Know your Poe!

“The death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world.”

Nice quote, eh?

Here is a link to the "shmoop" on Edgar Allan Poe (wink wink) More information may be found in Fields of Vision where you can read about Poe as a writer of American Romanticism (which we have read as a contrast/parallel to British Romanticism)
As always, sparknotes is also a valuable source.

Themes for the exam

At the exam, you can get a text within the following themes:

1. American Rhetoric (study the forms of appeal, all the rhetorical features we have talked about such as anaphora, antithesis, sponsorship effect, the rhetorical pentagram....)

2. The Power of Language, the Language of Power (study power relations, the British Empire, The Empire Writes Back, the rhetorical pentagram - always useful in non fiction, tools for analysing short stories, tools for analysing poetry)

3. Romanticism (study the language ideals of poetry and the role of the poet, study Poe - i believe i mentioned this before!!!, the gothic - distiguish between America and Britain, tools for analysing poetry, tools fro analysing short stories - I believe I have mentioned reliability of 1st person narrators!

4. Women writing Women, 19th century fiction (study tools for analysing short stories, gender roles in the Victorian age, women's rights, The Angel of the House, authors we worked on)

5. Macbeth (study everything you can get your hands on regarding the play and Shakespeare. Make sure you know the story and the development of the characters, study Shakespeare's use of language)

You are expected to know your CURRICULUM and be able to put your text into a relevant literary, thematic, and historical perspective. You are allowed to refer to works studied last year, but it is not a requirement.
Read aloud, SPEAK English, look at areas of grammar that tend to be problemtic for you. Look up relevant vocabulary and learn new words. Do not underestimate the importance of preparation since your language will be an important part of your evaluation/grade.
The first 10 minutes of the exam are yours - make sure you have a GOOD structure. This is your time to shine and you must make sure that you present all your sharp observations.
DO NOT forget to present your text - genre, author, title, period!

The mini-skirt rule: Learn it :)

Questions and comments for the upcoming exam

Ask, answer, discuss, comment, debate, panic, study, scream, comfort, cry, laugh, support, hug...

Women writing women links

If you want to read about the voting rights of women i the US, here is a useful link. You may want to compare it to the same proces in the UK

The Macbeth play and superstition

Much superstition has surrounded stagings of Macbeth. Here you can read about it - e. g. what happens if a member of the audience utters Macbeth's name before a performance...
You can find more information on the play by following this link

Gothic elements

Here is a link where you can see the most common features of gothic literature

A bit of rhetoric

Prezi on The Victorian Age - family values

This prezi is made by Suganth and his group. Check it out!

Why Shakespeare is an obligatory part of our curriculum

Interactive timeline

Here is a link to a brilliant timeline of Shakespeare's life and works - it's interactive and all... ;)

Video SparkNotes: Shakespeare's Macbeth summary

A very good summary of Macbeth. It is important to have an overview of the plot when working on such a difficult text.

Kate Chopin: Desiree's Baby

 

Which critical approach would you apply in your analysis of the text? Why?

Jane Eyre

Write a comment with your notes from class in which you complete the sentence:
"If I had to do an oral exam on Jane Eyre, I would focus on...."
Please make your notes and comments useful for your fellow students.

Intro to The Victorian Era

Themes:

a) Religion and values

b) Family and gender

c) Society and class conflict

Product:

Create a pp presentation, a photostory or a prezi in which you present your theme. You may include pictures/paintings, quotes, facts and statistics - anything that helps illustrate the theme in the Victorian Age.

Links: http://prezi.com/
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=11132

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_era
http://www.victorianweb.org/
http://www.chiddingstone.kent.sch.uk/homework/victorians/life.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/victorian_britain/

Find more on your own!