Mon blog: analyze language of Claudius v Hamlet

BFF?

HAMLET  (1.2)

Seems, madam! nay it is; I know not 'seems.'
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,                80
Nor customary suits of solemn black,
Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage,
Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief,       85
That can denote me truly: these indeed seem,
For they are actions that a man might play:
But I have that within which passeth show;
These but the trappings and the suits of woe.

Who's more handsome, me or him?

KING CLAUDIUS (1.2)

'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet,  90
To give these mourning duties to your father:
But, you must know, your father lost a father;
That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound
In filial obligation for some term                                95
To do obsequious sorrow: but to persever
In obstinate condolement is a course
Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief;
It shows a will most incorrect to heaven,
A heart unfortified, a mind impatient,                        100
An understanding simple and unschool'd:
For what we know must be and is as common
As any the most vulgar thing to sense,
Why should we in our peevish opposition
Take it to heart? Fie! 'tis a fault to heaven,                 105
A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,
To reason most absurd: whose common theme
Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried,
From the first corse till he that died to-day,
'This must be so.' We pray you, throw to earth           110
This unprevailing woe, and think of us
As of a father: * * *

-see pages 728-730 in textbook
-Compare/Contrast the language used by King Claudius vs. Hamlet (or Queen Gertrude)

compare contrast essay structures: weighing alternate choices

How to effectively organize a compare (or) contrast essay?

Compare text by text structure versus element by element structure. Which emphasizes what aspects?

A. Obama v Romney fixing the economy

Or

B. Jobs for the economy: Ob v Rom

National debt for the economy: Ob v Rom

C. Woodchucks v Travelling through the Dark

Or

D.
1 speakers’ attitudes toward animals

W: bloodlust  Tr: moved toward Nature

2 How attitudes are shown?

W: shift in diction/language  Tr: shift in language

E. Slam, Dunk vs. Fast Break
or F.

1 How does style mirrors each speaker's experience?

Slam: choppy = struggle  Fast: smooth = team effort, graceful

G. Out, Out (Frost) p13 vs. Athlete Dying Young (Houseman) p21
or H.

Out: present time tragedy unfolding: shock!, ordinary work language

Athl: memorial trying to comfort with false logic, staid, funereal language

 

QUESTIONS to answer:

--Which comparison is most difficult to structure and why?

--Which is the easiest and why?

--What have you learned about compare/contrast questions?

 

Obama vs. Romney on the Economy:

Woodchucks vs. Traveling through the Dark

Slam, Dunk, vs. Fast Break

Out, Out vs. To an Athlete Dying Young

King Claudius' use of language vs. Hamlet's (or Queen Gertrude's)

 

Alternate ways to structure compare/contrast essays



How should I contrast myself? Ways to structure compare/contrast essays



Candidate-by-Candidate

1. Intro

2. Obama: Economy, Foreign Policy

3. Mitt Romney: Economy, Foreign Policy

Issue-by-Issue

1. Intro

2. The Economy Obama v Romney

3. Foreign Policy: Obama v Romney

Depending on your purpose, which organization is most effective?

Text-by-text (p.52)

1. Intro

2. Woodchucks: how language signals tonal shift

3. Traveling through the Dark: how language signals tonal shift

Element-by-Element organization (p.53)

1. Intro

2. How language works in Woodchucks v Traveling

3. How tone shifts in Woodchucks v Traveling

Depending on your purpose, which organization is most effective?

Organize the same two choices for these two basketball poems:

“Slam, Dunk, Hook” by Yusef Komunyakaa  p.41

“Fast Break” by Edward Hirsch p.49

Depending on your purpose, which organization is most effective?

Organize the same two choices for these two poems about death:

“Out, Out” by Robert Frost p.13

“To an Athlete Dying Young” by A. E. Houseman p.21

Depending on your purpose, which organization is most effective?

Click homework tab to see this week's homework

Be sure to check out the updated homework by clicking on the homework tab.
Highlights:
HW for Tuesday 10/11 read two basketball poems p. 41 and p.49: How would you structure a compare/contrast essay?  Or for Out, Out p.13 vs. Athlete p.21?
HW for Wed 10/12: Blog about plot in Austen and another work. Read p.59 + 92
HW for Thur 10/13: Study for quiz on lit terms (p.1490-1500) and plot
HW for Mon. 10/17: Read Act I of Hamlet; blog about Claudius' speech p.728-730

Blog due Mon: compare poems about deer and woodchuck

In a BLOG post: Compare these two poems about animals. How are tone and the speaker’s relationship to nature communicated differently in each?  

   (These poems appear on pages 57 and 58 in our textbook.)

 Woodchucks Maxine Kumin

Gassing the woodchucks didn't turn out right.
The knockout bomb from the Feed and Grain  Exchange
was featured as merciful, quick at the bone
and the case we had against them was airtight,
both exits shoehorned shut with puddingstone,  
but they had a sub-sub-basement out of range.

Next morning they turned up again, no worse
for the cyanide than we for our cigarettes
and state-store Scotch, all of us up to scratch.
They brought down the marigolds as a matter of course 
and then took over the vegetable patch
nipping the broccoli shoots, beheading the carrots.

The food from our mouths, I said, righteously thrilling
to the feel of the .22, the bullets' neat noses.
I, a lapsed pacifist fallen from grace   
puffed with Darwinian pieties for killing,
now drew a bead on the little woodchuck's face.
He died down in the everbearing roses.

Ten minutes later I dropped the mother. She
flipflopped in the air and fell, her needle teeth  
still hooked in a leaf of early Swiss chard.
Another baby next. O one-two-three
the murderer inside me rose up hard,
the hawkeye killer came on stage forthwith.

There's one chuck left. Old wily fellow, he keeps  
me cocked and ready day after day after day.
All night I hunt his humped-up form. I dream
I sight along the barrel in my sleep.
If only they'd all consented to die unseen
gassed underground the quiet Nazi way.   30

  Traveling through the Dark William Stafford

Traveling through the dark I found a deer
dead on the edge of the Wilson River road.
It is usually best to roll them into the canyon:
that road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead.

By glow of the tail-light I stumbled back of the car
and stood by the heap, a doe, a recent killing;
she had stiffened already, almost cold.
I dragged her off; she was large in the belly.

My fingers touching her side brought me the reason--
her side was warm; her fawn lay there waiting,   
alive, still, never to be born.
Beside that mountain road I hesitated.

The car aimed ahead its lowered parking lights;
under the hood purred the steady engine.
I stood in the glare of the warm exhaust turning red;  
around our group I could hear the wilderness listen.

I thought hard for us all--my only swerving--
then pushed her over the edge into the river.

Last pages of Pride and Prejudice

I'm almost done with my novel!

            LYDIA TIES THE KNOT

212 Lydia brags about getting married

214 Lydia reveals the secret of who was at her wedding (can you guess?)

216 Bad Dad

220 Liz 'tortures' Wickham

    

236-241 Lady Catherine bullies Liz (see the video of the play)

245 Dad still not appropriate

            WEDDING BELLS

246 Another proposal (guess who!)

251 Liz tells a disbelieving Jane

254-5 Liz tells a disbelieving Dad then Mom
  (which of these is the most awkward for Liz?)

Agree and Disagree with DW Harding about Austen

How do I convince my family I love Darcy?

1. On Rubric cover sheet, write your own evaluation of how your essay is strong, what was your best point, and what would you like the first reader to pay particular attention to. Turn this in with your rough draft.
2. Read DW Harding (p.43-44 of red spiral-bound college reader) and be ready in class on Tue/Wed. (and in your blog due Wed.) to agree with one point he makes and disagree with another. (Purpose: to simulate college reading, understanding, and responding.)
3. Finish reading Austen (if you haven't) in preparation for Thursday's exam (multiple choice plus one short answer).
4. In-class journal: Rank 3 scenes for humor and Liz's discomfort: convincing Jane she loves Darcy (251), convincing Mr. Bennet (254), and convincing Mrs. Bennet (255). Give your reasons and explain how the scenes are similar but also different.
5. Read, Write, Think, and Discuss every day in class.

DW Harding.
1. What arguments can you summarize?
2. Which do you agree with and why?
3. Which do you disagree with (or want to qualify) and why?
Do you agree with these statements?
-'detests and fears'
-'laugh at faults they tolerated in themselves'
-'bringing the caricatures into direct contact with the real people'
-Collins is Liz's 'comic monster'

Reading and Responding to D.W. Harding: “Regulated Hatred”

Objective:

1. Practice reading dense, college-type prose,

2. Extract main points of difficult articles,

3. Take a stand: agree with one point, qualify or disagree with another,

4. Ask questions of the text,

5. Come to class prepared to speak out, ask questions, participate, and read passages aloud from both texts to further the classroom conversation or support a point,

6. Write a (blog) paragraph responding to Harding in interesting ways (agree and disagree with Harding)

7. (optional) Comment on others’ blog posts about Harding,

8. In class, simulate a college seminar in which you are obligated to participate intelligently.

  Questions to Prepare:

1.      What are Harding’s main point(s)? How does he set them up?

2.      How does he organize his ideas (paragraph by paragraph)?

3.      What specific idea can you agree with Harding on? Would you modify or qualify what you agree with? What specific idea do you disagree with?

4.      What questions do you have or could your raise for others to discuss?

5.      What will you speak up about in class? How can you further the discussion by listening carefully and commenting?

6. What larger question about Austen can you raise? What passages from Harding and/or Austen can you read aloud to help the conversation?

You have now practiced participating in a college discussion section. Repeat often!