Regarding Posts
Some lovely young people have made some inquiries regarding posts amounts content, and length. Please allow me to address these concerns.
1. My "list" book is shorter than 300 pages, does this mean I can write less?
- No harm in asking, but no. For example books like TheWoman Warrior and Ethan Frome are less than 300 pages, but are complex texts that utilize imagism and symbolism repeatedly. To simply summarize the book would be doing an injustice to the author, slander to your name, and a diservice to future endeavors.
2.My post are more/less than 125, is this a problem?
- When typing this up I decided to keep the word counts low because I knew I would be commenting on your most excellent work and you would be writing back. So if you're writing less than the required amount, you're giving me less to think about, less to comment about and leaving me with an overall feeling of, "You rushed this didn't you?"
- If you write more, please try to keep it less than 300 words. As some of you have noticed, even with only the 74 word count quote topics, I sometimes will ask many questions.
3. Is this post okay?
- Ah, the constant question, isn't it? Hm, well, consider these things. Are you just summarizing? If so, please don't stop there. A degree of summary is NEEDED at this point because this is your first engagement with this book, but you should use theses summaries to push toward greater fundamental human experience truth. One young lady has pieced together the symbolism behind colors in her work--an superb posting. Another young lady questions the need for normalcy in a functioning society--heck yeah. Another has captured that art imitates life by reviewing the biographical information of her author--smashing! You should always be trying to push past WHAT happened and try to figure out WHY it happened. Now, not just from a life standpoint, or a historical stand point--because that is also crucial to understanding a work--but also from a literary stand point.
- Look also for potentially symbolic objects and events, and how they add to the message(s) of the story.
- Characterization is also an essential element of a piece of literature. Make note of the characters’ physical and psychological traits. Try to understand the action and motivations of the characters
- In short, remember to do the theme (life statements) and look for examples of the following stylistic elements and address how these elements contribute to the effect of the work as a whole. (some definitions can be found here)
- tone
- mood,
- diction
- metaphors
- simile
- personification
- metonym
- anadiplosis
- apostrophe
- anaphora
- parallelism
- allusion
- assonance
- imagery
- point-of-view
- organization
- irony
- connotation
- denotation
- syntax
- juxtaposition
- hyperbole
- synecdoche
- conduplicatio
- motif
- paradox
- symbol
- litotes
- antithesis
- epistrophe
- asyndeton
- understatement
- aosiopesis
4. I'm going to have to read this book more than once aren't I?
- Yes.
By the way, the blogs all look very pretty. I will not be judging their appearances until school starts--so by all means experiment! Also, those of you fighting with multimedia, thank you for trying :) Keep trying to get it right.
For fun you can copy and paste one of you posts into I Write Like and see what famous writers style you have.
Apparently today I write like H.P. Lovecraft....I feel so proud and evil.
Regarding Citations and Multimedia
Okay, here we go a few housekeeping points on citations.
In regards to the actual novels--we're playing it pretty loose. Just a page number is acceptable for the time being because it's informal. In regards to author research, this should be done with flawless precision.
Example of a source (Yes, I know it's Wikipedia):
The College Board publishes a recommended reading list, while emphasizing that it "does not mandate any particular authors or reading list." The reading list contains four major categories:Poetry, ranging from the 16th century (William Shakespeare) to living poets (Seamus Heaney);Drama, ranging from Greek tragedies (Aeschylus) to post-modern absurdists (Tom Stoppard);Fiction – novels and short stories, from the 18th century comedies of manner of Jane Austen to the famous "Lost Generation" of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway;Expository prose (essays), including Ralph Waldo Emerson and George Orwell ("Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition.").
On quotes:
- Block Quotes--more than four typed lines of prose, indent twice (so it should be 1 inch indentation)
- Shorter than the above can go into the paragraph you are writing without special indentations
Things that should be cited:
- If you rephrase anything. I.E. In AP Literature and Composition we'll read poetry from the last 500 years ("Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition").
- If you directly quote it.
Now if you use information from one source you should cite at the end of each paragraph.
- AP Literature has no required reading list, but there are guide lines for each genre of literature. For example, students should be exposed to poetry from the 16th century forward, dramas ranging from the Greek tragedies to the post-modernist era, and fiction dating back to the 18th century.There is also an element of expository writing but the guidelines there are even more fluid ("Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition").
You'll notice that almost the entire paragraph is from the source yet reworded. As you go through and cite your author's background you may only use one source, but if you only have 1 citation at the very end of the entire document, you're treading on dangerous ground.
In regards to multimedia, yes the multimedia must also be cited. Many of you who have already begun inserting pictures and videos are already doing this, kudos. Also, after you write your entries you are welcome to go back and add the multimedia elements to the post. I urge you to collect things that will do more than just look pretty. Think of it as a scrap book. Images, videos, and music that jog your memory of important emotional or psychological moments in the work will be more useful than a pansy because they mentioned pansies in the work.
So for an example of positive use of multimedia, one that comes to mind now--someone has a Snoopy with a Christmas tree--has absolutely nothing to do with the text on the surface, but I'm sure in 6 months when she is looking back on the blog she will easily be able to remember the scene revolving around the Christmas tree. This makes the multimedia truly worthwhile.
This blog will in many ways be a sword and shield for the course, but the blade is only sharp if you spend the time sharpening it and the shield only strong if you reenforce it.
If you have any uncertainties please feel free to hit me in the inbox or in the comments.
Keep Calm and Carry On,
KHdz
Sweet back to being evil :)
Addition: Also about 20 people have made contact with me via e-mail. Some of you haven't gotten me your URL, and I've e-mailed you about this. Please get on that. Of the remaining people, five have been reported as stating they are not doing the project. If you know one of these people, please contact me. Starting the semester with four failing test grades would make for a painful senior year.
"Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 5 May 2011. 10 Jul 2011. Web. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AP_Literature>
Think of a Book as a Murder Scene ...
...and the elements of literature as forensic evidence that will lead you to Theme--motive and identity of the killer.
Congratulations are in order. There are several people who are finishing up their first novel. If you're barely starting--don't panic. August 9th is still far off. Now let me throw you some quotes from the people at the college board
An AP English Literature and Composition course engages students in the careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature. Through the close reading of selected texts, student deep their understanding of the way writers use language to provide both meaning and pleasure to their reader. As they read the students consider a work's structure, style and themes as well as such smaller scale elements as the use of figurative language, imagery,symbolism, and tone.
A generic method for the approach to such close reading involves the following elements: the experience of literature, the interpretation of literature, and the evaluation of literature. By experience, we mean the subjective dimensions of reading and responding to literary works, including precritical impressions and emotional responses. By interpretation, we mean the analysis of literary works through close reading to arrive at an understanding of their multiple meanings. By evaluate, we mean both an assessment of the quality and artistic achievement of literary works and a consideration of their social and cultural values.(English Literature and Composition: The Course Reading, 6)
Many of you are living in the realm of experience. You're writing about your emotional and personal responses to the literature. This is truly the importance of literature, the heart of it, and the reason we share literature, but this alone isn't enough. Collectively, you must move forward to the interpretation and evaluation arenas. Some of you are getting there on your own as you progress through the book, asking questions of the book, and making arguments. Sadly, some of you I feel are summarizing books and counting words. Let the book speak it's wisdom to you.
If you're not sure where to begin to shift into the latter arenas ponder the first paragraph of the quote. Structure and the other elements from the list a few posts ago are essential to being able to write effectively for not only this course and it's test, but also for your college experience. Something as simple as point of view can be very telling--why first person and not 3rd omniscient or vice versa, what insights and benefits or hampers do we run into with this style of story telling? S
I urge you to begin to move away from the safe, comfortable haven of plot summary and boldly venture out into the undiscovered countries of interpretation and evaluation.
English Literature and Composition: The Course Reading. Professional Development AP English Literature and Composition Workshop
Handbook 2009-2010. The College Board. 2009. 7. Print.
I'm so amused....evil again....
