Iron Maiden v. Alfred, Lord Tennyson

For those of you who still need to do the "Charge of the Light Brigade" assignment, here is the gist.

"The Trooper"
"The Charge of the Light Brigade"

In class, we compared both poems and talked about the rhyme scheme, stanza length, and meter.

1. Choose one stanza from "The Charge of the Light Brigade" and scan it (mark stressed and unstressed syllables).

2. Mark the rhyme scheme.

3. Explain one way that the rhyme scheme, meter, or line/stanza length contributes to the poem's topic, mood, or theme.
(eg. the first two lines of stanza 1 sound like a horse galloping, which is crucial to the topic)

Reflective writing

Today we watched clips from Ken Burns's documentary Baseball.  You can find it on Netflix (if you have an account).  We watched Inning Five (25:00-34:59, 40:52-43:54, 1:56:59-2:00:29).  You are to create a document in your English 9 folder called "[Yourname] Writing Samples"

In the document, put today's date, skip a line, and then answer the writing prompts below. 
Because this is personal and reflective writing, you MAY use first person pronouns ("I," "we," etc.).

The video implies that American attitudes toward race during the early 20th century were...

[Finish the thesis and explain in 1-3 paragraphs]

What effect did players like Josh and Satchel have on American views of race? Did they change or reinforce ideas/stereotypes?

Grammar Work - Updated

Thursday, 2/20 you will work in partners to look at word choice, sentence fluency, and grammar/usage/mechanics in your own writing.  Pick a partner whose judgement you trust, and to whom you don't mind showing a bad grade. You will be working together to look at each other's "I Have a Dream" speech papers.
When I grade revised papers, I will NOT take anything off for late work. However, I WILL grade the "Style..." and "Conventions" parts of the rubric.

If you turned your paper in on time, I have graded it and have written comments.
If you turned it in late, I may not have gotten to it yet.

Grammar Lessons

By now you should have emailed me your three "grammar goals" for what you want to improve in your writing.  If you're ambitious (of just a grammar nerd), you can check these lessons out on your own.  Otherwise, as I read you emails for your grammar goal plans, I will be compiling the lessons you need to practice. I will let you know which lessons to work on and come up with an assessment to see how you did in the first week of March.

http://www.dailygrammar.com/archive.html

Have... fun?

Poetry Portfolio

Your poetry portfolio will be due Wednesday, 2/12.
You will have time Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to work on it in class.

To get the template, go to Shared with me> 9 English Common.
Make a copy of "Poetry Portfolio."  This copy will appear in your main My Drive folder.
Go to "My Drive" and move "Copy of Poetry Portfolio" into your English 9 folder.
Rename the file "[Yourname] Poetry Portfolio."
Now you're ready to go!

List of literary poets, bios, etc.

• Remember, you need one poem for EACH form.
• Also you need to address EACH of the following terms somewhere in your portfolio and analyze how the poetic device (term) contributes to the meaning of the text (poem).
• You need to analyze a MINIMUM of two elements per poem.  If you find a poem that you really like that has a lot of elements you can check off, go for it!

What you need to analyze:

• FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE: simile, hyperbole, personification, direct metaphor, implied metaphor, extended metaphor
• SOUND DEVICES: alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia, repetition, rhyme scheme
• STRUCTURE: meter, line, stanza, imagery

Quizlet bank for poetry terms 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL INFO (put in the notes section of each slide):
Author name. "Title." http://url.goes.here.

Update!

Hey, people!
Yesterday we started looking at two Robert Frost poems.  Here are some links:

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening
Text
Audio

The Road Not Taken
Text
Audio

-JD

p.s. The Dr. King speech paper will have the first draft due next Thursday, 2/6

Advanced English 9: Dr. King's Speech Analysis

Today we listened to and read Dr Martin Luther King Junior's "I Have a Dream" speech.
Watch it here.

You need analyze the language of the speech by applying what we've learned about these poetic ideas:

• imagery (can be literal or figurative)
• figurative language
• sound devices

Use your Google Drive to write an essay of at least five paragraphs.  Your topic:

Analyze how the literary and poetic conventions used in the speech impact its theme.

Your paper might look something like:

1. Introduction (be sure to state what the theme is! eg: "Dr. King's use of rhyme, personification, and iambic pentameter help reinforce his idea that the time for racial justice is now.")
2. Poetic idea 1 - Provide at least three examples from the text and commentary for each.
3. Poetic idea 2 - Provide at least three examples from the text and commentary for each.
4. Poetic idea 3 - Provide at least three examples from the text and commentary for each.
5. Conclusion - summarize the effect these POETIC DEVICES have on the audience.

Papers will be graded according to the standard rubric. Make sure you read over the rubric so you know how to get the maximum score in each category.

Rough draft due Friday, 1/31/2014.  Final revisions due Friday 2/7/2014

Semester Test

I'm trying a kind of open-ended semester test this time around.  Below are the terms and literary concepts we have studied and discussed so far this year:

• *Climax - the point of highest interest in a literary work
• *Conflict - Struggle or clash between opposing forces or characters
• Dramatic irony - when a reader is aware of something that a character isn't
• Epic - a long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds
• *Exposition - introduces the characters, setting, and basic situation
• External conflict - a struggle between a character and an outside force
• Figurative language - writing or speech that is not meant to be taken literally
• Flashback - a scene that interrupts the action of a work to show a previous event
• Foreshadowing - the use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a plot
• Imagery - language that appeals to the senses
• Internal conflict - struggle within a character
• Metaphor - comparison not using like or as
• Motivation - the reasons for a character's behavior
• Myth  - a traditional story presenting supernatural characters and episodes that help explain natural events
• Narrator - someone who tells a story
• Personification - giving human qualities to animals or objects
• Point of view - the vantage point from which a story is told
• Polytheism - belief in multiple Gods
• *Resolution/Denouement - the part of the plot that reveals the outcome of the conflict
• Setting - time and place
• Symbol - something that stands for itself and something beyond itself
• Theme - central idea of a work of literature
• Tone - attitude of the author

For the semester "test," you need to discuss an example of each in a literary work that we have studied this year.  You MAY include examples from your independent reading, ONLY IF you give me a copy of the book and include page numbers.  For the terms indicated with an asterisk (*), you need to use the same text for an example (Short Story map, though it could be over a novel or The Odyssey). 

For each term, briefly summarize the example then explain how it was important to your understanding of the work.

For example (you can't use this for your example):

Point of view - "The Lottery" was told from a third-person limited point of view, where the reader is only given plot information as it happens. This increases suspense and makes the twist ending more effective.

You will be given time in class Wednesday January 8 to work on this, but if you want to do it early and hand it in that's fine with me.  Good luck!