Polonius gets Reynaldo to check up on his son Laertes to make sure he is behaving reasonably and not shirking his studies, by asking around to see if he is a party animal or not.  Next, we learn that Hamlet is acting like a madman, making everyone start to question what is wrong with him.

Homework for Today: Read the rest of Hamlet and turn in a 25 page paper on the underlying themes of the poem by tomorrow.  Just kidding. Maybe. 

**REAL HOMEWORK DUE TOMORROW: Finish Act 2, Scene 2 and do all the question for it. Yep, stay up all night if you have to. JUST DO IT. - nike**

P.S: Sorry if this blog post is long, boring, weird, hallucinogenic, riddled with mistakes, or just plain terrible. I may have been trying to get my creative juices flowing through some recreational activity just like Yeats did. Just Kidding. Maybe.

P.P.S (or is it P.S.S??) Jaclyn, could you do devotions tomorrow? I won't be there.  Thanks :D

Now that you've wasted half your life reading this, it's time for you to go rest, go outside, kick a ball, listen to some music, go party. Oooooooooh, wait. You can't. You have seventeen questions for Scene 2 to do. Better get on that.

Have a nice day.

Friday's Class

Hi, sorry for the late blog...

On friday we heard devotions from Kathleen about keeping our mind clean and allowing Jesus to enter it.

We also discussed Hamlet Act 1, scene 3 questions and Act 1 Scene 4 questions.

We also engaged in a class discussion about the rolling up of the Carver pants... it was concluded that it was not allowed... although many of us found it unreasonable.

Homework:
-Read and complete Act 2 Scene 1 questions
-Bring both Hamlet and the lit 12 textbook to class on tuesday

Oops, my bad

I wrote down that i was blogging, but I checked my homework sheet at 11. I guess I've learned that we should always check our plans ahead of time to avoid events like this one!

Today's class was quite empty. We mostly discussed Hamlet and what we have read so far. Hamlet's love life with Ophelia is introduced as well. What was really interesting this class however was our discussion about whether suicide sends you straight to hell. Some argued that suicide was a sin, and committing suicide would mean that you have no chance to repent of it, thus sending you to hell. Others argued that some were in such a desperate state of mind that it would be unfair to condemn those people. It was a good discussion and it was quite unfortunate that we were not able to share this discussion with our missing classmates.

The Homework:

Act 1 scene 3 + 4 questions

I apologize for the late blog

Blogs, like cheese, are important.

Just so YOU know, I still check these regularly and am marking you on completion of them.

Late blogs are not okay.
Remember we agreed to blogging no later than 9pm.

I will not blog what we discussed in class today nor what the homework is as that is not my job,
but I will share a link that I feel is a nice conclusion to the discussion we had today that was sparked from Hamlet's soliloquy.
http://www.bible.com/bibleanswers_result.php?id=228

Lastly, please stop asking me 'who is/am I blogging today'.  You know where to find that information and if you can not blog on your given day, make arrangements to switch with someone.

I look forward to reading your blogs- see you tomorrow.

100 Saints You Should Know

Today class was started out by having Tayler with devotions. She told us a story about a play that she had recently seen at the Pacific Theater called 100 Saints You Should Know. The main point of the play was to not turn people away from God, but instead tell them about him, instead of sending them to talk to a pastor or another person.

Next we continued on to take notes which were on the board. We then discussed Hamlet Act 1 Scene 1.

While reading Hamlet Act 1 Scene 2, we were interrupted by the Student Council Executive elections, and left to the gym to hear the speeches.

Also I feel as though my blog was very short so here are some quotes to make it look as if though I did tones of work.

“Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.”

― G.K. Chesterton, Alarms and Discursions

“How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?”

― Charles de Gaulle

“The moon looked like melted mozzarella to my bleary and blurry vision. Was I tired, intoxicated, or in love? Or was I sober, asleep, and alone?
”

― Jarod Kintz, At even one penny, this book would be overpriced. In fact, free is too expensive, because you'd still waste time by reading it.

“I just don't see the point of not eating cheese. I mean, if God didn't want us to eat cheese, would he have let man invent it?”

― Lisa Samson, Hollywood Nobody

“Dessert without cheese is like a beauty with only one eye”
― Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

 “A long time ago people believed that the world is flat and the moon is made of green cheese. Some still do, to this day. The man on the moon is looking down and laughing.”
― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Have a great afternoon

Homework:
Read Hamlet Act 1 Scene 2

100S

Looking for this?

Friday's Class...ah, what can I say about Friday's class?
Well, it was eventful.
I'll say that.
I was bullied, nay, strongly encouraged to take our class of five to Starbucks, but I fought against the bourgeois capitalistic endeavour and suggested a jaunt no further than our front lawn. The sun shone on our faces and made us realize that the best things in life really are free.

After Taylor waxed poetically about the beauty of a beetle that marched across her textbook, we reviewed the last 5 poems we have discussed via "Study and Discussion" questions.
Our conversation paused briefly on the Afterlife and Disney t'ween stars to name a few.

And wouldn't you know it, we didn't get a chance to complete the last poems of the Victorian Unit. I thought it wise to do so since most of the class was not privy to our dialogue.
 What was decided though, was that the History portion of this era would be tomorrow.

Also, ask John to share with you a different take on Doubting Thomas, as that was his devotion.

I hope you enjoyed the sun this weekend and I will see you bright and early tomorrow.

Do find it in your heart to kindly reserve all conversation that is not pertinent or relevant to the matter at hand for outside the classroom doors...*ahem-Jeff...*cough-Tayler.

L

Hardy and Houseman and Hutton, oh my

sorry for the late post guys !! i was out at a most wonderful play tonight called 100 saints you should know. It was presented at the pacific theatre , and contrary to the title it was not about 100 saints that you should know about , but rather a intimate look into the connected lives of a few individuals ( including a preist and a misfit teen) whom are struggling with their faith. I would recomend it to anybody who likes nice things, and enjoys a good time. the nice thing about watching a play in such an intimate venue is that you start to forget that you are watching a play, and feel as if you are an omnipresent being, priviliged enough to share in a intimate moment with the actors... but maybe thats just me being a hipster. Who knows.

on another note, i am unfortunatly blogging injured today. When i was styling my hair to go out i foolishly grabbed my curling iron and burt my hand leaving 9 extreamly painfull welts on the fingers of my left hand. this is making blogging slightly less enjoyable , however my step mother managed to find some gel that smelt like grass and taco's ( aka every stoner ever) which when applied in a circular motion did help to cool the agony for a short while.

But enough about me, In class today we mostly talked about the silly beard fashions of the victorian age, and we breifly discussed the poem Dover beach by Matthew Arnold.... lets just say were all more than a little bit add.

And finally, the only thing you actucally wanted to read, The homework !! yay. Tonight you have to read Hardys poems ( 2) and his bio. You also must read Housemans poems ( also 2) and his bio. But no questions WOOPIEEEEEE. anyways, if you stuck it out this far, i hope you can manage to read the poems without falling asleep into your lit text book; however if you do , do not fear, for you will absorb the information v.i.a osmosis . Cheers - Tayler :) :)

Once Upon a Time...

Once upon a time there was a Literature 12 class.  It was completely full of avid students and, of course, an epic teacher.  Now this day was unlike any other.  It went beyond the ordinary imagination and transcended into the supernatural!  It was also known as May 7, 2012.

The day began with a devotion by Cool Ciera.  After pious prayer, Lively Loconte graciously gave grace to the students of the class.  She offered extra time before the test, trusting them to use their time wisely. 

The pens flew, words flowing from the fluid ink of each student’s mind.  One could see the thoughts starting to form in their heads as the hands stopped moving.  First puzzlement, then frustration crossed their faces.  Answers were not always easy to get, thus the use of the word achievement.  Quickly the quiz was over and the quiet was quelled. 

Right away it was marked, many shouting out their marvel over their majestic results.  Jubilant Jeff was among one of the joyous, justly as he had just beat Krazy Kathleen.  Once celebrations had ceased, (as well as crying), Duchess Donna continued the lesson.

She stepped into The Last Duchess by Robert Browning, a story about a Duke looking for a second wife while talking about his late first one.  The poem portrayed both the Duchess and the Duke, through the actions and words of the latter.  He doesn’t hesitate to show his contempt for women or his displeasure at her pleasure.  He was pointedly a pretty Duke with a prideful heart.  Just to prove her point, Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Jellybeans were handed out, showing that a tasteful treat may just be grass, booger, or even vomit.

With the bell ready to toll, the tomorrow test was reviewed.  There were to be four parts: Name that Author (short description – must answer which author), Short Answer (questions about the poems, like theme, form, irony, etc), Quotes (must name AUTHOR and POEM), and Literary Devices (recognize which literary devices are being used).  With saying that, the homework is simply to study like a studious student.  (She wanted some more, but satisfyingly left it at that)

An adventure of a day, anyone can see.  So please, please, please pick up your books tonight to study so tomorrow may be a tranquil cup of tea.

Some Nightingale Before You Sleep

 ‘Tis night already, I’m afraid to say.  The time for the nightingale to come out and play.  Though theoretically speaking, I’m sure the nightingale comes out during the day too.

Point being, we had a couple of wonderful poems yesterday, one by my group, Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats and another by Ciera and Rachel, Ulysses.

Please note: we covered Ode to a Nightingale over two days.  

A little on John Keats (which you should know by now if you had anything to do with Smarties):

-          Father died falling off a horse, mother died of tuberclurosis, brother Tom died of tuberculosis

-          He studied to be an apothecary but chose to write poems instead

-          1^st poem: Endymion, 2^nd poem: Hyperion

-          Fell in love with Fanny Brawne

-          (Jacyln’s group took it from here)

Now a bit on the actual poem:

Stanza 1: He’s in a druggy state listening to the nightingale’s song.  (*if you do not find druggy acceptable in this instance, you may replace it with dreamlike or depressing.  However, I would argue “opiate” and “hemlock” suggest otherwise.)

Stanza 2: He wants to join the nightingale with alcohol.

Stanza 3: He talks about death and how depressing it is, trying to forget about it but also talking about his brother’s death.

Stanza 4: He wants to fly away with the nightingale with poetry (not with “Bacchus and his pards”), finds himself already there during the night.

Stanza 5: He uses his senses to observe nature and sees his mortality by observing the seasons

Stanza 6: He wants to die listening to the nightingale’s song.  (I still believe it was not morbid, but rather a rational argument to die happy and escape the troubles of this world.)

Stanza 7: He talks about the immortal nightingale who has been heard by everyone.

Stanza 8: He feels betrayed by imagination as the song fades and he doesn’t know if it was real or a dream.

**Our homework is to read Matthew Arnold’s bio if you have not already and PREPARE FOR THE HISTORY TEST MONDAY.  This will include everything in the first section (the history section) of the Romantic period.  Tuesday will be the written section about the poems.  Please study.

‘Night boys and girls!

Ode to The West Wind

Sorry for the horribly late blog post.  I had a rough night last night and totally forgot about it until just now.  So anyway, here it is.

Yesterday, Jaclyn posted dutifully on the sonnet that she and Emmett did, When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be.  Janice and I however (sadly sans Joseph), also presented our poem, which was an inspiring ode called none other than Ode to the West Wind.  


We started off with Percy Bysshe Shelley's biography, which portrayed all the difficulties that he had to face throughout his life, from being bullied in school and later expelled from Oxford University to having his son tragically die.  None of these tragedies however, impeded his literary genius.  In fact, they did quite the opposite.  Many of his greatest works stemmed out of these incidents of seeming misfortune.

After we talked about Shelley, we moved on to the poem, first explaining themes and motifs of the poem, and then going on to elaborate on how the West Wind is both a creative and destructive force in the eyes of the speaker.  We also touched upon the fact that the poem is an ode, meaning that it is directly addresses something, which in this case, is the powerful West Wind.

Once the introduction to the poem had been given, we moved on to the actual Cantos (each numeraled section) of the poem.  The following is a brief summary of what each section of the poem is about from our teaching and discussion in class:

          Canto I: Here, the speaker describes the affect of the wind's power on dead autumn leaves - describing how they are swirled up and scattered by the wind.  He also describes how the seeds of new trees lie dead like corpses in the ground until the azure Spring Wind comes to bring them to life.
          Canto II: Here, the speaker describes the affect of the wind's power on clouds, to bring storms and shake force rain and lightning.
          Canto III: Here, the speaker describes the wind's power on the ocean, and how without the wind, the ocean would be unable to stir up storms.
          Canto IV: This Canto is the crisis of poem in which author longs to identify with these aforementioned objects of the wind’s power, to be lifted out of his troubles like a leaf in the wind.   Yet, he can’t seem to feel the hope that the wind’s power signifies like he could in his boyhood.  

The speaker also says that if he were like that dead leaf or a cloud the wind could carry, or a wave it could push, or even if he were, as a boy, “the comrade” of the wind’s “wandering over heaven,” then he would never have needed to pray to the wind and invoke its powers.

Canto V: Here is the resolution of the poem. The speaker finally asks the wind to be his spirit and to make him his "lyre" or instrument, so that his works of poetry may be heard all across the universe. There is a sense here of hope and resolution with the last lines, "If winter comes, can spring be far behind?" There is always a light at the end of a tunnel.

All in all, I hope those who heard this poem were as inspired and struck with awe as I was. Again, sorry for the late blog post.

Homework: Probably too late if you haven't already completed this, but read Matthew Arnold's bio.

When I Have Fears That I May Forget To Post

Hello Lit Class,

I hope that you are enjoying this beautiful Thursday evening. It appears that I am on for the blog tonight, and since I am uncertain whether all who presented are supposed to blog on their poems, or if the responsibility lies solely on my shoulders, I figured I would have to make a post either way. So, here we go.

Today we heard from 2.25 presentations - Ode to the West Wind, When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be, and Ode to a Nightingale (0.25)

Again, since I am uncertain as to what I am to post, I have decided to summarize the poem that Emmett and I presented, unless I am instructed otherwise.

When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be is a short sonnet with a very long title. Written by John Keats in 1818, the poem reflects upon his fears of a premature death. Ironically, the poem became reality a few years after its writing when Keats died from tuberculosis at the age of 25.

In his poem, Keats worries that he will die before he has the chance to even begin to glean the treasure trove of concepts that is his brain. He fully realizes his own mortality, and the short years he has to find love and journey into fame. If Keats dies young, he mourns that the ideas in his teeming mind will not be writ, the full splendor of nature will not be traced by his pen, and the face of his love will never again be gazed upon by his eyes.

Yet as Keats stands alone at the edge of the world, making sense of his sorrows, he realizes that all of his earthly ambitions are futile. Although in this life he is concerned over fame and love, such matters will measure trivial once his body is cold in the grave.

Homework:


- All who have not presented, be ready to go tomorrow
- For Friday, read the bio on Matthew Arnold (Page 647)

Frank Ocean's 11

Hi Literature-ee's, thank you for tuning into CarverLit tonight. It was a wild day of fun, excitement, and (if you were lucky) riding tall roller coasters.

However, for the rest of us liberal art hippies who chose not to take any science classes this semester, we were plagued with attending regular class, like normal people.

Our morning consisted of sitting around and waiting for Joshua Jackson (substitute for Trevor Jackson) to come and fix the power point so Tayler and myself (Jeff De Leo) could begin presenting our aquatic masterpiece.

The poem read today was Lord Byron's Apostrophe to the Ocean. We talked about how handsome the Lord looked with his cleft chin and nasty clubfoot.

 

I think that just about balances out nicely. Lord Byron was a rebel/ladies man who clearly might have had some mother issues. He was the ancient version of Barney Stinson, except with less functional feet.

The presentation today started off with a guitar song that was much too loud, but can be hear by clicking here! Then Tayler and I proceed to walk the class through the calming poem about the ocean, while remaining safe on dry land.

Apostrophe to the Ocean is a thrilling ode to the 2/3rds of the earth we don't live on. It made us appreciate the power and majesty of earth's blood (an expression I just made up to symbolize water, cool eh?)

We came to the conclusion that Lord Byron was a water lover, and might have been the original tree hugger, except trees don't grow underwater. He might have been a kelp hugger. 

As we continued reading, Tayler encouraged the class to read over the poem and maybe chill by your desktop and listen to some wave sounds.

Homework:

• Jeff De Leo needs to blog (check!)
• Prepare your presentation
• Watch this video
• Rinse, repeat