The Wasteland

Poets - I found a better copy of the wasteland online. It has way for notes. Take a look at this for Friday.

http://eliotswasteland.tripod.com/

Choose your own adventure

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choose_Your_Own_Adventure

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both"
-Robert Frost

Beginning on Friday May 22, you will be allowed to choose one of two ways to spend your remaining time in Brit Lit. You've already chosen to read either Lord of the Flies or 1984; your next choice will to spend 3 classes watching Sense and Sensibility or studying Victorian and Modernist Poetry.

You can in fact travel both roads, but only one can be done in class. The other road must be walked alone - if you choose to double back and take it.

For the movie crowd: You can show up watch the film and write a one page thought paper on it on any theme in British Literature that is relevant to this text.

For the lovers (of poetry), the dreamers, and me: We'll form a little lit circle and discuss the following poems over the three days.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

The Waste Land

God’s Grandeur

Pied Beauty

Neutral Tones

Hap

My Last Duchess

More info on Literary Periods

Victorian Period:

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/victorian/welcome.htm

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/victorian/topic_3/welcome.htm

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/victorian/topic_4/welcome.htm

Modernism:

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/20century/welcome.htm

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/20century/topic_1_05/welcome.htm

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/20century/topic_2_05/welcome.htm

Jean Jacques Rousseau

Okay class, here's the homework reading for Wednesday night. We'll discuss it in class on Thursday as we wrap up Frankenstein.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/rousseau-inequality2.html

Remember that you need to read the first 5 pages carefully, then skim the rest. There's two good paragraphs at the bottom of page 7, and then the last paragraph of the essay deserves attention as well.

Frankenstein: A Modern Prometheus

Here is a link to a detailed telling of the myth.

http://thanasis.com/modern/pro01.htm

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

For those of you who were away this week, we read a narrative poem and discussed it on Wednesday and Thursday (April 9 and 10). We only had 20 out of 27 students in class Thursday, so if anyone wants to discuss the poem (or discuss it further) we can use the blog to do that.

Here is a link to the full text of the poem: http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/coler01.html

Here is a link to some of the excellent illustrations that were done for a later edition of the poem:

http://www.artsycraftsy.com/dore_mariner.html

More of his work can be found at: http://dore.artpassions.net/

Sarah G. had wanted to know more about these illustrations, so I found these. There are a lot more here than in our textbook.

It turns out the illustrations were done by Gustave Doré; they are illustrations to the 1876 edition of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Read more about him here:

http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/dore/

I feel like we barely scratched the surface of this text today, so maybe we can do some more with it here.

What an exciting blog!!!

No joking matter

I would like to have you guys watch a shakespearean comedy film adaptation. I picked four that have good movie versions that have been made in the last 15 years. The alternative would be to watch a Hamlet from beginning to end. I personally enjoy thinking of comedy and tragedy as similar but contrasting genres of drama. Here are the options that I've been considering:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140379/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107616/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379889/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450972/

Why don't you all take a few minutes to look at these choices and then vote in the new pole.

While Sarah's post is inspried by the death of Heath Ledger, I none the less completely support it.

It would be interesting to compare the Shakespeare plan and the...sigh...movie 10 things I hate about you as we read them. I put my support behind sarah.

I yield my time to Pakistan.

Dear Mr. Hoffman.

Mr. Hoffman,
As you know, the class has chosen "Much Ado About Nothing" to be the next Shakespeare comedy that we study. I actually voted for this play. Frankly, the reason why I voted for this play was because it sounded like it would be the least weird. I am confident that this was also why many of my classmates voted for it as well. I know you're not supposed to judge things by their cover or title, or anything, but the class and I did, and I'm sure we have come to regret it. After doing some hard research, it has come to my attention that "The Taming of the Shrew" is an old Shakespearean play that is actually still young and kickin' today.

Along with the amazing film starring the late, great Heath Ledger, 10 Things I Hate About You, and the 2003 film Deliver Us From Eva, another recent adaptation of the play was a Brazilian Soap Opera in 2000 called Cravo e a Rosa, meaning "The Carnation and the Rose," whose name comes from a children's song about a couple of engaged flowers who had a serious "fight." Seriously, if I, and the rest of the class, had known this, I am sure we would have voted for this play.

In comparison, the play we mistakenly voted for, "Much Ado About Nothing" has not been adapted into any type of popular film. In fact, the most recent adaptation of this play was in 2006, when the American Music Theatre Project produced The Boys are Coming Home, a MUSICAL based in World War II America. A MUSICAL ADAPTATION based in WORLD WAR TWO AMERICA! Enough said.

The bottom line is that Shakespeare is a difficult study in itself, but the opportunity to study a Shakespeare play that has many ties to today's world would not only be less difficult, but it would be less painful, and definitely a memorable experience.

Therefore, Mr. Hoffman, I strongly urge you to take a new poll in class to determine which play should be the next study.

Sincerely,
Sarah