DAY 2 - CYCLE 12 - SEMESTER 2

Today was an in class reading day since so many of you had the AP Euro exam this morning and late games last night.

For today, I recommended that you get up to page 213 in the novel. This is, no question, a more disturbing portion of 1984, as we see what happens in the Ministry of Truth. We'll talk a bit on Friday. You might want to check out the links to the left. Be forewarned: they too can be disturbing and you should talk with your parents and read the news to help create a broader context for your understanding. I have provided links to news articles as well.

For Friday: try to be up through 232. For Monday, be up through 266.

Questions we'll consider:
PAGES 194-213

• What is beautiful to Winston about the singing laundry woman below?
• Why does Winston maintain hope in the proles, even if the book makes it pretty clear that such hope is in vain?
• Why don’t Julia and Winston try to escape?
• How effective is the paperweight as a symbol? (198)
• What indications do we have that Winston has been through this before?
• Why don’t the regular criminals talk to the “’polits’” (203)? Why do regular criminals have the power there?
• Winston believes that he will not betray Julia because he loves her. At that same time, he “hardly even wondered what was happening to her” (204). How is this possible? Does he love her?
• What realizations come with each of the prisoners he encounters: the drunk, 60 year old woman; Ampleforth; Parsons; the starving man; Bumstead.
  The starving man makes many offers to avoid room 101. What is signified by these offers?
• Why does the starving man turn on the one person who offered him food?
• What does O’Brien mean when he says, “’They got me a long time ago’” (213)?

PAGES 213-232

• What is the purpose of all that Winston is subjected to? His treatment goes in phases. Identify the various phases of his torment, their purpose, and the result.
• Where do we see Winston's resolve breaking down? Identify the specific instances and be able to explain how you know.
• Why does Winston consider O'Brien both "protector" and "friend" as well as "tormentor" and "inquisitor" (217)?
• What is O'Brien's ultimate goal with Winston? Why?
• Do you believe O'Brien's claim that reality is entirely within the mind?
• Does Winston want to meet O'Brien's goals for him? How do you know?
• According to O'Brien, how does Oceania differ from earlier regimes?
• What does O'Brien mean exactly when he tells Winston "'You do not exist'" (231)?
• Why won't O'Brien answer the question about the Brotherhood (232)?

DAY 1 - CYCLE 12 - SEMESTER 2

Today, we covered adverbial objectives in the sentence diagramming work book. Wheeee! OK, so maybe they weren't a great party, but they're not so tricky once you get the hang of them. See me if you're confused.

We also answered questions about the reading covering 179-194. Note may be found on the wikispace. Questions included:

1. Is Winston’s hope in the proles in vain?
2. What are the four ways a state can fail? Which are the ones of legitimate concern to Big Brother and how are they managed?
3. Did Big Brother ever exist?
4. Why is Big Brother necessary as a figure?
5. Would the regime fail if Big Brother's non-existence were revealed?
   
6. What’s the purpose of the two tier party system?
7. How does the fact that position within the Party is not hereditary help it survive? (“The essence of oligarchical rule is not a father-to-son inheritance, but the persistence of a certain world-view and a certain way of life, imposed by the dead upon the living. A ruling group is a ruling group so long as it can nominate its successors.” [186]).
8. If what The Book says about the inner party is true, should we trust O’Brien (171-172, 187)?
9. Can reducing the language to Newspeak really reduce independent thought?
10. Do you think crimestop is possible?
11. Are Winston and Julia as independent of mind as they believe?
    
12. Why is there no law in Oceania?
13. Why is the book a relief to Winston when its message is so bleak?
14. Given what we learn in the book, is it possible for Big Brother to be defeated?
15. What do you think "the motive" for the regime is?
16. Is Winston living a worthwhile existence?
17. What are Winston’s options at this point?
18. If they are trying to get rid of the word and idea of revolution, why do they continue to build up the Goldstein story?
19. Julia isn’t particularly impressed by the book. Is her lack of interest a product of the party or the personality?

HOMEWORK
Read to page 213. Tomorrow will be a reading day. We will conclude the novel for Monday.

DAY 5 - CYCLE 11 - SEMESTER 2

Today, Coordinating Conjunctions in the Sentence Diagramming Workbook. Questions? See me.

Then, it was on to discussion. The questions we covered:

• Why does Big Brother wait until the end of Hate Week to say that Oceania is at war with Eastasia and that Eurasia is an ally?
• “In so far as he had time to remember it, he was not troubled by the fact that every word he murmured into the speakwrite, every stroke of his ink pencil, was a deliberate lie” (162). Why not?
• What is Oligarchical Collectivism? Look up the words!
• Why does war exist in Oceania? What purposes does it serve? (See pages 165-167, 177.)
• Do you agree that a social hierarchy is necessary for society to function? Do you believe that true equality is possible? (169)
• Groups bonded by fanatical ideology (Taliban, Al Quaeda, etc.) are not limited to the borders of nation-states, and their ideologies are not grounded in economic concerns. Does Orwell’s message still apply to the modern world?
• Why doesn’t Julia care about the book?
• Who are the high, middle and low in Oceania. How do their interests compete?
  

Notes are on the wikispace.

Sure, Goldstein's book is not a riveting read, but the ideas are chock-full or remarkable assumptions. For instance: war is perpetuated because it deprive the nation of goods; this is necessary to keep people living on the edge of privation; this is desireable because comfortable living standards would give people the chance to become aware/smart; if that happens, they'll become politically active, and thus dangerous. So, to break that down further, if people have all of their needs and many of their wants met, they'll grow politically active. Hmmmm. Does our own experience bear this out? As always, it depends on how you look at it. That's the value of this novel, especially during these drier passages. No, it does not have the riveting plot twists of The Count of Monte Cristo, but it's rife with material against which we may sharpen our own values and understanding of the world we live in.

FOR TOMORROW
Read up through 194.

• Is Winston’s hope in the proles in vain?
• Why is the book a relief to Winston when its message is so bleak?
• Given what we learn in the book, is it possible for Big Brother to be defeated?

DAY 4 - CYCLE 11 - SEMESTER 2

Today, we covered the next 5 words in the vocabulary book (with the never-fail crowd pleaser "juggernaut"). We then discussed 138-158 in 1984. Notes may be found on the wikispace.

In your discussions, you're making references to the text, but a number of those references are not finding their way to the class notes. Let's keep an eye on the notes as we go and help create a more useful record for ourselves.

HOMEWORK:
Read up through the top of page 179, just before the dialogue. Be prepared to discuss the following topics (the last two questions apply to reading through the end of the chapter on 198, which we will do for tomorrow night's homework):

BE PREPARED TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING, WITH EVIDENCE, IF CALLED ON:
Why does war exist in Oceania? What purposes does it serve?
Do you agree that a social hierarchy is necessary for society to function? Do you believe that true equality is possible?
Why doesn’t Julia care about the book?
Is Winston’s hope in the proles in vain?
Why is the book a relief to Winston when its message is so bleak?
Given what we learn in the book, is it possible for Big Brother to be defeated?

DAY 3 - CYCLE 11 - SEMESTER 2

Reading day today. I am looking forward to tomorrow's well-informed conversation. It's a big news week this week with the Senate releasing reports and the Justic Department releasing memos about interrogation methods. Wrong to question people in this way or wrong to reveal our methods? You choose. See links to left.

Be up through page 158 by tomorrow.

And just so you know, today in Chicago, it was Talk Like Shakespeare day. Methinks t'was a brilliant jest.

DAY 2 - CYCLE 11 - SEMESTER 2

Today, we covered the first five words of Unit 8 in the vocabulary book. Then, it was on to book discussion of reading #5: pages 103-130. This was a quicker read than earlier assignments and indeed, the novel picks up its pace from here. Winston and Julia finally develop a relationship, and while it begins as a physical one, soon Winston wants it to be more and is willing to risk more to have it be so. We touched on major issues of the reading which you can see from your class notes, but there is more to be had. We'll get to that tomorrow, as well as a discussion of your 12-sentence paragraphs which are due tomorrow. (Lost the handout from last week? Check here.)

Tonight's homework is to finish your paragraph. For Friday, please read up through page 158 of the novel.

Oh, and for group 4, here is the link about real lemming behavior. So much for thinking Disney tells us nothing but the truth... (ha!)

Also, here is more about the nursery rhyme from the novel.

DAY 1 - CYCLE 11 - SEMESTER 2

Today, we did a review of lessons 19-21 in the Sentence Diagramming book. I have issues with one of the sentences -- group 6, you know which one, and I am looking for answers.

Then, it was on to a discussion of last night's more dramatic plot line, and the three sections covered a wide variety of material. The main point that we reached, however, was this: to become increasingly human is to become increasingly revolutionary. How did we get there? We looked at Winston's progress from being an acquiescent (if begrudging) sheep to becoming an active dissident of the Party. He becomes increasingly determined to imagine life beyond the world view constructed by Big Brother, and starts taking steps to learn about it. He goes further to imagine how he might defy Big Brother for his own sake. As he becomes more of an individual, he becomes more of a criminal. It is with the greatest act of criminality--devoting his attention, emotions, and aspirations to a member of the opposite sex to whom he is attracted--that he shows the greatest commitment to life. When he feels empathy for another, seeks connection, and places faith in her potential for decency, he feels life is worth living and doesn't want to risk losing it through small infractions. It is an extraordinary mix of the personal and political. In tonight's reading, you'll see how that mix develops.

I forgot to put the notes for groups 4 and 6 up on the wiki. They'll be up first thing in the morning and I apologize for the inconvenience.

HOMEWORK
Read through page 130 in the novel.

DAY 5 - CYCLE 10 - SEMESTER 2

Today, we began on page 67 of the Sentence Diagramming Workbook: Objective Complements (21). We'll be using the modern method on our in-class work, though I will accept either on a quiz.

We then discussed 056-072 in 1984, and you can find those notes here. I gave you the last third of the class to start on the reading for tomorrow: up through page 103.

HOMEWORK:
Read through page 103 of 1984. Come fully prepared to discuss at least three of the questions below (flagged evidence, thoughtful reflections, etc.).

Questions for tomorrow:

1. Who is bombing the proles and why?
2. Why does Winston approach the old man with such uncharacteristic openness and determination?
3. Why does he find the answers from the old man at the bar annoying but the similar quality of answer from Mr. Charrington interesting?
4. Does Winston have courage?
5. Why does the dark haired girl write that particular message when she has never spoken to Winston? Does she mean it?
6. Why does he want to see her?
7. We end Book One in this reading assignment. Such sections of books are generally unified sections, distinct from one another. What are some of the unifying themes of Book One? Just from the first chapter, can you tell if Book Two is going to focus on something different?
8. Should Winston trust the dark haired girl? Do you?
9. Just from the way the dark-haired girl goes about shadowing him, then attracting Winston’s attention, learning about him and then arranging a meeting with him, what can we tell about her? (see pages 8, 10, 12, 27, 54, 55, 89, 93-4, 98-103)
10. Why does everyone rush to see the prisoners? What can we tell from their expressions?

DAY 4 - CYCLE 10 - SEMESTER 2

Today, you took the Unit 7 vocabulary quiz, and then we finished the video. I asked you then to make a list of any kind of comparison you could between the novel and the video. Discussion time was short, but you were able to jot down a few notes, which are available on the wikispace. I did ask you to give some thought to the following questions:

1. Is it possible to maintain independence of mind in such a society as Winston's? (Think about the documentary's comments about belief and fear near the end of the video.)
2. Are there any indications that Winston has had problems with too independent a mind in the past?

If you'd like to learn more about North Korea (our overviews of them and their presentations of themselves), please visit:

• US State Department's overview
• North Korea's "official webpage"
• CIA World Fact Book
• North Korean Central News Agency (wow...)
  

Homework
Read up to page 72 with consideration to the two questions above, AND the additional discussion questions below. Non-talkers? Really think about these and start arming yourself with ideas.

1. Why does recalling the evening with the prostitute inspire such violent reactions in Winston?
2. How does life differ for Party members and the proles?
3. “The aim of the Party was not merely to prevent men and women from forming loyalties which it might not be able to control. Its real, undeclared purpose was to remove all pleasure from the sexual act” (58). Why? What purpose does this serve?
4. Why aren’t the proles supposed to have gin? Why are they allowed to be promiscuous and divorce one another, but Party members are not?
5. Why does Winston think “If there is hope, it lies in the proles” (61)? Explain what his reasoning is likely to be.
6. “The ideal set up by the Party was something huge, terrible, and glittering -- a world of steel and concrete, of monstrous machines and terrifying weapons -- a nation of warriors and fanatics, marching forward in perfect unity, all thinking the same thoughts and shouting the same slogans, perpetually working, fighting, triumphing, persecuting -- three hundred million people all with the same face” (65). What about this is appealing?
7. What does the literacy rate imply about life in Oceania?
8. What sort of person hangs out at the Chestnut Tree Café?
9. What do you suppose in meant by the lyrics on page 68?
10. Why did he throw away the photograph then, and why would he keep it now?
11. Why does he think he is writing the diary for O’Brien?
12. Explain the logic that motivates the lines: “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows” (72).

DAY 3 - CYCLE 10 - SEMESTER 2

Today, we talked briefly about "doublethink," or the power to willfully believe what you know to be false. In the world of Big Brother, it is necessary to ignore one's own memory and experience for the sake of survival. Winston knows that Oceania has been at war with both East Asia and Eurasia, but to say so would defy Party doctrine and therefore endanger him.

In such a world, is it possible to maintain your own mind? Can you really effectively perceive reality after so much doublethink? Does resistance eventually erode?

Toward understanding this sinister world, I showed you the first part of a documentary about North Korea. (It's worth reading some of the Amazon reviews for criticism of it.) The documentary is available via Youtube:











HOMEWORK
Study for tomorrow's 10-question quiz covering ONLY the words from Unit 7. Catch up on your reading if you're behind; read ahead if you're up to date.

DAY 2 - CYCLE 10 - SEMESTER 2

Today, you did the first review exercise in the vocabulary book. Then, with a few discussion prompts, you all had great conversations and typed up notes. You can find the notes and study guide here. Silent types? You're leading tomorrow with questions!

More about the Nazi Youth:

• Article 1: Primary source
• Article 2: Semi-primary source (interview summary)

HOMEWORK: Read up through the top of page 56. You can get to the study guide for the section by clicking the link above.

DAY 1 - CYCLE 10 - SEMESTER 2

Today, you turned in your Say Show Mean papers. (Those who used your "Get Out of Jail Free" cards, I will NOT seek you out with a reminder to meet the terms of the agreement that card establishes.) Afterwards, we covered Lesson 20 in the Sentence Diagramming Workbook, "Indirect Objects." Remember that with an indirect object, the "to" is implied, as suggested by the blank line in the diagram itself. You can always insert a "to" after the verb in a sentence using an indirect object, which should help you understand. Then, we covered the last five words of Unit 7 in the vocabulary book. Groups 4 and 6, you will have a brief, 10-question objective quiz on Thursday covering ONLY Unit 7. Group 2, yours will be on Friday. Continue to bring your book to class as we will be doing the exercises in the book.

Then we began 1984. We started with an anticipation guide in which I asked you to respond to several ethical/political statements. One of these statements will form the basis of your 12-sentence paragraph due a week from Thursday. We loosely talked about several of the statements, but you'll need to follow up on your own to cultivate a more dimensional view of your own values. I also distributed a Study Guide, which I will not check. This is for you to make sure you are understanding the details of the reading. If you tend to get a B or below on your reading quizzes, then you should use the study guide to make sure you are getting the larger ideas.

Ultimately, Orwell asks us to take a long, hard look at some of our most unquestioned convictions. Why does any government have a right to exist? For what purpose? What traits and motives make any government legitimate? And once in power, to what extent is it right for that government to want to keep that power? What means are permissable? You will be exploring the very same questions in Western Civilizations in your study of Totalitarianisn, and they are questions you have already loosely entertained in your reading of Lord of the Flies, Macbeth, Watership Down, and Farenheit 451. We will apply your burgeoning understanding to discussions which connect the novel to articles and videos about North Korea, Burma (Myanmar), the Taliban and others. This book is not an articfact: it is a vibrant document that addresses some of the most pressing questions of the age. How do we construct stable societies without restricting humanity? Under what circumstances may any power be trusted? These questions shape our own world today, just as they do for our protagonist of this 1949 classic, Winston Smith.

Tomorrow, we will begin class with the question, Why can't Winston remember his childhood? There will be additional questions, but read through page 25 and be prepared to start with this one and to offer several of your own. You'll be driving discussion collectively, and you'll be keeping notes as you go.

Tangentially, we got to some questions about new demands on our government in the wake of 9/11. We looked at some headline grabbers of the past few years that both sides have sought to spin for political gain. Here are links to follow up stories that represent a variety of versions, and homefully, explain the situations better:

Valerie Plame

• Outed agent Valerie Plame's interview with 60 Minutes host, Katie Couric
• The story as the conservative "National Review" sees it
• The story as David Corn of the liberal "The Nation" sees it
• A source verified timeline of events that seeks to avoid bias

US Government wiretapping of US citizens

• An overview of warrantless wiretapping (Washington Post)
• The legal debate over wiretapping (NPR)
• One of the stories that broke the warrantless wiretapping story (NY Times)
• OK, not so much about wiretapping, but an interesting article about how technology is forcing private freedoms/public security conflicts to the forefront (NY Times)

You can find TONS more, both conservative and liberal, on these stories.

HOMEWORK

1. Start thinking about that 12-sentence paragraph. Read a paper tonight. Talk about these statements over the dinner table. Read an op-ed page from any paper.

2. Read 1-25 of 1984. Come ready to discuss. Write down your questions.

3. Study for Thursday's (4&6)/Friday's (2) vocabulary quiz.

DAY 5 - CYCLE 9 - SEMESETER 2

Today was a work day so you could make progress on your Say Show Mean.

YOUR SAY SHOW MEAN IS DUE ON MONDAY. IT SHOULD BE TYPED AND DOUBLE SPACED.

PLEASE FOLLOW CONVENTIONS:

• Poem titles appear in quotation marks.
• Refer to the narrator of the poem as the speaker, not the poet.
• Use line numbers to indicate where a quote is located within the poem: The soldiers often “think of firelit homes, clean beds, and wives” (8) when at the front.
• Use a slash to indicate the start of a new line in the poem segment you are quoting: The speaker conveys that the soldier suffered greatly in the trenches: “I see them in the foul dug-outs, gnawed by rats,/And in the ruined trenches, lashed with rain” (9-10).
• Quote only a few words, not an entire stanza.
• Avoid cliches. Don't offer meaningless drivel like, "The poet shows it is important to enjoy the little things in life."
• ABSOLUTELY NO INSTANCES OF "This shows that" (or anything of similar ilk) SHOULD APPEAR IN YOUR ESSAY!

Again, here is a significant recommendation: CIRCLE THE NOUNS IN YOUR CHOSEN POEM. Start looking for patterns in them. Are they references to weaponry? Nature? Duties? Leisure? You can do the same with verbs. If there are symbolic pieces (poppies, torch, etc.), think about the attributes of those items and look up information about them

You should have one coherent paragraph for the Say section, one for the Show section and one for the Mean section.

PLEASE BRING 1984 TO CLASS WITH YOU ON MONDAY!

DAY 4 - CYCLE 9- SEMSETER 2

Today, we discussed a poem of your choice and talked through the Say Show Mean exercise. "Dreamers," "Dulce et Decorum Est," and "In Flanders Fields" were all the subjects of dicussion.

Here is a significant recommendation: CIRCLE THE NOUNS IN YOUR CHOSEN POEM. Start looking for patterns in them. Are they references to weaponry? Nature? Duties? Leisure? You can do the same with verbs. If there are symbolic pieces (poppies, torch, etc.), think about the attributes of those items and look up information about them).

Tomorrow is a workday. Tonight, just keep working on your Say Show Mean. Group 2, your notes are here.

DAY 3 - CYCLE 9 - SEMESTER 2

Well, today was a bit of hitting the reset button. After discussing the Macbeth tests, we went over Say-Show-Mean in class to catch you up from last Friday. I had you turn in whatever you wrote over the weekend. You'll be completing a fully written Say-Show-Mean this week, polishing it over the weekend and turning it in on Monday.

For tonight, the homework is light (hope you went to An Evening with the Experts at school tonight!): read all of the poems in the packet and pick the one that you want to talk about. Be ready to give the poet and title immediately when you get to class. We'll discuss what we can in class, and then you'll have a work day to start your writing. We'll go through the same process as today, asking the central questions for each portion:

SAY: Who is the speaker? Where is he/she speaking? To whom? About what? With what overall attitude?

SHOW: How is the poet trying to get the reader to think/feel particular things? (Remember, the same skills you use to parse out the hidden meanings in the words uttered to you by your secret crush are pretty much the same kind of skills you bring to bear on the study of literature, once again proving that much of life can be expressed by means of analogy to eighth grade social dramas.)

MEAN: So what? Why does the poet want us to feel this way? How does that help us better understand history, ourselves, or the reason we're on the planet?

DAY 2 - CYCLE 9 - SEMESTER 2

I was out today (Friday, April 3rd), so Mrs. Basson subbed for me. According to her:

1. You diagrammed odd # sentences from Lesson 19 in the sentence diagramming workbook.
2. You did a long and deep analysis of "Anthem for Doomed Youth" by Wilfred Owen, focusing on the images raised in the poem. Remember that an "image" in poetry is something that appeals to any of the five senses, not just the visual sense.
3. You discussed what it means to "parse" something.
4. You covered the vocabulary terms in the poem: anthem, pall, orisons, pallor, shires.
5. You did NOT review the Say-Show-Mean exercise, which was supposed to be the focus of the day, so we'll work on that on Monday.
6. Group 2 read aloud "Dulce et Decorum Est" and "The Parable of the Old Man and the Young," but Groups 4 and 6 did not.
7. FOR HOMEWORK, you were asked to write one paragraph for EACH stanza of the poem, answering the question, "What does the stanza SHOW?" You were to use three quotes per paragraph.

DAY 1 - CYCLE 9 - SEMSESTER 2

Today, we covered the next five words of Unit 7 and finished the sentence diagramming review on page 60. Then, you took out your homework and we discussed Rupert Brooke's "The Dead" and "The Soldier."

Specific questions about the poems included:
"The Dead"

1. In line 9, who is "our"?
2. What is personified in line 11? How?
3. What is personified in line 13? How?
4. What effect does this personification have? What does it tell us about the speaker's values & beliefs?
5. What exactly have the Dead brought? How has it changed the recipients?
6. Consider this as an Italian sonnet: what exactly is "posed" by the octave? What exactly is "resolved" by the sestet?

"The Soldier"

1. To whom is the speaker of this poem addressing his words?
2. What exactly makes the "richer dust" referenced in line 4 actually "richer"?
3. According to what is suggested in the octave, what makes England special? What makes the speaker special?
4. There is a transition between the octance and sestet. What exactly is the nature of that transition?
5. Where is the speaker in the sestet?
6. About whom is the speaker speaking in the last line? Why are they at peace?

Then we moved on to discuss Mary Herschel-Clarke's "The Mother," which was written in response to Rupert Brooke's "The Soldier." We read it aloud together, and addressed the following questions:

1. To whom is the speaker of this poem addressing her comments?
2. Where does she assume her audience is?
3. How is the speaker handling things?
4. Why are the last two lines in parentheses?
5. What is the attitude of this speaker?
6. Does this poet like/admire Brooke's perspective?

After we concluded our discussion, I distributed a handout on Say Show Mean exercises. You will do a group Say-Show-Mean activity in class tomorrow on Wilfred Owen's "Anthem for Doomed Youth" (page 8 of the packet).

HOMEWORK

Read over both the poem and the worksheet distributed in class (both handouts are linked to on this blog and you can find them on the wikispace) in preparation for tomorrow. You will want to refamiliarize yourself with literary terms.

Add 15 adjectives about WWI to the wikispace page (it will be up by 4pm).

DAY 5 - CYCLE 8 - SEMESTER 2

Today, we went through the first five words of Unit 7 in the vocabulary book. Then, we did four sentence diagrams on page 59 of the sentence diagramming workbook. Afterwards, I distributed the WWI poetry packet and cruelly told you that you needed to memorize ten poems by Monday. Hooray for April Fool's Day! You don't need to memorize anything. Thanks for letting me have fun at your expense, though!

Together, we read through the introductory essay. Test your remembrance of that essay by asking yourself:

1. What is a "poetic moment"?
2. How is form important to poetry?
3. How should you approach the reading of poetry to get anything out of it?

We then read over some instructions about how to read poems. Remember that simply to go through them once to get the gist of them is like walking by a stadium to get an understanding of a particular game of football. Doing so in either case won't lead you to a rewarding understanding and you certainly won't have any fun. So, take the trouble to get inside where what you see might excite, startle, and amuse you.

We'll be getting more into form in the following days, but for today we looked at sonnet forms: the Italian, English and Spenserian. Check your memory:

1. What are the stanza formations in each?
2. What is the rhyme scheme in each?
3. How do the stanzas relate to one another?
4. What's an octave, sestet, rhyming couplet, and quatrain?
5. What meter are sonnets written in? How would the rhythm of one line of that meter sound?

When poets deviate from these standards, look for reasons why he/she might have done that. Often, there's a reason that gives a clue to the poem's meaning. In two of the classes, I had the chance to tell you about a segment of the late Randy Pausch's "The Last Lecture;" the segment of which I spoke is at 37:20 in the video. The reason the ending of that virtual world is hilarious is because its opening was pure precious treacle. The whole notion of contrast is vitally important to WWI poetry (and just about any human endeavor to teach or amuse, frankly), so keep an eye out for it.

We began to look at a poem together: Rupert Brooke's "The Dead." Brooke, as I mentioned, died on the way to Gallipoli, and while he died young, perhaps he was spared a worse fate by missing that particular military encounter.

We all got through the first octave and started to make some good sense of that. But there is still much to be gained, and that's where your homework starts. In groups 2 and 4, I had brains enough left to collect your homework assignment due today: the list of thirty words you associate with WWI (15 nouns, 15 verbs). Group 6, I still need most of yours. You'll be writing your own war sonnet over the course of this unit, just to get a feel for what things are like on the other side of the pen.

But for tonight, you just need to get comfortable with the process of reading a poem for meaning, so I gave you a paraphrasing assignment.

HOMEWORK
Using the model poem, paraphrase, and note/comment form I passed out in class, complete your own paraphrase of the last stanza of "The Dead" and do one for "The Soldier," the poem that appears immediately to the right of "The Dead." We will talk about them tomorrow, right after we do some vocabulary and sentence diagramming. Group 6, bring your word lists with you.