Instructions for tomorrow first--I'll pick up the rest of the post after I get home.

Today you received a hand-out with two recent Question 1 prompts, both involving sonnets.  You are not writing two essays for tomorrow for a total of 80 minutes of work (good news), but you ARE going to need to read/study/"show your work"/come up with a solid thesis for each one. I expect this will take about 15 minutes for each poem, for a total investment of a half-hour.  Due tomorrow at the start of class.

On the AP exam itself, the most you should take out of a 40-minute writing span is about 7-8 minutes.  But for tomorrow, since you're not writing the full essay, I want you to devote enough time to show where you're headed.

So, in the 15 or so minutes for each poem, do the following things:

1) Annotate the poem.  That should include "boxes" to indicate units of thought, it should reflect elements sought in the prompt (though note that the 2012 prompt is open-ended with respect to "poetic devices").

2) Be sure that you can "translate" each unit of thought into clearer, modern English--i.e., paraphrase. But notice what I am NOT asking for in the 15 minutes.  Don't actually write out the paraphrase--just go through it mentally and make sure you understand at a literal level what the poem is saying.

3) Sketch out some sort of plan.  This obviously does not need to be a formal outline, and you do not need to include all the evidence (though some super-quick notes would help).  I just want to be able to see what you've noticed/what a completed essay might develop.

Up to this point, do all of this on the paper itself.

4) Yes, now you need a piece of paper.  Write out a polished thesis for each prompt, labeling each one with the poet and title.  (Notice that both poems actually have "titles.")
Two caveats:

• Assume that on the essay itself you would start with one sentence (or two at the most) that sets up the essay, and INCLUDES title and author.  Do not write these out.
• Thus when you focus on the thesis itself, you will not need to incorporate this backdrop.  Your thesis should  be the richest, clearest it can be without the padding of known information.

As stated above, this is due at the beginning of class. 

Now, for Friday--

Here are the poems you need to read/study for Friday, all from Perinne:

Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" (744-745)

Herrick's "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" (756)
Donne's "The Flea" (832-833)

Donne's "A Valediction:  Forbidding Mourning" (742-743)

Rich's "Living in Sin" (718-719)

See yesterday's post for the Perinne reading schedule.  You are NOT reading "the whole chapter" with every single poem.  What you need to do is to read the explanatory part at the start of each chapter up to and including the review boxes.

TODAY IN CLASS
Sonnets, continued.  Reminder:  all sonnets have 14 lines, all sonnets are iambic pentameter.
They differ in the rhyme scheme and structure.  The Donne poems were Italian sonnets.  Now we're looking at Shakespearean sonnets. (We will skip Spenserian . . . Google if you wish.)

So today--first, Sonnet 73:  "That time of year thou may'st in me behold . . ."
Why start there?  The most "pure" example of the Shakespearean form: three quatrains plus a closing couplet, with one central metaphor per quatrain (other embedded images/devices).

I am not repeating the essential paraphrase here, because I want people who were absent to give it a shot on their own (don't look anything up).

Then we turned to Sonnet XII-- "When I do count the clock that tells the time . .  , " In both classes we looked at the iambic pentameter perfection of that first line, but in 3rd we need to do two more things:  essentially answer the "so what" to "why so regular," and  . . . (drum roll) practice saying the line over and over, faster and faster.  What do you hear"  What key sounds?  What do the key sounds sound like??  [One of the later Perinne chapters is on sound devices, but poems do not package their elements in discrete dollops to be parceled out in sequential order.]

We looked at the first 8 lines of this poem well, finding out that the first quatrain has four separate images to note the passage of time; the second quatrain has two.  In 3rd we still need to unpack the "And summer's green all girded up in sheaves, / borne on the bier with white and bristly beard."

In BOTH--we need to move on to the last 6 lines.

FOR TOMORROW
Study (on your own, no looking up) "When to the sessions of sweet silent thought" on the same hand-out.  Look at structure.  Look at diction.  How does diction form part of the basis for overarching metaphors?  What are the "fields" or disciplines that the sonnet draws on for its imagery? What else to you notice?  Figure out all you can about this poem just using your own insight.  We will want to be quick and thorough with this one.

Because then we will move on to a different group of poems.  From the book, people, so bring it! :)

If you have been gone as long as Robotics, there will be C & P hand-outs to pick up. Other people should have gotten them before they left/after they returned.  

Poetry--Bring Perrine every single day.  No more hand-outs.

Perinne chapters to browse through--this means reading the introductory material up to the Review Box that marks the end of the instructional information and the start additional poems that exemplify the point(s) in question.  Focus on the terms introduced; note whether there are significant differences between the definitions in the material and the February AP List of Poetry Terms.

Previously assigned:
Ch. 1 and 2
Material from Ch. 8 on Allusion
The sonnet definitions on pp. 902-904

Now-
Monday-Thursday this week:  Focus on using Perinne to review several things you already (should) know:

Ch. 3  Denotation and Connotation .  Continue just AFTER the box in this chapter, and study the questions for "Naming the Parts."  Notice that we did discuss this with the poem--just see how the more precise language could help.

Ch. 4 Imagery  Note what I've told you several times==that at its core, imagery refers to "the representation through language of sense experience."  We have already studied the key teaching poem for this chapter. But obviously we build on it . . .

Ch. 5, 6, and 7 Figurative Language 1,2, and 3. Use these chapters to review the terms, see them applied in particular poems, and engage your mind with some of the questions given along with poems.  All of the terms in Ch. 5 are important; in 6, focus on symbol (we just don't read any allegory, and it's hard to assess on an AP exam because allegorical works are long . . ), and in 7, all the terms are important, but pay particular attention to the types of irony.

For Friday
Ch. 9 Meaning and Idea (Very brief, and we've worked with one of the key poems)
Ch. 10 Tone

For Monday
Ch. 12 Rhythm and Meter
Ch. 13  Sound and Meaning

For Tuesday
Ch. 14 --We will have done all we are going to do with sonnets during this present week.  You could review it.  But also pick up the villanelle.

Remember--EVERYONE has a stake in the poetry material.  Many of you will be AP-testing for 3 hours on Wednesday, May 6, and the rest of you will have a poetry-only timed write assessment during the regular class time on Wednesday.  (This year's Wednesdays are exactly the right length for one Part Three question.) 

Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles--
For most of you, I think we have simply run out of time this year before the exam. The world will not fall apart if you do not read it for the test.

However, as you have undoubtedly heard from previous students, the AP exam does not mark the end of our course. There used to be a major project (group work) involving only one work, Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon; more recently, the nature of the project has changed, and the works have varied somewhat with some choice involved.

This year, you will have a choice between Tess and Song of Solomon for sure--I am pretty sure that I am going to SKIP the plays I've done the past couple of years. I'll tell you more about the project components after the exam, but they will involve group work leading to a short presentation, some individual writing, and whichever work you do becomes the focus of an objective test as the final exam (during the regular class period on the middle day of senior finals).

The bottom line is that if you have no other AP exams, are an especially  fast reader or have already gotten Tess well underway, go ahead and finish it now.

Revised Dates in Red
Crime and Punishment Reading Schedule
Part I--by Tuesday, Mar. 31.  But have chapters 1 and 2 read for Monday for sure.
Part II through Ch. 4--by Thursday, April 2, and finished by Friday, April 3
Parts III and IV--by Monday, April 13  Be prepared to work with III/IV onThursday
Part V--by Wednesday, April 15  By Friday
Part VI and Epilogues--by Friday, April 17  By Monday

Crime and Punishment Reading Schedule
Part I--by Tuesday, Mar. 31.  But have chapters 1 and 2 read for Monday for sure.
Part II through Ch. 4--by Thursday, April 2, and finished by Friday, April 3
Parts III and IV--by Monday, April 13
Part V--by Wednesday, April 15
Part VI and Epilogues--by Friday, April 17

TODAY IN CLASS
1. A 12-minute (ten question) MC poetry passage. In a rare shift of usual practice, people who were out of class today (sick, blood drive, or Microsofting) will make that up at the start of class tomorrow.

2. With my voice still very compromised, I tried to run a discussion involving questions to discuss briefly, responses, to which I typed back, and it worked to some degree.  Here are the questions--not meant to be all that high-level, but still worth going over if you were not here! We did not finish, but we will hit the highlights of the rest briefly on Thursday.  However, everyone should insure that this goes swiftly by making sure that you've found the spots in the text and thought about these questions for tomorrow.

1) The opening passage--beginning through what’s running through Raskolnikov’s mind as he walks out into the street.

WHAT IS THE “TONE”?  HOW IS IT ACHIEVED? What, particularly is the effect on the reader?

2) For some 19th century novelists, particularly Dickens, a person’s physical description gave clues to their character.  In the Middle Ages, people actually believed that physiognomy was related to a person’s inner being.  Later writers use it more or less as shorthand—but the catch is, what you see is not always what you get. 

So first—look at the initial description of Raskolnikov (second or maybe the third page of text) and of the pawnbroker as she opens the door when R. arrives to scout the place out.

COMPARE what’s in your book with a couple of other versions.

Briefly discuss the “so what” of these descriptions—

·         how accurate are they as a guide to character (at least as we see it early on)

·         are they meant in any way to influence the reader’s attitude toward the characters?

·       2)  Would that include caring/not caring what happens to the character?

3) Do you all understand the concept of the “yellow card”?  Check it out amongst yourselves.

4) Why does R. leave money on the windowsill?  What do his values seem to be at this point?

5) The letter from his mother:

a) how/why did Dunya leave the Svidrigailov’s house? Fair/unfair? Do we have an idea of what really happened?

b) How does Luzhin actually feel about Dunya?  How does she feel about him?  How does Pulcheria Raskolnikov feel about the marriage?

c) what would be the benefit to R. of such a marriage?

6) But how does R. react to this planned marriage?  Do you think he would have felt the same way if he hadn’t just met the Marmeladovs?

7) How does concern about his mother’s letter connect with the “it”/”that” from the previous day?

8) What do we learn about R from his encounter with the drunk girl and the interaction with the policeman?  Play this whole scene through—try to see various facets of his personality.

9) After NOT going to see his friend and after a quick glass of vodka and some “pie” (in my edition—I think it’s some sort of pastry and meat filling concoction), he gets sleepy and collapses in some bushes to take a nap.

And he DREAMS—

Review the details of this dream.

You know what happens before Part I ends.

How does the dream relate to the killing of the pawnbroker?

Ponder, discuss, and share.

10) What is his path as he goes back to his small apartment?  What does he overhear, and how does that affect his plans?

11) Notice the coincidences or “lucky breaks” that lead to his getting to the apartment at the appointed time, and with a weapon; also some of the details of what’s going on at the apartment building. (No question; just notice.)

12) Look at the manner, the way in which he commits both murders.  What do you make of the differences? What would a police investigator say?  How does it relate to the dream (Yes , the same question as at the end of #9, just the other direction.)

FROM THIS POINT ON, YOU WILL PICK UP WITH A HAND-OUT YOU WILL GET IN CLASS TOMORROW.  You can use it to finish out some guided thinking for the rest of Part i and for preparing tomorrow's material.  Note that Part II through Ch. 4 should be completed by tomorrow.

So, FOR TOMORROW, make sure that you have read that far.