I know you thought you’d gotten rid of me, but there’s one last thing to do for your favorite class ever before your senior year is over! Four short, fun posts to write for me (Water, Water, Everywhere; The Eye Of The Beholder, Love and Loss, There’s No Place Like Home) and then you’re done!

Thank you for a wonderful year! Please write me and keep me updated with details of your fabulous futures, kiddos, so that I can live vicariously through you, and remember I will always be here for anything you need. You touched my heart and changed my life in many ways you probably will never know… I love each and every one of you and will never forget you!

Beowulf! Gato valiente!

Literature rules!

love,

Miss Gabi

Explore what you know about the prevalence of random violence and vandalism in your own community using the 5W-How questions (Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?).

“There’s no place like home”. Usually these words are spoken fondly, but-whether you love your home, loathe it, or just take it for granted- there’s still a certain truth to the saying.

How do you feel about home? Are you dying to get away, or do you hope you never have to leave?

Whatever your answer, your feelings would probably be different, or sharper, if you were forced out of your homeland and locked up somewhere far away. How would they be affected if danger suddenly loomed, and common sense said “leave now”?

Do you think the speaker had a joyous or miserable past? Why?

Read Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barret Browning. This poem expresses an ardent, joyful love, a truly transforming love. And yet, it is not a blind, infatuated love. Expressions of love are often exaggerated. Think of some exaggerations you could use to say “I love you”.

Do you think that the emotions presented in this sonnet are universal? Why or why not?

The most famous line in Sonnet 43 is “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways”. Why do you think this line is so popular?

In the poem She Walks in Beauty, by Lord Byron, what in the woman’s appearance does the speaker praise? what conclusions does he draw about her character and personality?

This poem has been criticized as sentimental and dependent on clichés. Tell me whether or not you agree and why.

Do you think that inward nature can be revealed by outward appearances? Explain.

Coleridge once said that he would have preferred to write The Rime of the Ancient Mariner as a work of “pure imagination”. He believed that it had “too much” of a moral, and that the moral was stated too openly. Do you agree or disagree with Coleridge about the message in this poem? Why?

1. How does Orwell explore the problem of rhetoric in Animal Farm? Paying particular attention to the character of Squealer, how is language used as an instrument of social control? How do the pigs rewrite history?

2. Discuss Boxer. What role does he play on the farm? Why does Napoleon seem to feel threatened by him? In what ways might one view the betrayal of Boxer as an alternative climax of the novel (if we consider Napoleon’s banishment of Snowball and the pigs’ initial consolidation of power as the true climax)?

3. Do you think Animal Farm’s message would come across effectively to someone who knows nothing about Soviet history or the conflict between Stalin and Trotsky? What might such a reader make of the story?

4. Of all of the characters in Animal Farm, are there any who seem to represent the point of view of the author? Which of the animals or people do you think come(s) closest to achieving Orwell’s perspective on Animal Farm?

If you could be any person in the world, who would you be, and why?

Describe a place you remember from your childhood.

Write a list of 25 things you want to do in life.

What is something you do well?

1. The murder of King Duncan and the killing of the guards

2. The coronation of Macbeth

3.The death of Lady Macbeth

Be sure to use the 5 W’s and H (What, who, when, where, why and how)

*extra credit*

Assignment 1: Whoso List to Hunt
Assignment 2: Poem in Iambic Pentameter
Assignment 3: Myself in 10 Years (essay)
Assignment 4: Carpe Diem, Last Day On Earth (essay)
Assignment 5: Carpe Diem Poem
Assignment 6: The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd (poem)
Assignment 7: Questions about Renaissance Poetry
Assignment 8: The Criminal Mind
Assignment 9: Shakespeare’s Words
Assignment 10: A Video From The Grave

It’s been a great period, hasn’t it? Shakespeare rocks. Iambic pentameter is so cool. Poetry rules. Actually, literature rules…

Write a post detailing your opinion about this political upheaval in our country. Include links to local and international newspaper articles, videos, etc.

(You may write in Spanish, just this once, but only if you really, really, really want to)