Working On Poems

Today was spent in the computer lab. We worked on our poems and prepared content for our presentations. Jaclyn and I were contemplating interpretive dance, but cast aside the thought because of how difficult it would be.
Happy Monday Everybody!


Homework
-The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner: Reading Check
-Poem Presentation Project

Criteria

A) Give Bio on Author                                                                /5
B) Research Meaning Significance of poems                                /10
C) Teach - Creating a handout, Powerpoint, overhead etc.           /5

The best lit class in the world, ever, of all time.

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Translation for thoose who are not fluent in the current text speak, which unfortunatly will continue to get worse and worse due to our increasing laziness , and the incerasing tecnological advancments that allow us to be as such.


Salutations fellow lit students. I hope all is well with you this evening, and that all of your days went quite well indeed. I am sorry to inform you all that today was one of the very best lit classes that i have ever had the chance to attend. It is such a shame 3/4 of you all could not attend. We discussed coleridges epic "The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" , which has a very intreging and insightful plotline. The epic is also written remarkably well, keeping cadence with his rhyme scheme throughout its entire duration. Mrs. Loconte pointed out the remarkability of this feat once , so i thought it important to add. Another highpoint i might add, was when the students were pleasently shocked, and in awe that mrs loconte has now obtained some more liquid paper. The liquid paper was brought in by a caring, intellegent, and wonderful student , who also very good at being a barista. However i do wish to leave this fabulous student nameless. Luckily , you all will get the chance to read the rest of this fabulous poem tonight for homework, parts 5-8, and then completing the for study and discussion questions. i wish you a happy and fruitful evening and hope you will all complete this homework so that we may get a marble, and some kudos. Unfortunatly todays class will never be able to be duplicated, and all of us have been sworn to secrecy; therfore, you will never know what has made it so incredible. I am truly sorry about this. - Tayler

Comfy Day

So Tuesday was a BEARy great day. Pajamas everywhere and everyone looking comfy with their pillows. So we talked about the sonnet "The World is Too Much with Us" and how we are supposed to be stewards of the Earth. It was after that we went onto Coleridge and went over his life. He had quite an interesting life, getting addicted to opium and losing his best friend and all. But I guess everything worked out in the end with him. The homework tonight is:

Read the rest of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (Pg. 493-511)

A Wild Blog Has Appeared!

Please enjoy this new font.

And this one.

As well as this one.

Also, notice the size of this font!

Not to mention these really awesome, cool, colours.

Today was Monday, and the beginnings of a festive week at Carver we like to call, Spirit Week. The first day (today) was known as "Sdrawkcab Yad," better known as "Backwards Day" in most languages. In doing so, we learned just how uncomfortable it may be to sit in jeans with the butt side in your lap.

After Wyclef John Yeung did devotions while everyone more or less didn't notice, Mrs. Loconte went around the class to check for completed homeworks to be shown. Many people (including myself) did not complete it because SOMEONE forgot to write it on this blog. We then proceed to have a discussion on the purpose and use of this blog. The stern conclusion came to how it is designed to be a recap from the day and a chance to refresh (F5) your memory from the past class.

The next order of business was to check off a Parent-Teacher-Student-Teacher-Parent-Student-Parent-Teacher-Student-Teacher-Teacher-Student-Parent-Doctor-Student-Donkey conference paper about your goals, hopes, dreams, and evaluations of the current semester. Apparently it is supposed to have been done by D-Block, so if you didn't, your parents won't love you.

Once we completed the housekeeping, we moved on to the lesson for the day. It was an introduction to the sexy Romantic Period, where all the stories we read will feature attractive men and beautiful women (I think)...

We went over the introduction and finished the questions that were for homework. After that, we looked over a guy named William Wordsworth, who was a very romantic man indeed. Apparently, he was a poet because a very close friend of his died and gave him a lump sum of money. Once we read over that, we received a worksheet of one of his poems, and answered some questions. It was pretty cool stuff! Then the bell rang, and all was well.

HOMEWORK:

Chances are you only scrolled down here to check. If you did, then shame on you and go back and read the ACTUAL blog!

• Discuss "The child is the father of the man" (don't use Google!)
• Read "The World is Too Much with Us" (Page 480 Study and Discussion questions)
• Finish unfinished review questions from yesterday
• Complete bonus questions

Restoration Review Notes

REVIEW THE RESTORATION AND THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (1660-1798):

The Restoration (1660 – 1700s)

o   Stuart royal family is restored (returned from exile) – heir King Charles II

The Political Background

o   People wanted the king back rather than the Puritans

o   Puritans were a minority – supported by powerful landowners who resented monarchy

o   George I and George II – power became more in the hands of the parliament

o   1688 – parliament power was increasing and stabilizing

o   Two political parties: Whigs (liberals) and Tories (conservatives)

o   Usually Whigs were supreme! (with Sir Robert Walpole as PM)

Restoration England

o   John Locke – ‘Essay Concerning Human Udnerstanding’

o   Royal Society – had to do with science

England in the Eighteenth Century

o   Seven groups

§  The Great, who live profusely

§  The Rich, who live very plentifully

§  The Middle Sort, who live well

§  The Working Trades, who labor hard, but feel no want

§  The Country People, Farmers, etc., who fare indifferently

§  The Poor, that fare hard

§  The Miserable, that really pinch and suffer want

The Arts

o   Art became more “Georgian” in style -

o   Art became more real, paintings of landscapes, portraits

o   Emphasis on practicality over soul-sensational (landscapes and portraits vs. paintings of grand allegorical scenes)

The Coffeehouses

o   Meeting places – discussed science, religion, politics, business

o   All likeminded individuals – middle class

The Age of Reason

o   Emphasis on reason, rationalization, logic, knowledge

o   Aka “neoclassicism” – new classics

Literary Developments

o   Novel – Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, Daniel Defoe

Literature

o   Less patron and more publishing

*Review questions on pg 347

To the Ladies – Lady Mary Chudleigh

-          “Then shun, oh! Shun that wretched state,” (line 21)

-          Laments the plight of upper class married women

o   And subservice to their husbands – ends with call to action! (hate men, hate marriage)

-          Says “nothing” 5 times – futility of situation

The Diary of Samuel Pepys

-          Wrote it for himself (honest, eye-witness account), descriptive

-          Public figures wrote for vain glory, profit, complete public record

-          He didn’t comment on the violence and gore on the execution and then comments on being angry at his wife

The Age of Pope

-          Pope’s writing the most influential of the time

Jonathan Swift

-          Gulliver’s Travels

-          A Modest Proposal

Joseph Addison and Richard Steele (The Tattler and the Spectator – just touch on them)

Alexander Pope

-          Short stature

-          The Rape of Lock

-          Epigrams

-          An Essay on Criticism

-          Heroic couplet (in style of neoclassism)

The Age of Johnson

-          Moving from Age of Reason to Age of Sentiment

-          Pre-Romanticism

Johnson

-          Dictionary

o   He put examples with his definitions

-          Preface to Shakespeare

o   Shakespeare is awesome

Gray

-          Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

Burns

-          To a Mouse

Blake

-          The Lamb

-          The Tiger

Humpety Dumpety would've liked today.

First up was devotions by Emmett, who reminded us through Mrs. Loconte's devotion book that we need not worry, because God will ultimately take care of us. As the saying goes, "If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it."

Next up, we finished Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray, as we were too ADHD last class to do so. 

After that, we read about Robert Burns. Through his bio, we learned that though a young and poor boy, he found the love of learning and books through his father, and eventually became a great poet. Mrs. Loconte also mentioned how he was attributed to penning Auld Lang Syne, an old song. He also penned To A Mouse, in which we found a nice allusion to the book Of Mice and Men.

Moving on to William Blake, we read that he was a "product of his time, but out of his time", and that he represented the end of his age. Although not a man of his time, which meant his works not well received, they later on became famous works of art. He also wrote The Lamb and The Tiger, which we studied in class. We talked about how the two pieces were contrasting truths; the first reminds us of the Lamb of God, and how the poem represents us; it is an allegory for something deeper. The first stanza is literal, second is

metaphorical. The latter are formatted in questions; it serves to ask God why he would make the tiger, and creates an image of the awesome God that could make a tiger and a lamb. Both poems are contradictory, but complementing at the same time. What we also said was that they both relate to God and His ability to make something meek and mild, but also dreadful and powerful.

Alors, we wound down to the end of Block A with the conclusion of reading just three pages for homework. No strings (or study questions) attached.

HOMEWORK:

read 450-451: The Growth of the English Language

read 449: The English Novel in The Eighteenth Century

GOOD NIGHT ALL. Sorry for the late post, as I had just gotten home ten minutes prior to this post.

It was nice to see a performance at the beginning of class today from Kathleen and Janice, as they reacted a scene from The Importance of Being Earnest. Their props and costumes was a nice touch to the scene as well. Also, let's not forget Jeff's short but memorable entrance as the Butler...

Then we transitioned into more serious discussions and read through "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" together. Gray's somber poetry stirred questions about death and the inevitableness of it. He writes as a observer, who realizes the significance of the people, strangers, who are buried in the churchyard. Gray reminds us that although wealth and pretty things may matter for the living, death does not value these things. Towards the end, Gray wonders what people will think of him when he dies, and he hopes to be remembered as a simple man who enjoyed life.

For homework: Read p. 440 TO A MOUSE , p. 444 THE LAMB, p. 446 THE TIGER.