Tuesday:
We will talk about some of the John Donne poems. Students who are planning to read may practice.
Thursday:
Performances for the John Donne poems. Remember, this assignment is an optional extra credit assignment. I will give classwork/participation grades for everyone as well. Participating (paying attention, not leaving class for extended periods) counts for everyone.
Friday: TBA. Bring goodies if you like.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
STUDY NOTES FOR THE TEST ON THURSDAY
This is a beginning. I'll do more by tomorrow:
British Literature: Things to Study for the Upcoming Test (Thursday)
Instead of matching, I wll have multiple choice.
Know the meanings of or recognize—these may be multiple choice options or they may require short answers:
Humanism
Allegory
Over-reacher
Primum Mobile
Empyream
Pilgrim
Aristotle
Natural
Supernatural
Unnatural
Sacraments
Trinity
Lucifer
The story of Diana and Actaeon
The story of Phaethon (Phaeton)
The story of Daedalus and Icarus
The significance of attire
The significance of heredity (class)
The signifiance of nobility
Ambiguity
Resolve
Courtly Love
Puritan
Necromancy
Aphorism
Syllogism
Canonize
Jason and the Golden Fleece
Resolute
From the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales:
Know when it starts. What month? What is significant about that month?
Recognize the Knight and know his qualities.
Know what his son, the Squire is like. Be ready to recognize him.
Be able to identify the Prioress.Know how she dresses. Know about her probable background. What does she have to do with dogs and mice?What is significant about her broad forehead? What is the significance of her extra weight? “For, certainly, she was not undergrown.”What is the significance of her garments? “Her cloak was very well made, as I was aware./ About her arm she bore of small coral/ A set of beads, adorned with large green beads,/ And thereon hung a brooch of very bright gold,/ On which there was first written an A with a crown,/ And after ‘Love conquers all” (157-162). What is significant about these details?
What is wrong with a monk that likes to hunt?What is wrong with him being “a virile man, qualified to be an abbot./ He had very many fine horses in his stable,/ And when he rode, one could hear his bridle/ Jingle in a whistling wind as clear/ And also as loud as does the chapel belle/ Where this lord was prior of the subordinate monastery” ( 168-172).
Why is the Monk dissatisfied with “The rule of Saint Maurus or of Saint Benedict”?
What does he think about their rules?
What does he think is wrong with Saint Augustine?
How does the monk dress? What is wrong with that?
What is wrong with the Friar?
How is he socialized?
What does it take to receive penance from him?
What is wrong with the following: “For to give to a poor order (of friars)/ Is a sign that a man is well confessed;/ For if he gave, he dared to assert,/ He kneew that a man was repentant;/ For many a man is so hard in his heart,/ He can not weep, although he painfully suffers./ Thereefore instead of weeping and prayers/ One may give silver to the poor friars” (225-232).
What are the friar’s skills/talents?
Know about the Oxford Clerk—how he dresses, how he spends his money, his ambitions, etc.
Know about the Franklin.
Know about the “Doctor of Medecine” and how he practiced that medicine.
Know about the Wife of Bath, what she looks like, how she dresses, how many times she has been married.
Know about the Parson and how he practices what he preaches.
Know how to recognize the Miller.
Know what the Summoner looks like and what he does.
Know which character keeps pig’ bones in a glass container. Know what he uses those pig-bones for.
Know where the Pilgrims spend the night—the town and the tavern.
Why does the narrator apologize?
What is the host like?
Know especially where they are going and what is significant about that destination. Who died there? How?
The Wife of Bath’s Tale
Know when the story takes place (under which king?)
What do elves and fairies have to do with the clergy? How is she being critical of the system by mentioning them?
How did the knight sin? Be specific.
What should have been his punishment?
What was his punishment instead?
Who suggested this?
What criteria did she require?
Exactly how long will he have to fulfill these requirements?
What question must he answer?
Who ultimately helps him?
What must he do in return?
What arguments does she make—about her ugliness, class, and age?
What does the knight ultimately do?
What is the end result?
Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Know how many lines are in a sonnet
Know the ryme scheme
Know the metric scheme
Recognize the differences between the young man’s sonnets and those to the “dark lady.”
Know the significance (or meaning) of the following lines:
Sonnet 1: “From fairest creatures we desire increase,/ That thereby beauty’s rose might never die,/ But ast he riper should by time decease,/ His tender ehir might bear his memory;…”
Sonnet 18: “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,/ So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”
Sonnet 29: “When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,/ I all alone beweep my outcast state,/ And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,/ And look upon myself and curse my fate,/ Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,/ Featured like him, like him with friends possessed…..” How does this sonnet end?
Sonnet 116: “Let me not to the marriage of true minds/ Admit impediments. Love is not love/ Which alters when it alteration finds,/ Or bends with the remover to remove./ O, no, it is an ever fixed mark/ That looks on tempests and is never shaken;/ It is the star to every wandering bark,/ Whose worth’s unknown, althogh his height be taken./ Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks/ within his bending sickle’s compass come;/ Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,/ But bears it out even to the edge of doom./ If this be error and upon me proved,/ I never writ, nor man ever loved.”
Know Sonnets 130 & 138.
“Twelfth Night”
Know the major characters and their relationships (or wanna-be relationships)
Know the significance of class in the story.
Be ready to compare that with what the Wife of Bath says.
Know how Orsino and Olivia are alike.
Know how Viola and Olivia are alike.
Know about the relationship between Maria and Sir Toby Belch.
Know about Sir Toby’s relationship with Olivia.
What does Antonio have to do with Sebastion? What does he have to do with Viola?
How does Olivia trick Sebastian into marrying her?
Who is sir Andrew Aguecheek? How does he get into trouble with both Sebastian and Viola?
Who is Curio?
Who is Malvolio? What is his status? How does he get tricked and by whom?
Know where the play takes place.
What is Viola’s secret name?
What is the name of Olivia’s jester? What other name does he take?
Important quotes:
About whom is Sir Toby speaking in Act I, scene 2? “He plays o’ the viol-degamboys, and speaks three or four languages word for word without hook, and hath all the good gifts of nature”? What is ironic about this?
Act I, Scene 5: OLIVIA: “Get you to your lord./ I cannot love him. Let him send no more--/Unless, perchance, you come to me again/ To tell me how he takes it. Fare you well./ I thank you for your pains. Spend this for me.”
How does “Cesario” react to this?
OLIVIA: “What is your parentage?”/ “Above my forunes, yet my state is well:/ I am a gentleman.” I’ll be sworn thou art! / Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions, and spirit/ Do give these three fivefold blazon. Not too fast! Soft, soft!/ Unless the master were the man. How now?/ Methinks I feel this youth’s perfections With an invisible and subtle stealth/ To creep in at mine eyes.”
What kinds of gifts are given during the course of this play and what are their significances?
Why do Maria and Toby want to abuse Malvolio?
What do they do to him?
How does Maria trick Malvolio? What does she get him to do?
Why are Malvolio’s aspirations foolish—maybe even full of hubris?
What is ironic or significant about Orsino’s words in Act II, Scene 4? To whom does he speak?
“There is no woman’s sides/ Can bide the beating of so strong a passion/ As love doth give my heart; no woman’ heart/ So big, to hld so much. they lack retention./ Alas, their love may be called appetite,/ No motion of the liver, but the palate,/ That suffer, surfeit, cloyment, and revolt;/ But mine is allas hungry as the sea,/ And can digest as much. Make no compare/ Between that I love a woman can bear me/ And that I owe Olivia” (90-100).
Note Viola’s answer: “Too well what love women to men may owe./ In faith, they are as true of heart as we./ My father had a daughter loved a man/ As it might be, perhaps, were I a woman,/ I should love your lordship” (102-106).
What does that passage lead to? How does Orsino interpret it? What misunderstanding does he come to?
How does Malvolio react to the “M.O.A.I.” part of the letter? What is funny about that?
How does Olivia react to Malvolio’s costume and his behavior?
What does Sir Toby stir up Sir Andrew? Why?
How does Fabian contribute?
Who is Antonio and how does he come upon Sebastian? How does Sebastian react to this?
Which character sincerely believes that “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them”? What is ironic about this? How is the belief used against him?
What parts of the following speech (by Malvolio in Act II, scene 4) are ironic yet pitiable? Why? In what ways are these words satisfying to the audience? How might he deserve his fate?
“Oho, do you come near me now? No worse man than Sir Toby to look to me! This concurs directly with the letter. She sends him on purpose that I may appear stubborn to him, for she incites me to that in the letter. ‘Cast thy humble slough,’ says she; ‘be opposite with a kinsman, surly with servants; let thy tongue tang with arguments of state; put theyself into the face, a reverend carriage, a slow tongue, in th ehabit of some sir of note, thankful! And when she went away now, ‘Let this fellow be looked to.’ ‘Fellow!’ Not ‘Malvolio,’ nor after my degree, but ‘fellow.’ Why, everything adheres together, that no dram of a scruple, no scruple of a scruple, no obstacle, no incredulous or unsafe circumstance—what can be said?—nothing that can be can come between me and the full prospect of my hopes. Well, Jove, not I, is the doer of this, and he is to be thanked.”
Why does Sir Andrew try to attack Cesario?
How does she respond?
Why does Sir Andrew attack Sebastian?
How is the outcome different?
Who else suffers as a result of this attack?
In Act IV, where does Malvolio end up?
Who torments him—in the guise of which two different people? How does he torment him?
Act V
How does Antonio end up in jail? Why does he feel twice-decieved?
How does it happen that Olivia marries Sebastian?
How do Viola and Sebastian come back into contact with each other?
Which characters live happily ever after (there are three sets)? Which do not? Why?
“The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus”
Know who wrote it and when he lived.
Important quotes:
CHORUS: “Now is he born, of parents base of stock” (11).
“His waxen wings did mount above his reach,/ and melting, heavens conspired his overthrow./ For falling to a devilish exercise,/ And glutted now with learning’s golden gifts,/ He surfeits upon cursed necromancy./ Nothing so sweet as magic is to him,/ Which he prefers before the chiefest bliss:/ And this the man that in his study sits” (21-28).
Act I, Scene 1
Faustus: “And live and die in Aristotle’s works./ Sweet Analytics, ‘tis thou hast ravished me./ Bene dissere est finis logices./ Is ‘to dispute well logic’s chiefest end’?/ Affords this art no greater miracle?/ Then read no more: thou hast attained that end” (5-10).
“Be a physician, Faustus: heap up gold/ And be eternized for some wondrous cure./ Summum bonum medicinae sanitas:/ ‘The end of physic is our body’s health.’/ Why, Faustus, hast thou not attained that end?/ Is not they comon talk sound aphorisms?/ Are not thy bills hung up as monuments,/ Whereby whole cities have escaped the plague,/ And thousand desperate maladies been cured?/ Yet art thous till but Faustus and a man./ Couldst thou make men to live eternally,/ Or being dead, raise them to life again,/ Then this profession were to be esteemed” (14-26).
“These necromantic books are heavenly,/ Lines, circles, scenes, letters and characters:/ Ay, these are those that Faustus most desires./ Oh, what a world of prfit and delight,/ Of power, of honor, of omnipotence,/ Is promised to the studius artisan!” (49-54). What mythical reference is there in this passage? Which word?
“A sound magician is a demi-god. Here, tire my brains to get a deity” (61-62).
How is the following a reference to the story of Adam and Eve? Which part of that story? Evil Angel: “Go forward, Faustus, in that famous art/ Wherein all nature’s treasure is contained./ Be thou on earth as Jove is in the sky,/ Lord and commander of these elements” (73-76).
Faustus: “How am I glutted with conceit of this!/ Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please,/ Resolve me of all ambiguities,/ Perform what desperate enterprise I will?” (77-81).
“I will have them fill the public schools with silk,/ Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad” (89-91).
“Philosophy is odious and obscure./ Both law and physic are for petty wits./ Divinity is the basest of the three,/ Unpleasant, harsh, contemptible and vile./ ‘Tis magic that hath ravished me” (105-109).
What is interesting about the word “ravished”?
VALDES: “Faustus, these books, thy wit and our experience/ Shall make all nations to canonize us” (118-119).
“Sometimes like women or unwedded maids,/ Shadowing more beauty in their airy brows/ Than has the white breasts of the queen of love./ From Venice shall they drag huge argosies,/ And from America the golden fleece/ That yearly stuffs old Philip’s treasure/ If learned Faustus will be resolute” (126-132).
What is ironic about Valdes’ and Cornelius’ goading of Faustus?
“This night I’ll conjure, though I die therefore” (165).
ACT I, Scene 2
What is wrong with Wagner’s speech to the two scholars? What is hilarious about the speech?
“You are decieved, for I will tell you. Yet if you were not dunces, you would neer ask me such a question. For is he not Corpus naturale? And is not that mobile? Then wherefore should you ask me such a question? But that I am by nature phlegmatic, slow to wrath and prone to lechery (to love, I would say), it were not for you to come within forty foot of the place of execution, although I do not doubt but to see you both hanged the next sessions. Thus, having triumphed over you, I will set my countenance like a precision, and begin to speak thus: ‘Truly, my dear brethren, my master is within at dinner with Valdes and Cornelius, as this wine, if it could speak, would inform your worships. And so the Lord bless you, preserve you and keep you, my dear brethren’” (12-22).
Act I, scene 3:
“I charge thee to return and change thy shape./ Thou art too ugly to attend on me,/ Go and return an old Franciscan friar:/ That holy shape becomes a devil best” (22-25).
“I see there’s virtue in my heavenly words./ Who would not be proficient in this art?/ How pliant is this Mephistophilis!/ Full of obedience and humility,/ Such is the force of my magic and my spells./ Now, Faustus, thou art conjuror laureate;/ Thou cants command great Mephistophilis” (26-32).
MEPHISTOPHILIS: “I am servant to great Lucifer,/ And may not follow thee without his leave./ No more than he commands must we perform” (39-41).
FAUSTUS: “Did not he charge thee to come to me?” (42).
MEPHISTOPHILIS: “That was the cause, but yet per accidens;/ For whenwe hear one rack the name of God,/ Abjure the scriptures and his savior Christ,/ we fly in hope to get his glorious soul” (43-48).
FAUSTUS: “This word ‘damnation’ terrifies not me,/ For I counfound hell in elysium./ My ghost be with the old philosophers” (58-60).
How are Mephistophilis answers to Faustus’ questions inadequate?
FAUSTUS: “What, is great Mephistophilis so passionate/ For being deprived of the joys of heaven?/ Learn thou of Faustus manly fortitude,/ And scorn these joys thou never shalt possess” (82-85).
For how many years will Faustus live after the contract? What is significant about that?
FAUSTUS: “Had I as many souls as there be stars,/ I’d give them all for Mephistophilis” (101-102).
Act I, Scene 4
WAGNER: “Alas, poor slave. See how poverty jests in his nakedness. I know the villain’s out of service and so hungry that I know he would give his soul to the devil for a shoulder of mutton were it blood-raw.”
CLOWN: “Not so neither. I had need to have it well roasted, and good sauce to it, if I pay so dear, I can tell you.”
WAGNER: “Sirrah, wilt thou be my man and wait on me? And I will make thee go like Qui mihi discipulus.”
WAGNER: “Why, so thou shat be whether thou dost it or no. For, sirrah, if thou dost not presently bind thyself to me for seven years, I’ll turn all the lice about thee into familiars, and make them tear thee into pieces.”
Act I, Scene 5
FAUSTUS: “Now, Fustus, must thou needs be damned?/ And canst thou not be saved?/ What boots it then to think on God or heaven?/ Away with such vain fancies and despair,/ Despair in God and trust in Belzebub./ Now go not backward. No, Faustus, be resolute./ Why waverest thou? Oh, something soundeth in mine ears/ Abjure this magic, turn to God again./ Ay, and Faustus will turn to God again./ To God? He loves thee not./ The God thous ervest is thine own appetite,/ Wherein is fixed the love of Belzebub./ To him I’ll build an altar and a church,/ And offer lukewarm blood of new-born babes” (1-14).
Note the ambiguous nature of Mephistophilis answers to Faustus’ questions.
Faustus must sign his name in blood. What happens during the middle of that? Why?
What does Mephistophilis do to remedy the situation?
What is the significance of Faustus’ “Consummatum est”?
What is the significance of “Homo fuge!” and “Yet shall not Faustus fly”?
MEPHISTOPHILIS: “Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed/ In one self place. But where we are is hell,/ And where hell is there must we ever be” (118-119).
FAUSTUS: “Come, I think hell’s a fable” (124).
FAUSTUS: “Ay, and body too, bu t what of that?/ Think’st thou that Faustus is so fond to imagine/ That after this life there is any pain?/ Tush, these are trifles and old wives’ tales” (129-132).
How does Mephistophilis respond when Faustus asks for a wife?
Mephistophilis: “Tut, Faustus, marriage is but a ceremonial toy./ If thou lovest me, think no more of it” (146-147).
British Literature: Things to Study for the Upcoming Test (Thursday)
Instead of matching, I wll have multiple choice.
Know the meanings of or recognize—these may be multiple choice options or they may require short answers:
Humanism
Allegory
Over-reacher
Primum Mobile
Empyream
Pilgrim
Aristotle
Natural
Supernatural
Unnatural
Sacraments
Trinity
Lucifer
The story of Diana and Actaeon
The story of Phaethon (Phaeton)
The story of Daedalus and Icarus
The significance of attire
The significance of heredity (class)
The signifiance of nobility
Ambiguity
Resolve
Courtly Love
Puritan
Necromancy
Aphorism
Syllogism
Canonize
Jason and the Golden Fleece
Resolute
From the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales:
Know when it starts. What month? What is significant about that month?
Recognize the Knight and know his qualities.
Know what his son, the Squire is like. Be ready to recognize him.
Be able to identify the Prioress.Know how she dresses. Know about her probable background. What does she have to do with dogs and mice?What is significant about her broad forehead? What is the significance of her extra weight? “For, certainly, she was not undergrown.”What is the significance of her garments? “Her cloak was very well made, as I was aware./ About her arm she bore of small coral/ A set of beads, adorned with large green beads,/ And thereon hung a brooch of very bright gold,/ On which there was first written an A with a crown,/ And after ‘Love conquers all” (157-162). What is significant about these details?
What is wrong with a monk that likes to hunt?What is wrong with him being “a virile man, qualified to be an abbot./ He had very many fine horses in his stable,/ And when he rode, one could hear his bridle/ Jingle in a whistling wind as clear/ And also as loud as does the chapel belle/ Where this lord was prior of the subordinate monastery” ( 168-172).
Why is the Monk dissatisfied with “The rule of Saint Maurus or of Saint Benedict”?
What does he think about their rules?
What does he think is wrong with Saint Augustine?
How does the monk dress? What is wrong with that?
What is wrong with the Friar?
How is he socialized?
What does it take to receive penance from him?
What is wrong with the following: “For to give to a poor order (of friars)/ Is a sign that a man is well confessed;/ For if he gave, he dared to assert,/ He kneew that a man was repentant;/ For many a man is so hard in his heart,/ He can not weep, although he painfully suffers./ Thereefore instead of weeping and prayers/ One may give silver to the poor friars” (225-232).
What are the friar’s skills/talents?
Know about the Oxford Clerk—how he dresses, how he spends his money, his ambitions, etc.
Know about the Franklin.
Know about the “Doctor of Medecine” and how he practiced that medicine.
Know about the Wife of Bath, what she looks like, how she dresses, how many times she has been married.
Know about the Parson and how he practices what he preaches.
Know how to recognize the Miller.
Know what the Summoner looks like and what he does.
Know which character keeps pig’ bones in a glass container. Know what he uses those pig-bones for.
Know where the Pilgrims spend the night—the town and the tavern.
Why does the narrator apologize?
What is the host like?
Know especially where they are going and what is significant about that destination. Who died there? How?
The Wife of Bath’s Tale
Know when the story takes place (under which king?)
What do elves and fairies have to do with the clergy? How is she being critical of the system by mentioning them?
How did the knight sin? Be specific.
What should have been his punishment?
What was his punishment instead?
Who suggested this?
What criteria did she require?
Exactly how long will he have to fulfill these requirements?
What question must he answer?
Who ultimately helps him?
What must he do in return?
What arguments does she make—about her ugliness, class, and age?
What does the knight ultimately do?
What is the end result?
Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Know how many lines are in a sonnet
Know the ryme scheme
Know the metric scheme
Recognize the differences between the young man’s sonnets and those to the “dark lady.”
Know the significance (or meaning) of the following lines:
Sonnet 1: “From fairest creatures we desire increase,/ That thereby beauty’s rose might never die,/ But ast he riper should by time decease,/ His tender ehir might bear his memory;…”
Sonnet 18: “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,/ So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”
Sonnet 29: “When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,/ I all alone beweep my outcast state,/ And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,/ And look upon myself and curse my fate,/ Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,/ Featured like him, like him with friends possessed…..” How does this sonnet end?
Sonnet 116: “Let me not to the marriage of true minds/ Admit impediments. Love is not love/ Which alters when it alteration finds,/ Or bends with the remover to remove./ O, no, it is an ever fixed mark/ That looks on tempests and is never shaken;/ It is the star to every wandering bark,/ Whose worth’s unknown, althogh his height be taken./ Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks/ within his bending sickle’s compass come;/ Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,/ But bears it out even to the edge of doom./ If this be error and upon me proved,/ I never writ, nor man ever loved.”
Know Sonnets 130 & 138.
“Twelfth Night”
Know the major characters and their relationships (or wanna-be relationships)
Know the significance of class in the story.
Be ready to compare that with what the Wife of Bath says.
Know how Orsino and Olivia are alike.
Know how Viola and Olivia are alike.
Know about the relationship between Maria and Sir Toby Belch.
Know about Sir Toby’s relationship with Olivia.
What does Antonio have to do with Sebastion? What does he have to do with Viola?
How does Olivia trick Sebastian into marrying her?
Who is sir Andrew Aguecheek? How does he get into trouble with both Sebastian and Viola?
Who is Curio?
Who is Malvolio? What is his status? How does he get tricked and by whom?
Know where the play takes place.
What is Viola’s secret name?
What is the name of Olivia’s jester? What other name does he take?
Important quotes:
About whom is Sir Toby speaking in Act I, scene 2? “He plays o’ the viol-degamboys, and speaks three or four languages word for word without hook, and hath all the good gifts of nature”? What is ironic about this?
Act I, Scene 5: OLIVIA: “Get you to your lord./ I cannot love him. Let him send no more--/Unless, perchance, you come to me again/ To tell me how he takes it. Fare you well./ I thank you for your pains. Spend this for me.”
How does “Cesario” react to this?
OLIVIA: “What is your parentage?”/ “Above my forunes, yet my state is well:/ I am a gentleman.” I’ll be sworn thou art! / Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions, and spirit/ Do give these three fivefold blazon. Not too fast! Soft, soft!/ Unless the master were the man. How now?/ Methinks I feel this youth’s perfections With an invisible and subtle stealth/ To creep in at mine eyes.”
What kinds of gifts are given during the course of this play and what are their significances?
Why do Maria and Toby want to abuse Malvolio?
What do they do to him?
How does Maria trick Malvolio? What does she get him to do?
Why are Malvolio’s aspirations foolish—maybe even full of hubris?
What is ironic or significant about Orsino’s words in Act II, Scene 4? To whom does he speak?
“There is no woman’s sides/ Can bide the beating of so strong a passion/ As love doth give my heart; no woman’ heart/ So big, to hld so much. they lack retention./ Alas, their love may be called appetite,/ No motion of the liver, but the palate,/ That suffer, surfeit, cloyment, and revolt;/ But mine is allas hungry as the sea,/ And can digest as much. Make no compare/ Between that I love a woman can bear me/ And that I owe Olivia” (90-100).
Note Viola’s answer: “Too well what love women to men may owe./ In faith, they are as true of heart as we./ My father had a daughter loved a man/ As it might be, perhaps, were I a woman,/ I should love your lordship” (102-106).
What does that passage lead to? How does Orsino interpret it? What misunderstanding does he come to?
How does Malvolio react to the “M.O.A.I.” part of the letter? What is funny about that?
How does Olivia react to Malvolio’s costume and his behavior?
What does Sir Toby stir up Sir Andrew? Why?
How does Fabian contribute?
Who is Antonio and how does he come upon Sebastian? How does Sebastian react to this?
Which character sincerely believes that “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them”? What is ironic about this? How is the belief used against him?
What parts of the following speech (by Malvolio in Act II, scene 4) are ironic yet pitiable? Why? In what ways are these words satisfying to the audience? How might he deserve his fate?
“Oho, do you come near me now? No worse man than Sir Toby to look to me! This concurs directly with the letter. She sends him on purpose that I may appear stubborn to him, for she incites me to that in the letter. ‘Cast thy humble slough,’ says she; ‘be opposite with a kinsman, surly with servants; let thy tongue tang with arguments of state; put theyself into the face, a reverend carriage, a slow tongue, in th ehabit of some sir of note, thankful! And when she went away now, ‘Let this fellow be looked to.’ ‘Fellow!’ Not ‘Malvolio,’ nor after my degree, but ‘fellow.’ Why, everything adheres together, that no dram of a scruple, no scruple of a scruple, no obstacle, no incredulous or unsafe circumstance—what can be said?—nothing that can be can come between me and the full prospect of my hopes. Well, Jove, not I, is the doer of this, and he is to be thanked.”
Why does Sir Andrew try to attack Cesario?
How does she respond?
Why does Sir Andrew attack Sebastian?
How is the outcome different?
Who else suffers as a result of this attack?
In Act IV, where does Malvolio end up?
Who torments him—in the guise of which two different people? How does he torment him?
Act V
How does Antonio end up in jail? Why does he feel twice-decieved?
How does it happen that Olivia marries Sebastian?
How do Viola and Sebastian come back into contact with each other?
Which characters live happily ever after (there are three sets)? Which do not? Why?
“The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus”
Know who wrote it and when he lived.
Important quotes:
CHORUS: “Now is he born, of parents base of stock” (11).
“His waxen wings did mount above his reach,/ and melting, heavens conspired his overthrow./ For falling to a devilish exercise,/ And glutted now with learning’s golden gifts,/ He surfeits upon cursed necromancy./ Nothing so sweet as magic is to him,/ Which he prefers before the chiefest bliss:/ And this the man that in his study sits” (21-28).
Act I, Scene 1
Faustus: “And live and die in Aristotle’s works./ Sweet Analytics, ‘tis thou hast ravished me./ Bene dissere est finis logices./ Is ‘to dispute well logic’s chiefest end’?/ Affords this art no greater miracle?/ Then read no more: thou hast attained that end” (5-10).
“Be a physician, Faustus: heap up gold/ And be eternized for some wondrous cure./ Summum bonum medicinae sanitas:/ ‘The end of physic is our body’s health.’/ Why, Faustus, hast thou not attained that end?/ Is not they comon talk sound aphorisms?/ Are not thy bills hung up as monuments,/ Whereby whole cities have escaped the plague,/ And thousand desperate maladies been cured?/ Yet art thous till but Faustus and a man./ Couldst thou make men to live eternally,/ Or being dead, raise them to life again,/ Then this profession were to be esteemed” (14-26).
“These necromantic books are heavenly,/ Lines, circles, scenes, letters and characters:/ Ay, these are those that Faustus most desires./ Oh, what a world of prfit and delight,/ Of power, of honor, of omnipotence,/ Is promised to the studius artisan!” (49-54). What mythical reference is there in this passage? Which word?
“A sound magician is a demi-god. Here, tire my brains to get a deity” (61-62).
How is the following a reference to the story of Adam and Eve? Which part of that story? Evil Angel: “Go forward, Faustus, in that famous art/ Wherein all nature’s treasure is contained./ Be thou on earth as Jove is in the sky,/ Lord and commander of these elements” (73-76).
Faustus: “How am I glutted with conceit of this!/ Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please,/ Resolve me of all ambiguities,/ Perform what desperate enterprise I will?” (77-81).
“I will have them fill the public schools with silk,/ Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad” (89-91).
“Philosophy is odious and obscure./ Both law and physic are for petty wits./ Divinity is the basest of the three,/ Unpleasant, harsh, contemptible and vile./ ‘Tis magic that hath ravished me” (105-109).
What is interesting about the word “ravished”?
VALDES: “Faustus, these books, thy wit and our experience/ Shall make all nations to canonize us” (118-119).
“Sometimes like women or unwedded maids,/ Shadowing more beauty in their airy brows/ Than has the white breasts of the queen of love./ From Venice shall they drag huge argosies,/ And from America the golden fleece/ That yearly stuffs old Philip’s treasure/ If learned Faustus will be resolute” (126-132).
What is ironic about Valdes’ and Cornelius’ goading of Faustus?
“This night I’ll conjure, though I die therefore” (165).
ACT I, Scene 2
What is wrong with Wagner’s speech to the two scholars? What is hilarious about the speech?
“You are decieved, for I will tell you. Yet if you were not dunces, you would neer ask me such a question. For is he not Corpus naturale? And is not that mobile? Then wherefore should you ask me such a question? But that I am by nature phlegmatic, slow to wrath and prone to lechery (to love, I would say), it were not for you to come within forty foot of the place of execution, although I do not doubt but to see you both hanged the next sessions. Thus, having triumphed over you, I will set my countenance like a precision, and begin to speak thus: ‘Truly, my dear brethren, my master is within at dinner with Valdes and Cornelius, as this wine, if it could speak, would inform your worships. And so the Lord bless you, preserve you and keep you, my dear brethren’” (12-22).
Act I, scene 3:
“I charge thee to return and change thy shape./ Thou art too ugly to attend on me,/ Go and return an old Franciscan friar:/ That holy shape becomes a devil best” (22-25).
“I see there’s virtue in my heavenly words./ Who would not be proficient in this art?/ How pliant is this Mephistophilis!/ Full of obedience and humility,/ Such is the force of my magic and my spells./ Now, Faustus, thou art conjuror laureate;/ Thou cants command great Mephistophilis” (26-32).
MEPHISTOPHILIS: “I am servant to great Lucifer,/ And may not follow thee without his leave./ No more than he commands must we perform” (39-41).
FAUSTUS: “Did not he charge thee to come to me?” (42).
MEPHISTOPHILIS: “That was the cause, but yet per accidens;/ For whenwe hear one rack the name of God,/ Abjure the scriptures and his savior Christ,/ we fly in hope to get his glorious soul” (43-48).
FAUSTUS: “This word ‘damnation’ terrifies not me,/ For I counfound hell in elysium./ My ghost be with the old philosophers” (58-60).
How are Mephistophilis answers to Faustus’ questions inadequate?
FAUSTUS: “What, is great Mephistophilis so passionate/ For being deprived of the joys of heaven?/ Learn thou of Faustus manly fortitude,/ And scorn these joys thou never shalt possess” (82-85).
For how many years will Faustus live after the contract? What is significant about that?
FAUSTUS: “Had I as many souls as there be stars,/ I’d give them all for Mephistophilis” (101-102).
Act I, Scene 4
WAGNER: “Alas, poor slave. See how poverty jests in his nakedness. I know the villain’s out of service and so hungry that I know he would give his soul to the devil for a shoulder of mutton were it blood-raw.”
CLOWN: “Not so neither. I had need to have it well roasted, and good sauce to it, if I pay so dear, I can tell you.”
WAGNER: “Sirrah, wilt thou be my man and wait on me? And I will make thee go like Qui mihi discipulus.”
WAGNER: “Why, so thou shat be whether thou dost it or no. For, sirrah, if thou dost not presently bind thyself to me for seven years, I’ll turn all the lice about thee into familiars, and make them tear thee into pieces.”
Act I, Scene 5
FAUSTUS: “Now, Fustus, must thou needs be damned?/ And canst thou not be saved?/ What boots it then to think on God or heaven?/ Away with such vain fancies and despair,/ Despair in God and trust in Belzebub./ Now go not backward. No, Faustus, be resolute./ Why waverest thou? Oh, something soundeth in mine ears/ Abjure this magic, turn to God again./ Ay, and Faustus will turn to God again./ To God? He loves thee not./ The God thous ervest is thine own appetite,/ Wherein is fixed the love of Belzebub./ To him I’ll build an altar and a church,/ And offer lukewarm blood of new-born babes” (1-14).
Note the ambiguous nature of Mephistophilis answers to Faustus’ questions.
Faustus must sign his name in blood. What happens during the middle of that? Why?
What does Mephistophilis do to remedy the situation?
What is the significance of Faustus’ “Consummatum est”?
What is the significance of “Homo fuge!” and “Yet shall not Faustus fly”?
MEPHISTOPHILIS: “Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed/ In one self place. But where we are is hell,/ And where hell is there must we ever be” (118-119).
FAUSTUS: “Come, I think hell’s a fable” (124).
FAUSTUS: “Ay, and body too, bu t what of that?/ Think’st thou that Faustus is so fond to imagine/ That after this life there is any pain?/ Tush, these are trifles and old wives’ tales” (129-132).
How does Mephistophilis respond when Faustus asks for a wife?
Mephistophilis: “Tut, Faustus, marriage is but a ceremonial toy./ If thou lovest me, think no more of it” (146-147).
Know the significance of Faustus’ interaction with Mephistophilis in Act II, Scene 1:
FAUSTUS: “When I behold the heavens then I repent,/ And curse thee, wicked Mephistophilis,/ Because thou hast deprived me of those joys.
MEPHOSTPHILIS: “’Twas thine own seeking, Faustus, thank thyself./ But thinkst thou heaven is such a glorious thing?/ I tell thee, Faustus, it is not half so fair/ As thou or any man that breathes on earth.
FAUSTUS: “How prov’st thou that?
MEPHISTOPHILIS: “’Twas made for man; then he’s more excellent.
FAUSTUS: “If heaven was made for man, ‘twas made for me./ I will renounce this magic and repent” (1-11).
· How does the above passage parallel a passage from Act I?
· FAUSTUS: “My heart’s so hardened I cannot repent” (18). What is wrong with these words?
· What do they mean?
· How is despair connected with pride? How is despair different from ordinary depression?
· What is significant about the following quote: “Tush these slender trifles Wagner can decide. Hath Mephistophilis no greater skill?” (48-49).
· What is significant about the following? Why is it ironic?
GOOD ANGEL: “Never too late, if Faustus will repent.
EVIL ANGEL: “Repent, and they shall never raze thy skin” (78-79).
Know the Seven Deadly Sins and why they appear.
Act II, Scene 2
The clowns!
· What does Robin do? How does Dick react?
· Note the humor of the following passage:
· Robin: “My master conjure me? I’ll tell thee what, and my master come here, I’ll clap/ as fair a pair of horns on’s head as e’er though sawest in thy life.
Dick: “Thou need’st not done that, for my mistress hath done it.”
Know what a cuckold is.
ACT III, Scene I
· Know what the Primum Mobile is (see footnotes on p. 703).
· What is significant of St. Peter’s Feast? Who was St. Peter (besides the gatekeeper to Heaven)? Historically, who was he?
· What does Mephistophilis say when Faustus says he wants to travel elsewhere? What is wrong with this?
· Why do I say that this experience is more like a cheaply packaged tour?
· Who is Bruno? What is to be done with him?
· What is the name of this pope? Check the footnotes on p. 707
· Why is Bruno a “haughty schismatic”?
· How do Faustus and Mephistophilis disguise themselves? Why? What will they do in this guise?
· What is a lollard?
Scene 3
FAUSTUS: “The Pope will curse them for their sloth today,/ That slept both Bruno and his crown away./ But now that Faustus may delight his mind,/ And by their folly make some merriment,/ Sweet Mephistophilis, so charm me here,/ That I may walk invisible to all,/ And do what e’er I please unseen of any” (7-14).
Why do the Cardinals get in trouble?
What happens to the Pope’s food and drink?
What does he want to be done about it? Be specific.
What is ironic about the FIRST FRIAR’S words (singing):
“Cursed be he that stole his Holiness’ meat from the table. Maledict dominus.
Cursed be he that took his Holiness’ meat from the table. Maledict dominus.
Cursed be he that struck Friar Sandelo a blow on the pate. Maledict dominus.
Cursed be he that disturbeth our holy dirge. Maledict dominus.
Cursed be he that took away his Holiness’ wine. Maledict dominus.
Et omness sancti. Amen” (95-102).
What happens at the end of this scene?
Act III, Scene 4:
· What happens between Robin, Rafe, and the Vintner?
· What do two of the characters become?
· Which devil gets summoned?
· How does he react to that summoning?
· Where is he from?
ACT IV
Scene 1
Benvolio is asleep. He is also hung-over.
MARTINIO: “He took his rouse with stoups of Rhenish wine/ SO kindly yesternight to Bruno’s health,/ That all this day the sluggard keeps his bed” (19-21).
Note Benvolio’s disdain and disbelief about Faustus’ skills and how Faustus over-reacts to him:
Benvolio: “Has not the Pope enough of conjuring yet?/ He was upon the devil’s back late enough,/ And if he be so far in love with him,/ I would he post with him to Rome again” (34-37).
Benvolio has no desire to see him. This insults Faustus.
Scene 2:
The Emperor and Faustus’ “magic show.”
Note all the attacks by Benvolio: “Blood, he speaks terribly! But for all that, I do not greatly/ believe him. He looks as much a conjuror as the Pope to a coster-monger” [vegetable seller] (24-25).
Who does Faustus summon for the Emperor?
Benvolio:”Ay, ay, and I am content too. And thou bring Alexander and his paramour before the Emperor, I’ll be Actaeon and turn myself into a stag.
Faustus: “And I’ll play Diana, and send you horns presently” (47-49).
What is the significance of Diana and Actaeon? And what does it have to do with horns? What does it have to do with the cuckold?
Benvolio: “Hold, hold! Zounds, he’ll raise a kennel of devils, I think anon./ Good my lord, entreat for me. ‘Sblood, I am never able to endure/ these torments” (97-99).
How does Faustus trick him?
Scene 4
Benvolio gets more horns.
Scene 5
What happens between Faustus, Mephistophilis, and the Horse-Courser?
As a result of the insult, what does Benvolio decide to do to the conjurer? How will he go about this? What happens?
Scene 6
· How is the Horse-Courser tricked? What happened to the horse-courser’s horse?
· The hostess is angry. Why?
· What happens to Faustus’ legs?
Scene 7
· What does the Duke’s wife want (and get)? Note: this is unnatural.
· Which drunkards knock on the door of the Duke’s, demanding justice? Why?
Act 5
Scene 1
Know about the Old Man:
“Oh gentle Faustus, leave this damned art,/ This magic, that will charm thy soul to hell,/ And quite bereave thee of salvation./ Though thou hast now offended like a man,/ Do not persever in it like the devil./ Yet, thou hast an amiable soul,/ If sin by custom grow not to nature:/ Then, Faustus, will repentance come too late,/ Then thou art banished from the sight of heaven;/ No mortal can express the pains of hell./ It may be this my exhortation/ Seems harsh and all unpleasant; let it not,/ For, gentle son, I speak it not in wrath,/ Or envy of thee, but in tender love,/ And pity of thy future misery. / And so have hope, that is my kind rebuke,/ Checking thy body, may amend thy soul” (33-49).
The above passage is about the belief that humans, born in the image of God, are inherently good. Their goal, then, is to go back to that essence, which is essentially good. If you do good deeds, you become a better person. Similarly, if you repeat bad actions, you become essentially bad or evil.
Here Faustus asks for Helen. There is a symbolic significance in their kiss. It is a kind of marriage between Faustus and Hell (a mockery of taking the Sacrament of Holy Orders)
FAUSTUS: “One thing, good servant, let me crave of thee,/ To glut the longing of my heart’s desire,/ That I may have unto my paramour/ That heavenly Helen which I saw of late,/ Whose sweet embraces may extinguish clear/ Those thoughts that do dissuade me from my vow, / And keep my vow I made to Lucifer” (85-91).
Helen appears.
FAUSTUS: “Was this the face that launched a thousand ships,/ And burn the topless towers of Ilium?/ Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss./ Her lips suck forth my soul: see where it flies./ Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again./ Here will I dwell, for Heaven is in those lips,/ And all is dross that is not Helena./ I will be Paris, and for the love of thee/ Instead of Troy shall Wittenberg be sacked,/ And I will combat with weak Menelaus,/ And wear thy colors on my plumed crest./ Yea, I will wound Achilles in the heel,/ And then return to Helen for a kiss./ Oh, thou art fairer than the evening’s air,/ Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars” (94-108).
As the old man is torn apart, he proclaims: “Satan begins to sift me with his pride,/ As in this furnace God shall try my faith./ My faith, vile hell, shall triumph over thee. Ambitious fiends, see how the heavens smiles/ At your repulse, and laughs your state to scorn./ Hence, hell, for hence I fly unto God” (117-122).
Scene 2
MEPHISTOPHILIS (to his fellow devils): “Fond worldling, now his heart blood dries with grief./ His conscience kills it, and his laboring brain/ Begets a world of idle fantasies/ To overreach the devil. But all in vain:/ His store of pleasures must be sauced with pain” (12-16).
The Scholars call Faustus to call on God. Note his response:
“But Faustus’ offence can ne’er be pardoned, The serpent that tempted/ Eve may be saved, but not Faustus. Oh gentlemen, hear with patience and tremble not at my speeches. Though my heart pant and quiver to remember/ that I have been a student here these thirty years, oh would I had never seen Wittenberg, never read a book. And what wonders I have done all Germany can witness, yea all the world, for which Faustus hath lost both Germany and the world, yea heaven itself, heaven, the seat of God, the throne of the blessed, the kingdom of joy, and must remain in hell for ever. Hell, oh hell for ever. Sweet friends, what shall become of Faustus, being in hell for ever?”
This is a kind of inverse pride. Faustus is saying that he is so bad, so powerfully bad, that he cannot be saved. He is the baddest of the bad!
Faustus does one generous unselfish thing in this scene. What is it?
The clock strikes eleven:
FAUSTUS: “The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike./ The devil will come, and Faustus must be damned./ Oh, I’ll leap up to my God: who pulls me down?/ See, see where Christ’s blood streams in the firmament./ One drop would save my soul, half a drop. Ah, my Christ!/ Yet will I call on him. Oh, spare me, Lucifer!/ Where is it now? ‘Tis gone:/ And see where God stretcheth out his arm,/ And bends his ireful brows./ Mountains and hills, come, come and fall on me,/ And hide me from the heavy wrath of God [kind of like the way Adam and Eve hide when they eat the fruit]. No, no. Then will I run headlong into the earth./ Earth, gape! Oh no, it will not harbor me./ You stars that reigned at my nativity,/ Whose influence hath allotted death and hell,/ Now draw up Faustus like a foggy mist/ Into the entrails of yon laboring cloud,/ That when you vomit forth into the air/ My limbs may issue from your smoky mouths,/ So that my soul may ascend to heaven” (131-151).
At what time will Faustus be torn to pieces?
Epilogue:
Chorus: “Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight,/ And burned is Apollo’s laurel bough,/ That sometime grew within this learned man./ Faustus is gone. Regard his hellish fall,/ Whose fiendful fortune may exhort the wise/ Only to wonder at unlawful tings,/ Whose deepness doth entice such forward wits,/ To practice more than heavenly power permits.”
Monday, December 1, 2008
Quarter 2, Week 4
Tuesday
Turn in sonnets--along with all rough drafts. We won't have time for reading aloud. Make sure that you bring your books. We will begin reading and performing "Dr. Faustus"--p. 684. We should get through Act I. Read Act II for homework. There will probably be a reading quiz on Thursday.
Thursday
No reading quiz but prepare for a unit test on the Canterbury Tales--general prologue, Wife of Bath's Tale (not her prologue), Twelfth Night, and Dr. Faustus. Assign parts (quiz grade equivalent). Read Act III. We will watch part of the Elizabeth Taylor/ Richard Burton version. Go ahead and read Act IV for homework.
Friday
We will watch more of a brief video version of "Dr. Faustus." It stars Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. In spite of that, it's just plain awful, and therefore unintentionally funny. If you are a fan of the 1960s version of "Star Trek," you'll see some similarities. Finish "Dr. Faustus" for homework. I'll try to ask some relevant questions on my blog if I can.
Pay special attention to the humor. By the way, if you have ever seen "Shakespeare in Love," this is Shakespeare's rival in the movie. He was a contemporary of Shakespeare's. He was killed in a bar-room brawl. Some think it was because he was involved in some kind of espionage activity (for the British government). Other rumors suggest that Shakespeare had his rival--to use a term from The Sopranos--"whacked."
Finish the play for homework this weekend. Test next Thursday. It will include matching (characters and terms), a section of direct quotes, and a few short answer (in paragraph form) selections.
Turn in sonnets--along with all rough drafts. We won't have time for reading aloud. Make sure that you bring your books. We will begin reading and performing "Dr. Faustus"--p. 684. We should get through Act I. Read Act II for homework. There will probably be a reading quiz on Thursday.
Thursday
No reading quiz but prepare for a unit test on the Canterbury Tales--general prologue, Wife of Bath's Tale (not her prologue), Twelfth Night, and Dr. Faustus. Assign parts (quiz grade equivalent). Read Act III. We will watch part of the Elizabeth Taylor/ Richard Burton version. Go ahead and read Act IV for homework.
Friday
We will watch more of a brief video version of "Dr. Faustus." It stars Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. In spite of that, it's just plain awful, and therefore unintentionally funny. If you are a fan of the 1960s version of "Star Trek," you'll see some similarities. Finish "Dr. Faustus" for homework. I'll try to ask some relevant questions on my blog if I can.
Pay special attention to the humor. By the way, if you have ever seen "Shakespeare in Love," this is Shakespeare's rival in the movie. He was a contemporary of Shakespeare's. He was killed in a bar-room brawl. Some think it was because he was involved in some kind of espionage activity (for the British government). Other rumors suggest that Shakespeare had his rival--to use a term from The Sopranos--"whacked."
Finish the play for homework this weekend. Test next Thursday. It will include matching (characters and terms), a section of direct quotes, and a few short answer (in paragraph form) selections.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Thanksgiving Week
Since this is a short week, and since we all deserve a break, hold your sonnets and your drafts for next Tuesday. Refine them and make them better. Make sure they are typed. Make sure you have several drafts. Take a look at my last blog entry--I give more details.
Let me try a few here--lines of love. Emulate, don't copy:
The following lines are not from sonnets, but they are about love. I'm highlighting the strong diction--the stuff that makes us feel something.
From Yeats:
"Ephemera": "'Your eyes that once were never weary of mine/ Are bowed in sorrow under pendulous lids...."
"To an Isle in the Water": "Shy one, shy one,/ Shy one of my heart,/ She moves in the firelight/ Pensively apart..."
"The Rose of the World": "Who dreamed that beauty passes like a dream?/ For these red lips, with all their mournful pride....
"He made the world to be a grassy road/ Before her wandering feet."
"When You Are Old": "How many loved your moments of glad grace,/ And loved your beauty with love false or true,/ But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,/ And loved the sorrows of your changing face...."
"The Arrow": "I thought of your beauty, and this arrow,/ Made out of a wild thought, is in my marrow./ There's no man may look upon her, no man,/ As when newly grown to be a woman,/ Tall and noble but with face and bosom/ Delicate in color as apple blossom...."
Tuesday: Finish "Orpheus" and work on your poems until they are almost perfect!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Let me try a few here--lines of love. Emulate, don't copy:
The following lines are not from sonnets, but they are about love. I'm highlighting the strong diction--the stuff that makes us feel something.
From Yeats:
"Ephemera": "'Your eyes that once were never weary of mine/ Are bowed in sorrow under pendulous lids...."
"To an Isle in the Water": "Shy one, shy one,/ Shy one of my heart,/ She moves in the firelight/ Pensively apart..."
"The Rose of the World": "Who dreamed that beauty passes like a dream?/ For these red lips, with all their mournful pride....
"He made the world to be a grassy road/ Before her wandering feet."
"When You Are Old": "How many loved your moments of glad grace,/ And loved your beauty with love false or true,/ But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,/ And loved the sorrows of your changing face...."
"The Arrow": "I thought of your beauty, and this arrow,/ Made out of a wild thought, is in my marrow./ There's no man may look upon her, no man,/ As when newly grown to be a woman,/ Tall and noble but with face and bosom/ Delicate in color as apple blossom...."
Tuesday: Finish "Orpheus" and work on your poems until they are almost perfect!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Friday, November 21, 2008
For Your Sonnets (due Tuesday)
Keep the following in mind:
For your sonnets:
14 lines
10 syllables per line
You should have written several drafts
The sonnet should make me feel something for you—compassion, empathy, etc.
The sonnet should be something that any of us can relate to—a universal.
Look at some of the lines in Shakespeare’s sonnets:
#1:
From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty’s rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease,
His tender heir might bear his memory;
But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes,
Feed’st thy light’s flame with self-substantial fuel,
Making a famine where abundance lies,
Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel.
Thou that art now the world’s fresh ornament
And only herald to the gaudy spring….
These words have power. They make us feel something. I want your sonnets to do that.
#18
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate. You’re even more lovely than a summer day!
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometimes declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade Your summer won’t fade because I will
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st. immortalize your beauty in my art.
Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, What better tribute is there than to
So long lives this, and this give life to thee. be immortalized in a work of art?
Write something that you would like to have written to you. Note the almost worshipful tone. It’s also a little bittersweet. You need to evoke feelings in your reader.
Shakespeare does not limit himself to one and two syllable words. You should not either. You need variety. Choose your words carefully.
For your sonnets:
14 lines
10 syllables per line
You should have written several drafts
The sonnet should make me feel something for you—compassion, empathy, etc.
The sonnet should be something that any of us can relate to—a universal.
Look at some of the lines in Shakespeare’s sonnets:
#1:
From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty’s rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease,
His tender heir might bear his memory;
But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes,
Feed’st thy light’s flame with self-substantial fuel,
Making a famine where abundance lies,
Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel.
Thou that art now the world’s fresh ornament
And only herald to the gaudy spring….
These words have power. They make us feel something. I want your sonnets to do that.
#18
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate. You’re even more lovely than a summer day!
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometimes declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade Your summer won’t fade because I will
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st. immortalize your beauty in my art.
Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, What better tribute is there than to
So long lives this, and this give life to thee. be immortalized in a work of art?
Write something that you would like to have written to you. Note the almost worshipful tone. It’s also a little bittersweet. You need to evoke feelings in your reader.
Shakespeare does not limit himself to one and two syllable words. You should not either. You need variety. Choose your words carefully.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Quarter 3, Week 3
Sorry this is a day late, folks. My internet service was down for most of the weekend. I'm hoping it will be up when I get home today. If not, I have this time at school.
Tuesday: Review the Wife of Bath's Tale.
Perform Acts 4 &5 of "Twelfth Night." If there is anyone who wants to see the play, contact Ms. Sheppard ASAP. Apparently a lot of students signed up and then backed out. That means it will cost us money. We have over 30 slots available. The cost (for a day out of school that does not count against your school absences since it is a school activity) is only $39--for transportation and theater tickets. The event will be on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. What a great way to start a holiday!
Homework: Expect a reading quiz on "The Wife of Bath's Tale," and Acts 3-5 of "Twelfth Night."
Thursday: Reading quiz on all of the above. Hopefully, we'll have time to go over it in class. Read the background to William Shakespeare and about his sonnets (733-736). Read all of the sonnets included. Take notes on to whom they are addressed and on what they are literally saying. Paraphrase. What is he saying about the relationship?
Work on sonnets. Follow Shakespeare's pattern, with the rhyme scheme: ababcdcdefefgg. You must have ten syllables per line. On Tuesday, when you turn them in, you should include rough drafts done during class. Sonnets are always about love. Remember that.
Friday: Discussion on the sonnets. Then you will be asked to write one--Shakespearean style--for a test grade. It must follow the rhyme and meter scheme and, since it is a sonnet, it must be about love. This will be due at the beginning of class (along with any drafts you might have done) on Tuesday. It must be typed, so plan ahead.
Tuesday: Review the Wife of Bath's Tale.
Perform Acts 4 &5 of "Twelfth Night." If there is anyone who wants to see the play, contact Ms. Sheppard ASAP. Apparently a lot of students signed up and then backed out. That means it will cost us money. We have over 30 slots available. The cost (for a day out of school that does not count against your school absences since it is a school activity) is only $39--for transportation and theater tickets. The event will be on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. What a great way to start a holiday!
Homework: Expect a reading quiz on "The Wife of Bath's Tale," and Acts 3-5 of "Twelfth Night."
Thursday: Reading quiz on all of the above. Hopefully, we'll have time to go over it in class. Read the background to William Shakespeare and about his sonnets (733-736). Read all of the sonnets included. Take notes on to whom they are addressed and on what they are literally saying. Paraphrase. What is he saying about the relationship?
Work on sonnets. Follow Shakespeare's pattern, with the rhyme scheme: ababcdcdefefgg. You must have ten syllables per line. On Tuesday, when you turn them in, you should include rough drafts done during class. Sonnets are always about love. Remember that.
Friday: Discussion on the sonnets. Then you will be asked to write one--Shakespearean style--for a test grade. It must follow the rhyme and meter scheme and, since it is a sonnet, it must be about love. This will be due at the beginning of class (along with any drafts you might have done) on Tuesday. It must be typed, so plan ahead.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Quarter 2, Week 2
Tuesday:
Gawain would make a great director of the Governor’s School. He shows himself to be a born leader and a risk-taker even as a young man. While others sit back, quaking in fear, Gawain offers to fight the Green Knight. Though we know little of his education, Gawain demonstrates intelligence in his actions, especially in the interactions with the lady. Not only does he demonstrate emotional intelligence in avoiding sin, but he also shows the finesse of the accomplished diplomat. He avoids hurting the lady's feelings—to the greatest extent possible. A leader of the Governor’s School also needs to interact with other leaders, subordinates, students, and parents. He/she may hurt people’s feelings now and then, but tries to minimize the effects. As a role model, he/she must also be introspective. He/she must be willing to take risks but also willing to admit when he/she has erred. Ultimately, he/she needs to act out of a sense of justice and for the good of the school as a whole.
Gawain’s resume begins when he first stands up to the frightening green giant who has just entered Camelot, and assaulted the lot with words. The monster calls the knights of Camelot “beardless children” (280). He even laughs at them. “’Where now is your haughtiness, and your high conquests,/ your fierceness and fell mood,/ and your fine boasting?’” he asks (310-311). No one moves forward but Arthur himself. More loyal to king and country than to himself, Gawain steps forward. Not only does he show courage, but he also demonstrates humility, calling himself “the weakest…and in wit feeblist,/ and the least loss, if I live not” (354-355). Not only that, but unlike Beowulf or Wiglaf, he doesn’t put down his fellow-knights for not taking the challenge. A real leader does not allocate blame but accepts responsibility.
For two more days, Gawain receives the lady’s kisses, returning them to the host, as agreed on that first night. On that third day, however, he does not entirely keep his word. In addition to the kisses, the lady gives Gawain her belt, modest by all appearances, but great in its utility. “’For whoever goes girdled with this green riband/ while he keeps it well clasped closely about him,/ there is none so hardly under heaven that to hew him were able/ for he could not be killed by any cunning of hand,’” she explains (1851-1854).
Students will be graded for their performances in Act II of "Twelfth Night." You had better practice--and that means enunciating the words and speaking with feeling. Be prepared. Do not just wing it. Pretend that it is a "cattle-call" for a real play and that you want the part. I might do a re-play and have your classmates rate your performance. Be ready to answer questions about your character. Be ready to explain why you have chosen to portray him/her in the way that you have. Finish the prologue to the Wife of Bath's Tale.
Homework: Read Act III. Some of you will have parts.
Thursday: Quiz on Acts I-III of "Twelfth Night" and "The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales" and "The Prologue to the Wife of Bath's Tale." Graded performance of Act III. Grading will include the actor's understanding of his/her part.
Homework: Read "The Wife of Bath's Tale." Read Act IV of "Twelfth Night." Students will be assigned parts. Expect a reading quiz on both on Tuesday.
By the way, I've been working on grading your papers. Some of you did not answer the right question; others did not use quotes or used them minimally and did not give them a context. Some essays seemed as though the student had not even read the work. I'm still grading them, but, in an effort to show you what might be done, I wrote my own response to one of the questions from sixth period. I also wrote down my process:
First, I reread the story of "Sir Gawain" and took notes on passages that really stood out for me. I advised you to do the same.
Prompt Choice #2: Our school is in need of a new director. Disregarding the fictional characters’ age and experience, focus on those characteristics that would make either Sir Gawain or Oisin the best possible choice. You should probably start by identifying what characteristics would be most desirable in a leader of this school. Then identify those in the character you have selected. Ultimately, think of this as a kind of letter-of-recommendation for that character—only in essay format. When I write letters of recommendation, I always give specific examples. In your case, your examples will include paraphrased passages as well as direct quotes.
Next, I considered what qualities I would like in a new director. After determining these, I would try to find some concrete words to embody those qualities. Then I would decide which character best fits this.
Director’s qualities: A diplomat—knows how to deal with parents—from the over-involved to the uninvolved. Knows how to deal with students. Treats everyone with respect and makes them feel valued. Humble—knows that he/she can learn from others—including students, faculty, and parents. Intelligent—well-educated but also has common sense. He/she should have a strong sense of loyalty and do what he/she can to get whatever he/she can for our school. He/she can take a stand, and fight for what is even uncomfortable or difficult—consider finances. He/she sees him/herself as part of a larger body—the school. He/she considers him/herself a role model. He/she is consistent in actions—not arbitrary. Everyone plays by the same rules. He/she is also flexible if necessary, but not to the point that his/her actions are perceived as unfair. Merciful. A risk-taker.
Next, I considered what qualities I would like in a new director. After determining these, I would try to find some concrete words to embody those qualities. Then I would decide which character best fits this.
Director’s qualities: A diplomat—knows how to deal with parents—from the over-involved to the uninvolved. Knows how to deal with students. Treats everyone with respect and makes them feel valued. Humble—knows that he/she can learn from others—including students, faculty, and parents. Intelligent—well-educated but also has common sense. He/she should have a strong sense of loyalty and do what he/she can to get whatever he/she can for our school. He/she can take a stand, and fight for what is even uncomfortable or difficult—consider finances. He/she sees him/herself as part of a larger body—the school. He/she considers him/herself a role model. He/she is consistent in actions—not arbitrary. Everyone plays by the same rules. He/she is also flexible if necessary, but not to the point that his/her actions are perceived as unfair. Merciful. A risk-taker.
I am not going to be able to use all of these qualities, but a few will certainly apply.
Gawain would make a great director of the Governor’s School. He shows himself to be a born leader and a risk-taker even as a young man. While others sit back, quaking in fear, Gawain offers to fight the Green Knight. Though we know little of his education, Gawain demonstrates intelligence in his actions, especially in the interactions with the lady. Not only does he demonstrate emotional intelligence in avoiding sin, but he also shows the finesse of the accomplished diplomat. He avoids hurting the lady's feelings—to the greatest extent possible. A leader of the Governor’s School also needs to interact with other leaders, subordinates, students, and parents. He/she may hurt people’s feelings now and then, but tries to minimize the effects. As a role model, he/she must also be introspective. He/she must be willing to take risks but also willing to admit when he/she has erred. Ultimately, he/she needs to act out of a sense of justice and for the good of the school as a whole.
Gawain’s resume begins when he first stands up to the frightening green giant who has just entered Camelot, and assaulted the lot with words. The monster calls the knights of Camelot “beardless children” (280). He even laughs at them. “’Where now is your haughtiness, and your high conquests,/ your fierceness and fell mood,/ and your fine boasting?’” he asks (310-311). No one moves forward but Arthur himself. More loyal to king and country than to himself, Gawain steps forward. Not only does he show courage, but he also demonstrates humility, calling himself “the weakest…and in wit feeblist,/ and the least loss, if I live not” (354-355). Not only that, but unlike Beowulf or Wiglaf, he doesn’t put down his fellow-knights for not taking the challenge. A real leader does not allocate blame but accepts responsibility.
Though the court treats him like royalty for many months, ultimately Gawain must venture off into the wilderness and move toward his fate. The court arms him well, and he arms himself with the symbols of his faith—the pentangle, the Endless Knot, and the image of the Virgin Mary. These images will serve him well during the times when “he had no friend but his horse in the forests and hills,/ no man on this march to commune with but God” (695-696). His faith sustains him during this journey. And it is faith that leads him to find the castle where he will find temptations that are resonant of Christ’s temptations in the desert.
A former ladies’ man whose reputation has preceded him (“Who hears him will, I ween, / of love-speech learn some art’” (926-927)), he arrives tired, lonely, and scared. The beautiful host’s wife yearns for such words from the famous knight. She is “fairer in face, in her flesh and her skin,/ her proportions, her complexion, and her port than all others [italics mine],/ and more lovely than Guinevere to Gawain she looked” (943-945).
After a fine feast, Gawain prepares for bed. He expresses anxieties about finding the Green Chapel, but the host assures him that he will take care of that. He also, like the scary Green Knight, makes a deal with him. He will go hunting. When he returns, Gawain will have whatever he has caught. In return, Gawain will do the same for the host.
The next morning, the host goes hunting. Gawain, resting in his comfortable bed, soon finds himself sharing it with the host’s comely wife. Not knowing what to do, he pretends to be asleep. This does little good, for the lady is “an urgent wooer” (1259). She offers her beautiful body, “’of delight to take your fill’” (1238). After a few exchanges in which God and the Virgin Mary are invoked, he finally wins the battle by saying that she is married to a better man than he. He does relent a little, however, when he gives her a single kiss.
For two more days, Gawain receives the lady’s kisses, returning them to the host, as agreed on that first night. On that third day, however, he does not entirely keep his word. In addition to the kisses, the lady gives Gawain her belt, modest by all appearances, but great in its utility. “’For whoever goes girdled with this green riband/ while he keeps it well clasped closely about him,/ there is none so hardly under heaven that to hew him were able/ for he could not be killed by any cunning of hand,’” she explains (1851-1854).
Though Gawain keeps his word at all other times, he does not this time. And that “sin” costs him. The wound, however, is minor. It is mostly Gawain’s pride that has been hurt. At the same time, Gawain has grown from the experience. Although a member of the famed Knights of the Round Table, he is also human. He is also a good human, one who admits his mistake, asks forgiveness, and moves forward to become one of the greatest Knights of the Round Table.
Even though the Governor’s School has received the accolades in various contests, and even though Newsweek recognizes us as one of the twenty elite public schools in the country, neither we, nor our leader, should become too full of ourselves. In order to truly grow, we need to constantly assess ourselves, and then to seek to improve on what we have. Like Sir Gawain, our director should possess the courage to fight for our school and the humility to sometimes ask for help or to delegate tasks. He/she should take risks, but be willing to acknowledge it when things go wrong. Like Gawain, he/she should not play the blame-game. In the long run, our leader should be someone for whom any one of us would be willing to support, even to the extent of wearing the proverbial green girdle.
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