Class Notes : Week 7: October 25th - October 29th

http://www.sachs.ab.ca/dept/finearts/drama/drama.gif

DRAMA:

• Drama is, in the words of Alfred Hitchcock, "...life with the dull bits cut out"
• Dramas have the ability to be very powerful (its impact is direct, immediate, and heightened by the actors' skills)
• Dramatists are limited to the objective (or dramatic) point of view
• Playwrights are not limited by the power of words (lighting, no noises, audience has nowhere else to look)
• Playwrights limited because plays has to have mostly talking humans, it's hard to change scenes often and fast, and the scale must be right
• During plays, if the audience is packed in tight, there is a communal experience that intensifies meaning
• Other limitations of plays are that plays must hold the attention of the audience (plays can't be too long), the central meaning must be easy to grasp (because no replays), and there can't be any purely narrative/lyrical passages (dialogue instead)
• Plays can be realistic or nonrealistic. There are also degrees of realism in plays.
• All stage production requires artificiality (i.e. missing walls, and actors can't turn their back on the audience for a long time)
• Also, usually dramatic dialogue is more coherent and expressive than real speech. This helps to heighten and intensify reality
• All dramas ask us to accept certain departures from reality - certain dramatic conventions
• The characteristic device of Greek drama, a chorus, is nonrealistic
• Dramas still utilize many of the same devices as poetry (syntax, diction, figurative language, etc.) to create artistic effect
• Many great dramas are also written in the form of poetry
• Macbeth, which I saw performed during the Stratford Shakespeare Festival last year, makes more sense to me now that I know the advantages and drawbacks of drama.

http://newcitystage.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cst_macbeth_4.jpg

VOCAB:
Soliloquy: characters speak to themselves (think out loud)
Aside: characters turn from the persons with whom they are conversing to speak directly to (or for the benefit of) the audience, show what's going on beneath the facade other characters see
Realistic: concern for fact or reality and rejection of the impractical and visionary
Nonrealistic: lack of conern for fact or reality; impractical and visionary
Tragedy: a medieval narrative poem or tale typically describing the downfall of a great man
Comedy: a medieval narrative that ends happily
Melodrama: a work characterized by extravagant theatrically and by the predominance of plot and physical action over characterization
Farce: a light dramatic composition marked by broadly satirical comedy and improbable plot
Romantic: marked by the imaginative or emotional appeal of what is heroic, adventurous, remote, mysterious, or idealized
Satiric: of, relating to, or constituting satire
Protagonist: the principal character in a literary work
Antagonist; one that contends with or opposes another
Foil characters: someone who serves as a contrast to another
Plot: the plan or main story of a literary work
Suspense: mental uncertainty; anxiety
Theme: a subject or topic of discourse or of artistic representation
Didactic: designed or intended to teach
Dramatic exposition: a setting forth of the meaning or purpose of a writing that is striking in appearance or effect
Chorus: a group of actors speaking in unison, often in a chant, while going through the steps of an elaborate formalized dance

SOURCE:

Perrine, Laurence, Thomas R. Arp, and Greg Johnson. Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. 8th ed. Boston: Heinle & Heinle: Thomson Learning, Inc., 2002. 852-69. Print. 

HOMEWORK:

1. Read Perrine pg. 1115-1119 (look up boldfaced terms on 1119), and pg. 1160-1164
2. Due 11/2/10: Read and annotate Oedipus by Sophocles
3. Due 10/29/10: First Marking Period Portfolio Blogs
4. Due 10/25/10 at 8 pm: Poetry Questions from "There's a Certain Slant of Light," "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," and "The Fish"
5. Due 10/25/10: Transfer journals and post class notes

Class Notes : Weeks 5 & 6: October 11th - October 22nd

Chapter Ten: Tone - from Literature, Structure, Sound, and Sense by Perrine

• Tone is the writer's or the speaker's attitude toward the subject, the reader, or herself/himself
• Tone is the emotional meaning/coloring of the work
• TONE IS IMPORTANT
• In spoken language, tone is indicated by the inflections of the speaker's voice
• Almost all of the elements of poetry help to indicate its tone

http://dizzydougtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/july_pad_12-31.jpg

Tone is the emotional color in a work, like the flowers in this black and white photo

TONE:

• The speaker/narrator's attitude
• Toward the present subject/moment/events (can soften, does change rapidly)
• Described in terms of emotion
• It's an effect created by the author's choice in techniques that we've learned about previously (diction, figurative language, syntax, etc.)
• When talking with my friends, I often have to watch my tone because what I say can be taken the wrong way depending on the way I inflect my voice

 VOICE:

• Speaker/narrator's personality towards life/the world in general: can change if the character is dynamic (what kind of person is speaking to us?)
• Doesn't change often
• Described in terms of character (omniscient, honest, etc.)
• An effect created by the author's choice in techniques that we've learned about previously (diction, figurative language, syntax, etc.)
• The communicative effect created by the author's style
• Colleges often ask for a student's voice to shine through in college applications

STYLE:

• An author's "written personality". It does not have to reflect the author's actual personality
• Made up/artificial persona's stance toward life/the world in general. Can change if the character is "dynamic" but doesn't change often
• Described in terms of character
• In fiction, style is the language conventions used to construct the story
• The time period in which something is written can affect its style
• As Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said, "If any man wish to write in a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul"

HOMEWORK:

1. Due 8pm, 10/13/10: Analyze either a similarity or a difference in the tone of the speaker in "The Indifferent" and "Love's Deity", and post it on the forum. Then respond analytically to two peers' posts.

WORKS CITED:
Perrine, Laurence, Thomas R. Arp, and Greg Johnson. Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. 8th ed. Boston: Heinle & Heinle: Thomson Learning, Inc., 2002. 852-69. Print.

First Marking Period Portfolio

What I've Learned So Far
AP English has been a very educational experience for me, starting with the summer assignments. Reading Foster's How to Read Literature like a Professor, parts of the Bible, and Hamilton's Mythology, I learned to analyze literature and pretty much any other work that I read in a whole new way.

When Ms. Holmes told the class near the beginning of the year that we were going to start out with analyzing poetry, I was terrified. I used to love reading poems as a chid, and in class, I learned why: it is literature so condensed that it says so much more than literature can ever say. Yet somehow, as I grew up, I lost touch with my penchant for poetry, and AP English has helped me find it again. When we first read The Eagle by Lord Tennyson in class on the first day we started the poetry unit, I felt lost. I didn't understand why The Eagle said so much more than a description of a eagle, and I had no clue about the poetic devices and thought that went into such a poem. As the year progressed, and we learned more and more about the devices and the care that poets put into poems, and we read more and more poems, I finally felt like I understood. I still enjoy reading novels over poetry, but I feel like I understand poetry now. In fact, the other day, I went out and bought a collection of famous poetry, hoping that when I'm bored, I would go through and familiarize myself with them. Now, I feel like I can finally appreciate poetry.

But so far in this first marking period, poetry isn't the only thing that we have learned. I have also gained invaluable knowledge about diction, figurative language, rhetoric, arguments, syntax, and just ways to write better in general. I learned not only about how these things apply in poetry, but also in other mediums of communication, such as essays as well.

I feel like so far, by taking this class, I have learned how to not only analyze and understand a form of communication (poetry) that I was not very familiar with, but I also gained a glimpse of what writing is like beyond the high school level.

My Areas of Strength As an AP Lit Student
I think my strength as an AP Lit student mostly lies in the fact that I have taken AP classes in the past, some of which have prepared me quite well for AP Lit. I know how to manage my time (sometimes), and get work done when I need to. I can plan and write long and well-developed argumentative essays under time restraints (thanks to AP World History and AP U.S. History). I think another strength for me as an AP Lit student is that I have taken both American Literature and British Literature in the past, and I am an avid reader. As a result, I find that I kind of have a feel for literature, and I have analyzed many works of literature in depth in previous years. For example, when we had a test on writing a practice AP Lit essay, the prompt was on "The Chimney Sweepers", both of which I had analyzed extensively last year in British Literature. Furthermore, we are reading Oedipus by Sophocles in class right now, and I've already read the play two years ago.

My Areas of Weakness As an AP Lit Student
I think my areas of weakness as an AP Lit student mostly lies in the fact that English is not my first language, and English is 5th hour for me. I almost always get my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd hour homewok done. I don't have homework 4th hour, and my 5th and 6th hour homework gets done only when I have time (which isn't often), and when it's absolutely necessary (like right now, this blog is due in 88 minutes). Moreover, I'm not really familiar with a lot of the technology that is used in AP English, and it has taken me quite some time to adjust. In addition, I have a lot of trouble with AP English vocab and grammar. When writing, I use what grammar I think "feels right" because after all the novels and literature that I've read, I mostly know what proper English is like. Although sometimes, when I mess up, I don't have a firm enough command of the English language to catch my mistakes. Furthermore, I think my literary arguments in English papers, though to me, seems perfectly justified, to the teacher, often doens't make a lot of sense. Finally, I think when I read, I have to get really into what I'm reading to understand what I'm reading, so I read a lot slower than most people.

What I'm Thinking about Reading and Writing in College
I know that in college, reading and writing will probably be a huge part of my experience. This is because no matter which major I end up going into, or which classes I take, I will most likely always have to write some sort of paper, which I always imagined as kind of long. And if I end up plagerizing anything, whether intentionally or accidentally, then I'm screwed. As a result, I feel very nervous and not at all prepared to not accidentally plagerize anyone. Moreover, I'm nervous about my inability to write persuasive term papers.

My Goals for the Upcoming Marking Period
In the upcoming marking period, I hope to be able to stay on top of my AP English homework, instead of falling behind like I am now. I hope to be able to learn how to become a better writer, and I hope to be able to read faster and comprehend what I read easier. And most of all, I hope to be able to formulate good points/arguments and improve my vocabulary. To achieve these ends, I will work harder to come up with a study schedule, work harder when writing essays, read more varied sources, and study English flashcards.