The Amish ProjectAs you know, the Romanticists were very enthusiastic about nature and individualism. In today's world, technology exists that could either assist (e.g. GPS helps us navigate and experience nature in a safer way) or hinder (e.g. you can't enjoy your individuality and the world around you if you're constantly responding to texts or wall posts) that viewpoint. Read this article about a man that decided to temporarily cut technology from his life and what he learned from the experience. How do people in the year 2013 experience nature and individuality differently than our forebears in the 1800s? How do you feel about technology and its impact on your daily life? Could you go without technology for three months?
College Application Essay ProjectAttached is the rubric for the overall project that we've been working on for the past two weeks or more! Remember that work will only be accepted in printed form at the start of class on Monday. Handwritten drafts are fine for the first draft and five-paragraph essay, but the final draft must have been typed.
The CrisisThe rubric for the current assignment, including questions, is attached below! Here also is a link to Common Sense for your reading pleasure.
Phillis WheatleyAttached below is the Phillis Wheatley poem To His Excellency General Washington. Look over it!
Benjamin FranklinBelow is the section of Franklin's Autobiography containing his list of thirteen virtues!
Anne BradstreetBelow you will find resources for the Anne Bradstreet works that we looked at in the past week, as well as links to the supplemental pieces for your compare-and-contrast pleasure. Elizabeth Barrett Browning Shel Silverstein In an unrelated note--although one that I'm certain must be wholly unnecessary, as you've already begun to read--skip the introduction to The Scarlet Letter.
Young Goodman BrownToday we discussed allegory and allusion. These concepts are important tools in literature, as they can convey a hidden meaning (allegory) or save time and space by referencing a reader's prior knowledge (allusion). If I were to say "that guy is a real Scrooge," you would probably understand that I meant to describe him as a miser (mean and cheap). Allegory can often be synonymous with "the moral of the story." Does your favorite story make use of these literary concepts? You might be surprised.
It Tolls For TheeToday we looked at two examples of sermons, John Donne's Meditation XVII and Jonathan Edwards' Sinners In The Hands of An Angry God. For most of the history of civilization, a large percentage of the surviving literature is about or influenced by religion. Colonial America was no different. What distinguishes a lot of early Colonial literature is the strict interpretation of religion, which had legal ramifications, as the laws were written primarily to maintain a certain code of behavior. Consider the contrasting themes of Donne and Edwards. Donne addressed how everyone dies someday, while Edwards spoke about the inevitable doom that all people had to look forward to as sinners. The tone of the works couldn't be more different. Why do you think that the colonists had such a grim outlook? When John Donne says "...never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee," how might Edwards use that same terminology differently? ETA: Remember how I used the Florida sinkholes as an example in class today, and also how I told you that I never teach irony? Here you go.
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