Poet List

Here is the the list you should consider in choosing a poet for your poetry project:

W.H. Auden, Elizabeth Bishop, Gwendolyn Brooks, e.e. cummings, T.S. Eliot, Allen Ginsberg, Sylvia Plath, Pablo Neruda, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Jori Graham, Adrienne Rich, Mark Doty, Dylan Thomas, William Butler Yeats, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Robert Browning, Sara Teasdale, John Keats, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Donne

Here's the format for the Dostoevsky paper:

4 pages, usual format;

Hard copy to be turned in;

Attach a copy of the scholarly essay you've selected;

Rough draft due: Friday, January 9;

Due Date: Monday, January 12;

Assignment: Write an essay of four pages on Crime and Punishment in which you take account of the scholarly essay you've selected.

Essay: The Sound and the Fury

Rough Draft due December 3; Final Draft due December 8

The Benjamin, Quentin, and Jason sections of The Sound and the Fury pose obstacles to understanding for even the careful reader. Each narrator has special problems which prevent clear communication, and each narrator is “speaking to us” through the twentieth century stream of consciousness approach.

Despite these obstacles, we become aware of each narrator’s concerns.

Citing examples from the text not discussed in class and analyzing the particular diction of each of the Compson boys, answer the following questions: What problems do the brothers share, and which ones are unique to each? To what extent are their problems influenced by their particular cultural heritage and their personal experiences in the family?

How does the particular diction of each narrator shed light on his character and his conflicts? Again, choose illustrations we did not examine in class.

Remember: As always in this class, what are the words? How are they used? What do they mean literally and metaphorically and how do they connect with text’s larger commentary about life?

How has Faulkner`s use of stream of consciousness contributed to our understanding of Benjy, Quentin, Jason, and their complex family relations?

Finally, as part of your discussion of stream of consciousness, in your view how effective is Faulkner’s employment of the stream of consciousness as an artistic technique? Does it enhance the work’s artistic power? How? (Hint: How does it contribute to our understanding of Beny, Quentin, and Jason, and their complex family relations?) In your view, what role did Faulkner’s use of the stream of consciousness technique play in the novel’s inclusion in the literary canon?

Avoid plot summary.

Compound and Complex Sentences

Find here a good site that discusses types of sentences.

Our College Autobiography Rubric

The successful essay will:

1.       Succeed in giving a quick but vivid impression of you as a person, as a student, and an achiever;

2.       Use striking language, sharp imagery, sentences that surprise with their originality and forcefulness of thought;

3.       Use compound and complex sentences (compound sentences: linking two sentences with "and," "but," and similar words; complex sentences: qualify sentences with clauses introduced with words like "while," "though," "after," "because," "although"—I'll place a discussion of sentence types on the blog later today).

4.       Adhere to the conventions of grammar and spelling.

College Office Autobiography Sheet

Here's the College Office's remarks on creating your college autobiography:

GUIDE FOR AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY

Purpose:
The purpose of this essay is to help the College and Career Office write a recommendation in support of your application for college admission. Admissions personnel want us to provide information beyond what they see on your transcript. Therefore, your autobiographical essay is crucial because it enable us to get to know you so that we can write strongly on your behalf. This essay should not be a list of your courses or extra curricular activities. Instead, it should reflect your personality and help us to see you as an individual. This essay does not go to the colleges; however, it may become the foundation for college essays you will later submit with your applications.

 Content: In general, it is best to concentrate on the present (your high school years) with a view towards the future. You may select a theme from the following suggestions or choose a topic that you feel reveals something unique about you.

 1. Family: How has your family influenced you to become the person you are? What special circumstances do you feel College Admissions should be aware of, such as: illness or a death in the family, relocation, divorce, etc,; factors that may have affected you or your ability to achieve your full potential or inspired you to do your best.

 2. School: a) How has your academic program reflected your interests and future goals? Have you pursued any related studies outside of school? (Give specific data.) DO NOT give you’re your course grades. b) What are the most meaningful extracurricular activities in which you have participated? What, specifically, did you do? How have those experiences benefited you, the school and/or the community? How are they related to your interests and goals?

3. Special Interest/Future Goals: What special interests (music, athletics, hobbies, etc.) occupy your personal spare time and your summers? What specifically have you done in pursuit of these interests? Are they related to your personal goals and plans for the future? How? What do you expect to prepare for? (If you are undecided, say so.) What choices have you considered? Why d you think you’d like such work?

4. Work Experience: What jobs have you had? What, specifically did you do? What were your responsibilities? Specify whether this work was part-time (after school), summer employment, salaried or volunteer. What did you learn in skills, self awareness, understanding of others, etc.? In what way was the work related to your ideals, future goals or needs?

Stopping by Woods questions

1) What is the significance of the title?

2) What is the significance of reversing the word order in line 1?

3) What is the point of the word "though" in line 2?

4) How does the rhyme scheme add emphasis?

5) Describe the meter and how does it relate to the poem's meaning?

6) What images are used and how do they comment on the poem's larger meaning?

7) Provide more than one explanation for lines 8 and 15.

8) Comment on the use of the words "easy" and "downy."

9) Provide examples of assonance and alliteration.

If you wish to take a stab at questions 6 and 9, feel free, but we'll do those in class.