DO THIS

Everyone needs to complete this by their exam day.  I will give you homework points for completing it.

Thanks.

Me

Survey

Final Exam Essay: Due Friday

Read Oprah Winfrey's "What I Know for Sure" column from O Magazine. Here Embarrassingly, I used to like Oprah.  I used to read this magazine with fervor each month.  Even now, as my affection for Oprah has waned  I find value in them.  Life, to me, is about figuring out "the things we know fore sure."

Your final exam essay is this:  What do you know for sure?  You should explain this "thing"(just one) in a well-written, 4-6 paragraph essay--with all the voice/personality you can muster.  You may "steal" a quote from something you have seen or read as a starting point; perhaps this was your 'aha' moment(another Oprahism).  Mine, for example, came from the following lines from The Secret Life of Bees:

“In a weird way I must have loved my little collection of hurts and wounds. They provided me with some real nice sympathy, with the feeling I was exceptional...What a special case I was.”

Reading that for the first time, I realized that I held on to my past, and the wounds caused there, and wore them like a badge of honor.  This, in the end, was the very thing keeping me from evolving, and it was the moment I figured that out that changed me forever.

Good luck.  They're due on Friday, either to me directly or digitally.  Typed, please.

Outline help

Name_________________________

English I Honors

Mrs. Rock

Literary Analysis Outline

Follow this handy-dandy outline format to complete an outline for your literary analysis paper—this step is key in writing a well-organized, eloquent, paper.

I.                     Introduction

A.       Opening ‘hook’

B.      Background Information

C.      Statements/summaries about sonnet

D.      Thesis statement

II.                   Body 1

A.       Transition Sentence

B.      Backup of Thesis

C.      “Proof” with quotes, research

Etc., etc., etc.,

      V.            (or whatever)  Conclusion

                       A.  Summary of main points

                      B.  Restatement of thesis

Nothing due tomorrow

We're watching the movie. Study guide and outline due Tuesday. I'll explain better tomorrow.

<3, Rock

Sample Outline: Former Student

Another sample: Yours due on Monday <3

Introduction: None of the sonnets from William Shakespeare’s immortal canon are more emotionally conflicted and contradictory than the elegant lines of Sonnet 35. Upon first glance at the famous words, “No more be grieved at that which thou hast done…” the reader is immediately thrown into a hurricane of emotional turmoil over love, betrayal, responsibility, corruption of the mind, and morality. With the disharmonic thoughts of the poet fueling the headwinds of the storm, the poet seeks to delve into the question of whether to forgive his lover for his sensual fault and the morality of defending his victimizer. The impression of true compassion is finally confirmed in this sonnet, by his attempts to justify the sins even though he is the victim. Through brilliant sophistry and comparisons with nature, the poet finds himself mentally corrupted and guilty of his lover’s trespass. This sonnet serves to show the reader the guilt and responsibility the poet himself feels for the sins of his lover.

I.                    Introduction

A.      No sonnets are as emotionally conflicted. Imagery: “Hurricane of emotional turmoil over love, betrayal…” Attempt at imagery will try to make sonnet seem more dramatic and interest reader.

B.      Sonnet 35 is the most emotionally conflicted and contradictory sonnet. (Hyperbole/Strong Statement). Opening line of the Sonnet provided. Say themes of the poem. “Love, betrayal, responsibility, corruption of the mind, and morality”

C.      The poet feels mentally corrupted for aiding his victimizer. True compassion is confirmed in the sonnet.

D.      “This sonnet serves to show the reader the guilt and responsibility the poet himself feels for the sins of his lover.”

II.                  The poet’s thought process puts a small amount of blame on the lover and much more blame on himself.

A.      The guilt the poet feels over his lover’s sin is evident in his thought process and the way he presents his lover.

B.      The poet, through the metaphors and rhetoric of the first six lines of the sonnet, makes his lover seem not-at-fault of his crime. He downplays it, instead of expressing anger, as a normal person would, as if his lover is not the one responsible. He even examines the irony of his situation and scolds himself for being mentally corrupt in his logic.

C.      The poet soothes his friend’s guilt by assuming some of the blame. (Fiero - “the poet attempts to assuage his friend’s guilt through clever sophistry, reasoning that he himself must bear some of the responsibility for his friend’s offense.”)

III.                Shakespeare’s word choice and structure in the poem paints an unrealistic view of the lover in the time of his fault.

A.      The word choice Shakespeare uses to describe the lover’s sin makes it seem as if the lover’s sin is of less magnitude and doesn’t deserve much blame for it.

B.      By the poet making the lover’s sin seem like less of a lapse of judgment on his friend’s part, he is able to more effectively assume the blame on himself.

C.      Shakespeare never describes the crime for this reason. He refers to the fault instead as a “trespass”, “that which thou hast done”, and a “fault”. There is participial fixation especially on phrases that describe the fault of the poet for the crime. (Vendler – “In 35, we see the overmastering emotion in the participial fixation on personal fault: [Chart showing participial fixation]”) The fixation is used to put extra emphasis on these statements.

IV.                Conclusion

A.      The word choice, structure, logic, and irony Shakespeare presents in Sonnet 35 show that the poet feels that he is responsible for his lover’s crime.

B.      Sonnet 35 shows that the poet feels responsible for his lover’s trespass.

Sample Outline: Mine

Emily Rock

English I Honors

29 May 2014

I.                     Introduction: There are no lines from William Shakespeare’s canon more immortal than those opening Sonnet 18.  “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day…” begins as an ode to a near-perfect love and serves to end the burdens of the earlier sonnets in the cycle.  It is from the conventions of this early sonnet that all future sonnets are compared; and although the ideals of beauty are later speared in Sonnet 130(My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun…”), it is Shakespeare’s first examination of outer beauty, a concept that he toys with during the entire cycle.  Sonnet 18 stands not only as a testament to the epitome of Renaissance beauty, but as a cautionary tale for wayward youths.

II.                  Sonnet 18 is really about surface love, not real love.

A.       Vendler calls it “innocuous, dulcet, light.”

B.      Love is too deep for elaboration?

C.      Real love cannot be expressed in 14 lines, but immortalization can be achieved.

III.                The theme of Nature lends itself to the ideas of reproduction

A.       Vendler discusses the idea of ‘necessity’ in the sonnet.

B.      Reminders of death, particularly with image of ‘sun.’

C.      Beauty will die first, and then the Young Man is worthless.

IV.                Sonnet 18 is , after all, a sonnet of conventions.

A.       Shakespeare takes convention and trumps them

B.      The beloved is too beautiful even for convention—beyond flattery.

C.      This pedestal foreshadows that eventual death of the relationship

D.      In the end, it is impossible to love someone so revered/perfect.(Vendler—“denigrate the perfect metaphor.”)

So that’s that.  Basically, I outlined my paper, complete with details from my research in a format that will make it quite easy to complete my rough draft.  This is due on MONDAY.  <3

'Cause I'm always sick

Here's a bunch of great information I failed to give you because I was sick this week.  Read it, paying close attention Thesis statements.

You should create a thesis statement that is arguable, interesting, and is about your sonnet. We will start our in-class research on Tuesday.