Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Saturday, February 23, 2013

FIRST QUARTER REVIEW

I  think that I have worked very hard this first quarter to maintain a good grade in this class. I have done all my blog post  and my blog is by far one of the best in my period. I have only thought about what I should do for my senior project but I havn't actually done anything for it. I hope that next quarter I wont start getting lazy because graduation is getting closer and closer. I feel that if I don't procrastinate I will be able to end the year strong. I hope that next quarter we can have more class discussions because I always enjoy those.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Lit Terms 101-136

101. Realism: writing about the ordinary aspects of life in a straightfoward manner to reflect life as it actually is.


102. Refrain: a phrase or verse recurring at intervals in a poem or song; chorus.



103. Requiem: any chant, dirge, hymn, or musical service for the dead.



104. Resolution: point in a literary work at which the chief dramatic complication is worked out; denouement.



105. Restatement: idea repeated for emphasis.



106. Rhetoric: use of language, both written and verbal in order to persuade.



107. Rhetorical Question: question suggesting its own answer or not requiring an answer; used in argument or persuasion.



108. Rising Action: plot build up, caused by conflict and complications, advancement towards climax.



109. Romanticism: movement in western culture beginning in the eighteenth and peaking in the nineteenth century as a revolt against Classicism; imagination was valued over reason and fact.



110. Satire: ridicules or condemns the weakness and wrong doings of individuals, groups, institutions, or humanity in general.



111. Scansion: the analysis of verse in terms of meter.



112. Setting: the time and place in which events in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem occur.



113. Simile: a figure of speech comparing two essentially unlike things through the use of a specific word of comparison.



114. Soliloquy: an extended speech, usually in a drama, delivered by a character alone on stage.



115. Spiritual: a folk song, usually on a religious theme.



116. Speaker: a narrator, the one speaking.



117. Stereotype: cliché; a simplified, standardized conception with a special meaning and appeal for members of a group; a formula story.



118. Stream of Consciousness: the style of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a character’s thoughts, feelings, reflections, memories, and mental images, as the character experiences them.



119. Structure: the planned framework of a literary selection; its apparent organization.



120. Style: the manner of putting thoughts into words; a characteristic way of writing or speaking.



121. Subordination: the couching of less important ideas in less important structures of language.



122. Surrealism: a style in literature and painting that stresses the subconscious or the nonrational aspects of man’s existence characterized by the juxtaposition of the bizarre and the banal.



123. Suspension of Disbelief: suspend not believing in order to enjoy it.



124. Symbol: something which stands for something else, yet has a meaning of its own.



125. Synesthesia: the use of one sense to convey the experience of another sense.



126. Synecdoche: another form of name changing, in which a part stands for the whole.



127. Syntax: the arrangement and grammatical relations of words in a sentence.



128. Theme: main idea of the story; its message(s).



129. Thesis: a proposition for consideration, especially one to be discussed and proved

or disproved; the main idea.



130. Tone: the devices used to create the mood and atmosphere of a literary work; the

author’s perceived point of view.



131. Tongue in Cheek: a type of humor in which the speaker feigns seriousness; a.k.a. “dry” or “dead pan”



132. Tragedy: in literature: any composition with a somber theme carried to a disastrous conclusion; a fatal event; protagonist usually is heroic but tragically (fatally) flawed



133. Understatement: opposite of hyperbole; saying less than you mean for emphasis



134. Vernacular: everyday speech



135. Voice: The textual features, such as diction and sentence structures, that convey a writer’s or speaker’s pesona.


136. Zeitgeist: the feeling of a particular era in history

Sunday, February 17, 2013

I AM HERE

I feel like there is so much going on right now. Basketball is finally over, but now I am working a lot more. I don't have a lot of time to spare but I always make time to continue reaching my smart goal. I haven't done much for my senior project but I have been thinking about it. I am very busy all the time, but I make sure I stay on track of everything.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Lit Terms 82-100


82.Omniscient Point of View: knowing all things, usually the third person
83. Onomatopoeia: use of a word whose sound in some degree imitates or suggests its

meaning
84. Oxymoron: a figure of speech in which two contradicting words or phrases are combined to produce a rhetorical effect by means of a concise paradox.


85. Pacing: rate of movement; tempo
86. Parable: a story designed to convey some religious principle, moral lesson, or general truth
87. Paradox: a statement apparently self-contradictory or absurd but really containing a possible truth; an opinion contrary to generally accepted ideas.
88. Parallelism: the principle in sentence structure that states elements of equal function should have equal form
89. Parody: an imitation of mimicking of a composition or of the style of a well-known artist.
90. Pathos: the ability in literature to call forth feelings of pity, compassion, and/or sadness.
91. Pedantry: a display of learning for its own sake.
92. Personification: a figure of speech attributing human qualities to inanimate objects or abstract ideas.
93. Plot: a plan or scheme to accomplish a purpose.
94. Poignant: eliciting sorrow or sentiment
95. Point of View: the attitude unifying any oral or written argumentation; in description, the physical point from which the observer views what he is describing.
96. Postmodernism: literature characterized by experimentation, irony, nontraditional forms, multiple meanings, playfulness and a blurred boundary between real and imaginary.
97. Prose: the ordinary form of spoken and written language; language that does not have a regular rhyme pattern
98. Protagonist: the central character in a work of fiction; opposes antagonist.
99. Pun: play on words; the humorous use of a word emphasizing different meanings or applications
100. Purpose: the intended result wished by an author

 

Monday, February 11, 2013

Lit Terms 57-81

57. Gothic tale: a style in literature characterized by gloomy settings, violent or grotesque action, and a mood of decay, degeneration, and decadence
58. Hyperbole: an exaggerate statement often used as a figure of speech or to prove a point
59. Imagery: figures of speech or vivid description, conveying images through any of the senses
60. Implication: a meaning or understanding that is to be arrive at by the reader but that is not fully and explicitly stated by the author
61. Incongruity: the deliberate joining if opposites or of elements that are not appropriate to each other
62. Inference: a judgement or conclusion based on evidence presented; the forming of an opinion which possesses some degree of probability according to facts already available
63. Irony: a contrast or incongruity between what is said and what is meant, or what is expected to happen and what actually happens, or what is thought to be happening and what is actually happening
64. Interior Monologue: a form of writing which represents the inner thoughts of a character; the recording if the internal, emotional experience (s) of an individual; generally the reader is given the impression of overhearing the interior monologue
65. Inversion: words out of order for emphasis
66. Juxtaposition: the intentional placement of a word, phrase, sentences of a paragraph to contrast with another nearby
67. Lyric: a poem having musical form and quality; a short outburst of the author's innermost thoughts and feelings
68. Magic(al) realism: a genre developed in Latin America which juxtaposes the everyday with marvelous or magical
69. Metaphor (extended, controlling, and mixed): an analogy that compares two different things imaginatively
--> Extended: a metaphor that is extended or developed as far as the writer wants to take it
--> Controlling: a metaphor that runs throughout the piece if work
--> Mixed: a metaphor that ineffective blends two or more analogies
70. Metonymy: literally "name changing" a device of figurative language in which the name of an attribute or associated thing is substituted for the usual name of a thing
71. Mode of Discourse: argument (persuasion), narration, description, and exposition
72. Modernism: literary movement characterized by stylistic experimentation, rejection of tradition, interest in symbolism and psychology
73. Monologue: an extended speech by a character in a play, short story, novel, or narrative poem
74. Mood: the predominating atmosphere evoked by a literary piece
75. Motif: a real curing feature (name, image or phrase) in a piece of literature
76. Myth: a story, often about immortals, and sometimes connects with religious rituals, that attempts to give meaning to the mysteries of the world
77. Narrative: a story or description of events
78. Narrator: one who narrates, or tells, a story
79. Naturalism: extreme form of realism
80. Novelette/Novella: short story; short prose narrative, often satirical
81. Omniscient Point of View: knowing all things, usually the third person

Monday, February 4, 2013

Dicken's CLAQ

A Tale of Two Cities
 
1. Summary: In the novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, a social turmoil spreads over France and England. In the beginning Jarvis Lorry is given a message to meet a young women, the lady's name is Lucie Manette. She is a orphan with a father who was put in prison, but then later found in France a man driven mad by his 18 years in prison Charles Darnay is accused of treason and is set on trial, Lucie and her father, Doctor Manette, watch the proceedings. Carton is Darnay's colleague that assisted him in court, but carton resents and despises him. Darnay's Uncle later arrives and on the way killed a young pelbian on the street, he has no remorse over the poor, this upsets Darnay and he reveals he is setting off to England. Later that night, his uncle is murdered, a note is left signed, "Jacques". Years pass and both Darnay and Carton confess their love to Lucie. Darnay asks Manette for Lucie's hand in marriage and during this time major problems result; In London, Jerry Cruncher got stuck in a funeral procession for a spy and later steals and sells the body of him, known as a "Resurrection-Man". In Paris, a spy named John Barsad, is hoping to find evidence on the mounting revolution which is still in its covert stages. In 1789, The revolution begins and a man of the Evrémonde estate is imprisoned, and being part of that family, Darnay rushes back to France. When coming back to France, he is arrested for the accusation of being an emigrant, he is put into jail and Carton arrives back to bail him out. Two brothers of the Evrémonde happened to rape and murder Madame Defarge's brother and is wanting revenge out to Darnay. Carton arranges the Manette's and Darnay's escape out of france. He disguises himself as Darnay in jail and he is later executed and Madam Defarge is killed by her own gun, leaving the others free.
2. Theme: The possibility of resurrection and sacrifice. Example: "A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every room in every one of them encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imagin-ings, a secret to the heart nearest it! Something of the awfulness, even of Death itself, is referable to this." Carton sacrifices himself for the love of Lucie and to gain a meaning for himself in life.
3. The author's tone is sentimental and sarcastic/ satirical.
  • Satire example: "That, for these reasons, the jury, being a loyal jury (as he knew they were), and being a responsible jury (as THEY knew they were), must positively find the prisoner Guilty, and make an end of him, whether they liked it or not. That, they never could lay their heads upon their pillows; that, they never could tolerate the idea of their wives laying their heads upon their pillows; that, they never could endure the notion of their children laying their heads upon their pillows; in short, that there never more could be, for them or theirs, any laying of heads upon pillows at all, unless the prisoner's head was taken off." A description of the court case in England of Darnay and the lawyer's argument. It is suppose to be a serious subject but then gets over the top and humorous.
  • Example of the sentimental side: "One year and three months. […]Every day, through the stony streets, the tumbrils now jolted heavily, filled with Condemned. Lovely girls; bright women, brown-haired, black-haired, and grey; youths; stalwart men and old; gentle born and peasant born; all red wine for La Guillotine, all daily brought into light from the dark cellars of the loathsome prisons, and carried to her through the streets to slake her devouring thirst. Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death;--the last, much the easiest to bestow, O Guillotine!" This excerpt isn't comical or have any satirical tone, rather it talks about a sad violent subject.
  • When Carton is about to be put to death, there is the repetition of "It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known." This example shows the hope and peaceful side of the story to the reader.
4. Five literary elements/ techniques I observed that strengthened my understanding of the theme and the sense of the tone were anaphora, irony, foreshadowing, personification, and paradox. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way. . " This is the example of Anaphora, repeating It was throughout. Irony was in the novel when Jerry is called an honest man. "Jerry you honest tradesman..." In fact he turns out to be in the end of the book a sneaky man. Another example of Irony is when Charles Dickens write about the Revolution, the readers and the people in the book think the Revolution will make things better when actually is a reign of terror. Foreshadowing was in the novel for example: When a wine cask shatters and the description of hands, feet, and mouths stained red from the spilled wine, Dickens says the time will come when the people will be stained red with another substance, blood. An example of personification is when Dickens conveys the concept of hunger through the chimneys of the poor and the rattling of the dry bones. Last, paradox was used to help strengthen the theme and tone in the very beginning of the novel with the example: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

Great Expectations

1. The plot involves a mysterious man named Gatsby. He is known by many, but personally known by few. Gatsby throws lavish, grand parties frequently. He does this in order to impress an old love named Daisy, and try to get her back. When an opportunity arises to get her back, Gatsby jumps on it and they rekindle their love. However, Gatsby's pursuits eventually end in his murder
2. The theme of the novel is love. All of Gatsby's actions were driven by love. For example, he threw parties, went out of his way to meet up, and took the blame for a hit and run to win Daisy's love. Love is the reason why Gatsby was living in the past, and couldn't look to his future. Ironically, love is also what ended his life.
3. The author's tone is solemn. Examples include when Tom breaks his mistress' nose when she disrespects him, when Gatsby is shot dead in his pool, and when Myrtle is run over. The book consists of tense, serious scenes. There is almost no humor or happy experiences in the novel.
4. Five literary elements/techniques that helped my understanding of the theme/tone were imagery, characterization, setting, symbolism, and diction. An excerpt of symbolism is the green light on Daisy's dock. "A single green light, minute and faraway, that might have been the end of a dock." It. represents the hopefulness and longing for love. Although Gatsby cannot reach it, it is always there- just like his devotion for Daisy. An example of setting was East Egg and West Egg. The two both represented wealth, but it also demonstrated that Daisy and Gatsby were disparate; they had grown apart. An instance of imagery is the valley of ashes. "This is a valley of ashes--a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight." This quote uses vivid imagery for the reader to visualize.