Thursday, September 27, 2012

Poetry Quiz #2

We will have our second poetry quiz tomorrow, Friday 9/28 (50 pts.). This will be mainly a multiple choice exercise, and you will need to know the following terms to do well on it:

Assonance
Alliteration
Synesthesia
Onomatopoeia
Ceasura
Rhyme
Meter
Tone
Consonance

The link I posted earlier will help, as will the glossary of terms on p. 1660 of Perrine's. Re-reading chapters 10-13 won't hurt either.

Poetry Paper #1

Using the suggestions from “Writing about Literature” in Perrine’s, write a paper analyzing or explicating a single poem, or comparing and contrasting any two poems in the poetry section of the text (or of your choosing).  This paper should be a minimum of 500 words, typed and double-spaced. We are going to workshop this paper, so you need to keep to the following schedule:

Poems and topic of paper selected and e-mailed to me – Monday 9/24
First draft of paper – Monday 10/1
Second draft – Wednesday 10/3
Final draft – Friday 10/5

Friday, September 14, 2012

Poetry Quiz I Review

We will have our first poetry quiz on Tuesday 9/18 (50 pts.). This will be mainly a multiple choice exercise, and you will need to know the following terms to do well on it:


Simile
Apostrophe
Metaphor
Personification
Metonymy
Allusion
Paradox

The link below will help, as will the glossary of terms on p. 1660 of Perrine's. Re-reading chapters five and seven won't hurt either.

http://www.poetsgraves.co.uk/glossary_of_poetic_terms.htm



Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Classical/Biblical Allusions

Many literary works in the western tradition allude to mythological and biblical figures and stories that were well known to all literate people through much of our history. Below you will find an assignment that is designed to help you familiarize yourselves with some of the most prominent of these.


What I want you each to do is complete each of your identifications in a word file. Make sure that you use the same format as the sample that is provided below. Please write in complete, coherent sentences and proof-read/spell-check your entries. When you have all six in final, clean-copy form, paste them into a post on this blog. These will be graded for 5 points per identification, and they must be posted by the end of the school day on Monday September 10 (you should really be ablle to complete them by the end of class Friday!).

EXAMPLE:

Cerberus – In Greek mythology, Cerberus was the hound of Hades (God of the underworld) who had three heads, a dragon-tale, and snakes down his back and mane. He permits all spirits to enter the underworld, but none to return. He is the origin of the term “hounds of hell” (i.e., Vincent Price in Michael Jackson’s Thriller). Cerberus is overcome several times in mythology and literature, and so symbolizes both the horror of death and hell and the triumph of light over dark, goodness over evil, and reason/cunning over brute force.

Abraham and Isaac - CA
Absalom - MCC
Achilles - TF
Adonis - AG
Agamemnon - LH
Antigone - EH
Atalanta - HK
Atlas - FK
Cain and Abel - CS
Cassandra - GS
Cupid and Psyche - BS
Daedalus and Icarus - CA
Daniel (in the lion’s den) - MCC
Daphne - TF
David and Bathsheba - AG
Dionysus (Bacchus) - LH
“Eye for an eye…” - EH
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - HK
Garden of Gethsemane - FK
Good Samaritan - CS
Hercules (12 labors of) - GS
Herod - BS
Hyacinth - CA
Jacob and Esau - MCC
Jacob’s ladder - TF
Jezebel – AG
John the Baptist - LH
Jonah - EH
Judas Iscariot - HK
Laius - FK
Last Supper - CS
Lazarus - GS
Leda (and the Swan) - BS
Lot/Lot’s wife - CA
Magi - MCC
Mammon - TF
Mary Magdalene - AG
Medusa - LH
Midas - EH
Minotaur - HK
Moses – FK
Narcissus - CS
Nero (fiddled while Rome burned) - GS
Noah and the flood - BS
Odysseus - CA
Oedipus - MCC
Pandora - TF
Persephone – AG
Perseus - LH
Pharisees - EH
Philistines - HK
Pontius Pilate – FK
Procrustes - CS
Prodigal Son - GS
Prometheus - BS
Pygmalion - CA
Pyrrhus - MCC
Rachel and Leah - TF
Romulus and Remus - AG
Salome - LH
Samson and Delilah - EH
Scylla and Charybdis - HK
Sermon on the Mount - FK
Sisyphus - CS
Sodom and Gomorrah - GS
Solomon (the wise) - BS
Styx (not the band!) – CA/HK
Sword of Damocles – CS/MCC
Tantalus – BS/FK
Theseus – AG/TF
Tower of Babel – EH/GS
Trojan horse – LH