An encouraging tune before the big day

Two words: One. Take.

Finishing Macbeth

Over break, finish reading the play. As you read through Acts IV and V, for each scene, note (and type up) instances of this two-sided motif we're seeing: fair/foul, good/evil, light/dark, true/false . . . and any variations on it that you find.

Hawthorne assignment

In your anthology, read pp. 297-309 and 319-329. Type up answers to the following questions: On p. 309, questions 1, 2, and 5. On p. 329, answer 1 and 3.

Over break

Read Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily." There's a brief intro about Faulkner on p. 77; the story starts on p. 78. Why follow up Gatsby with this? It's coming from the same era, for starters. Faulkner is also a modernist who had a huge impact on American literature. (He would go on to win the Nobel Prize, and we'll look at his acceptance speech when we read his novel As I Lay Dying later in the year.) Another parallel with Gatsby is Faulkner's approach to time; the way past and present (a present which, itself, is often decades before the present moment) interact is of great interest to Faulkner. Additionally, like most modernists, Faulkner took a profound interest in the question of point of view, as you'll see.

Questions (type the answers; have them printed out to hand in):

1. Who is telling the story? Why would Faulkner choose this point of view for this story? (That is, you're considering the relationship between the author's choice about technique and the ideas the writer wants to convey.)

2. Time is disordered in the story. What effect(s) does it have to put the events in this particular order?

3. In the final scene, what is odd about the order in which Faulkner presents the details? Why does he put the details of the scene in this particular sequence?

As always, I'm not looking for a right answer; I'm looking to see whether you're observing closely and commenting on what you've observed.

Gatsby

We're reading The Great Gatsby now. Stay up with the reading (page numbers are on the calendar); annotate. We'll discuss plot, characters, ideas, motifs, and writing style as we go.

Over break

You're to work on the memorization and recitation of your selected poem. Look at that Poetry Out Loud set of sheets I gave you (or go directly to their site) for links that walk you through the way to approach your recitation. I'll largely be paying attention to accuracy, but I want to hear those poems said in a meaningful way—that is, in a way that makes them clear and makes clear that you understand what you're saying (as much as possible).

The other homework is for you to read and annotate pp. 13-22. We'll discuss the story (which most of you have read before), the possible interpretive approaches, and the sample essay.

More poetry!

You'll be memorizing a poem for recitation in class. (And, if you want, you can compete in Poetry Out Loud afterwards.) At the right, there's a link to the poems from among which you can choose; Poetry Out Loud provides a wide array of options. For next class, have a poem selected.

The handout discusses how you'll be judged/graded on your recitation, which will be the week after next.

In addition, you're to read from p. 527 to the middle of p. 540 for next class. The only "writing" I want you to do is to "scan" both "Snapping Beans" and "Those Winter Sundays," marking syllables as either stressed or unstressed.