SEM 2, W3, #4: CONSIDERING THE BARD

William Shakespeared, aka “The Bard”, is going to become a large part of all of our lives for the rest of the quarter.  With that said, I’m curious what your overall thoughts and experiences are as you look to read one (Eng II) or two (Hon Eng II) of his plays in the coming weeks.

Challenge: Based on what you’ve read in school in the past (middle school or 9th grade), plays/movies you’ve seen (either the originals or adaptations, such as Leonardo DiCaprio’s “Romeo and Juliet” or the high-school version of “Othello” called “O” that also came out a few years back), or just a general sense of Shakespeare’s writing, tell us what your overall ‘expectations’ are about tackling one of his major works in this class.

Length: 7+ sentences

SEM, W1, #6: IF YOU COULD STEAL ONE LINE/PHRASE

Back story: In a poem as long and constantly evolving/changing as Wordsworth’s piece (“Tintern Abbey”, for short) that we’ve been reading, there are countless lines/phrases that seem to have a life of their own, that almost seem as if they could be a title for a new poem or story.

This is similar to when we listen to a song and find a lyric that seems to speak to something far deeper in our lives.  We write it down so that it never is forgotten.  It becomes an anthem for our lives — a shortcut expression that says how we’re feeling and how we see the world around us.

Challenge:

• Find one line from this poem that grabs your attention for any reason whatsoever (and not even because of what Wordsworth is trying to say in his own poem).  Ideally the line/phrase has the potential to inspire a piece of writing, be the title of a poem/story, or just be a life anthem/quote for you personally.
• React to the line in one of two ways:  1) Explain why it has such an impact on you or 2) write a short paragraph/poem that is inspired by (or uses) the line/phrase.

Length: 7+ sentences/lines

SEM2, W1, #5: A PLACE IN NATURE OF YOUR OWN

Back story: Every student will be writing a 4-stanza poem in the style of William Wordsworth’s “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey:  On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye During a Tour.  July 13, 1798″.  The heart and soul of his poem speaks to the “sublime” and “blessed mood, / In which the burden of the mystery” of nature continues to impact him many years later (in spite of the way he may feel “‘mid the din / Of towns and cities” at times).

Challenge: Your poem — like Wordsworth’s – will focus on a single moment you spent time alone in some form of ‘nature’ at least 2 years ago.

• Describe a natural setting that you visited years ago that continues to inspire you and may even be a place you occasionally still daydream about returning to, especially during the stressful times of your life.
• Focus on visually striking descriptions. Really try to ‘paint’ a picture in the minds of your readers.
• Don’t worry as much about ‘why’ you were there.  Instead, focus on the way the natural setting affected you and your senses.

Length: 7+ sentences.

SEM2, W1, #3: TRICKS IN THE DESERT

Back story: All of you are being challenged to memorize — and perfectly reproduce — the poem, “Ozymandias”, by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Challenge: Because everyone has a slightly different style of memorization, I’m curious:

• what tricks you’re using to pull off this challenge
• what part(s) of the poem is/are the most difficult for you to memorize– and why?

Length: 5+ sentences

“Ozymandias” — The Correct Memorization Version

Here is the correct version of the poem — “Ozymandias”, by Percy Bysshe Shelley — that we will use together.

The rules:

• Students must memorize/reproduce the poem (on paper) on Friday, Jan. 16 for a quiz grade.
• Each student must also submit a perfect reproduction  for a ‘major’ grade before the 3rd quarter ends.
• Students may attempt this as many times as needed.  This can be done anytime Mr. Long is free.  A single mistake (spelling, missed word, capitalization, punctuation, etc) will require the student to start over.
• In lieu of a student successfully completing this challenge, the student will receive either a zero (for a ‘major’ grade) or the quarter grade will remain ‘incomplete’ until the student eventually completes this assignment.

Note:

This is the same version that is found on page 731 in the ‘purple’ literature text.  For this memorization challenge, do not use the ‘green’ literature text version (due to alternative punctuation, etc.).

“Ozymandias”

(1)   I met a traveler from an antique land

Who said:  Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

(5)  And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:

And on the pedestal these words appear:

(10) “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

Nothing beside remains.  Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Consider all of the following strategies to help you successfully memorize this poem:

1. Focus on the visual nature of this poem. Become the “I” (speaker) and imagine that its taking place with you in it.  Stand in the desert.  Picture the horizon line (and “[t]he lone and level sands” as they “stretch far away” from you.  Picture the pieces of the great statue (“two legs” and the body/face of the King) in the sand.  Picture the 2-line phrase that the King says (which is actually etched into the stone itself for others to read, admire, fear).
2. Divide the poem into sections.  For instance, consider: a) the moment you meet the “traveler”, b) what the traveler describes (first the legs and second the body/face of the statue), c) the sculptor who tried to create a statue that would last forever (including the phrase that he etched into the stone), d) what Ozymandias said (in quotes), e) the irony of the fact that nothing of the king’s power really remains (in the 3-word sentence of line 12), and f) the way the sand stretches out forever around the “decay / Of that colossal wreck”.
3. Think about the punctuation:  this includes where the various punctuation points exist and why they are being used.  For instance, notice in line 2 that no quotation marks exist following the full colon.
4. Note that the first word of every line is capitalized.
5. Consider writing down the last word of all 14 lines on your paper immediately when you come to class on Friday (so that you have 14 ‘targets’ if you suddenly draw a blank). You might also do this with the first word of each line.
6. Figure out the 2-3 phrases that are going to be a challenge.  Most students make mistakes with line 4 (“a shattered visage”), lines 6 & 7 (“Tell that its sculptor well those passions read / Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things”), and line 12 (“Nothing beside remains.”).
7. Consider the short/strong pattern of phrases from lines 3-5 that describe what the statue looks like.
8. Think about how line 2 and line 14 give the impression of something stretching out forever (“vast”, “sands stretch far away”).
9. Consider pairs of words (“boundless and bare”, “lone and level”) that use alliteration to help your recall.
10. Be aware of the rhyme scheme at the end of each line.  Also notice that they are not always ‘rhymes’ to the ear; they do, however, work as ‘visual’ rhymes.

W10, #11: FAIR OR NOT?

Who: ONLY periods 1, 2 & 3

Set-up: Each of you has now read “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, a story within a story within a story within a story that attempts to disect very complex gender politics (that are as relevant today as they were in the Middle Ages when Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales).

Challenge: Was the knight punished ‘fairly’ for his ‘crime’?

Note: This is NOT as simple as you might think from a plot-level.  Anyone who chooses this option should consider the following:

• What was the actual crime?
• What does it mean that women were ‘given’ the right to ‘punish’ him?
• Was he truly ‘punished’?
• What was the lesson the wife was trying to teach him?
• Did the knight truly ‘learn’?
• Did the knight truly ‘love’ his wife?
• What lesson is the Wife of Bath suggesting by the wife’s magical change at the end of the story?
• What are we — as the reader — supposed to assume with Chaucer (male author) and the Wife of Bath (female character) co-constructing this story to have the old woman punish the knight in this unique manner?
• Should we be satisfied by what Chaucer is suggesting?
• Should we be satisfied by the Wife of Bath’s perspective and her choice in the story/outcome?
• Should we be satisfied by the wife’s punishment (and her eventual reward)?
• Should we be satisfied by the knight’s punishment (and his eventual reward)?
• What does all of this say about ‘us’ as members of society where gender issues — like this — continue to play out?
• Who’s ‘right’ (or morally ‘just’) in this story?
• How should women ‘behave’ in society?
• What does this say about how ‘men’ should behave?
• Does this story have more/less power because a woman (written by a male) told the story?

Length: 7+ sentences

W10, #5: THE STORY IN A SINGLE LINE

For: ONLY periods 4 or 7

Set-up: By this point in time, all of you have completed Golding’s Lord of the Flies (including taking a test and seeing the original film version).  The test will be heavily focused on key quotations taken directly from the novel (in order to see if you are able to tell who said the key line(s)).

Challenge:

• Identify what YOU believe is the most important quotation in the entire novel (in terms of supporting Golding’s main argument/ideas).  Add the chapter and page #.
• Explain why this is so vital to a reader fully understanding what Golding is trying to accomplish.

Length: 5+ sentences.

W10, #4: ONE OF CHAUCER’S TRAVELERS

For: ONLY periods 1, 2 & 3

Set-up: Each of you have read all of the “Prologue” of Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”.  As you’ve come to discover, the 20+ page segment serves to a) introduce each character (30, including the narrator) and b) introduce the ‘framework’ for a collection of stories told by each character.

Challenge:

• Select one of the 29 characters described by the narrator that most intrigues you.
• Explain why this character grabbed your attention.
• Use key descriptions (yes, line #’s are expected, too) to make your point.
• Finally, help the rest of us figure out what Chaucer is trying to say by his description.  This should come in a final thesis (of sorts).

Length: 7+ sentences

W8, #6: NAME GAME

Set-Up: Like many new parents, my wife/I went through endless lists of possible names for our first child.  Our goals at the time were pretty simple:

• Retro/classic but with a ‘modern’ twist (“Beckett” seemed to fit that mark)
• Not typical, or at least not expected by most people who’ve heard a lot of baby names
• Had good/solid nickname possibilities over time (aka “Bex” or “Becks” thus far)
• No obviously ‘bad’ playground nicknames
• Fit well with “Long” as a last name

Ultimately we stumbled upon ‘authors’ names one afternoon while driving around Fort Worth, hence the choice to take Samuel Beckett’s (author of Waiting for Godot) last name as our son’s first (although Mr. Long will often claim that his lifelong love of the Boston Red Sox was the real reason; just don’t tell his wife).

Challenge: With a new kid soon to arrive in our home this coming March, we’re beginning to toss around various possibilities for her/his name.  We won’t know the gender for 2 more weeks, so we’re still pretty wide open to suggestions.

• Offer a literary name — author, character, location, concept, title –  that you think would be an interesting boy’s or girl’s name for my wife/me to name our next child.
• Make sure that it fits the criteria mentioned above (nicknames, retro/modern, etc).
• Explain why you think it would work, including anything cool trivia-wise about that literary connection.

Length: 5+ sentence

W8, #5: THE RIGHT ENDING?

Set-Up: To say we’ve been curious how the story was going to end would be a vast understatement. The real question has less to do with ‘what’ happens to Ralph and more to do with ‘why’ it happens.

Challenge: Do you think that Golding made the right choice in having Ralph be rescued at the end of the story?

• Part 1: Answer this question first based on your reaction to the ‘fate’ of Ralph as an intellectual consideration taking into consideration themes, symbols, and foreshadowing.
• Part 2: Once that part is done, explain whether you think it’d have been a ‘better’ story — in terms of plot and the reader’s hidden desires — if Ralph had been caught by the hunters and had to face whatever they had planned

Length: 7+ sentences