English Lit. Notes
May 11 2006

Disembarking in Quebec – by Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood decided to write about Susanna Moody because she was one of the first canadian settlers. Margaret traces Susanna’s life coming to and being in Canada.

When Susanna came to Canada her life was not easy. Her status was gone and there was this new harsh way of living. She found herself in this situation that she was uprooted from her life and she was found in a situation that she didn’t want to be in. She lost one of her children, she had to deal with the pain of him drowning.

In the first stanza, Susanna Moody is talking about how she feels that she doesn’t belong. She is trying to figure out what the reason is. Her clothes, her book, the color of her shawl? You can tell that in the first stanza she is feeling very insecure by questioning why people may not like her. Susanna Moody came from an upper class life, so its a thought of hers that people may not like her appearance.

“This space cannot hear”

In the next stanza she is talking about the vistas of desolation, omens of winter and such. She is describing that feeling where many people question if they have the strength and or determination to get through this. Before it was her appearance she questioned, now she is questioning her lack of conviction.

“The others leap and shout freedom”

The others refer to other people that have perhaps been exiled from their countries because of their religious beliefs. They may have also come from poverty and now they have canadas wide open spaces to live.

“The moving water will not show me my reflection”

Even the water in Canada will not show her reflection. She is doubting herself. Vampires can’t see their reflections in mirrors because they aren’t considered people, they don’t have souls. Susanna must think that she is no longer seen as a person. She is lost.

“The rocks ignore”

Nature now ignore hers.

“I am a word in a foreign language”

She no longer understands herself, she is by far lost.

*Kenning- Two words to replace another.
Lily hopper- Frog

big news–

Hannah Grace Nelson was born today, Easter Sunday at 1230 noon.

She weighs 8 pounds, and is amazingly cute!

I have pictures to prove it! ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesmatthew )

I am tired….going to bed.
Just wanted to tell you all!

Just a reminder to read Arnold’s “Dover Beach” pg. 884 for Wednesday.

I hope you all have a great weekend, spend some time reflecting on what an awesome historical event this weekend marks, and spend some quality time with family.

Mr. N

Victorian Era has a different view on nature, because they see it as calyst, instead of putting themselves in it
dramatic monologue (title gives it away)
dramatic – tells a story
monologue – one person is talking
so therefore dramatic monologue is a person talking like a poem or story form
addresses somebody with a purpose
reveals a lot about the narrator (gives hints)

My Last Duchess – Robert Browning
shady like, not really sure what’s going on exactly
set in a 16th century castle in italy
aduca ferrera wife dies 3 years of marriage, began to seek remarriage, gets “match-making” person aka m-m person
has a painting of her that he mentions at the beginning of the poem, before he goes of to interview some eligible women
no one can pull over the curtain except him
talks about his late wife fondly, “she had a heart to soon made glad . . .” she looked at everything; she liked other men “. . . she liked everything he saw. . .“
“serve was all on, the dropping of the day light in the west”
“officious foul” is a guy
900 year old name, his last name is of high status power
she; late wife, doesn’t take his name as something special, she treats it as it were any other gift, nothing from her husband is special to her he says
he says he could have pointed out some of her flaws, but that would mean stooping down to her
doesn’t like her smiling at other people
he told her to stop and then all smiles stopped altogether, he was a very jealous man, he ordered his wife’s’ because she took more enjoyment in other things over him, so he got something to kill his wife
him and m-m person are walking down the hallway and he points out the statue of neptune the sea king beside his wife’s painting
he covers the painting because her attention to her husband kind of wondered in life
smiles at everyone
liked/looks at everything
she looked as if she is still alive, so now that she is dead he choses when she             looks at anything
he seems to treat women as property, livestock as something that he owns
Bronte Sisters
3 sisters; Emily and Anne are the most famous
Song – Poem by Emily Bronte
linnet – small finch kinda fly
moor-lark – a bird
wild deer browse above her breast?
the poem is talking about someone that is dead in a cemetery
pathetic fallacy – when nature matches the mood of the person
Well, let them fight for honors breath/ or pleasure’s shade pursue – -/ the dweller in the land of death/ is changed and careless too. ? what does this mean?
“pleasure shade” its like trying to chase after the wind, it doesn’t last forever
“the dweller in the land of death”/is changed and careless too” she’s dead she doesn’t care
“and if their eyes should watch and weep till sorrows were dry” they that miss her can cry all they want but she won’t flinch, she’s gone
[just to add a thought here= Bronte seems to show the Victorian idea of nature being somewhat indifferent to human existence and suffering...ex: the deer walking along above the grave]

Reading Byron’s “Apostrophe…” was like riding a big wave or going to church (insert appropriate simile here). It was amazing and outstanding and I really enjoyed hearing your summaries of each stanza!
The outcome of this sublime class: that essay assignment I handed out has been taken back in. It has been put off for a while as we will attempt to create our own apostrophes.

Thank you for your willingness to jump into the unknown…

I think it will be an interesting journey!

Have an outstanding day. Remember to be thinking of what topic you want to write about. We will get down to it on Friday’s class.

No reading assigned, just thinking–> “To mingle with the universe, and feel / What I can ne’er express, yet cannot all conceal” (Byron, “Apostrophe to the Ocean,” 8-9).

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

As mentioned in class, I will provide you with copies of the paragraphs omitted from your version of “A Modest Proposal.”

Here are some quotes from the above mentioned articles:

And a teacher at a private school in Vancouver, British Columbia, has his senior English literature students blog on their reading assignments, bringing medieval narrative poems such as ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’ into the era of ubiquitous computer technology.” (Borja, “Blogs Catching On” Dec. 14, 2005, par. 9)

Under the heading Selected Classroom Blogs:

Dear Parents of Literature 12 students,

I want to bring you up to date on what we are doing in Literature 12. We have completed the first term, and I am very proud of the work that your sons and daughters are doing in this class. Their work and contributions to class discussion show that they are willing to invest in their learning and in the texts we are reading together, as well as think and respond critically about both.

I want to share the following information so that you can keep in contact with what we are doing for class:

The Homepage:
The Literature 12 homepage is a place where students and parents can check in to see what is going on in class. It is also a resource where students can get study notes, course updates, assignments if they miss a class, and vocabulary that they are responsible for on the Provincial Exam.
The homepage address is:
http://dcsenglish.edublogs.org/

You may notice that the format of this homepage is different from regular webpages. This is because it is done in a weblog, or ‘blog’ format. If you would like to learn more about this format, I would suggest you read one of the first ‘posts’ to the homepage entitled “What is a Blog?” The address is:
http://dcsenglish.edublogs.org/2005/10/24/what-is-a-blog/

We have also set up a ‘team blog’ where students post responses to the texts we are encountering in the course.
The team blog can be reached from the homepage by clicking on the link entitled “The Lit. Team Blog,” or, you can access it at the following address:
http://herot.learnerblogs.org/

Please note that students post their responses and comments anonymously on this blog, and that they have been instructed to never use their full names when interacting on these sites.

I am very excited about using this technology in the classroom, especially when I read comments that your son/daughter leaves. The reading I have done on this topic also indicates that students invest more thought and effort in their writing when it is put on a blog, as it is open to a wider audience of readers. It is not always a smooth experience, but I believe the benefits far outweigh any technical difficulties we encounter as we learn together.

I enjoy teaching this class, and learning what your children have to say. Their comments often amaze me, as they reflect deep thought and deep learning.
Hopefully this will continue as we experience more literature together.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any comments or questions.
Thank you for your time, and for investing in your child’s education.

Sincerely,

James M. Nelson

I have been hearing some complaints re blogging in the classroom lately.

I just wanted to challenge you with the following:

A six year old blogging… No kidding. Six years old, using a blog because he wants to.
Check it out, I like the post about aliens.

So, if he can do it, we should be able to as well!

Have a great evening, and pray for snow…

Using something old to say something new…Your thoughts?