winter study

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Winter reading and journal assignments for all students
Essay assignment and AP review, test practice for 12th graders

Readings
9th)) The Iliad, attributed to Homer. Students will be provided with a
Magnet copy of the prose translation by Rouse but are highly
encouraged to also study a translation into poetry, particularly
Alexander Pope's (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6130/6130-h/6130-
h.html);

10th) King John, by William Shakespeare. Students will be provided
with a plain text copy from MIT Shakespeare but may also find helpful
notes in library copies, perhaps in a volume of the complete works
rather than as a single title;

12th) Tamburlaine, parts one and two, by Christopher Marlowe. Students
will be provided with a paperback copy of the text.

Journal
Students should prepare three explication outlines on the assigned
reading in the fashion of the final test of the fall. The format may
be found below. Each of the three outlines should explicate how the
literary devices of six quotes convey a theme important to the text as
a whole. One outline should focus on the beginning of the reading, the
second outline should focus on the middle, and the third on the end of
the reading.

Students will also be provided with one additional book of their
choice from the instructor's collection. Students who would like to
begin the spring semester with a bonus may prepare additional
explication outlines in the same fashion with this book of choice, and
for the most ambitious, other books of choice as well.

12th graders' essay assignment and AP review, test practice
AP lit students should use the three explication outlines to write a
10-page essay on Marlowe's Tamburlaine, parts one and two. Students
may, however, reduce the assignment length by one page for each review
session attended.

The class selected early Monday mornings for the time (check message
board for info updates, times, and rooms, but tentatively 7:30--10:30
Mondays, 1/12--2/16). Preparing for any test requires a variety of
practice and study, but one very important component of successful
preparation includes practicing under conditions as similar as
possible to the actual test. During the semester, with 64-minute
classes, we never have the opportunity to practice the three-hour test
format, which this review is fine for.

Explication outline format:
Student's thesis = topic + opinion
Literature's theme ≈ vehicle + tenor

Topic: important theme of entire work of literature

vehicle:

+

tenor:


Opinion: judgment of the literature's...

literary aesthetics:

&

philosophical profundity:


ex. 1 (short quote):

extended 1 2 3/basic 1 2 3 (circle type and number) literary device
name:

brief definition of device:

explication of how use of device helps convey theme:

ex. 2:

extended 1 2 3/basic 1 2 3 (circle type and number) literary device
name:

brief definition of device:

explication of how use of device helps convey theme:

ex. 3:

extended 1 2 3/basic 1 2 3 (circle type and number) literary device
name:

brief definition of device:

explication of how use of device helps convey theme:

ex. 4:

extended 1 2 3/basic 1 2 3 (circle type and number) literary device
name:

brief definition of device:

explication of how use of device helps convey theme:

ex. 5:

extended 1 2 3/basic 1 2 3 (circle type and number) literary device
name:

brief definition of device:

explication of how use of device helps convey theme:

ex. 6:

extended 1 2 3/basic 1 2 3 (circle type and number) literary device
name:

brief definition of device:

explication of how use of device helps convey theme: