Friday, May 8, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
And the award for best Macbeth video goes to...
This one blew us all away, and I missed my former AV life at Shepherd Hill for the first time this year. I wish you guys could have had me for some of those classes- I could has shown you some real neat effects. When I taught the class we did a whole unit on the special effects of Star Wars.
The fact that you did this on your own is as Lord Vader might say: Impressive, MOST impressive....
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, although 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 no man ever loved. |
Iambic beat-stomp
Here my Shakespeare class moves to the iambic beat. Listen to the world around you....
Soph Lit:
Today we watched a few segments from America's Favorite Poem project. The 2nd half- I introduced Shakespeare by using Shakespearean insults.
HW:
Poetry Projects due Friday. -10 points for each day passed in late not due to an illness.
WOS:
Today we stomped out the iambic pentameter all over the room. I also gave you notes on Shakespeare's sonnets.
Finally, we watched a 30 sec clip from the Steve Martin flick, The Jerk, and attempted to write, not dance, to the beat.
HW: Bring in a pop reference to iambic pentameter, sonnets, or the end rhyme that we discussed this week. Friday, being a 1/2 day, will be spent looking at the connections that you made to the modern world all around you.
Embarrassing, but fun stomp videos to follow.... Stay tuned.
Finally, we watched a 30 sec clip from the Steve Martin flick, The Jerk, and attempted to write, not dance, to the beat.
HW: Bring in a pop reference to iambic pentameter, sonnets, or the end rhyme that we discussed this week. Friday, being a 1/2 day, will be spent looking at the connections that you made to the modern world all around you.
Embarrassing, but fun stomp videos to follow.... Stay tuned.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
My Favorite Sonnet:
They that have power to hurt, and will do none,
That do not do the thing, they most do show,
Who moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow:
They rightly do inherit heaven's graces,
And husband nature's riches from expense,
Tibey are the lords and owners of their faces,
Others, but stewards of their excellence:
The summer's flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to it self, it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds,
Lilies that fester, smell far worse than weeds.
That do not do the thing, they most do show,
Who moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow:
They rightly do inherit heaven's graces,
And husband nature's riches from expense,
Tibey are the lords and owners of their faces,
Others, but stewards of their excellence:
The summer's flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to it self, it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds,
Lilies that fester, smell far worse than weeds.
Soph Lit:
Today in class:
We defined Alliteration, Consonance and Assonance and you then had to complete 2 parts:
1. Find two examples of each in The Waste Land.
2. Write a short poem or story that used each one twice successfully.
I gave you 20 minutes to work on your poetry projects and tried to answer any lingering questions and help those struggling with this assignment.
Introduced our next in class assignment for next Monday and Tuesday:
Please pick a poem that has meaning to you and create a PowerPoint presentation that uses words, images and music to assist in telling the poem. I presented an example online to model after.
WOS
Today we began our study of his sonnets. We read some of the ones that you brought in, discussed the lack of titles, and I suggested that much of what we know about Shakespeare's heart can be found in these poems.
I then asked you to duplicate the theme of what you brought in: LOVE, DEATH, NATURE, POLITICS. Today we focused in on the end patter: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. I suggested to you that the GG is the power line, or as Jimmie said, "the power chord". You had to write a poem following this end pattern. The ones that shared were truly excellent. I suggested to you that the forced rhyming is an outside creative force that can pull deepness from our subconscious.
I assigned your next project, due May 14th. Pick a sonnet by the Bard and create a multimedia presentation that captures the mood and feeling of the poem. I played 2 random ones off of You Tube. These may be submitted as a file, a CD/DVD, or hosted online. Please see me well in advance if you need help with the technical portion of this assignment. I can stay after most days and help you. I am just excited that I came up with an assignment that made Sam happy. No sarcasm- it made me happy to hear her say that "this is going to be so much fun." After all, that is what I always strive for: to make learning fun.... :-)
Today in class we compared the lyrics from Iron Maiden to the poem. Often life imitates art- here art copied art...
Hear the rime of the ancient mariner
See his eye as he stops one of three
Mesmerises one of the wedding guests
Stay here and listen to the nightmares of the sea.
And the music plays on, as the bride passes by
Caught by his spell and the mariner tells his tale.
Driven south to the land of the snow and ice
To a place where nobody's been
Through the snow fog flies on the albatross
Hailed in God's name, hoping good luck it brings.
And the ship sails on, back to the North
Through the fog and ice and the albatross follows on.
The mariner kills the bird of good omen
His shipmates cry against what he's done
But when the fog clears, they justify him
And make themselves a part of the crime.
Sailing on and on and north across the sea
Sailing on and on and north 'til all is calm.
The albatross begins with its vengeance
HW: Poetry projects due Friday.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Soph Lit:
Today in class we finished our epic discussion of T. S. Elliot's The Waste Land. This is a very difficult poem indeed. Many scholars spend sizable chunks of their life try to learn the meaning of the poem and decipher the complex images scattered throughout. I was very proud of all of you. You once again proved to me that students will rise to high expectations.
Please use the next 3 nights to work on your poetry projects at home. These are due this Friday.
WOS:
SONNET 5
Those hours, that with gentle work did frame
The lovely gaze where every eye doth dwell,
Will play the tyrants to the very same
And that unfair which fairly doth excel:
For never-resting time leads summer on
To hideous winter and confounds him there;
Sap cheque'd with frost and lusty leaves quite gone,
Beauty o'ersnow'd and bareness every where:
Then, were not summer's distillation left,
A liquid prisoner pent in walls of glass,
Beauty's effect with beauty were bereft,
Nor it nor no remembrance what it was:
But flowers distill'd though they with winter meet,
Leese but their show; their substance still lives sweet.
Those hours, that with gentle work did frame
The lovely gaze where every eye doth dwell,
Will play the tyrants to the very same
And that unfair which fairly doth excel:
For never-resting time leads summer on
To hideous winter and confounds him there;
Sap cheque'd with frost and lusty leaves quite gone,
Beauty o'ersnow'd and bareness every where:
Then, were not summer's distillation left,
A liquid prisoner pent in walls of glass,
Beauty's effect with beauty were bereft,
Nor it nor no remembrance what it was:
But flowers distill'd though they with winter meet,
Leese but their show; their substance still lives sweet.
Brit Lit:
Today I made good on a promise to treat you to breakfast if we could reach our fundraising goal for the Three Cups O' Tea collection. Together as a class, we raised $82! I realize that times are hard right now and I appreciate your teenage generosity. It says an awful lot about your character.
With a bit of joe on our bellies, we read The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Coleridge. Before reading we listened to Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven. I suggested that some of the same imagery can be found in the poem. If this was something that you found interesting, try listening to Iron Maiden's song, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. It has a bit of a more obvious connection. Robert Plant, like Coleridge conceived the story for the song in a series of dreams. Both the song and the poem share the magical combination of thought and imagination.
At the end of class, we looked very briefly at messages in songs that are hidden, but revealed by spinning the records backwards. Ah....good ol' fashion records. How do you think you could hide a message in a poem? Did this ever happen in classical poetry?
Monday, May 4, 2009
Soph Lit:
Today we continued exploring the poem, The Waste Land. We will finish our class discussion on Tuesday. Please be ready for a brief quiz.
HW: Please explain the title of the poem in 3-5 sentences.
HW: Please explain the title of the poem in 3-5 sentences.
Poetry Project
- Creative cover 10 %
- Table of Contents 5%
- Typed copy of your favorite poem, with a paragraph as to why. 5%
- Typed favorite song lyrics, with a paragraph as to why/impact on you 5%
- Original Poem by you. 30%
- Poem Analysis: Pick a poem that has been published and explain what it about in around 250 words. 30%
- Brief biography of favorite poet, in 3-5 sentences. 10%
- Evaluation of poetry unit 5%
We discussed this is far greater detail in class. Please use this as a reminder of the actual assignment. Please see me if you were no in class, or need clarification.
WOS
Due to the prom assembly, the exam was pushed back until Tuesday. Please be ready to take it then.
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