Synthesis IV

       Process of writing a prompt:

1. Analyze the prompt: look for goals, techniques, effects, and meanings; make sure your thesis answers the prompt.
2. Analyze the excerpt: identify meaning, themes, details, techniques.
3. Formulate thesis: should be able to act as topic sentences if the rest of your paper was suddenly "sucked out of existence" (-Holmes); answers the prompt.
4. Write! plain style: concise, direct sentences, not many adjectives/adverbs.

     

Synthesis III

       We have spent a lot of time this year with literary terms. Here's some of the tricky ones with examples from Hamlet:

1. paraprosdokian: unexpected ending of a phrase
• "But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son-" (I,ii,64)
2. paronomasia: use of similar sounding words, often etymological wordplay
• "That we find the cause of this effect,/ Or rather say, the cause of this defect,/ For this effect defective comes by cause" (II,ii,101-103)
3. anadiplosis: repetition of a word or phrase that ends one clause, at the beginning of the next
• "That he is mad, 'tis true: 'tis ture 'tis pity;/ and pity 'tis 'tis true" (II,ii,97-98)
4. chiasmus: crossing parallelism
•  "Thanks, Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern./ Thanks, Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz" (II,ii,33-34)
5. synecdoche: the use of a part to represent the whole
• "Let not the royal bed of Denmark be/ a couch form luxury and damned incest" (I,v,82-83)
6. epizeuxis: repition of words in immediate succession, for vehemence or emphasis
• "Words, words, words." (II,ii,189)
7. litotes: form of understatement in which the thing is affirmed by stating the negative of its opposite
8. non-sequitur: inference that does not follow from the premise

Synthesis II

       Lectures (outline taken from Holmes's lecture summaries):

1. Archetypal and Mythological Criticism
• archetype (element of fiction that we see repeated with its core meaning unchanged) v. myth (complete story, culturally foundational story)
• archetypes are widely shared experiences that show up in literature (reflect patterns of the human mind?)
• Fazer: noticed that myths from different cultures shared certain similarities; tend to be experiences that effect all human beings (death-rebirth)
• Jung: archetypes were representations of the collective unconscious (repository of emotions, ideas, memories) shared by all humans
• Campbell: monomyth; "hero's quest"
• Frye: used archetypes for literary criticism rather than social speculation; Archetypal Criticism
• mythoi:
• romance: circles at top
• tragedy: begins at top, ends at bottom
• irony: circles at bottom
• comedy: begins at bottom, ends at top
2. Tragedy and the Common Man
• tragedies used to apply only to the royal groups, but because modern psychiarty bases analysis upon these groups (Oedipus complex), and these apply to the now common man, tragedy has evolved to be suitable to contain common man characters
• tragic feeling evoked when we see someone who needs to retain their sense of dignity; tragedy also results from the indignant
• fatal flaw: unwillingness to remain passive when dignity is challenged
• author must be able to question absolutely everything
• tragedy should not be associated purely with pessimism; should reinforce audience's "brightest opinion of the human animal."
3. Theories of Humor/Comedy
• six elements required (apparently the failure on even one of these points will lead to the failure of the attempt at comedy all together) :
• appeal to the intellect
• mechanical
• remind the audience of humanity
• situation must be inconsistent with sorroundings
• percieved as painless

Synthesis I

        DIDLS has acted as the backbone of our approach to analyzing literature this year. Here is a breakdown of the parts:

1. diction: single words
• colloquial (ordinary language) v. elevated: shows level of education/sophistocation
• connotation (meanings that culture brings to the word) v. denotation (dictionary meaning)
• pejorative (negative) v. honorific (positive)
• vagueness: favorite with unreliable narrators
2. imagery: language that appeals vividly to the senses
• sight, touch, taste, smell, sound
• 'gut'/visceral senses
3. details: taken from text to support arguments
4. language
• metaphor v. simile
• personification: object/animal given human characteristics
• analogy: explains something by comparing it to something simple
• hyperbole v. understatement
• paradox: statement that seems contradictory but reveals the truth
• verbal irony: speaker says something but means something else, noticeable incongruity
5. syntax: sentence length/construction
• impacts pace, tone, emphasis
• dependent clause: depends on something else for meaning (requires subordinating conjunction)
• independent clause: can stand by itself (performs marriage between equal ideas)
• SVC (subject,verb,compliment) v. SVO (subject,verb,object)
• punctuation SPEAKS!

Response to Course Material

       I'm glad that we're reading Ceremony because it puts a heavy emphasis on Native American culture, which is very interesting to learn about. The amount of symbols and motifs in the novel also make for some interesting discussions. However, I think our class goes a little to far into analyzing sometimes (as evidenced by our failure to complete one group's passage in three days). But I guess it's better than not having engaging discussion at all :)

Response to Course Material

       After looking over the poems we wrote our second essay on, I still think I don't have the skill of picking apart a poem and being able to write on it. I think that will be the hardest part of this class.
       I really appreciate the review of the different literary eras because sometimes it's important to revisit basic information like that. However, while Prezi looks cool, I think it's really hard at first to be able to use the confusing controls.
       Analyzing Ceremony will be really different from analyzing the two plays we have so far. I think we will need to focus more on the larger ideas rather than looking at every word and sentence, because of the sheer length of the novel.

Response to Course Material

     I really appreciate the historical background info that Holmes is providing. I think an important part of this play is knowing what's comedy and what isn't, and knowing how Albee is deviating from social norm for the sake of comedy is impossible without knowing what the social norms were. Mommy and Daddy present a very interesting situation, in which they are completely average and iconic to that time period, but also appallingly atypical in their fixations and mutilation of the baby. Satisfaction in this play is unattainable, just as it is in real life. Albee is trying to make a point here, I think, that the American Dream is unattianable because the dream is about getting satisfaction, and while Mommy claims she can get satisfaction, really she's in the same satisfaction-less boat with the rest of us. I think we're making very good progress in class as far as digging deeper into the play, but I would like to know more about the 'big picture' themes and ideas.

Response to Course Material

     Finally we read something! I mean, we've read pieces in class, but this was an actual, tangible book and it made me happy :) I realized how much deeper into the piece we went even on our first read when I asked my mom, who I had seen reading The American Dream, how she liked it. Her reply: "I just couldn't get into it... That woman was so annoying with the whole thing about the hat!" I'm excited to learn more about how consumer culture and gender roles play parts in this play.
     The essay practice, while not as fun as the play, is very important. I am beginning to comprehend more of how an essay should flow; if you read your intro and the topic sentences, they should sound like a cohesive essay, minus the details and supporting evidence. I think I need to get better at not being very repetitive in my essays, because I tend to reinforce my points through repetition rather than elaboration.

Response to Course Material

       Making connections within a piece of writing, whether it's poetry or an essay or something else, has been a major 'epiphany area' for me these last couple of weeks. Finding interesting words or images, and then drawing lines to other words or images, and then taking it one step further to make conclusions about what the author is trying to say has always been hard for me to do, but these past couple weeks have taught me to take it one step at a time. It's gotten much easier, and will, hopefully, continue to do so.
       The way that diction, or single words, can influence a piece of literature is amazing. The level of elevation or colloquialism, the dialect, and the connotations of words matter so much more than I thought. They contribute to the tone (the speaker's attitude) and mood (feeling the reader experiences) of the writing.
       As someone who has taken two AP history classes, the essay format of the AP English essay makes me a little nervous, because I'm used to writing my essay and being able to check off bullet points from a rubric. Now, I have to be able to come up with unique interpretations and evidence, which is a lot harder than putting as many proper nouns on the page, as it was with the history essays. I hope that I can get better at writing these essays by reading a lot of sample ones and practicing writing them.