Our purpose here? Review. In eight blogs you will review and explore eight key concepts by explaining them with specific details from at least two works we’ve read.
-- Reread the textbook’s explanation of each concept.
-- Write your own explanation. Find appropriate examples from two different texts we have read this semester and explain the term or concept using details (not generalities) from the two examples to illustrate it.
-- Ask ‘What effect does the term/concept have on the text, the reader, or the meaning of the work as a whole?’ Do not just identify the term: explain it. Write your blog.
-- Choose one blog to be graded (10 points—or instructor may choose one)
1. PLOT Blog #1 Explain Plot reread pp. 59 + 92: (due Tue Nov 23)
In a well-written paragraph, use detailed examples from Austen & Shakespeare to trace the plot points in each and compare plot operates in fiction vs. drama.
· Ex: Use the chart on page 60 to specify all the important plot points in Hamlet and in Pride and Prejudice. What similarities do you find? What major differences?
2. CHARACTER Blog #2 Explain Character reread pp. 63 + 93
(due Wed Nov 24 even if we don’t have class)
In a well-written paragraph, use detailed examples from what we have read (Austen & Shakespeare, and perhaps Prufrock), to analyze and explain how character operates in fiction vs. drama (and perhaps some poetry).
· Ex: Compare Elizabeth vs. Hamlet, or Wickham vs. Claudius, or Ophelia vs. Caroline Bingley, or some other pair. Use the textbook to frame good questions to explore.
· Contrast how character is revealed in ‘Prufrock’ vs. in a novel like Pride and Prejudice.
3. SETTING Blog #3 Explain Setting reread pp. 67 + 96 (due Mon Nov 29)
In a well-written paragraph, use detailed examples from what we have read (Austen & Shakespeare, and perhaps Prufrock), explain how setting operates in literature (fiction, drama, or some poetry).
Ex: Also, you may analyze the setting of Oklahoma and how it contributed to the experience.
· You may also speculate on the dramatic version of Pride and Prejudice (adapted 1937) and how the stage setting can contribute to the themes of the work.
4. SYMBOL/THEME Blog #4 Explain Symbol reread pp. 84 + 98 (due Tue Nov 30 except B period)
In a well-written paragraph, use detailed examples from what we have read (poetry, Austen or Shakespeare), explain how symbol or theme operate in literature (fiction, drama, or poetry).
· Ex: Contrast the symbolism of the beast in ‘Second Coming’ with that of the clocks in ‘As I Walked out One Evening.’ How does each symbol in a kind of shorthand or image communicate larger themes without having to explain as much? What major difference do you find in the use of these two symbols?
5. POETRY SOUNDS Blog #5 Explain Sounds of Poetry (including rhyme, meter, alliteration, enjambment, caesura, etc.) reread pp.26-28
(due Wednesday Dec. 1—or 3rd day)
In a well-written paragraph, use detailed examples from what we have read (poems we have read), explain how character operates in poetry.
· Ex: Pick any two poems. Read them aloud. Analyze how they sound. What differences in sound help distinguish the two poems? How does sound contribute to the larger meanings of each poem? How might altering the sound diminish the overall effect of each poem?
6. IMAGERY/FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE Blog #6 Explain Imagery (or Figurative Language) reread see p.22 (due Thursday Dec 2 or Friday Dec 3—for A and B periods)
In a well-written paragraph, use detailed examples from what we have read (poetry, Austen or Shakespeare), explain how imagery and figurative language operate in literature (fiction, drama, or poetry).
· Ex: Trace the theme and metaphor of ‘disease’ in Hamlet. How does it run through the play and enhance the meanings?
· Discover and analyze a series of similes, metaphors, or personification in any two works and explain how the imagery or figurative language affects the reading.
7. DICTION Blog #7 Explain Diction (Denotation, Connotation, Associations, Poetic syntax) see p.22 (due Tue Dec. 7—except B period)
In a well-written paragraph, use detailed examples from what we have read (poetry, Austen or Shakespeare), explain how diction operates in literature (fiction, poetry, or drama).
· EX: For instance, compare the diction of two characters in Hamlet and explain how their diction conveys their emotions.
· Or compare Hamlet’s diction when joking around and acting crazy with his soliloquies. How does diction communicate so much? Analyze several individual words to show how diction works.
· Or compare diction in ‘Traveling through the Dark’ (57) with diction in ‘Woodchucks’ (58) to show its role in communicating tone and attitude toward the death of animals. Pick individual words to analyze and contrast.
· Or examine individual word choices in ‘ponder’ vs. ‘As I Walked out One Evening.’ How do both play with unconventional diction? To what effect? How do the poems use unconventional diction to differing effects?
8. TONE/MOOD Blog #8 Explain Tone & Mood see p.22 (due Wed. Dec 8—or 3rd class meeting)
In a well-written paragraph, use detailed examples from what we have read (poetry, Austen, or Shakespeare), to explain how tone or mood operates in literature (fiction, drama, or poetry).
· EX: For instance, compare the tone (with good descriptions of tone and specifics) of ‘Prufrock’ vs. ‘Coy Mistress’ vs. ‘ponder.’
