Sublime Case Study

The sophomore Sublime Case Studies have been turned in and they are much more (more thoughtful, more creative, more in-depth) than I expected.  I had a suspicion that my students would do a good job with this assignment (Uni students are very impressive when given free reign to be creative) but these projects were even better than my wildest imaginings.  There are a number of projects that can be viewed on the wiki (while you are these, you should also check out the poetry explication entries). I've listed some other electronic projects of note below.  Several students made movies and I am hoping they will give me copies to put online or upload them on their own.  I'll add more examples as they come online.  In the meantime, please enjoy.

Stefanie S. website (featuring sublime photos from Uni's own Sindha A.) 

Eric C. website

Raina M. movie

Paradise Lost-Frankenstein Exam Review

Poetry:
Be able to identify and briefly discuss the following poems:

-William Wordsworth, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”
-Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Ozymandias”

Terms:
Romanticism

From Paradise Lost

Vocabulary:
invoke (I.13), confound (I.53), impetuous (I.175), guile (I.646), impious (I.686), zenith (I.345), jocund (I.787), tumultuous (IV.16), venial (5), harbinger (13), imp (89), redound (128) ply (201), affront (328), sapient (442), pent (445), credulous (644), concupiscence (1078), impute (1145), facile (1158)

Terms:
Epic poem
Allusion
Invocation
Epic simile
Blank verse

Passages for identification:
• I.1-16: “Of man’s first disobedience . . . unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.”

• I.635-42: “For me be witness . . . tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall.”

• III.45-55: “ever-during dark . . . invisible to mortal sight.”

• IV.32-41: “O thou that with surpassing glory . . . heaven’s matchless king.”

• IV.744-57: “Whatever hypocrites austerely talk . . . first were known.”

• IX.114-28: “With what delight . . . worse to me redound.”

• IX.322-41: “If this be our condition . . . no Eden thus exposed.”

• IX.602-12: “Thenceforth to speculations . . . universal dame.”

• IX.811-25: “And I perhaps am secret . . . inferior who is free?”

• IX.1022-33: “Much pleasure we have lost . . . virtuous tree.”


From Frankenstein

Vocabulary:
inure (2), poignant (11), indefatigable (14), abstruse (29), precept (31), diffident (44), salubrious (45), obdurate, ignominy (58), efface (62), sublime (64), precipitous (66), slake (71), exhortation (79), scion (84), abject (84), consummation (87), sagacity (93), respite (100), concede (104), abhorred (108), guise (110), sedulous (111), expedite (118), sophism (121), mutable (126), precarious (133), torpor (134), erroneous (136), consternation (137), acme (146), gibe (153)

Terms:
The Sublime
Frame narrative
Tabula rasa
Epistolary novel
Orientalism

Passages for identification:
• P. 2 – “ I imagined that I might also obtain a niche … the channel of their earlier bent”

• P. 12 – “Unhappy man! Do you share my madness? … dash the cup from your lips!”

• P.15 – “I was their plaything and their idol … all seemed but one train of enjoyment to me”

• P. 23 – “It was a strong effort of the spirit of good … her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction.”

• P. 28 – “So much has been done, exclaimed the soul … the deepest mysteries of creation”

• P. 32 – “I doubted at first whether I should attempt … as complex and wonderful as man”

• P. 33 – “The summer months passed while I was thus engaged … insensible to the charms of nature”

• P. 64 – “The weight upon my spirit was sensibly lightened … displayed in their most terrific guise”

• P. 68 – “I expected this reception … The blood of your remaining friends”

• P. 69 – “Believe me, Frankenstein: I was benevolent … the only one which man does not grudge”

• P. 92 – “But Paradise Lost excited far deeper emotions … the bitter gall of envy rose within me”

• P. 115 – “His design was to visit India … the execution of his plan”

• P. 116-117 – “But I am a blasted tree … pitiable to others and intolerable to myself”

• P. 138 – “You well know… that our union had been the favorite plan … may not such also be our case?”

• P. 150 – “And I call on you, spirits of the dead … let him feel the despair that now torments me.”


Possible essay questions
You will write one essay, choosing from two of the following. Whichever essay topic you choose, be sure to refer to specific details from the text to support your answer.

1. Mary Shelley uses a passage from Milton’s Paradise Lost as en epigraph to Frankenstein, and Miltonic themes and language appear throughout the novel. In a brief essay, explore some of the ways Shelley uses Paradise Lost in Frankenstein. You may want to consider the creature’s own reading of the epic poem, which profoundly influences his understanding of himself, as well as Shelley’s representations of knowledge (scientific knowledge as well as knowledge of the self and others), good and evil, innocence and experience, ambition, envy, hubris, revenge, and the act of creation.

2. Mary Shelley’s husband, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, was among the first to propose that Satan is in fact the unintended “hero” of Milton’s Paradise Lost—the most dynamic figure in the poem, and the most accessible for a reader to identify with. With Shelley’s suggestion in mind, who, in your view, is the “hero” of Frankenstein: the ambitious, even ingenious scientist and title character, or the spurned “monster” he creates? Keep in mind that both Victor and the creature display a number of “satanic” qualities, and both act in ways that are bound to alienate an audience’s sympathies.

3. Both Paradise Lost and Frankenstein present knowledge as dangerous and potentially fatal. Evaluate Eve’s desire for knowledge in the form of fruit from the forbidden tree and Victor Frankenstein’s pursuit of the “secrets of the universe,” which lead him to create life from dead human matter. In both cases, a character seeks knowledge that is as yet inaccessible to humankind. Is Eve’s desire for knowledge justified? Is Frankenstein’s? Why or why not? Does this desire seem inevitable in one or both cases? Do you identify with one character more than the other in their desire for knowledge, and if so, why? Address the ultimate effect of the quest for knowledge on each character, and whether their fates seem appropriate given their transgressions.

Sublime Case Study

Sublime—a theory and/or attitude toward beauty, nature, and spirituality marked by a combination of awe/pleasure and terror/fear inspired by natural beauty (usually of a huge, dark, and/or dangerous variety).

Your task is to compile a case study of the sublime in art, literature and music. Your examples should be from 18th Century Romanticism (Mary Shelley’s contemporaries) as well as more recent examples that demonstrate a contemporary understanding of the sublime (this understanding may have evolved).

You should have a minimum of four examples, two from historical Romanticism and two more recent examples (these can be artistic artifacts—photos, poems, songs—from your own life as well as published art, music, and writing).

The nature of your artifacts will dictate the format in which you present your case study.

• If all of your artifacts are music, you may want to submit a CD with a cover you design (can you make the cover a representation of the sublime?) and liner notes that identify the musical pieces and briefly explain how they illustrate the sublime.

• If your artifacts are visual, you may want to create scrapbook pages that include the images as well as brief explanations of how the images reflect the sublime. Can you make the pages look like a representation of the sublime as well as contain information about the sublime?

• If your artifacts are literary (poetry, passages from other literary works, etc) you may want to produce a small chap book with a cover you design and brief explanations of how the writing reflects an understanding of the sublime. Can you create a cover that also represents the sublime?

• If your artifacts are a combination of sound, image and words, you may want to create a wiki entry, webpage, or short movie. Be sure to include a brief explanation of how the artifacts represent the sublime.

Regardless of how you choose to present your case study, the final object that you submit should be a visual representation of the sublime as well as contain examples of the sublime (form should reflect content). Additionally, regardless of form, it should contain brief written (or spoken) explanations of how the artifacts illustrate the sublime and you should include your sources for the artifacts. How you include sources will depend on the format (on a webpage, you would use links, for a CD, scrapbook pages, movie, you would need an MLA formated list of sources).

Project due: Monday, December 15

header image: Shipwreck by Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1805

Poetry Explication Wiki

The sophmore poetry explication wiki project has begun! To view the assignment and wiki entries in progress, click the image above!

Frankenstein Syllabus

Poetry Explication Project and Frankenstein
(Note: all page numbers refer to the Dover edition)

Mon 11/17 Computer work time. All classes Siebel 0218

Tue 11/18 Computer work time. 1st: Siebel 0218, 3rd: PC Lab, 4th: Various Labs
Paraphrase of poem due

Wed 11/19 Percy Bysshe Shelley, “England in 1819” and “Ozymandias” (Packet 37, 39). Vocab: tempestuous, visage, colossal. Can you find a specific argument in “Ozymandias”? Read the poem carefully several times, and consider what point Shelley might be attempting to make with this story.

Thu 11/20 Computer work time. 1st: Siebel 0218, 3rd: PC Lab, 4th: Various Labs Wiki format and rough draft of entry due to group / turn in skeleton of analysis section to Ms. Linder

Fri 11/21 Independent reading and book talks.

Mon 11/24 Introduction to Romanticism & Frankenstein. Read William Wordsworth “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.” (Packet 38) and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein, note and Author’s Intro (pp. iii-x) . Vocab (Frankenstein): eponymous (iii), dilate (v), mortifying (vii),. In “I Wandered,” what role do the daffodils play in the speaker’s life when he first sees them, and afterward?

Tue 11/25 Read Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein, Letters 1-IV, ch. 1-2 (pp. 1-23). Vocab: fervent, satiate (1), inure (2), poignant (11) divine (verb, 18), predilection (20). In “Letter I,” Walton mentions his former desire to become a poet. He names certain poets he had hoped to be compared to. Which poets does he name, and what might this aspiration tell us about Walton?

Thanksgiving Break

Mon 12/1 In Class Reading Day--Frankenstein, chaps. 3-7 (pp. 23-54). Vocab: repugnance (25), abstruse (29), precept (31), tumult (35), diffident (44), salubrious (45). We hear the name Frankenstein for the first time in this section. In what context? Why now? How this moment important? Why does Victor decide to build a man (instead of, say, a dog)? Why a huge man? What is strange and/or surprising about Victor’s life in the hours, days, and months after he successfully brings the creature to life? Generally speaking, what impression do you get of Victor Frankenstein?

Tue 12/2 Frankenstein, chaps. 8-10 (pp. 54-70). Vocab: obdurate, ignominy, perdition (58), efface (62), sublime (64), ascent, precipitous (66), odious (70). Characterize the creature’s speech during his conversation with Victor. What do you notice about the way he talks and/or the things he says? Does his speech surprise you and, if so, how?

Wed 12/3 Frankenstein, chaps. 11-12 (pp.70-81). Vocab: slake (71), inclemency (74), disconsolate (75), exhortation (79). Where does the creature finally find shelter? What does he observe in this place, and why does it please him so much? Assign sublime scrapbook

Thur 12/4 Frankenstein, chaps. 13-16 (pp. 81-104). Vocab: diffuse (82), scion (84), abject (84), consummation (87), expostulate (89), sagacity (93), respite (100). As the creature learns about human society and history, what things bother him? What view of human culture(s) does the story of the DeLaceys and Safie seem to offer the creature? Why do you think he refers to his feelings toward the DeLaceys as “innocent, half-painful self deceit”? In Chapter XVI we learn that the creature has killed one person, and caused the death of another. Who, and how? As the creature finishes his story, what demand does he make of Victor Frankenstein, and why? View scenes from Frankenstein (1930)

Fri 12/5 Independent reading and book talks.

Mon 12/8 Computer work time. All classes Siebel 0218
Complete second draft due by end of class

Tue 12/9 Frankenstein, chaps. 17-18 (pp. 104-14). Vocab: concede (104), abhorred, enjoin (108), guise (110), sedulous (111). What does the creature promise in exchange for Victor granting his request? How does Victor initially respond to this demand and these promises?

Wed 12/10 Frankenstein, chaps. 19-20 (pp. 114-27). Vocab: expedite (118), sophism (121), insuperable (123), sanguinary (126), mutable (126). Where does Victor go to create a mate for the creature? Why do you think he chooses this area? How is the process different for Victor this time than last time? What are some of Victor’s specific apprehensions about creating a female creature? View scenes from Bride of Frankenstein (1935).

Thu 12/11 Frankenstein, chaps. 21-22 (pp. 128-43). Vocab: precarious (133), dissipate (133), torpor (134), erroneous (136), consternation (137), conjure (check context, 138). What impression do you get of Elizabeth from her letter in this section? Does it coincide with the view of her that Victor has given us? How does Victor interpret the “wedding day” threat? What do you think the creature is planning?

Fri 12/12 Book talks and independent reading. No reading journal entry required this week.
Final draft of poetry project due in class.

Mon 12/15 Frankenstein, chap. 23-end (pp. 143-66). Vocab: lour (146), acme (146), physiognomy (148), gibe (153). What vow does Victor Frankenstein make in this last section of the book, and what actions must he take to fulfill it? What significance does his journey have, aside from its necessity in carrying out his vow? (Consider where he goes, how he gets there, what he experiences along the way – do these things seem to have symbolic or thematic importance?) Choose what you think is the most important or interesting passage in Frankenstein. Begin Young Frankenstein (1974; Dir. Mel Brooks; 106 min) Sublime scrapbook due.

Tue 12/16 Young Frankenstein continued

Wed 12/17 finish Young Frankenstein / 2nd quarter exam review

Thu 12/13 & Fri 12/14 Exam days—English II exam, Friday AM

Choral Reading Example

Here is the video example of a choral reading that we watched in class. Be inspired.

Theme Music Assignment

Paradise Lost
Theme Music Paragraph

Using Milton’s depiction of Satan and the temptation of Eve as your point of departure, compose a single, well-developed paragraph that discusses the representation of the devil in one of these contemporary songs (Sympathy for the Devil, Hell is Chrome, Let the Devil In). Think about what the song seems to be saying about the nature of evil, how its portrayal of the devil and/or hell compares to Milton’s or to other common portrayals, or anything else that seems interesting or important. Refer to specific lines and phrases to illustrate your observations.

A good paragraph should be coherent and thoroughly developed.

• It should be organized around a single, unifying idea (introduced clearly at the start of the paragraph), and it should proceed to explore and develop this idea in detail.

• Length and word count will vary, but a good paragraph should be at least five sentences long, and it should elaborate and illustrate its main idea thoroughly, without unnecessary repetition.

• We should feel as if we’ve gotten somewhere new by the end of it.

Your first step should be to have something to say—a paragraph should have a distinct purpose. Start by thinking through your ideas, to see where they lead you, what further insights you might uncover. Once you know what you want to say, draft and edit your paragraph. As always, aim for a clear and direct style, and try to be as specific as possible.

Due (typed, double-spaced) in class, Tuesday, November 11.

Paradise Lost Syllabus

English II Linder

Syllabus: John Milton’s Paradise Lost

Wed 10/15 PSAT—no English class

Thu 10/16 William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18, Sonnet 130, and Sonnet 138 (Packet 34). Vocab: reek (find the most neutral—i.e. not negative— meaning your dictionary offers), belie. What claim do the last two lines of Sonnet 18 make? Do these three poems present compatible views of love, or do they contradict one another?

Fri 10/17 Book talks and independent reading.

Mon 10/20 Edna St. Vincent Millay, “I, Being Born a Woman,” “Love Is Not Blind,” “I Shall Forget You Presently, My Dear,” and “I Think I Should Have Loved You Presently” (Photocopies distributed in class). Vocab: propinquity, entreat, contrive, reticence. Consider these sonnets in comparison to Shakespeare’s. Are there similarities, differences, or both? Do the Millaysonnets seem more “modern”? If so, how? How do they compare to the carpe diem poems (Marvell, Herrick) we read a few weeks ago?
Sonnet assigned in class

Tue 10/21 Read Gerard Manley Hopkins, “Thou Art Indeed Just, Lord,” and Peter Meineke, “The Poet, Trying to Surprise His God” (Packet 36). Vocab: sot, eunuch. Characterize each speaker’s tone and attitude toward the figure of “God.” Do they seem to be addressing the same God?

Wed 10/22 Introduction to John Milton and Paradise Lost. For every reading assignment in Milton: Mark spoken lines with quotation marks; mark simple subject(s) and verb(s) in each sentence (circle subject and double-underline verb)
Peer-edit workshop sonnet

Thu 10/23 Read Book I (1-191; incl. “The Verse” and “The Argument”) vocab: invoke (13), confound (53), obdurate (58), suppliant (112), impetuous (175). How does Milton describe his intentions in the invocation (ll. 1-26)? Look closely at Milton’s descriptions of Satan; underline all significant descriptive phrases, and look up any unfamiliar words.

Fri 10/24 Book talks and independent reading.
Sonnet due in class

Mon 10/27 Book I (615-end)—Satan addresses the other fallen angels: vocab: repute (639), guile (646), impious (686), zenith (745), jocund (787) How does Satan describe the rebellion in heaven? What does he propose they do now? What is Satan’s main complaint against God? Underline significant descriptive phrases and look up any unfamiliar words.

Tue 10/28 Book II (Argument), Book III (Argument, 1-55), Book IV (Argument, 1-113, 358-92) vocab: suffusion (III.26), tumultuous (IV.16), vain (IV.87), innocence (IV.388). How does Milton describe sight, vision, and poetic inspiration in the invocation to Book III? How does Satan react upon first seeing Eden? How does he justify his destructive intentions? How does Satan describe Adam and Eve? Underline all significant descriptive phrases and look up any unfamiliar words.

Wed 10/29 Book IV (689-775), Books V-VIII (Arguments), Book IX (Argument, 1-191) vocab: ween (IV.741), venial (IX.5), harbinger (13), imp (89), bane (123), redound (128) In what form does Satan choose to enter the Garden and why does he choose this? How does Satan describe himself and his predicament as he contemplates God’s creation? Underline all significant descriptive phrases and look up any unfamiliar words.
Choral readings assigned.

Thu 10/30 Book IX (192-384) vocab: ply (201), affront (328). Why does Eve insist that she be allowed to work alone? What arguments does she use to support her claim? Why does Adam object? What counterarguments does he use? Why does he finally submit? Look closely at Adam’s descriptions of Eve and Eve’s descriptions of Adam. Underline all significant descriptive phrases and look up any unfamiliar words.

Fri 11/2 Book talks and independent reading.

Mon 11/3 Book IX (385-493) vocab: rancour (409), sapient (442), pent (445). Why is Satan so pleased to see Eve working alone? What effect does the sight of her have on him? What do you make of his reaction?

Tues 11/4 Book IX (494-779)—In-class group reading/no reading assigment, but look up vocabulary before class. vocab: organic (530), insatiate (535), demur (558), capacious (603), credulous (644), elocution (748).

Wed 11/5 Book IX (780-1066) vocab: ignorance (809; cf. innocence [1054]), distemper (887), fondly (999) How does Milton depict the immediate effects of the forbidden fruit on Eve? How does Adam react to her? How does she persuade him to eat it too?

Thurs 11/6 Book IX (1067-end), Book X-XII (Arguments) vocab: concupiscence (1078), impute (1145), facile (1158). What further effects of the forbidden fruit are evident here? How do Adam and Eve talk to each other, compared to earlier examples of their conversation?

Fri 11/7 Book talks and independent reading.

Mon 11/10 No school—parent-teacher conferences

Tue 11/11 Wrap up discussion of Paradise Lost. Prepare for choral readings.

Wed 11/12 Choral readings of Paradise Lost

Thu 11/13 Explication essay assigned in class. Class will meet in computer labs TBA

Fri 11/14 Book talks and independent reading

Vocabulary Pictures

Check out the wiki for some excellent vocabulary pictures that will help you review for your exam! Here are a couple of my favorites...



inconstant--adj: changeable, fickle, variable. Not constant.


affront--n. a show of disrespect

foreboding--n. a strong inner feeling or notion of a future misfortune, evil, et cetera.









Thanks to Lisa, Serena and Fiona for getting the ball rolling!

Letter of Introduction: Your Field Observers

Hi! My name is Meghan Williams and I’m a senior in English and Secondary Education at U of I. I’m an Air Force brat and have lived in a lot of different places because of that, but my family currently lives in Gurnee, IL. I’ve wanted to be an English teacher for most of my life and I’m really excited to be almost done with school and get started in my own classroom. I love reading all types of books but I really love British Literature. The Harry Potter series and anything by Jane Austen are probably my favorites. I have quite a bit of teaching experience both in conjunction with the teaching program here on campus but also on my own. I’ve tutored privately for some time and I volunteered in schools for several years. I was in Mahomet-Seymour Junior High and Urbana High School the last two semesters so I’m excited to experience something new here at University High School.

Hey there! My name is Allison Clark and I’m also a senior in English and Secondary Education at U of I. Ironically, Meghan and I both live in Gurnee, although I’ve lived there my entire life. The greatest skill I’ve learned from my degree and from my University courses has been how to write about literature, which is a skill I began to learn in high school. As a soon-to-be English teacher, I find it interesting that students think of writing as a generally subjective process, but I want students to see their writing as meaningful and significant to an audience other than the teacher. I love reading contemporary short stories and 21st Century fiction, like my favorite author Flannery O’Connor, but I also have a weakness for Harry Potter or anything considered a memoir. I have heard so many wonderful things about your school and I’m so excited to experience it for myself!

English II Goes All 21st Century Literacies

There are several new technologies kicking in English II. If you haven't been participating in the discussions going on in the Sophomore English forum, you are missing out on some very interesting conversations about race and beauty in Midsummer Night's Dream and other Shakespearian plays. If you are a student in English II, you will need to log in to Uni Forums before you will be able to see the Sophomore English forum. Uni Forums are here.

I've been working on a Sophomore English wiki which will be debuting in class tomorrow. I am going to ask you to publish your revised book reviews (the files you emailed me) on the wiki. The anchor page for book reviews already exists, once you create an account on wikispaces, you will be able to add a link to your book review on the anchor page. I would like to keep the anchor page arranged by book titles that link to a new page with the book review on it.

I've also created a page called Vocabulary Pictures that I'm hoping will help you to study for your first quarter exam. To assist in learning vocabulary for their final exam, the class of 2010 created visual tableaus of their vocabulary words. The picture at the top of this entry is the tableau for prodigious (adj. Impressively great in size, force, or extent; enormous). As you prepare for your first quarter exam, I would encourage you to create your own visual tableaus for the vocabulary and post your pictures on corresponding pages on the wiki. I will feature the best tableaus here on the blog. Be sure that you caption your photos with the word, part of speech and definition in context. Thanks to Sinda, Gabe, Loic and Stephanie for their creative idea--last year's English II students got the highest vocab grades on their finals EVER!

Feel free to create your wikispaces account now and explore the Sophomore English wiki. I will be demonstrating how to create an account and post images and text in class tomorrow.

Oedipus Rex-Midsummer Night's Dream Exam Review

Your quarterly exam over Oedipus Rex-Midsummer Night's Dream is scheduled for Tuesday, October 14. We will have review time in class on Thursday, October 9. I will talk through the format of the exam and the kind of answers I will be looking for next week in class (in particular I will explain my expectations for the quotation identification section). If you would like to get a jump start on reviewing for the exam, here is your review sheet. The terms, vocabulary, passages, and essay questions on the review sheet are all fair game. Only some of them will appear on the exam and in the quotation identification section you will have some choice of which questions you answer.

From Oedipus Rex:

Vocabulary:
carrion, parry, incarnate, foreboding, affront, bane

Terms:
-Tragedy
-Tragic flaw (or “fatal” flaw)
-Dramatic irony
-Greek chorus


Passages/Quotations:
• Page 8 – “Then once more must I bring what is dark to light … I act for the murdered king in my own interest”
• Page 12 – “Listen to me. You mock my blindness … Will bring you to yourself among your children”
• Page 16 – “Set your mind at rest … His son, born of his flesh and mine!”
• Page 20 – “Why should anyone in this world be afraid … No reasonable man is troubled by such things”
• Page 21 – “Let it come! … How could I not be glad to know my birth?”

Poetry:
Be able to identify and briefly discuss the following poems:

-Marlowe, “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”
-Raleigh, “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd”
-Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress”
-Herrick, “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”

Vocabulary: transpire, wanton

Terms: carpe diem poetry, pastoral

From A Midsummer Night’s Dream


Vocabulary:
extenuate feigning
yoke filch
dote flout
inconstant dissemble
beguile enmity
progeny surfeit
fawn (v.) enamored

Terms:
Blank Verse
Stock characters
Subtext
Malapropism

Passages/Quotations:
1.1.61-66: “I know not by what power I am made bold… The worst that may befall me in this
case,/ If I refuse to wed Demetrius.”
1.2.68-71: “Let me play the lion too…. Let him roar again’”
2.1.66-75: “Then I must be thy lady. But I know/ When thou hast stolen away… and you come
to bring their bed joy and prosperity.”
2.1.125-42: “Set your heart at rest./ The fairyland buys not the child of me…. And for her sake
I will not part with him.”
2.1.165-74: “A certain aim he took…. And maidens call it ‘love-in-idleness.’”
2.2.62-66: “But, gentle friend, for love and modesty… and good night, sweet friend.”
2.2.122-23: “The will of man is by his reason swayed,/ And reason says you are the worthier
maid.”
2.2.144-49: “For as a surfeit of the sweetest things/ The deepest loathing… So thou, my surfeit
and my heresy,/ Of all be hated, but the most of me!”
3.1.145-48: “…to say the truth, reason and love keep little company nowadays. The more the
pity that some honest neighbors will not make them friends. Nay, I can gleek upon
occasion.”
3.2.241-45: “Ay, do … This sport, well carried, shall be chronicled.”
3.2.490-93: “Jack shall have Jill… all will be well.”
4.1.171-75: “…I wot not by what power--/ But some power it is… an idle gaud/ Which in my
childhood I did dote upon.”
4.1.220-26: “the eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen… what my dream
was… It shall be called ‘Bottom’s Dream,’ because it hath no bottom.”
5.1.7-11: “The lunatic, the lover, and the poet … sees Helen’s beauty in a brow of Egypt.”
5.1.155-56: “Whereat with blade, with bloody blameful blade,/ He bravely broached his boiling
bloody breast.”
5.1.224-25: “The best in this kind are but shadows, and/ the worst are no worse, if imagination
amend them.”

Essay questions:

1. Evaluate the happy ending of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Puck reassures us that “Jack shall have Jill;/ Naught shall go ill” (3.2.490-491). Is this indeed the case? Do you find the triple-wedding resolution of the farcical events of this play believable? Consider especially the role that the forest plays in the transformation of characters and the role of the magical herbs in making the various loves requited. What does this play seem to say about love, and/or about perception and its relation to reality? Is this reassuring or troubling?

2. Examine Shakespeare’s portrayal of different social classes in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Do you think the “rude mechanicals” end up looking worse than the play’s more socially lofty characters? If so, how and in what way? If not, why not? Compare the different groups of characters using whatever set of criteria you think makes sense, but be specific about the particular qualities you’re comparing.

Alliteration, Metaphor and Simile

If you haven't already seen these, I thought you would enjoy these videos that were made last year as part of Kareem and Alan's public poetry project.

Remaining Midsummer Night's Dream Syllabus

Wed 10/1 A Midsummer Night’s Dream performances. (Bring your independent-reading book in case we finish early.)

Thur 10/2 A Midsummer Night’s Dream performances. (Bring your independent-reading book in case we finish early.)

Fri 10/3 Book talks and independent reading

Mon 10/6 View and discuss A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999, 116 min)

Tue 10/7 View and discuss A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Wed 10/8 finish viewing A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Bring your independent reading book in case we finish early

Thur 10//9 Review for exam

Fri 10/10 Book talks and independent reading.

Mon 10/13 No School—Columbus Day

Tue 10/14 Exam: Oedipus Rex – A Midsummer Night’s Dream