Homework for Wednesday, September 19th
read pgs. 49- to the top of 59 of the "A Country Letter" section of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.
Here Agee is sitting in a bedroom of the George Gudgers ( a poor cotton tenant farmer's) shotgun shack as the rest of family sleeps. He is writing about whta he sees and hears and feels about the night, the house, the family and theri situation in the world. Please mark up your copy and come prepared to discuss in class what you found of interest in this piece.
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Homework for Friday, September 21st.
Please read pages 59 - 73. When you're done reading/ re-reading, on a sheet of paper mark down the location of pasages you'd like to comment on or discuss in class for whatever reason: you like them; you dislike them, you don't understand them; you want to find out more about them. Please also write down any comments or strong feelings one way or the other that the reading has strirred in you and that you wouldn't mind sharing with the class. Bring these to class so that we can have a strong conversation about the reading selection.
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Homework for Tuesday, September 25
Please read pages 74-82. see instructions for Friday's homework. Study Latin roots for Test Thursday
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Homework for Wednesday, October 10
Quiz on Latin Roots for the following words:
dissent digress, diffuse, dispel. discord, discern, expulsion, efface, emit, ebullient, extramarital, extrovert.
Make sure you know all the English meanings for the three prefixes these words employ.
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Homework for Friday, October 12th.
Essay on literature of the 30s due.
Essay on the Literature of the 30s in America
We’ve read the short story “Bright and Morning Star” by Richard Wright, the novel The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, and excerpts from James Agee’s and Walker Evans book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.
Based on your readings and our discussions of those readings over the past several classes, I’d like you to put on your thinking caps and to look for the similarities in the themes of these writings and in the purposes of these writers. This is another way of saying, I guess, what message were these writers trying to convey here (and why or “to whom”), and by what means did they convey it.
Considering these works to be representative of the literature of the 1930s in America, develop a thesis about ( characterize ) the overall theme and purpose of American literature in the 30s and support it with evidence from your readings and our discussions of these works.
major essay grade: x/100 W
correctly cite titles. (underline or italicize titles of novels, books & quote marks around short stories.)
invent interesting title.
500 words minimum
proof for sentences, spelling, fluidity, concision
typed.
2 copies.
due date: Friday, October 12th
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Homework for Thursday, October 18.
Rhetoric is defined by the OED as “the art of using language so as to persuade or influence others; the body of rules to be observed by a speaker or writer in order that he may express himself with eloquence.”
In the Middle Ages rhetoric was reckoned one of the seven ‘liberal arts’, being comprised, with grammar and logic, in the ‘trivium,’ which was the study of “the power of language.” The quadrivium, on the other hand, which refered to the study of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music, concerned “the secrets of nature.”
Definitions and copious examples and audio bites (even some video) of the following rhetorical devices can be found at---
alliteration
anaphora
metaphor
personification
allusion
polysyndeton
asyndeton
simile
rhetorical question
analogy
antithesis
synechdoche
hyberbole
epistrophe
parallelism
For homework, cut and paste definitions and best examples ( at least two each ) of these literary or rhetorical devices from this website into your own stand-alone study guide, which I will collect and grade next class.
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Homework for Monday, October 22
There's no homework due specifically for this day, but your homework is to come up with a pet peeve speech idea (the litmus test for a useable "peeve" is whether you can think of three good reasons why people should stop doing the disagreeable things they do or three good reasons why some existing intolerable situation must be acted upon and changed). If you can identify three reasons, then you've got the makings of a convincing argument / speech. So, identify your peeve and your reasons and begin drafting your speech, remembering to invent a good opening and to incorporate at least three rhetorical strategies into your piece. This first draft of your speech will be due Friday, October 26.
The quiz for Latin roots for the words
induct
illumine
immigrate
intercede
intersperse
intravenous
obtrude
obstruct
obnoxious
obfuscate
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Homework for Tuesday, October 30.
Final Draft of the manuscript version of your pet peeve speech will be due Thursday, November 1.
Rehearse your speeches: the better you've prepared, the more effective you'll be, and the less nervous you'll be. Good Luck ! (which Branch Rickey famously defined as "the residue of design")
In no particular order, except that Max goes first, the following students have volunteered to give their speeches on Tuesday:
Laura
Max
Zoe
Shelby
Jerome
Sarah
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Homework for Wednesday, Nov.7
I'd like you to write a one page typed reflection on your experience of giving a speech. I'm interested in hearing about how things went for you, and what you may have learned from your oratorical experience that might be useful to
you the next time you give a speech.
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Homework for Friday, Nov 16.
Read and answer questions on Nathaniel Hawthorne's biosketch.
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Homework for Tuesday, November 20.
Read "The Ministers Black Veil" and answer questions 1-6 Of the "Getting At Meaning" questions on the last page (please do this on a separate sheet of paper that I will collect).
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Homework for Tuesday, November 27.
Read and answer questions on Emerson biosketch.
Study Latin roots
Don't forget that your quote project is due next Wednesday, December 3rd
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Homework for Wednesday, December 5.
Please read the excerpt from Emerson's Nature and then answer the questions that pertain to each paragraph.
NATURE Chapter I
1. To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and what he touches. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.
2. The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence. Nature never wears a mean appearance. Neither does the wisest man extort her secret, and lose his curiosity by finding out all her perfection. Nature never became a toy to a wise spirit. The flowers, the animals, the mountains, reflected the wisdom of his best hour, as much as they had delighted the simplicity of his childhood.
3. When we speak of nature in this manner, we have a distinct but most poetical sense in the mind. We mean the integrity of impression made by manifold natural objects. It is this which distinguishes the stick of timber of the wood-cutter, from the tree of the poet. The charming landscape which I saw this morning, is indubitably made up of some twenty or thirty farms. Miller owns this field, Locke that, and Manning the woodland beyond. But none of them owns the landscape. There is a property in the horizon which no man has but he whose eye can integrate all the parts, that is, the poet. This is the best part of these men's farms, yet to this their warranty-deeds give no title.
4. To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood. His intercourse with heaven and earth, becomes part of his daily food. In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows. Nature says, -- he is my creature, and maugre all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me. Not the sun or the summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every hour and change corresponds to and authorizes a different
state of the mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight. Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or a mourning piece. In good health, the air is a cordial of incredible virtue. Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. I am glad to the brink of fear. In the woods too, a man casts off his years, as the snake his slough, and at what period soever of life, is always a child. In the woods, is perpetual youth. Within these plantations of God, a decorum and sanctity reign, a perennial festival is dressed, and the guest sees not how he should tire of them in a thousand years. In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, -- no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my eyes,) which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground, -- my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into
infinite space, -- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God. The name of the nearest friend sounds then foreign and accidental: to be brothers, to be acquaintances, -- master or servant, is then a trifle and a disturbance. I am the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty. In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate than in streets or villages. In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature.
5. The greatest delight which the fields and woods minister, is the suggestion of an occult relation between man and the vegetable. I am not alone and unacknowledged. They nod to me, and I to them. The waving of the boughs in the storm, is new to me and old. It takes me by surprise, and yet is not unknown. Its effect is like that of a higher thought or a better emotion coming over me, when I deemed I was thinking justly or doing right.
6. Yet it is certain that the power to produce this delight, does not reside in nature, but in man, or in a harmony of both. It is necessary to use these pleasures with great temperance. For, nature is not always tricked in holiday attire, but the same scene which yesterday breathed perfume and glittered as for the frolic of the nymphs, is overspread with melancholy today. Nature always wears the colors of the spirit. To a man laboring under calamity, the heat of his own fire hath sadness in it. Then, there is a kind of contempt of the landscape felt by him who has just lost by death a dear friend. The sky is less grand as it shuts down over less worth in the population.
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_________________________ “Nature” Chapter 1
vocabulary: ( please look up definitions before you read-- it’ll help: try the OED, “mvrhs, mvrhs”)
sublime: exhilaration:
admonishing slough (noun)
reverence (noun) decorum
extort blithe
integrity connate
maugre (verb) occult (adjective)
impertinent temperance
cordial (noun)
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If you can correctly answer these questions, you’ve read these passages of Emerson very well indeed, which is what I want you to do!
1. What point is Emerson trying to make in paragraph 1 in discussing “the stars”?
2. In Paragraph 2, what does Emerson expect will come out of our contemplation of (or) encounters with any “natural objects” if we are wise?
3. In paragraph 3, what does the sentence “This is the best part of these men’s farms, yet to this their warranty-deeds give them no title” mean in terms of the rest of the paragraph?
4. Considering the whole of paragraph 4, what does Emerson mean when he asserts that “[m]ost persons do not see the sun”?
5. According to Emerson, what does “the lover of nature” find in “the wilderness” that is more “dear and connate” than what he/she will find in “streets or villages”? (keep the whole of paragraph 4 in mind as you answer this.) Also, do you personally believe what he is saying here? (I’ve left a lot of space for you to answer this here!)
6. Explain what the last sentence of paragraph 6 “ The sky is less grand as it shuts down over less worth in the population” means in light of main idea of the whole paragraph.
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Homework for Friday, December 7th
Please read up to page 25 in Vonnegut's
Sirens of Titan. There's likely to be a quiz.
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Homework for Tuesday, December 11.
I forgot to collect the "Nature" homework from everyone. Please bring it back in Tuesday so I can collect and grade it.
Latin roots from surreptitious to somatotype will be quizzed on Tuesday, December 11.
Read Sirens of Titan from pages 25-61. There will be a quiz!
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Homework for Thursday, December 13
Please read Sirens of Titan from pages 62-94 for next class. There will be a another quiz!
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Homework for Monday, December 17
Please read to page 166 of Sirens for Monday's class. Yes, there will be a quiz.
(I thought you'd have at least 60 minutes to read in class on Thursday, and another 50 minutes for homework, for a total of 110 minutes. As It takes about a minute and a half plus to read a page aloud, I thought this would be a not unreasonable amount to ask you to read
for Monday.
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Homework for Friday, Dec. 21.
Please study for quiz on latest round of Greek prefixes and bases--amorphous to homogenous
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Homework for January 3rd (first EFGH day back) Please have all of Sirens of Titan read--there will be a mega-quiz on 1-3-08 !
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Homework for January 7th
UNK's letter assignment due!
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Homework for Monday, February 4th
Please read and annotate the section of Walden that your group has chosen to present to the class. Come to class prepared to discuss your ideas about Thoreau's perspective and how your group might best present his ideas using the best quotations and annecdotes from his writing to memorably illustrate what you want to teach the class.
Latin root vocab test will be Wednesday, February 6th.
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Homework for Wednesday, Feb. 6
Vocabulary quiz: Latin #9
Make sure your group has a a statement of theme and a collection of quotes for your presentation (which will begin next class--I'll give you 25 minutes to pull it together and then groups will begin presentations)
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Homework for Tuesday, February 12
Based on our presentations / discussions of "Making a Living," "Technology," and "Shelter," I'd like you to write (type!) a minimum 150 word summary of Thoreau's view of "Shelter" and a 150 word summary of Thoreau's view of "Technology"
The ideal way to do this would be to read over the whole excerpt from Walden yourself, now that you have the benefit of our class expositions on these topics to steer you through them, and then to write a brief essay on each that strives to answer these following questions:
1. What is Thoreau's argument about shelter (and) about technology?
2. Are there particular excerpts from his work that you can quote and explain that really get to the heart of his vision on these topics?
3. What recommendations would Thoreau make to "poor students" (and others) about building a house or using technology and why would he give such advice.
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Homework for Thursday, Feb 14
Read and then re-read "Indian Camp." Next,
answer questions on this story from the handout.
Follow directions and be reasonably thorough in supporting what you say--you must give reasons for your answers!
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Homework for Tuesday, February 19th
Read "The End of Something" and answer questions from handout. Then, read "The Three Day Blow" and answer questions from that handout. Bring these and book to class.
Latin #10 quiz will be Thursday, Feb 21.
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Homework for Thursday, February 21
1. Latin #10 Quiz
2. Read "The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife" as well as
"The Battler" and Interchapters l, ll, lll, lV, V.
Essentially, I'm asking that you read all of the book
you haven't yet read up to page 62. Quiz on reading
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Homework for Wednesday April 2 and Friday, April 4.
Work on revising your short fiction piece. Bring it in on Friday, April 4th for feedback and work on final draft for Thursday, April 10th.
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Homework for Tuesday, April 8.
Bring short fiction to class. And work on revising short fiction
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Homework for Thursday, April 10.
Final draft of short fiction is due today.Bring final draft and feedback response sheet to class (otherwise your colleagues will not get credit for the work that they did for you on Tuesday). Vocabulary quiz on Root #11 will be Monday, April 14th.
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Homework for Monday, April 14.
Study for Root #11 quiz
Read and record genuine questions (about the meaning, interpretation, or significance of what you read; excluding questions about particular words that you can look up for yourself) you have about "The Spouter Inn" (Chap. 3) and "The Counterpane" (Chap.4). Questions will be collected next class.
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Homework for Wednesday, April 16
Read and record questions (see above--Monday, April14--for directions) for "Breakfast," "The Street,"The Chapel," and "A Bosom Friend": chapters 5, 6, 7, 10 respectively. Record questions for each chapter--if you happen not to have a question, an asute observation will do.
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Homework for Friday, April 18.
Read and record questions for "Nightgown," "Biographical," "Wheelbarrow," and "Nantucket."
--chapters 11, 12,13, &14 respectively (almost 12 pages)
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Homework for Tuesday, April 29
Read and record questions for "Chowder," "The Ramadan," "The Prophet"--chaps. 15, 17, 19.
Please use one or another chapter summaries from the usual places to backfill information about chapters 16 and 18, which are interesting chapters about how our heroes happened to sign up for the ship and positions and salaries they acquired. It's fairly important to read these summaries before you read the next chapter ( for instance, read the summary of 16 after you read 15 and before you read 17...) because this will preserve the book's narrative continuity.
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Homework for Thursday, May 1
Please read both sections of Knights & Squires,
chapters 26 & 27. record questions and comments, quotes you like etc. appropriate to each section to share if called on in class.
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Homework for Wednesday, May 7th
Please read the chapters " Ahab" and "Moby Dick," chapters 28 and 41 respectively. Take notes about what amuses, interests, or puzzles you. If you don't understand, for instance, what is being said or why it's being said, that's a good point to note. Come prepared to discuss aspects you've identified in each chapter. If you say you haven't anything to discuss, I will assume you haven't involved yourself sufficiently in these readings!
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Homework for Thursday, May15
In class on Tuesday, we discussed at some length the plot and interpretations of "The First Lowering" and "The Hyena" chapters. For the last half hour, we read "The Line" and "The Jeroboam," and briefly discussed soem aspects of both--we'll have a fuller conversation on Thursday. For homework, please read Chapter 72 "The Monkey Rope" and chapter 78 "Cisterns and Buckets."
A cistern is a type of tank or sac for holding or storing water, rainwater, or other fluids, by the way.
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Homework for Monday, May 19
Please read the following chapters--The Cabin (109), The Whale- Watch (117), The Musket (123). There may be a quiz, so read on your tippy-toes, as Thoreau would say.
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Homework for Wednesday, May 21.
Please read the following chapters: "The Pequod Meets the Rachel" (ch. 128) and "The Symphony" (ch. 132). There may be a quiz, so read them twice in a quiet place, if necessary.
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Homework for Friday, May 23.
Please find a summary of M-D, Chase Day 1 (133) and Chase Day 2 (134) on the internet and read the summaries for these chapters, so you know the lead-up to the final chapter, Chase-Day 3 (135) and the one page Epilogue, which is what you should read for homework.
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Homework for Wednesday, May 28.
Please study for the exam on Moby-Dick which will be given today.
There are three parts to it.
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Part 1. Identify the character who is being referred to in the quotes and descriptions supplied. (15 i.d.'s @ 2 pts ea.=30 points)
strategy for study: review info. on mates and harpooners in Knights and Squires, pts. l & ll. Also review what we know about Ahab, Elijah, the Parsee (AKA Fedallah), and, of course, Queequeg.
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Part 2. Match the quote to the chapter it comes from. (15 matches @ 2 points ea. = 30 pts.)
strategy for study: page through the 32 chapters we read and get a sure sense of the characters and actions that are in each particular chapter of the story. For instance, "The Wheelbarrow" tells the story of how Queequeg committed a real faux pas by carrying (instead of wheeling) the wheelbarrow his captain supplied him with to take his belongings up to where he was staying. Queequeg then talks about how an Anglo sea captain washed his hands in the punch at his sister's wedding, proving that the shoe can be on the other foot, too. Finally, the rest of the chapter concerns itself with the journey to Nantucket on the packet ship The Moss, where Queequeg rescues the greenhorn who made fun of him moments before. You should know this amount of detail for each chapter to do well on this part of the test.
The chapters that we read were--
1 Loomings
2. Carpet Bag
3. Spouter Inn
4. Counterpane
5. Breakfast
6. Street
10. Bosum Friend
11. Nightgown
12. Biographical
13. Wheelbarrow
14. Nantucket
15. Chowder
17. Ramadan
19. Prophet
21. Going Aboard
26. Knights & Squires, l
27. Knights & Squires, ll
28. Ahab
36. Quarter Deck
41. Moby Dick
48. First Lowering
49. Hyena
60. Line
71. Jeroboam
72. Monkey Rope
78. Cisterns & Buckets
109. Cabin
117. Whale-Watch
123. Musket
128. Rachel
132. Symphony
135. Chase, Day 3
Epilogue
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Part 3. Explain the hows and whys of various scenarios from the book in a few succinct sentences each. You must answer 13 out of 15 questions, so you have at least a little, but not much, leeway. This section is worth 40 points. The sample question I gave in class was "In what way is the situation on the Jeroboam a mirror for the Pequod?" The answer: "On both ships, a madman has taken command. On the Jeroboam, Gabriel calls the shots. Even though Mayhew is captain, he can't force the mad Gabriel to do anything he doesn't want to do, and Gabriel has more clout with the crew than Mayhew does. On the Pequod, Ahab is in fact mad (even though few but Starbuck understand this) and he holds total sway over the ship and crew.
strategy: review your reading and understanding of the events depicted in the above list of the chapters we read for class.
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Homework for Tuesday, June 3rd.
None. Relax.
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