Thirty Great Opening Lines in Literature

Who's #1?

Jane Austen, of course.

A Brief, Macabre Essay

If you wish to read it, click here.

Monday, 11/3/14: I beg your Pardoner's tale?

* Open

       Read about noun phrases a bit.  Distinguish among noun phrases as subjects, objects, and subject complements. 

* Vocabulary Questions?

* Quo Vadis Reviewed

•  Per. 4: Perspective in Gawain (Esolen reading)

* Chaucer
 
Journal 12, Part II "The Pardoner's Tale"

• 3. How do the tavern knave and the publican personify Death? What does the rioters’ response to the description tell you? 
  4. What do you think the poor old man may symbolize? 
  5. Explain at least two instances of irony in this tale, at least one being situational irony and other being dramatic irony.
  
  6. Why is it ironic that the Pardoner preaches a story with this particular moral? How would you account for the psychology of the Pardoner: Is he truly evil, just drunk, or so used to cheating that he does it automatically? 
  7. What do you think Chaucer is satirizing in “The Pardoner’s Tale”? 
  8. How would the moral that the Pardoner wishes the audience to draw and the moral that Chaucer would hope the reader to draw differ?  Explain.

HW: Journal 12: "The Pardoner's Tale"; please bring a blanket or jacket to sit on tomorrow for chapel if you wish to be more comfortable (we're sitting on the gym lobby floor).  

Be-Knighted Block

* Open

• Brief Vocabulary Quiz

* When you finish, please begin your next vocabulary set in your composition book:

List 2 (11--20): Complex Sentences of Conspiracy Theory

  admonish 
  akimbo
  lassitude
  licentious
  muse (noun and verb)
  pecuniary
  typology
  presumptuous
  subversive
  vacuous  

* Thomas Hardy: 778, "The Convergence of the Twain"

* Last happily toothless AP M.C.

* Video to 13:42ish

* If extra time

• Geoffrey Chaucer (1340--1400

• "The Pardoner's Tale" and Questions

HW: Quo Vadis Reading

• Read Esolen on Sir Gawain (in our Google Drive under Quo Vadis).  Be prepared to discuss numerology on Monday for our opening.

Wednesday, 10/29: Chaucer

* Open

• Grammar notes: Clauses and Phrases
• Please read this on phrases and clauses from Dr. Wheeler.
• From this, please define the following:
• Phrase
• Clause
• Independent vs. dependent
• Now copy and label each as a phrase, dependent clause, or independent clause
• To infinity and beyond:
• Over the river and through the woods:
• I like Jerry:
• Because I like Jerry:

• Name stories?

* AP M.C. in pairs

* Chaucer

HW: Prologue and its Journal Questions (Geoffrey Chaucer (1340--1400); study your first 10 vocabulary words

Extended Chapel Schedule

Tuesday, 10/28/14: Card Quiz; Begin Chaucer

* Open

 

* Card Quiz 

 

Geoffrey Chaucer (1340--1400)

 

* Finally, we have an author we can name! Geoffrey Chaucer.  We will be reading from his Canterbury Tales. 


* Do you enjoy people-watching? I do.  When I was first married, my wife and I had very little money, so our typical date was to go to Starbuck's in downtown Santa Cruz...then enjoy the circus walking by and chuckle our way through an evening together.  I think we all enjoy encountering different characters.  That's part of what can make school fun: we are motley crew, indeed (teachers and administrators included)!  Geoffrey Chaucer had a gift for bringing characters to life in fiction, and his various diplomatic posts gave him a great opportunity to interact with many colorful subjects to fuel his gift.  His work, combined with his wildly rich imagination, led to the birth of a host of characters in English literature.

• First, read and take notes from a quick biographical background here (scroll past the ad after the first paragraph).  (If you wish for more biographical study, see here.)
• Second review this chronology (list at least five important events in the development of Chaucer's career).
• Third, define the following lit terms in your notes:
• couplet (Chaucer's verses that we read are in decasyllabic couplets...the precursor to the heroic couplet)
• frame narrative 
• irony 
• verbal
• dramatic
• situational 

  *  The Canterbury Tales' premise: It's spring, and twenty-nine pilgrims are making their way from Southwerk, London to Canterbury Cathedral to visit the shrine of Thomas Becket. The thirtieth man, the host, decides to join them and to make a wager. Whichever pilgrim can tell the best story to beguile the time as they go will receive a free dinner when they return from their pilgrimage. "The Prologue" introduces the pilgrims, and tales follow. Chaucer never finished the tales, but what we have we treasure. 

HW: Finish the introductory notes above in your composition book

Monday, 10/27/14: Gawain Card: How Can Writing Effect Social Change?

* Open

• AP MC 2009, Part II in Groups
• Review

* Essay Makeups? 

* Sir Gawain: AP Study Cards


HW: Sir Gawain Card and Memorization for Tomorrow 

Block Day: Gawain Essays

Dear students,

     You will be working in class all period today.  You may use the first five to ten minutes of class to look over your notes and links and prepare your thoughts.  Once the essay times begin, you may not use any info. beside the prompts here on the blog (until you finish your essay(s)).  Periods 6 and 3 only have five minutes of review time in order to be released five minutes early (at 1:05).  Everyone must write a Sir Gawain essay during the first 40 minutes.  Some students may chose to work on college essays during the later 40 minutes.  Otherwise, write a second Gawain essay.  Choose your better essay.  You may not answer the same prompt twice. 

* You must turn in one Sir Gawain and the Green Knight essay by the end of the period.

* You will have two, forty minute time blocks.  Please use the timer on your iPad to help you keep track of time.  You will notice that the bell will ring when the second essay must be done.  Please staple and turn in your better essay on your way out.  If you only write one essay, turn it in after the first 40 minute period ends. 


Period 4:

• Personal review time: 8:10--8:20
• First Essay: 8:20--9:00
• Second Essay: 9:00--9:40

Period 5:

• Personal review time: 9:55--10:05
• First Essay:10:05--10:45
• Second Essay: 10:45--11:25

Period 6:

• Personal review time: 11:40--11:45
• First Essay: 11:45--12:25
• Second Essay:12:25--1:05

Period 3: 

• Personal review time: 11:40--11:45
• First Essay: 11:45--12:25
• Second Essay:12:25--1:05

Essay Directions

• In each case, apply Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
• Write in pen. 
• Single space.
• Write on only one side of each piece of paper. 
• If you do not have paper, you may take what's needed from the trays in the middle of the room.  Please only take enough for your essay.
• Use your iPad timer, please. 
• Staple and place back in the lower tray at the end of the period. 

Prompts

• Choose from any of the following.  Please write the prompt year and a one-sentence summary of the prompt on your paper before you write your essay.

•  1970.      Choose a character from a novel or play of recognized literary merit and write an essay in which you (a) briefly describe the standards of the fictional society in which the character exists and (b) show how the character is affected by and responds to those standards.  In your essay do not merely summarize the plot.

• 1980.      A recurring theme in literature is the classic war between a passion and responsibility.  For instance, a personal cause, a love, a desire for revenge, a determination to redress a wrong, or some other emotion or drive may conflict with moral duty.  Choose a literary work in which a character confronts the demands of a private passion that conflicts with his or her responsibilities.  In a well-written essay show clearly the nature of the conflict, its effects upon the character, and its significance to the work.

• 1994.  In some works of literature, a character who appears briefly, or does not appear at all, is a significant presence.  Choose a novel or play of literary merit and write an essay in which you show how such a character functions in the work.  You may wish to discuss how the character affects action, theme, or the development of other characters. Avoid plot summary.

• 2009.      A symbol is an object, action, or event that represents something or that creates a range of associations beyond itself. In literary works a symbol can express an idea, clarify meaning, or enlarge literal meaning. Select a novel or play and, focusing on one symbol, write an essay analyzing how that symbol functions in the work and what it reveals about the characters or themes of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

HW:

• Sir Gawain Note Card Due Tuesday  
• Four terms for notes (due Monday): 
• Feudalism (five aspects)
• Chivalry (one sentence)
• Courtly Love (five aspects)
• Medieval Romance (one sentence)

• Vocabulary (due Monday): first list of 10 words defined with sentences in your composition book (please see the link on the left for the full assignment details)

Wednesday, 10/21/14

* Open

• Please review the Vocabulary List assignment (list 1 due Monday). 

* Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

HW: Review for the essay

Due Monday: 

* Four terms to add:

• Feudalism (five aspects)
• Chivalry (one sentence)
• Courtly Love (five aspects)
• Medieval Romance (one sentence)

* Vocabulary (please see the link on the left for the full assignment details):

List 1: Sentence Pattern: Compound Sentences in Cathedrals (quiz on 10/30)
1. allocation
2. ascetic
3. beguile
4. crass
5. defray
6. dint
7. enjoin
8. envoy
9. interloper
10.vicarious

Yes, That's Sean Connery Wielding the Axe

Extended Chapel

Tuesday, 10/21: Gawain

* Open

• Please take this anonymous school survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JTVXFS6
• Consider this 10k/year scholarship: Ronald Reagan 
• Grammar: Summarize the following in your notes:
• Oh—dash it all!
• - hyphen (on a keyboard, same as the minus sign): use this punctuator for hyphenation. It is the shortest of the three.
• Example: The red-headed, eight-year-old boy caused the fight, oddly enough, with a well-intentioned remark.
• – en-dash (ctrl-minus in Word or hyphen hold on the iPad): use this punctuator for spans. This is longer than a hyphen but shorter than an em dash.
• Example: William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was a wondrous wordsmith.
• — em-dash (double hyphen or ctrl-alt-minus in Word or hyphen hold on the iPad or alt-0151 for html): use this to signal a break in a sentence or to insert an emphasized parenthetical thought. This is what we commonly call a dash. This is the longest of the three.
• Example: Great Gotham, Batman—punctuators like these portend pernicious perils!
• Example: This is the day—how does it go?—that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. 
  

* Discussion: Books I-II

 HW: Sir Gawain Note Card (due next Tuesday when we quiz)

Monday, 10/20/14: Gawain

* Open

• Grammar review; copy and choose thy verb cleverly:
• The number of people with wheat allergies (has or have) increased in recent years. 
• A number of my friends (has or have) decided to eat seaweed.  
• More Practice: ChompChomp! Screen time? 

* Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Part IV: Journal 11: 3 Sentences of Three or More for Each (due Tuesday)

1. Note elements of the story you find interesting.  What is the style like?  How does the author describe things?
2. Identify potential symbols in the story.  What makes you think this (item, color, location, character, etc.) is symbolic?  What might it symbolize?  If you have found nothing symbolic by the end of the poem, you should do some rereading. 
3. Since numerology had an enormous impact on and in medieval and Renaissance works, take note of any numerological elements (also, check out the link here to help you make sense of numerological meanings in the poem). You won't find a great deal here...but the subtle reader will find a few instances.
4. Note juxtapositions you encounter in the narrative and consider their dramatic effect. 
5. How do Beowulf and Gawain compare, both as heroes and as examples of the heroic narrative?  
6. What is effects does the bob and wheel have in this chivalric romance?
7. Which AP Open Essay Prompts would work well with this narrative? 

 HW: Journal 11

Block Day 10/16/14: Gawain

* Open

• Review

* Quiz
 
* AP M.C. 

* Gawain: Introductory Notes 

• Encyclopedia Britannica:
• "Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knight, also spelled Sir Gawain And The Green Knight: Middle English alliterative poem of unknown authorship, dating from the second half of the 14th century (perhaps 1375). [Arthur, himself, lived perhaps during the late 4th and early 5th centuries.]  It is a chivalric romance that tells a tale of enchantment in an Arthurian setting....The poem is technically brilliant. Its alliterative lines (some 2,500) are broken up into stanzas by short rhyming passages [bob and wheel]; they are tautly constructed, and the vocabulary is astonishingly rich—influenced by French in the scenes at court but strengthened by many dialect words, often of Scandinavian origin, that belonged to northwest England. The blend of sophisticated atmosphere, psychological depth, and vivid language produces an effect superior to that found in any other work of the time."

* Read Sir Gawain

• I'll check journals

* Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Part IV: Journal 11: 3 Sentences of Three or More for Each (due Tuesday)

1. Note elements of the story you find interesting.  What is the style like?  How does the author describe things?
2. Identify potential symbols in the story.  What makes you think this (item, color, location, character, etc.) is symbolic?  What might it symbolize?  If you have found nothing symbolic by the end of the poem, you should do some rereading. 
3. Since numerology had an enormous impact on and in medieval and Renaissance works, take note of any numerological elements (also, check out the link here to help you make sense of numerological meanings in the poem). You won't find a great deal here...but the subtle reader will find a few instances.
4. Note juxtapositions you encounter in the narrative and consider their dramatic effect. 
5. How do Beowulf and Gawain compare, both as heroes and as examples of the heroic narrative?  
6. What is effects does the bob and wheel have in this chivalric romance?
7. Which AP Open Essay Prompts would work well with this narrative?

HW: Keep Reading Sir Gawain (I expect part three wasn't read very carefully last night; let's finish on Monday night instead)

PSAT Schedule

PSAT Testing
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
All Class Periods Meet Following the PSAT
PSAT	8:10	-	11:25	195 min
Break	11:25	-	11:45	20 min
First	11:50	-	12:10	20 min
Second	12:15	-	12:35	20 min
Third	12:40	-	1:00	20 min
Lunch	1:00	-	1:40	40 min
Fourth	1:45	-	2:05	20 mn
Fifth	2:10	-	2:30	20 min
Sixth	2:35	-	2:55	20 min
Seventh	3:00	-	3:20	20 min
Buses leave at 3:30

Congratulations, Hillary Guerrero!

Wednesday, 10/15

* Open

• Notes: Copy these sentences into your your composition book and label.  Which fit best together?  By process of elimination, can you roughly define synecdoche? We will define it, officially, tomorrow. 

1. And God said, "This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
    I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth" (Gen. 9). 
   
2. Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf (Prov. 11:28). 
3. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver (Prov. 10:20). 
4. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

• Metaphor and polysyndeton
• Symbol and polysyndeton              
• Simile (which, in this case, is also symbolic) 
• Synecdoche (which, in this case, is also symbolic)     

* Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Part III

* Journal 10

HW: Finish Part III; J10

Tuesday, 10/14/14: Gawain

Yes, that's an actual book about the color green and its symbolism.

* Open

• Today's Schedule
• Terms: Define juxtaposition. 
• Grammar Review: Subject and Verb Agreement (see section 21 of Bedford for more info.):
• The Green Knight and Sir Gawain (play or plays) a brutal game. 
• The Green Knight or Sir Gawain (is or are) going to walk away from the game in one piece. 
• Neither the battleaxe nor the throwing knives (kill or kills) courteously without proper technique.
• Middle Ages Quiz on Block Day
• Journal 10 Due Block Day 

* Sir Gawain, part II

* Journal 10

HW: Finish part II and work on Journal 10 

Monday, 10/13/14

 

* Open

• Please take this short college essay survey 
• Grammar: Agreement (please copy these sentences into your notes, choosing the correct verb):
• The men on the battlefield (need or needs) refreshment. 
• High levels of air pollution (cause or causes) damage to the respiratory tract. 
• The slaughter of tourists for their heads (has or have) caused a marked decrease in travel to the hidden Jivaroan tribes along the Maranon River of Peru. 

* Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

• Bob and Wheel 

HW:

• Finish reading Part I; 
• Begin Journal 10, Arthurian research questions; due block day

A rendering of England in the Late 500's; Arthur's time is the time of Beowulf (were we in Sweden), though the stories were composed much later.  Do you see Hideous vocabulary?

Sym-block-ic Studies

* Open

• Story time with...you. 
• Do you have a contest entry featuring a redeeming story? Or did you read a contest submission that spoke to you in your faith?  Please let me know.  I have ideas for story time...but I want to be ready for something from among you to bless your peers, and I'd be honored to assist that.  
• Please talk to me (or email me if you see this out of class: marcusschwager@mvcs.org)

* Review "Digging"

• Continue reading Perrine's 813-816
• Carpe Diem: seize the day; take the moment; live life now
• love, romance, sin
• Herrick vs. Marvell

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

• Geographical Introduction #1: Danny Macaskill
• If we wish to see things early: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

* Read and take notes: The Middle Ages (1066-1500)

• Take notes on the following (it's too bad they marred C. S. Lewis' quote; just read "He was" instead of "Was was"). 
• Major ideas in bold and italics
• Major wars
• Courtly Love
• Characteristics of the Middle Ages
• The Great Happenings

HW: Finish your Middles Ages notes
 

 

Tuesday, 10/7/14: Symbolism Study, Part 1

* Open

• Prefix
• aqua--water
• archaios--ancient
• archos--leader, first, chief

* Journal 8

* Study symbol below.  Learn to distinguish between image, metaphor, and symbol.

• Read and reflect on pages 807-813 in Perrine's (blue books)

• "Digging" by Seamus Heaney: link to the poem.
• Answer these questions in your notes
• 1. Define drills and fell to.
• 2. What emotional responses are evoked by the imagery?
• 3. What is Heaney's relationship to the past here?  Choose one of the following, and defend your choice with at least two supporting quotes and commentary: 
• Revolutionary and iconoclastic?  
• Nostalgic and happy?  
• Hateful and terrified by?  
• Humble yet inspired by?
• Superior yet thankful for?
• Superior and condescending toward?
• 4.  What about his style here reminds you of his translation of Beowulf?

* If time, M.C. fun.

HW: Symbol study (above)

Seamus Heaney, Irish Poet (1939-2013)

Monday, 10/6/14

* Open

•  Prefix while I check Journal 9
• Anthro--man
• Anti--against

• This week:
• Your contest or article submission ends the quarter's work.
• We will begin our work in the Middle Ages and A.P. M.C. training next.  
• Your Beowulf quizzes are scored and will be returned.  I will return your scoring your college essays this week.

* Journal 8

* Loose story ends:

• Greene
• Wolff
• Pham and Pearl

* Contest and article submission work:

• Edit and turn your final draft into turnitin.com
• You will see a new revision assignment.
• You do not need a paper copy of this. 
• Lastly, show evidence of submission to the contest or news source, and you are done.

* College Work

HW:

• Submit your contest entry to turnitin.com
• You do not need to print a copy
• You do need to show evidence of your submission by the end of the quarter (block day)

For Those Absent on Friday

Please comment on the essays listed for you in turnitin.com.  (Some periods only have one submission allotted to each student, some three.  I thought I had made an error, but then I saw that some periods would just reset to one regardless...so please just respond to whatever number it prompts you for, up to 3). 

If you did not make the Thursday deadline, then please have a friend look at your submission and respond with the three questions you'll see on the post below.

Lastly, please have journal 9 complete for Monday.

Go Mustangs!

Mr. S

Friday, Homecoming!

* Open

* Peer Review for Your Contest or News Entry

• You will write three reviews by this Saturday night, midnight.
• Two are randomly selected
• One you will select = )
• You will see responses on Monday to make corrections. 

• Three questions on turnitin.com (for those swapping iPads):
1. Does the opening interest the reader? How?
2. Is there a turn or a freshness or a novelty to the piece?  Explain.  What did you find most memorable?
3. What suggestions would you give the writer?

* Journal 9

HW: Three reviews and Journal 9

Go Blue! Events: JV Football 5:00; Varsity 7:30; Dance 9:30

How do you know if your quarterback is a Christian?  He prays while he throws = ). 
This is one of MVC's best quarterbacks and kindest graduates, Nick Matiasevich.

Thursday, 10/2/14

* Open

• Creative Writing Ideas
• How about a completely new take on a college prompt?
• Check the dialog and news ideas below:
• Army Captain Drew Pham and Molly Pearl: Afghanistan 
  • Transcript
  
  
• Opinion Piece: Should Businesses be Required to Pay for Morning-After Pills?

* Please Work on a Contest Entry or News Article

* Journal 9; you may work on this tomorrow also after your peer edit

HW: Upload your entry or article to turnitin.com by midnight

Wednesday, 10/1/14

* Open

• Prefixes
• agere--act
• amphi, ambi--around, both sides
• ante--before

• Let's do J9 in class so that homework doesn't pile up too much.  Tonight, you have a short story to read.  Tomorrow night, you're uploading your quarterly contest or news submission.
• Did you copy down antihero into your terms?  If not, do so.  This is the first sentence of definition from yesterday's post. 

* Work on J9

• Graham Greene
  • "The Destructors" (Perrine's pp. 115--130)
• Tobias Wolff
• "Hunters in the Snow" (Perrine's pp. 187--201)

* Discussion

* Outside Writing (also on the right side of the blog)

• Submission Link for Next Week: Bookshop Santa Cruz Young Writers (through age 17)
• Fewer than 2,100 words (roughly, fewer than then pages)

HW:

• Read: Example Contest Winner from Bookshop Santa Cruz: "Among the Trees" by Breanna Eddy.
• Tomorrow, we'll be writing our contest/news entry.  If you'd like to get started on that, it wouldn't hurt you.