Quiet Desperation in the Lecture Hall

Hi Everyone: In light of our visit from Henry David Thoreau, and our discussions about argumentation, write a response to the lecture in which you identify what you think Thoreau's principal claim is and what you think about it.  I understand that the lecture may have been hard to follow in the lecture hall, so I excerpted some crucial parts and handed them out in class.  Check the bookshelf if you didn't get one.  Please have your responses in by Wednesday evening.  Thank you, Mr. Telles.

Macbeth Final Post

For this post, please copy a short passage from the later acts of the play, and discuss what you think the passage means and why it is significant to the play as a whole.  What complicated themes or ideas are being explored in the passage as well as in the whole play?  Why are these themes or ideas important (in other words, "it's interesting, but so what?").

Finally, just add a few thoughts about your personal reactions to the play and your final thoughts about the play now that you have finished it.

This blog post is due by Monday, April 13th.  Thank you, Mr. Telles.

Macbeth, Act I Motif Study.

Now that we have finished Act I of Macbeth, and have scanned the text for examples of the motifs I listed before we began reading, write a response in which you use your annotations to help you 1) demonstrate an understanding of the passage in the context of the play and 2) identify and discuss the significance of your motif within the passage.  Why is it meaningful, and how is Shakespeare playing with motif symbolically?

Here, again, is a list of motifs, and if you find one on your own, that's even better.

Things that grow (seeds, eggs, etc.)
Blood
Paradoxes
Rings (things that fold back upon themselves).
Hands
Sharp Objects (cutting through coverings).
Darkness
Vision / eyes
Fog / Murk
Time
Garments that don't fit.
Jewels
"Manliness" / Femininity
Gluttony / over-eating

Dichotomies:
Healthy bodies / dismembered bodies
Cleanliness / Dirtiness
Fairness / Foulness
Illusion / Reality.
Health / Sickness.

Hi Everyone: Here is the midterm vocab and other units.  Keep in mind that there is a significant part of the midterm devoted to text of Huckleberry Finn.

English 10

Mr. Telles

Midterm Vocabulary

1. Antagonism                        41.  Scapegoat
2. Ideology                               42.  Sagacious
3. Paradox                                43.  Shrewd
4. Iniquity                                 44.  Abhorrent
5. Evasion                                45.  Aversion
6. Parochial                             46.  Conscience
7. Primal                                   47.  Jest
8. Hysteria                               48.  Meddle
9. Symbol                                 49.  Gaudy
10. Cynicism                             50.  Trifling
11. Communal
12. Maturity                               GRAMMAR UNITS
13. Romanticize                       1.  Subject, Object, Indirect Object I.D.
14. Oracle                                   2.  Passive and Active Voice
15. Ingenuity                             3.  Subject / Verb Agreement
16. Irony                                      4.  Phrases and Clauses
17. Authenticity                        5.  Verb Tenses
18. Regionalism                       6.  Parallel Structure
19. Identity                                 OTHER UNITS
20. Satire                                     1.  Poetry Terms (see worksheet)
21. Picaresque
22. Oppression                         ESSAY
23. Antebellum                         Question #1 (On Huck Finn and Modern Times)
24. Dialect                                 
25. Culture                                 Question #2 (On Huck Finn)   Sep. Handout.
26. Pathos
27. Equivocation
28. Simile
29. Metaphor
30. Personification
31. Onomatopoeia
32. Assonance
33. Consonance
34. Hyperbole
35. Alliteration
36. Allusion
37. Satire
38. Apostrophe
39. Imagery
40. Class

Search-a-Word Format.

Hi Everyone:

Here is a description of the three graded parts of your search-a-word project:

1.  What You Found: For this part, simply create a little heading (e.g. Unabridged Dictionary or Oxford English Dictionary) and the simply copy down the information that you collected from that source. 

2.  Works Cited: For this part, create a Works Cited page based strictly on MLA format.  You can use on-line sources like Easybib, but make sure you proofread the final page and check for common problems (for instance, forgetting to alphabetize or use hanging indentations).

3.  Four responses: For this part, simply respond to each of the four follow-up questions which were handed out to the class before research.  Do this in a standard open response format (10 or more sentences).

Huck Finn: Chapters 12-19.

Hi Everyone: For this post, choose a scene from Chapters 12-19 in Huck Finn that stands out to you as significant or meaningful.  In your post, explain what stands out to you in the passage and explain why the scene is essential or meaningful to the story so far.  Include a line or two from the passage.

The War Prayer: For E Block Only.

Class work for November 4th:

English 10

Mr. Telles

Irony in Twain’s “The War Prayer.”

Explanation: The recipe for irony calls for meanings or signifiers to be in opposition – two opposing meanings or concepts fused together in language or a situation.  However, it is also important to remember that the best irony also reveals some truth about our human experience.

Directions: Read Mark Twain’s “The War Prayer,” which is a fairly concentrated example of his kind of irony.  Then, in double sided note fashion, choose three significant quotes and write them on the left side of your paper, and then write what is literally happening or being expressed under each quote.  Then, on the right side of the paper, write down the opposing idea or concept that Twain is expecting you to think about at the same time you are reading what is literally expressed.  In other words, the left side is what is literally expressed, and the right side is what is suggested under the surface.

Then (and this is crucial), when you think about all of the opposing meanings that you’ve listed, what do you think Twain is trying to reveal about human nature?  Write this in two or three sentences at the bottom of the page.  You are not expected to agree with him, of course, but you should demonstrate that you can infer what the story’s deeper meaning is.