Brain Crunches

I think of memorizing things as crunches for your brain. It exercises the muscles. So to keep you in top mental conditoin over the break, I would like you to memorize the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales (click here for the audio version). The version here is read by Larry D. Benson of Harvard University. This is due the week of January 12-16. After break I will post a schedule for you to recite this to me individually.

1 Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
When April with its sweet-smelling showers
2 The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
Has pierced the drought of March to the root,
3 And bathed every veyne in swich licour
And bathed every vein (of the plants) in such liquid
4 Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
By the power of which the flower is created;
5 Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
When the West Wind also with its sweet breath,
6 Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
In every holt and heath, has breathed life into
7 The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
The tender crops, and the young sun
8 Hath in the Ram his half cours yronne,
Has run its half course in Aries,
9 And smale foweles maken melodye,
And small fowls make melody,
10 That slepen al the nyght with open ye
Those that sleep all the night with open eyes
11 (So priketh hem Nature in hir corages),
(So Nature incites them in their hearts),
12 Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
Then folk long to go on pilgrimages,
13 And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,
And professional pilgrims (long) to seek foreign shores,
14 To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
To (go to) distant shrines, known in various lands;
15 And specially from every shires ende
And specially from every shire's end
16 Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende,
Of England to Canterbury they travel,
17 The hooly blisful martir for to seke,
To seek the holy blessed martyr,
18 That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.
Who helped them when they were sick.

A Favorite

"A Christmas Memory", by Truman Capote, has long been my favorite Christmas story. Capote was one of the great American storytellers, and this semi-autobiographical story about a young boy and his aunt making fruitcakes for the holidays never fails to make me cry a little. I'm thinking about it this year as I embark on my own Christmas baking adventure. Written in the fifties, the story might seem somewhat dated in its language, but as a bittersweet story of friendship it is timeless. Enjoy.

Continuing the Conversation

Great conversation in class today.
In light of our discussion about the lake and the field, consider the following:
In "Notes", O'Brien says that by leaving Kiowa's death out of a previous version of "Speaking of Courage", he had "lost the natural counterpoint between the lake and the field. A metaphoric unity was broken."
What is the lake a metaphor for? What is the field a metaphor for? How are the lake and the field connected? What is this connection a metaphor for? What idea does this metaphor suggest?
Answer all parts of this question, but don't write a novel. Keep it clear. Mind your grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.. and feel free to respond appropriately to other posts.

60 Minutes

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And finally, the Truth is...

The other day in class, I asked you all to define "Truth".

What a ridiculous question.

As soon as you figure it out, let me know, and I'll book you a spot on The View. Until then, let's deal with a more manageable question:




Based on your reading of Cat's Cradle, how does Vonnegut lead us to view truth?

And here's the kicker. The first three people to post, only need to answer the question. All posters after that need to answer the question and specifically respond to another poster's thoughts.

Try not to respond only to your buddies; respond to comments that you have something to say about. This blog assignment WILL be graded. Be thoughtful; be smart. AND WARNING: I wouldn't even try this until you've finished the book!

On poets behaving badly...

Here are some jobs that Bukowski had in his life: dishwasher, truck driver and loader, mail carrier, guard, gas station attendant, stock boy, warehouse worker, shipping clerk, post office clerk, parking lot attendant, Red Cross orderly, and elevator operator. He also worked in a dog biscuit factory, a slaughterhouse, a cake and cookie factory, and he hung posters in New York City subways. He drank a lot, until he developed a bleeding ulcer. He was tortured. How do you think his poem "the trash men" connects with Kafka's story, "A Hunger Artist"?

Hungry like a panther...

You probably don't get the Duran Duran reference, but anyway...

Good discussion today. I'm curious to see whether any of you will change your classifications after we finish dissecting "A Hunger Artist" tomorrow. To that end, please post a short (one sentence) answer to each of the following questions:
1. What might be admirable about fasting?
2. What might be admirable about a panther?
Thanks!

Introduction to Poetry...

We read Billy Collins' "Introduction to Poetry" today as inspiration as we begin to beat literature with a rubber hose.  In the poem, Mr. Collins describes all the different ways he wishes his students would read poetry.  Your homework is to write a metaphor or a simile that describes how YOU read poetry.  Please submit your work as a comment to this post.

Out in the world!

Hooray to Samantha, Rosalba and Travis D. (our newest class member) for attending the Junot Diaz reading!  Guys, please email me some of your pics so I can post them here. 

How about that Junot Diaz?

Have you read "Homecoming, with Turtle" yet? If so, let me know what you think.

Love it?
Like it?
Hate it?
How does it work as a story? Does it remind you of anything else you've read? What point does it make?

Please make a comment. Since the story's only three pages long, and since it's the first week of school, I'm figuring you'll all read it, just to make a good impression. If you want to read more Junot Diaz stories, click on this link and knock yourself out.

PS - Cheers to Elias for being the first to comment on our blog!

A poem a week...

Throughout the year, we will study a poem a week, and here is our first poem. I think it is a great "starting out" poem. What do you think? Be sure to read through to the end for your assignment.

ITHAKA
Constantine P. Cavafy

As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon-don't be afraid of them:
you'll never find the things like that on your way
as long as you keep thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon-you won't encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbors you're seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony.
sensual perfume of every kind-
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you're destined for.
But don't hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you're old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you've gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn't have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you'll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

The End...
I want you to respond to this poem by writing your own. What is your "Ithaka"? And what might you encounter along the way?
Write it in whatever form you like (note: haiku probably won't work), rhymed, free verse, etc... Use the same metaphor, but in your own personal way. See me with questions. Due Friday. Typed. The five best poems win...

What is Advanced Placement English, anyway?

To me, the Advanced Placement in Literature course is a chance to read great, challenging literature, discuss it, argue about it, and write about it in the best way possible. That's the short answer. I stole this wordy description from the College Board site. We are going to read it together in class and discuss what it means:

The AP English Literature and Composition course is designed to engage students in the careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature. Through the close reading of selected texts, students can deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language to provide both meaning and pleasure for their readers. As they read, students should consider a work's structure, style, and themes, as well as such smaller-scale elements as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone.

Reading
The course should include intensive study of representative works from various genres and periods, concentrating on works of recognized literary merit. The works chosen should invite and gratify rereading.

Reading in an AP course should be both wide and deep. This reading necessarily builds upon the reading done in previous English courses. These courses should include the in-depth reading of texts drawn from multiple genres, periods, and cultures. In their AP course, students should also read works from several genres and periods -- from the sixteenth to the twenty-first century -- but, more importantly, they should get to know a few works well. They should read deliberately and thoroughly, taking time to understand a work's complexity, to absorb its richness of meaning, and to analyze how that meaning is embodied in literary form. In addition to considering a work's literary artistry, students should consider the social and historical values it reflects and embodies. Careful attention to both textual detail and historical context should provide a foundation for interpretation, whatever critical perspectives are brought to bear on the literary works studied.

Writing
Such close reading involves the experience of literature, the interpretation of literature, and the evaluation of literature. All these aspects of reading are important for an AP course in English Literature and Composition, and each corresponds to an approach to writing about literary works. Writing to understand a literary work may involve writing response and reaction papers along with annotation, freewriting, and keeping some form of a reading journal. Writing to explain a literary work involves analysis and interpretation, and may include writing brief focused analyses on aspects of language and structure. Writing to evaluate a literary work involves making and explaining judgments about its artistry and exploring its underlying social and cultural values through analysis, interpretation, and argument.

Writing should be an integral part of the AP English Literature and Composition course, for the AP Examination is weighted toward student writing about literature. Writing assignments should focus on the critical analysis of literature and should include expository, analytical, and argumentative essays. Although critical analysis should make up the bulk of student writing for the course, well-constructed creative writing assignments may help students see from the inside how literature is written. The goal of both types of writing assignments is to increase students' ability to explain clearly, cogently, even elegantly, what they understand about literary works and why they interpret them as they do.

Writing instruction should include attention to developing and organizing ideas in clear, coherent, and persuasive language; a study of the elements of style; and attention to precision and correctness as necessary. Throughout the course, emphasis should be placed on helping students develop stylistic maturity, which, for AP English, is characterized by the following:

Wide-ranging vocabulary used with denotative accuracy and connotative resourcefulness
A variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordinate and coordinate constructions
A logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques of coherence such as repetition, transitions, and emphasis
A balance of generalization with specific illustrative detail
An effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, maintaining a consistent voice, and achieving emphasis through parallelism and antithesis

It is important to distinguish among the different kinds of writing produced in an AP English Literature and Composition course. Any college-level course in which serious literature is read and studied should include numerous opportunities for students to write. Some of this writing should be informal and exploratory, allowing students to discover what they think in the process of writing about their reading. Some of the course writing should involve research, perhaps negotiating differing critical perspectives. Much writing should involve extended discourse in which students can develop an argument or present an analysis at length. In addition, some writing assignments should encourage students to write effectively under the time constraints they encounter on essay examinations in college courses in many disciplines, including English.

Welcome

Welcome to New Explorers High School's first ever AP English class, and blog, for that matter.
As I was contemplating this class over the summer, I wanted to think of an informal way to share information with the class about the books we are reading, books you could be reading, poetry, authors, writing, movies, etc. And because it's a blog, you can make comments to share your own ideas and opinions. Fun all around.