Sunday, March 2, 2008

Upcoming in English 12AP




I have included a lolcat as a way to raise the collective cultural consciousness of our class....if you can find the source of this lolcat's reference, you will get extra bonus points.... (meaningless on your overall AP exam score, of course, but hey)



This week, we will conclude our discussion of Shakespeare's Macbeth with the following question:

Are there any "power couples" in recent history that might be compared to Lady Macbeth & her Thane? These don't necessarily have to be murderous or evil people, who have caused bloodshed; just a couple where the man seems to be driven by or changed (for better or worse) by the actions of his Lady.

Also consider this: What scenes would you add to the play? Many events are left for the audience to figure out on their own, such as Lady Macbeth's demise. What do you think will be the next step in the Malcolm/Macduff strategy?

There will be a take-home test on Thursday this week, which will consist of essays and interpretations of Macbeth, along with connections to the poems we have read as accompaniment pieces.

The poems will include:

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot
"The Poison Tree" by William Blake
"Are There Not Fireflies" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
"next to god of course america i" by e.e.cummings
"In a Station at the Metro" by Ezra Pound


The next unit we will read will include the following short stories (subject to availability) :

Kafka:
"The Metamorphosis"

Hemingway:
"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"
"Hills Like White Elephants"
"The Snows of Kilimanjaro"

Joyce:
"The Dead"

To balance out the testosterone, we'll also read

Gilman:
"The Yellow Wallpaper"

Chopin:
"Story of an Hour"

Porter:
"The Jilting of Granny Weatherall"

We will be reading these works with a critical eye to look for themes of Identity.

There will be supplemental poetry readings as well. TBA.

There will be a literary analysis paper required for this unit.

5 comments:

Spencer Place said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Spencer Place said...

Is that picture from "icanhascheezburger.com?" Also... Another lolcat

vanessa said...

hai,
can has lolcode fauw dummies!
iz lolcatopia!

Wow! I think i butchered lolcat vernacular/slang more than those teenagers on u-tube ruined John Updike's A&P. Then again, maybe not...

oh I really like the Wikipedia reference, Spencer. Speaking of which, do you consider Wikipedia a credible literary source, Ms. Byrne?

vanessa said...

Furthermore, in the process of perusing through my AP English review books, I found the following appear as recommended literary works to choose for the third, free essay component of the AP two times or more:

-Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights (4 times!)
-Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'urbervilles (2 times)
-Kate Chopin's The Awakening (2 times)

I also saw Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. I am a huge fan of Yoknapatawpha County! We should definitely read Light in August. I always hear English teachers and others of high brow status (lol) allude to this novel in particular in conversation.

Byrne's English12AP said...

As far as Wikipedia, I think it's a good starting point. It might contain links to other sites where someone has done scholarly research, give biographical info or connect an author to a particular era in literature or art.

But as Wiki sources are on the "honor system" I don't know if they are as reliable as traditonal peer-reviewed journals, literary reference books or university web sites.

I've been considering Tess of the D'Urbervilles, and Faulkner is definintely on the schedule. WE could do _The Awakening_ in lieu of "Story of an Hour".

And Vanessa, thanks for reminding me to bring up the topic of review books ~ i hve been meaning to discuss this in class.

We'll take a segue into surrealism as I will have copies in class tomorrow (3/6) of Kafka's "Metamorphosis" for you to take home and start reading & annotating. We'll see if we can read some corresponding poetry as well, perhaps doing Socratic circles in the discussion process.