2001 Question 2: Due Thursday

The following is a Question 3 sample from 2001. Directions:

1. Read the prompt and begin brainstorming what you would use.
2. DO NOT read other classmates' entries before writing your response. 
3. Draft an outline on your own paper.
4. Write a couple paragraphs about what characters you would contrast and how they effect the overall work. Be sure to include how you would organize your essay (progression of ideas and  what specific details you would use). You may use your novel and notes to help you!  You DO NOT need to write an entire essay. The purpose of the exercise is to review the novels that we have read.

2001:
One definition of madness is “mental delusion or the eccentric behavior arising from it.”  But Emily Dickinson wrote:

 “Much madness is divinest Sense--

     To a discerning Eye--"

Novelists and playwrights have often seen madness with a “discerning Eye.”  Select a novel or play in which a character’s apparent madness or irrational behavior plays an important role.  Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain what this delusion or eccentric behavior consists of and how it might be judged reasonable.  Explain the significance of the “madness” to the work as a whole.  Do not merely summarize the plot.

2004 Question 3 Prompt: Due Wednesday

The following is a Question 3 sample from 2004. Directions:

1. Read the prompt and begin brainstorming what you would use.
2. DO NOT read other classmates' entries before writing your response. 
3. Draft an outline on your own paper.
4. Write a couple paragraphs about what characters you would contrast and how they effect the overall work. Be sure to include how you would organize your essay (progression of ideas and  what specific details you would use). You may use your novel and notes to help you!  You DO NOT need to write an entire essay. The purpose of the exercise is to review the novels that we have read.

Critic Roland Barthes has said, "Literature is the question minus the answer." Choose a novel or play and, considering Barthes' observation, write an essay in which you analyze a central question the work raises and the extent to which it offers any answers. Explain how the author's treatment of this question affects your understanding of the work as a whole. 

2010 Question 3 (Due Tuesday)

The following is a Question 3 sample from 2010. Directions:

1. Read the prompt and begin brainstorming what you would use.
2. DO NOT read other classmates' entries before writing your response. 
3. Draft an outline on your own paper.
4. Write a couple paragraphs about what characters you would contrast and how they effect the overall work. Be sure to include how you would organize your essay (progression of ideas and  what specific details you would use). You may use your novel and notes to help you!  You DO NOT need to write an entire essay. The purpose of the exercise is to review the novels that we have read.

Question 3 (Suggested time—40 minutes. This question counts as one-third of the total essay section score.)
Palestinian American literary theorist and cultural critic Edward Said has written that “Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted.” Yet Said has also said that exile can become “a potent, even enriching” experience.

Select a novel, play, or epic in which a character experiences such a rift and becomes cut off from “home,” whether that home is the character’s birthplace, family, homeland, or other special place. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the character’s experience with exile is both alienating and enriching, and how this experience illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole. You may choose a work from the list below or one of comparable literary merit. Do not merely summarize the plot.

"Dover Beach" Matthew Arnold: Due Wednesday

"Dover Beach" was published in 1867. Many have considered this poem a reaction to Darwinism and a new mode of thinking. After you have analyzed this poem, write a response. Connect to King Lear if you can. Then respond to at least one classmates' post.

"The Black Walnut Tree" Blog: Due Thursday

After you have highlighted and annotated the student samples, look back at your own essay and write a reflection:

• What score would you give your essay? Why? 
• Are you surprised by any of the sample scores? Why or why not?
•     Based on these essays and their scores, what do you wish you would have done differently?
• Is there anything that you could of incorporated that would have made your essay better?

Question 3: Due Wednesday

The following is a Question 3 sample from 2008. Directions:

1. Read the prompt and begin brainstorming what you would use.
2. DO NOT read other classmates' entries before writing your response. 
3. Draft an outline on your own paper.
4. Write a couple paragraphs about what characters you would contrast and how they effect the overall work. Be sure to include how you would organize your essay (progression of ideas and  what specific details you would use. You may use your novel and notes to help you!  You DO NOT need to write an entire essay. The purpose of the exercise is to review the novels that we have read.

Question 3 (Suggested time—40 minutes. This question counts as one-third of the total essay section score.)

 In a literary work, a minor character, often known as a foil, possesses traits that emphasize, by contrast or comparison, the distinctive characteristics and qualities of the main character. For example, the ideas or behavior of the minor character might be used to highlight the weaknesses or strengths of the main character. Choose a novel or play in which a minor character serves as a foil to a main character. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the relation between the minor character and the major character illuminates the meaning of the work. You may choose a work from the list below or another appropriate novel or play of similar literary quality. Do not merely summarize the plot.

AP Review: Due Tuesday

Your AP Lit Exam is May 6th. Knowing that it's coming up in a few short weeks, what would you like to focus on in the last few weeks before the exam? Any weaknesses you would like to address? On the same note, what do you feel confident about?

Heart of Darkness Review (Due Thursday)

What do you think is the single most important quote from Heart of Darkness?

1. Support your answer as to why you chose that quote.
2. Respond to a classmates' response. 

Question 3 (Due Wednesday)

The following is a Question 3 sample from 1997. Directions:

1. Read the prompt and begin brainstorming what you would use (You may use your novels).
2. DO NOT read other classmates' entries before writing your response. 
3. Write a couple paragraphs about what scene you would use and how it pertains to the overall work. You DO NOT need to write an entire essay. The purpose of the exercise is to review the novels that we have read.

1997 Prompt:
Novels and plays often include scenes of weddings, funerals, parties, and other social occasions. Such scenes may reveal the values of the characters and the society in which they live. Select a novel or play that includes such a scene and, in a focused essay, discuss the contribution the scene makes to the meaning of the work as a whole.

Iambic Pentameter

"Nothing can come from nothing"~ King Lear

After returning from Spring Break, we will be beginning Shakespeare's King Lear. Since we are delving further into poetry and ultimately, Shakespeare, it's imperative that we get a grasp on the rhythm and meter of poetry. While we have briefly mentioned iambic pentameter in class, we have not thoroughly explored the topic. The beginning of your poetry packet discusses meter; be sure to review this before watching this video. After watching the video, take the short quiz to see how you stack up! Click HERE to watch the Iambic Pentameter Lesson!

1. On the right side of the screen, click WATCH, to view the video. 
2. And then THINK to take the quiz (You don't have to do the writing questions, this is a quiz for you to self-assess).
3. Read the DIG DEEPER section. Go to several of the links that seem interesting to you. Write a conversation starter about your findings. Respond to at least two other classmates.
4. On your King Lear quizzes, there will be questions about meter. You will also be expected to know how to mark a poem for meter.