Wednesday, April 30 day 2 "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning

Due: Friday, vocabulary quiz....copy of words on Monday's blog
In class: continuing with "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning.
            Looking at how literary movements parallel social change. 
So where do the Victorians fit in? Sound like realism?
Fill in the following graphic organizer with the characteristics associated with Romanticism, Realism and Modernism. (class handout, copy below)  If you are absent, you are responsible for this material.
Day 2- listening to the poem again: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xIVg0qwTj4&src_vid=3Irb-P1nDAE&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_980145
Today we are focusing on the character of the Duchess and her relationship with the Duke. You will be working with partners and sharing out AS A CLASS.
The expectations are as follows:
1. Engage in a collaborative discussion; that means share your ideas. Listen and reflect on what your partner and classmate says. 
2. Adhering to time 
3.  Remaining on task 
4. By partner, I mean one person only! If you choose to work alone, that is your option. Note: tomorrow you must work with another partner.

Due by the close of class: completion of questions 1-8 from the graphic organizer we began yesterday and a quick write that answers the following: using only lines 1-8, describe the character of the Duchess, weaving in specific text from the poem.
          

Look over the following list of characteristics and fill in the organizer as to which ones best apply to the Romantic, Realist and Modernist traditions.

1.       precise details 2. loneliness, alienation 3.  looks at the world optimistically 4.  character more important than plot  5. no absolute truths, 6.reverence for Nature 7.concerned with the subconscious 8. events are plausible 9. implied themes  10. faith in imagination 11. strong reaction against established religious, political, and social views  12. diction is natural, not poetic 13. interest in the bizarre or supernatural 14. characters usually lower and middle class 15.  complex ethical choices  16. abandoning of traditional rhyme schemes and wrote in free verse.

Romanticism	Realism	Modernism

Look over the following list of characteristics and fill in the organizer as to which ones best apply to the Romantic, Realist and Modernist traditions.

1.    precise details 2. loneliness, alienation 3.  looks at the world optimistically 4.  character more important than plot  5. no absolute truths, 6.reverence for Nature 7.concerned with the subconscious 8. events are plausible 9. implied themes  10. faith in imagination 11. strong reaction against established religious, political, and social views  12. diction is natural, not poetic 13. interest in the bizarre or supernatural 14. characters usually lower and middle class 15.  complex ethical choices  16. abandoning of traditional rhyme schemes and wrote in free verse.

Romanticism	Realism	Modernism
looks at the world optimistically	precise details	loneliness, alienation
reverence for Nature	character more important than plot	no absolute truths
faith in imagination	events are plausible	concern with the subconscious
interest in the bizarre and supernatural		strong reaction against traditional religious, political and social views
	diction is natural, not poetic	abandoning traditional rhyme schemes and writing free verse
	characters usually lower and middle class	complex ethical choices

Tuesday, April 29....day 1 "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning

Due Friday: vocabulary quiz on "Duchess" words. Copy of yesterday's handout is on Monday's blog.
  If you were absent yesterday, you are responsible for the material on the handout "Dover Beach".  This is a graded assignment.

In class: we are beginning  the poem "The Last Duchess" by Robert Browning. At the close of class today, you are responsible for having completed the first page. This will be graded as a writing assignment, separate from the questions associated with the poem. You have 25 minutes to complete the first page; then I'll collect your work and return it tomorrow. At that point, we'll listen to poem twice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xIVg0qwTj4&src_vid=3Irb-P1nDAE&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_980145

NAME_________________________________

My Last Duchess by Robert Browning                    graphic organizer                       

In reading Robert Browning's Renaissance-set dramatic monologue "My Last Duchess,"  bear in mind that "Browning is not primarily concerned to tell a story. . . or describe a mood . . .: his aim is to depict a man as he is, with such autobiographical flashbacks as may be necessary to explain the character of the speaker" (Ian Jack, Browning's Major Poetry, p. 196). In his psychological portrait of the Duke of Ferrara Browning was as much inspired by his general notions of Italian court portraiture as he was by any specific individual--and yet there is an actual historical figure behind the poem.

Anticipatory statement:

From reading the above background information, in approximately 50 words, write what you anticipate this poem to be about. Reread the above text carefully and paraphrase as needed. Use complete sentences.

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The poem is of the type called a dramatic monologue because it consists entirely of the words of a single speaker (persona) who reveals in his speech his own nature and the dramatic situation in which he finds himself. The dramatic monologue reveals its own place and time as it proceeds to uncover the psychology of the speaker at a significant moment in his or her life.

Name two works of modernist literature that employ the literary technique of a dramatic dialogue.

1.       _______________________________________________________________________________

2.       _______________________________________________________________________________

3.       What literary technique was coupled with the dramatic monologue that made reflected a modernism?

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My Last Duchess  by Robert Browning

 Duchess (n.) – the wife or widow of a duke (the male ruler of a duchy; the sovereign of a small

state)

 Frà (n.) – a title given to an Italian monk or friar (a Catholic man who has withdrawn from the

world for religious reasons)

THAT’S my last Duchess painted on the wall,       Looking as if she were alive. I call              That piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf’s hands Worked busily a day, and there she stands.         Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said                    5 “Frà Pandolf” by design, for never read Strangers like you that pictured countenance,    The depth and passion of its earnest glance,       But to myself they turned (since none puts by   The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)         10 And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,             How such a glance came there; so, not the first Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, ’twas not          Her husband’s presence only, called that spot    Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek: perhaps                       15 Frà Pandolf chanced to say, “Her mantle laps      Over my lady’s wrist too much,” or “Paint             Must never hope to reproduce the faint               Half-flush that dies along her throat:” such stuff                Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough          20 For calling up that spot of joy. She had   A heart—how shall I say?—too soon made glad.               Too easily impressed: she liked whate’er              She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.              Sir, ’twas all one! My favor at her breast,                      25 The dropping of the daylight in the West,             The bough of cherries some officious fool            Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule      She rode with round the terrace—all and each  Would draw from her alike the approving speech,     30          Or blush, at least. She thanked men,—good! but thanked Somehow—I know not how—as if she ranked   My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name          With anybody’s gift. Who’d stoop to blame         This sort of trifling? Even had you skill             35 In speech—(which I have not)—to make your will            Quite clear to such an one, and say, “Just this     Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,           Or there exceed the mark”—and if she let           Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set           40 Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse,  —E’en then would be some stooping; and I choose         Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt,     Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without              Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;   45                        Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands         As if alive. Will’t please you rise? We’ll meet       The company below, then. I repeat,       The Count your master’s known munificence Is ample warrant that no just pretense          50 Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;     Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed         At starting, is my object. Nay, we’ll go    Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,    Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,              55 Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!

1.       List the specific words that are used to describe the Duchess and what this suggests about the relationship with the narrator. 2.       What does the Duke mean by “that piece” (line 3)       3.       What words indicate Frà Pandolf’s career? 4.       To whom is the Duke speaking? 5.       Reread the first 8 lines. Who else is speaking? 6.       To what is the Duke referring when he says ‘that pictured countenance” in line 7? 7.       Explain what the stranger “read[s]” in lines 6–7, “for never read / Strangers like you that pictured countenance.” What might read mean here? 8.       What are some words that the Duke uses to describe the “glance” in line 8? 9.       Reread the poem independently 10.   This is a dramatic monologue. Drama means story; hence contains literary elements. a.       Who are the characters in the poem? b.      Write a succinct summary of the plot. 11.   Paraphrase the lines “Strangers like you always ask me, if they dare, how the Duchess came to look that way in the portrait.” 12.   Give two reasons that the the Duke might mention Frà Pandolf twice in the first six lines of the poem? 13.   In line 11, what do the words “if they durst” suggest about the Duke’s view of himself? 14.   What does the Duke imply when he uses the word “only” in line 14? 15.   What does the phrase “that spot of joy” suggest about the Duchess? What does the Duke imply in lines 15–19 might have caused such an expression?  16.   What does the Duke imply when he remarks that, “such stuff / Was courtesy she thought, and cause enough / For calling up that spot of joy” (lines 19–21)?  17.   Reread lines 21–22: “She had a heart—how shall I say?—too soon made glad / Too easily impressed…” What is the effect of the repetition in these lines? Respond in a complete sentence. 18.   What does the Duke mean by “the dropping of daylight in the West” (line 26)? 19.   What does the Duke mean when he claims the Duchess’s “looks went everywhere”? 19. 20.   What does the Duke mean by the “gift of a nine-hundred years old name” (line 32)? And 20. From the Duke’s perspective, how does the Duchess value this gift? 21.   What might the Duke mean when he states, “I gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together” in lines 45–46? 21. 22.   How does the repetition of the phrase “as if alive” in lines 2 and 47 impact the poem? 23.   The word object: a.       What does the word object mean in line 53? b.      What other meaning does the word object have? c.       What is the impact of Browning’s choice to use the word object in this line? c. 24.   What does the Duke ask the listener to “notice” as they go downstairs? 24.

Monday, April 28 Victorian Poetry, the evolution from Romanticism to Modernism

In class: I'm handing back your essays and comma assessments. If I do not hand back work, it is because I have not received it....and you know the outcome.

vocabulary handout.  Test Friday, as usual: 10 matching and 10 contextual sentences. Copy below.

A Victorian Poetry Interlude. 

     Defining Victorian literature in any satisfactory and comprehensive manner has proven troublesome for critics ever since the nineteenth century came to a close. The movement roughly comprises the years from 1830 to 1900, though there is ample disagreement regarding even this simple point. The name given to the period is borrowed from the royal matriarch* of England, Queen Victoria, who sat on throne from 1837 to 1901. One has difficulty determining with any accuracy where the Romantic Movement of the early nineteenth century leaves off and the Victorian Period begins because these traditions have so many aspects in common. Likewise, identifying the point where Victorianism gives way completely to Modernism is no easy task. Literary periods are never the discrete*, self-contained realms which the anthologies so suggest. Rather, a literary period more closely resembles a rope that is frayed at both ends. Many threads make up the rope and work together to form the whole artistic and cultural milieu*. The Victorian writers exhibited some well-established habits from previous eras, while at the same time pushing arts and letters in new and interesting directions.                                                                     ( by Joseph Rand)

*matriarch-a woman who controls a family, group, or government

*discrete-separate and different from each other

* milieu-the physical or social setting in which people live or in which something happens or develops

We are looking at two transitional poems this week: Matthew Arnold’s Dover Beach and Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess. 

Concept to know:

Nihilism

a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless

 Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold

The sea is calm to-night. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits; on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand; Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.          5 Come to the window, sweet is the night-air! Only, from the long line of spray Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land, Listen! you hear the grating roar Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,  10 At their return, up the high strand, Begin, and cease, and then again begin, With tremulous cadence slow, and bring The eternal note of sadness in. Sophocles long ago                                                      15 Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow Of human misery; we Find also in the sound a thought, Hearing it by this distant northern sea.                   20 The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,                25 Retreating, to the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world. Ah, love, let us be true To one another! for the world, which seems       30 To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; And we are here as on a darkling plain                 35 Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night.

1.      Underline all unfamiliar words. 2.      How many stanzas has the poem?__________ 3.      What do we call a poem with no rhyme scheme? ________________________ 4.      Look at stanza three. What are the repeated open vowels?_________________________ 5.      What is the tone of the poem; that is what feeling is evoked? _________________________________________ 6.      The Romantic idea of pathetic fallacy' is when the poet attributes or rather projects a human feeling onto an inanimate object. How does Arnold employ the literary technique of pathetic fallacy? ________________________ _____________________________________ ___________________________________________ 7.      What verb is repeated in lines 1-4 to emphasize the scene? __________________________________________ 8.      In stanza 4, what words are repeated to emphasize the denial of basic human values? __________________________________________ _________________________________________ 9.      What is the dramatic pledge that the speaker is asking? _________________________________________ 10.  To whom is the narrator speaking? ________________________________________

11.  How is Arnold’s “Dover Beach” reflective of the transition from Romanticism to Modernism?

My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning              vocabulary     test         

 Friday, May 3

This will consist of 10 matching and 10 contextual sentences.

1.    countenance (noun)- a person’s face or facial expression

2.    mantle (noun)- a loose sleeveless cloak or shawl, worn especially by women.

3.    bough (noun)- a main branch of a tree.

4.    trifling (noun or adjective)- unimportant or trivial.

5.    officious (adjective)- assertive of authority in an annoyingly domineering way, especially with regard to petty or trivial matters.

6.    munificence (noun)- the quality or action of being lavishly generous; great generosity.

7.    dowry (noun)- the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings to her husband in marriage

8.    to avow (verb)- to declare or state (something) in an open and public way

9.    dramatic monologue- (noun) -a literary work (as a poem) in which a speaker's character is revealed in a monologue usually addressed to a second person

10.                       earnest-(adjective)- a serious and intent mental state

Friday, April 25 comma assessment.....communication practice :)

All essays are now past due. Turn yours if, if you have not already done so. 

In class: comma assessment.  This consists of 10 sentences. Insert commas, if needed. These sentences were taken from the practice handed out on Monday. If you were absent yesterday, and did not get your corrected practice assignment, you'll receive it now.

In class: communication practice.  Find or I will match you with a partner. Once this has been accomplished, move your desks so they are facing each other with one person's desk facing backwards towards the smart board. Take a seat and then listen up for instructions.

Wednesday and Thursday, April 21 and April 22---"Weatherall" essay

Due Friday: test on commas; please check the corrections on the practice assignment. I will take 10 of those for your assessment.

In class on Wednesday and Thursday.  Yesterday you received a handout on the "Weatherall" essay.  This is similar to the "Prufrock" essay from before the break. Part 3 of the New York State Regents Exam (Common Core) is the text analysis: exposition. What that means is that the students identify a central idea in the text and show how the author employs a strategy to develop the central idea.  That is what this particular essay is designed to practice. 

Below is a copy of yesterday's handout.  The essay is due at the end of class on Thursday. You may use your class notes from Tuesday, and your "Weatheall" graphic organizer, which, of course, has the actual text. If you do not have this material, I have extra copies of the short story.
This is independent work. I am handing out a copy of the grading rubric, as well.

“The Jilting of Granny Weatheall” by Katherine Ann Porter.     Essay instructions.  Due at the end of class on Thursday, April 24 at the close of class.

One of techniques employed in Modernist literature is stream of consciousness.  As a review, this technique is primarily associated with the modernist movement and is a form of interior monologue characterized by perceptions or impressions, thoughts incited by outside sensory stimuli, and fragments of random, disconnected thoughts.  Both T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and Katherine Ann Porter’s short story “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” use the technique to allow the reader a journey to see into these protagonists’ minds. Both Prufrock’s immediate fear of making a marriage proposal and his tormented personal life are revealed by using the stream of consciousness technique with figurative language devices such as allusion, personification and imagery, so as to create a complex character. Similarly, Granny Weatherall’s life is unveiled.

Your assignment: Please respond to the following in a well-written essay of three paragraphs of a minimum of 300 words. That is approximately 2 full pages.  How does Porter employ the technique of stream of consciousness to develop the complex character of Granny Weatherall?

Details.  MLA heading.

               Introductory sentence that has a clearly-stated thesis

               Textual evidence.  (try to weave some of this in)

         

       Before you begin writing, create an outline.  Ask yourself what kind of person Granny was. Decide on 4- 5 points within the story that show Granny’s life. For each find phrases, words or a sentence that illustrate an aspect of Granny’s character.

Remember that you must make a statement, prove it and then state why it is significant in terms of the thesis statement in your introduction.

    

Tuesday, April 22.. Porter Power Point and intro material for "Weatherall" essay

Due Friday, April 25: comma assessment.
In class: review of Katherine Ann Porter's short story "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" as preparation for writing on Wednesday and Thursday.
This is a Power Point. I cannot put this on the blog, but can copy it onto your thumb drive.

Directions for in class writing assignment on "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall"

“The Jilting of Granny Weatheall” by Katherine Ann Porter.     Essay instructions.  Due at the end of class on Thursday, April 24 at the close of class.

One of techniques employed in Modernist literature is stream of consciousness.  As a review, this technique is primarily associated with the modernist movement and is a form of interior monologue characterized by perceptions or impressions, thoughts incited by outside sensory stimuli, and fragments of random, disconnected thoughts.  Both T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and Katherine Ann Porter’s short story “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” use the technique to allow the reader a journey to see into these protagonists’ minds. Both Prufrock’s immediate fear of making a marriage proposal and his tormented personal life are revealed by using the stream of consciousness technique with figurative language devices such as allusion, personification and imagery, so as to create a complex character. Similarly, Granny Weatherall’s life is unveiled.

Your assignment: Please respond to the following in a well-written essay of three paragraphs of a minimum of 300 words. That is approximately 2 full pages.  How does Porter employ the technique of stream of consciousness to develop the complex character of Granny Weatherall?

Details.  MLA heading.

               Introductory sentence that has a clearly-stated thesis

               Textual evidence.  (try to weave some of this in)

         

       Before you begin writing, create an outline.  Ask yourself what kind of person Granny was. Decide on 4- 5 points within the story that show Granny’s life. For each find phrases, words or a sentence that illustrate an aspect of Granny’s character.

Remember that you must make a statement, prove it and then state why it is significant in terms of the thesis statement in your introduction.