Shakespeak - Understanding Shakespeare's Technique

As you knew before this class, Shakespearean works can be difficult for us modern folk to grasp. Differences in sentence order, word meaning, omitted letters, etc., can confuse even the most well-read students. To help understand the Bard's work, we discussed all of these elements. In your groups, you looked for examples in Shakespeare's work of his unique style of writing including variance in meter, archaic language, omissions/contractions, and "Shakespearean" sentence order.

Your assignment:
A. Choose one (best) example of each of the 4 style elements listed above that you found in your excerpt
B. Explain how each example contributes to the meaning of that piece - whether it is the meaning of the entire excerpt or if it contributes to the importance of one particular line

You can answer in one to two sentences for each example, so you will have a total of 4 items to discuss, one for each style element.

Be sure to post this correctly so that you receive credit!

Identifying Symbols with "The Simpsons"

Today we watch The Simpsons episode title "Das Bus," a parody, as most of you astutely discovered, of the book Lord of the Flies.

What I want you to do is to list all of the symbols you saw in the episode in your blog and write down for what ideas these characters, items and actions stood.

Go beyond just the items and their specific meaning, look to which characters are associated with these items and how the characters use the items.

Also, look how each character acts throughout the episode. If you know anything about that character on the show, why is it important that these characters were chosen to portray the parts that they do?

A link to the episode is provided at the top right of the page ("Das Bus").

Buy Me! Ad Analyzation

In the comment section of this blog, you will post your findings on the analysis of your TV commercial. First, turn your answers from yesterday into a cohesive paragraph explaining the required details of the assignment in a Word document and save. Then copy and paste your link first (it's ok if it's a YouTube link) and the paragraph into the comment section.

Now, it's personal.

We have discussed "The American Dream" in terms of it's characters and we already said that, in some way, this is a play that comments on the state of American society.

As you well know, literature is the flesh on the bones of history. But writers are inspired, of course, by the occurrences of their own lives.

I want you to go to the links listed at the end of the post and discuss how Albee's family life may be reflected in the play. What aspects of Albee's life are similar to the play? How might the character's traits reflect his feelings on his family members (include the baby and the Young Man but not Mrs. Barker)?

Responses should be at least 200 words. You may also look at other websites by searching on your own. Try the library resources. Just make sure you include the link of resources outside the ones provided to you.

http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap8/albee.html

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/alb1bio-1

http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/index.cfm?fuseaction=showIndividual&entitY_id=3687&source_type=A

http://americanaejournal.hu/vol2no2/cristian-essay

http://www.swisseduc.ch/english/readinglist/albee_edward/answers.html

Theme in To Kill a Mockingbird

Yesterday we discussed the 3 prevalent themes in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. These themes are portrayed through the characters and their traits. Choose one of the themes and discuss how two of the characters help to develop the theme. Use 2 examples from the book, with page numbers, and your notes to support your answer. Answers should be at least 100 words in length.

Dream of Californication

We just analyzed the lyrics to the Red Hot Chili Peppers' song "Californication", a song about media overexposure in our society and the false portrayal of life created by it. This is a song rich in symbolism and imagery, which, in turn, helps to communicate it's message.

The visuals in the video take it another step further. The director's perspective is a creative and relevant portrayal of the theme, and I think you'll really enjoy it. Remember that this video was made in 1999, and so the likes of it were rather new.

Now I want you to view the video and listen to the song.

"Californication" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, courtesy of MTV

After you view it, I want you to respond to the theme of the song and the concept of the video in the following ways:

1. What about the overall concept helps to demonstrate the theme suggested by the lyrics?

2. Name 3 (total) ways in which the video offers a visual interpretation of the symbols and/or images in the lyrics.

3. In relation to the song's theme, why is it ironic that it is performed by the Chili Peppers and that you have just watched a video for it?


Please answer in complete sentences and as thoroughly as possible. Email me on StudyWiz with any questions.