Thursday, March 22, 2012
Socratic Seminar Notes: As told By Sam!
I happened to be gone for this Socratic Seminar, however my partner Samuel Moon took amazing notes seen here: http://shmrhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com/2012/03/socratic-seminar-notes.html
Friday, March 9, 2012
Remix Poetry Analysis
Mnemonic device that'll help me remember the 9 point rubric analysis.
1) Dramatic Situation: Dragons
2) Structure: Scorch
3) Grammar: Giant
4) Tone: Tigers
5) Theme: Then
6) Important Imagery: Ingest
7) Important Words: Inwards
8) Literary Devices: Like
9) Prosody: Pigs
1) Dramatic Situation: Dragons
2) Structure: Scorch
3) Grammar: Giant
4) Tone: Tigers
5) Theme: Then
6) Important Imagery: Ingest
7) Important Words: Inwards
8) Literary Devices: Like
9) Prosody: Pigs
Monday, March 5, 2012
Friday, March 2, 2012
Literary Analysis: "Heart of Darkness"
1.) Marlow is a sailor who travels up the Congo River to meet Kurtz. During his travel to Africa, Marlow realized the brutal treatment in Central Station, run. Later, his steamship sank and waited until it was fixed. Marlow and other agents pursue a long, difficult journey up the river. They discover a hut stacked with firewoods along with a note that they should be cautious. Shortly, the gang arrive at Kurtz’s Inner Station, expecting to find him dead, but a half-crazed Russian trader, who meets them as they come ashore, assures them that everything is fine. Kurtz lied to the natives that he was a god and went on brutal raids in the to search ivory. The skulls placed around the station is the consequence of his nefarious actions. Marlow listens to Kurtz talk. Kurtz hands Marlow personal documents. Later on, Marlow becomes ill and barely recuperates. He comes to Europe and goes to see Kurtz’s Intended. Even though it has been over a year since Kurtz’s death, she is in melancholgy. She asks Marlow what his last words were, but Marlow couldn't break her heart, so he tells her that it was her name.
2.) One of the themes in this book is madness which is tied with imperialism. It is defined as being removed from one’s social life and allowed to be the sole arbiter of one’s own actions.
3.) The overall tone of the novel is pessimistic. Marlow refers to darkness, madness, and fear throughout the story. Judging from my view, it is probably based on Conrad’s own negative experience to his voyage up the Congo River.
"A haze rested on the low shores that ran out to sea in vanishing flatness. The air was dark above Gravesend, and farther back still seemed condensed into a mournful gloom, brooding motionless over the biggest, and the greatest, town on earth."
"I came upon a boiler wallowing in the grass, then found a path leading up the hill. It turned aside for the boulders, and also for an undersized railway-truck lying there on its back with its wheels in the air. One was off. The thing looked as dead as the carcass of some animal. I came upon more pieces of decaying machinery, a stack of rusty rails. To the left a clump of trees made a shady spot, where dark things seemed to stir feebly."
"The great wall of vegetation, an exuberant and entangled mass of trunks, branches, leaves, boughs, festoons, motionless in the moonlight, was like a rioting invasion of soundless life, a rolling wave of plants, piled up, crested, ready to topple over the creek, to sweep every little man of us out of his little existence. And it moved not."
4.) Imagery: Helps me to visualize the text when I'm reading along. It leaves a better memory of the story. Symbolism: In this story, light eludes to darkness. Darkness represents the myteries of life. Lightness is darkness, darkness is lightness. It's complicated. Foreshadow: This Doctor foreshadows the upcoming danger and eventual madness that Marlow will face in the interior. Measuring Marlow’s skull is something akin to taking scientific observations of his brain. Allusion: Some references to the devil and Dante: The Divine Comedy allow the story to have a darker tone. Metaphor: The use of this device allows me to make connections between the person being compared to the noun.
"Then I noticed a small sketch in oils, on a panel, representing a woman, draped and blind-folded, carrying a lighted torch. The background was somber – almost black. The movement of the woman was stately, and the effect of the torchlight on the face was sinister."
"Two women, one fat and the other slim, sat on straw-bottomed chairs, knitting black wool. The slim one got up and walked straight at me – still knitting with downcast eyes – and only just as I began to think of getting out of her way, as you would for a somnambulist, stood still, and looked up. Her dress was as plain as an umbrella-cover, and she turned round without a word and preceded me into a waiting-room."
“The brown current ran swiftly out of the heart of darkness, bearing us down towards the sea with twice the speed of our upward progress; and Kurtz’s life was running swiftly, too, ebbing, ebbing out of his heart into the sea of inexorable time. . . . I saw the time approaching when I would be left alone of the party of ‘unsound method.’”
2.) One of the themes in this book is madness which is tied with imperialism. It is defined as being removed from one’s social life and allowed to be the sole arbiter of one’s own actions.
3.) The overall tone of the novel is pessimistic. Marlow refers to darkness, madness, and fear throughout the story. Judging from my view, it is probably based on Conrad’s own negative experience to his voyage up the Congo River.
"A haze rested on the low shores that ran out to sea in vanishing flatness. The air was dark above Gravesend, and farther back still seemed condensed into a mournful gloom, brooding motionless over the biggest, and the greatest, town on earth."
"I came upon a boiler wallowing in the grass, then found a path leading up the hill. It turned aside for the boulders, and also for an undersized railway-truck lying there on its back with its wheels in the air. One was off. The thing looked as dead as the carcass of some animal. I came upon more pieces of decaying machinery, a stack of rusty rails. To the left a clump of trees made a shady spot, where dark things seemed to stir feebly."
"The great wall of vegetation, an exuberant and entangled mass of trunks, branches, leaves, boughs, festoons, motionless in the moonlight, was like a rioting invasion of soundless life, a rolling wave of plants, piled up, crested, ready to topple over the creek, to sweep every little man of us out of his little existence. And it moved not."
4.) Imagery: Helps me to visualize the text when I'm reading along. It leaves a better memory of the story. Symbolism: In this story, light eludes to darkness. Darkness represents the myteries of life. Lightness is darkness, darkness is lightness. It's complicated. Foreshadow: This Doctor foreshadows the upcoming danger and eventual madness that Marlow will face in the interior. Measuring Marlow’s skull is something akin to taking scientific observations of his brain. Allusion: Some references to the devil and Dante: The Divine Comedy allow the story to have a darker tone. Metaphor: The use of this device allows me to make connections between the person being compared to the noun.
"Then I noticed a small sketch in oils, on a panel, representing a woman, draped and blind-folded, carrying a lighted torch. The background was somber – almost black. The movement of the woman was stately, and the effect of the torchlight on the face was sinister."
"Two women, one fat and the other slim, sat on straw-bottomed chairs, knitting black wool. The slim one got up and walked straight at me – still knitting with downcast eyes – and only just as I began to think of getting out of her way, as you would for a somnambulist, stood still, and looked up. Her dress was as plain as an umbrella-cover, and she turned round without a word and preceded me into a waiting-room."
“The brown current ran swiftly out of the heart of darkness, bearing us down towards the sea with twice the speed of our upward progress; and Kurtz’s life was running swiftly, too, ebbing, ebbing out of his heart into the sea of inexorable time. . . . I saw the time approaching when I would be left alone of the party of ‘unsound method.’”
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Poetry Interpretation: "Where the Sidewalk Ends"
1) Dramatic Situation:
Most likely a male speaker referring to a utopia of what the world should/could look like. Most likely old and wise, possibly telling this to someone much younger than himself.
2) Structure:
The title of the poem is repeated in the first and last lines. Punctuation marks separate each complete thought. The author gets from one idea to another through the use of imagery, changing scenes with each stanza.
3) Theme:The theme most likely is that this world is not everything it can be. That we can improve and expand this world to something better and more efficient.
4) Grammar and Meaning:The author's grammar is well managed and technical. He uses phrases that better express his idea of the utopia, such as "Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black."
5) Images and Figures of Speech:The whole poem itself is full of imagery and lush descriptions. This is very key in the telling of this poem because it hits home again with the point that the author is trying to make.
6) Important Words:Words and phrases such as "crimson bright" and "cool in the peppermint wind" contribute to this sense of imagery.
7) Tone:The tone of this piece is optimistic and carefree.
8) Literary Devices:Imagery, imagery, imagery. Such as:
Most likely a male speaker referring to a utopia of what the world should/could look like. Most likely old and wise, possibly telling this to someone much younger than himself.
2) Structure:
The title of the poem is repeated in the first and last lines. Punctuation marks separate each complete thought. The author gets from one idea to another through the use of imagery, changing scenes with each stanza.
3) Theme:The theme most likely is that this world is not everything it can be. That we can improve and expand this world to something better and more efficient.
4) Grammar and Meaning:The author's grammar is well managed and technical. He uses phrases that better express his idea of the utopia, such as "Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black."
5) Images and Figures of Speech:The whole poem itself is full of imagery and lush descriptions. This is very key in the telling of this poem because it hits home again with the point that the author is trying to make.
6) Important Words:Words and phrases such as "crimson bright" and "cool in the peppermint wind" contribute to this sense of imagery.
7) Tone:The tone of this piece is optimistic and carefree.
8) Literary Devices:Imagery, imagery, imagery. Such as:
"And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight"
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight"
9) Prosody: The flow of the poem is smooth and very enjoyable to read. It makes for the message to come across, much more clearly.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
AP Practice Test: Reflection
The tedious task of practice writing to AP Essay prompts brought me back to last year in English 3 where all we did was practice, practice, practice. The particular prompts we had today were fairly easy however. The prompts themselves were fairly intriguing, however I found myself easily able to write to them. The only difficult part I encountered was the time limit for each essay. So many thoughts came rushing through my head, and it was hard to sribble them all down before the next one.
Almost exactly similar to past AP prompts that I have encountered, the AP questions were required a fairly decent amount of time to think about them. One can not simply answer them with a quick yes or no, and a one sentence explanation. I found myself getting more and more frustrated with the time allotted. I wanted to make them as perfect as possible, but with the time it was near impossible. So in short for the actual exam, I feel it would be better toi write all of the thoughts on to scratch then, synthesis them into a few paragraphs.
Almost exactly similar to past AP prompts that I have encountered, the AP questions were required a fairly decent amount of time to think about them. One can not simply answer them with a quick yes or no, and a one sentence explanation. I found myself getting more and more frustrated with the time allotted. I wanted to make them as perfect as possible, but with the time it was near impossible. So in short for the actual exam, I feel it would be better toi write all of the thoughts on to scratch then, synthesis them into a few paragraphs.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
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