Final Exam

Final test on Puritan/Rationalist, Romantic, and Realist ideas.

Persuasive Speeches!

• Finish final persuasive speeches.
• Turn in last three speaker evaluations.

Mark Twain, "The Lowest Animal" (535).

• Review the difference between Realists and Naturalists.
• Read the selection.
• Answer the following questions: (hand in)
  

1. Name four ways, according to Twain, that animals are superior to humans.
2. What specific changes in human nature does Twain hope to encourage with this satire?
3. Find at least two examples of exaggeration in "The Lowest Animal."
   

Persuasive Speeches!

• 6-7 persuasive speeches.
• Three speaker evaluations.

Ambrose Bierce, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"

• Finish movie poster from Thursday.
• Writing assignment: "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge": the Movie (497). On the back of your poster, write a memorandum to your producer about the movie you will create. Include a list of the different points in the story you will use various camera angles and for what reason. (For a list of the camera angles to include, see the assignment on p. 497)
  

Persuasive Speeches!

• Listen to 6-7 speeches.
• Evaluate any three speeches.

Ambrose Bierce, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (490-6)

• Finish reading the selection and answer the following questions:

1. Find at least three clues in Part III that would have told you the events weren't really happening.
2. Bierce's main goal is to focus on the psychology of a person in a life-or-death situation. What does he tell the reader about the mental state of such a person?

• (With a partner) You are directing a movie version of this story.
• Create a poster on construction paper advertising your film. Your poster should include:

1. a title (make it interesting).
2. an image (cannot give away the unexpected ending).
3. A one-sentence catchy tag-line advertising the film.
   

Persuasive Speeches!

• View 6-7 speeches.
• Evaluate any three of them.

Ambrose Bierce, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (490-6)

• Review ideas of the Realists.
• Read Part I of the story (will finish story tomorrow).
  

Persuasive Speeches!

Listen to the first 6-7 persuasive speeches.

• When you speak: hand in your outline and works cited list.
• If you received 5/5 points on your outline and/or works cited, then you do not need to revise them. If you received fewer points, then revise them and hand in a clean copy.
• Speaker Evaluations: for each day of speeches, complete three speaker evaluations with the following questions:

1. The purpose of this speech was to persuade the audience...
2. Three main points of this speech were:
3. What was good about this speech?
4. What is one thing the speaker could work on?

Romanticism Wrap Up:

Consider the literary period (Romanticism) and the “big ideas” associated with it. Select one idea with which you connect (agree or disagree). In a paragraph (at least 6 sentences), write about the big idea with which you connect, the literary piece(s) in which you saw this big idea, and why you connect with this concept/connect it to your own life.

Literary Pieces: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Edgar Allan Poe, Henry David Thoreau

Paragraphs will be evaluated on:

· Use of detail

· Coherence

· Elaboration

· Analysis

· Personal Reflection

· Standard writing conventions

Silent Reading, 20 min

Mark Twain, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" (527-531)

• Read the story.
• Find at least three places in the story where Twain uses the vernacular. Explain why the vernacular makes the story more authentic, more vivid, or more comic.
• Find two or more examples of each of the following comic devices: hyperbole, comic comparisons, comic characters and situations.
• Writing Activity: The narrator leaves when Wheeler starts to tell him about Smiley's "yaller one-eyed cow that didn't have no tail." What amazing story do you think Wheeler might have told about that cow? Write Wheeler's "yaller one-eyed cow" story. Include at least two comic devices (such as hyperbole, understatement, comic comparisons, and comic characters and situations). You may also want to try imitating the vernacular that Twain uses or another vernacular that you are familiar with. Read aloud as you write. Remember that much of the humor of this kind of story comes from its sound.
  

Silent Reading, 20 min

Realists

• Finish introduction (textbook, goldenrod sheet)
• Watch short video clip with introductory questions:

1. What obstacles did African Americans and women share during the Realist period of American history?
2. What work/actions were required to overcome these obstacles?
3. What gave African Americans and women the courage to oppose these obstacles? What did they risk by doing so?

Frederick Douglass, "The Battle with Mr. Covey," p. 465.

• Read the selection.
• Answer the following questions:

1. Based on the account, how would you characterize the young Frederick Douglass?
   
2. Explain the metaphor implied in this line: "[The battle with Covey] rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom." How is the metaphor related to the idea of rebirth?
3. At the end of the selection, Douglass distinguishes between being "a slave in form" and "a slave in fact." How does this distinction support the theme of the selection?
4. Think about Douglass' purpose in writing this narrative. Consider Douglass' style, including his objectivity and restraint in describing painful incidents. How does Douglass win over an audience that might be uneasy at the idea of a black man's fighting a white man?

Hand in three questions from the video introduction and questions from Frederick Douglass.

Writing Prompt: (see below)

(This prompt refers to the poster in the room, similar to the picture at left.)
Someone just went up the ladder. Who? Where were they going?

Persuasive Speeches:

• Read in Elements of Language book pp. 719-721 on delivery techniques.
• Due today: Works cited list.
• Speeches due Tuesday, March 23. There will be no computer time that day; speeches are due at the beginning of the hour.
  

Persuasive Speech

• Continue working on persuasive speeches.
• Due today: Outline of speech. See persuasion map here.
• Persuasive Speech due Tuesday, March 23.
  

Review "The Raven" (Simpsons clip)

To see clip from The Simpsons, click here.

Quiz: Romanticism.

• Books, notes, and goldenrod sheets may be used.
• Literature selections that may be helpful are the "The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls" and "The Cross of Snow" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe, and "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau. All selections can be found in the Elements of Literature textbook.
  

When finished with quiz, read introduction to Realism (pp. 444-461). Fill out new goldenrod sheet.

Silent Reading, 20 min

Henry David Thoreau, excerpt from Walden (217-228).

Read the following sections and answer the questions.

“Economy”

1. What questions do Thoreau’s friends and neighbors ask him about his decision to spend two years living on his own at Walden Pond?

2. Where does Thoreau get the lumber and frame for his cabin?

3. How much did Thoreau estimate his cabin cost? Why do you think he pays so much attention to the cost of his supplies and materials?

“Where I Lived and What I Lived For”

1. Why does Thoreau say he went to live in the woods?

2. What do you think is Thoreau’s complaint about the railroads? What form of modern technology might some people complain about today for the same reasons Thoreau complained about the effect of modern technology on people during his time?

“Brute Neighbors”

1. Define the word brute.

2. Describe the ant war. To what human action does Thoreau compare the ant war?

3. List two interesting observations Thoreau makes about the loons on Walden Pond.

Romanticism: According to the introduction, transcendentalists looked to nature to find truth and the doorway to spirituality and believed in the perfectibility of human nature. Their American Dream included the values of individualism and nature/environmentalism. Is Thoreau a transcendentalist? Why or why not? Find at least three specific passages from Walden to back up your opinion.

Silent Reading, 20 min

Edgar Allan Poe, "The Raven"

Review terms from Poetry Terms PowerPoint (given Friday, March 5).

“The Raven”

Edgar Allan Poe

Alliteration – the repetition of consonant sounds, usually at the beginning of words. (Alliteration is marked in blue.)

Assonance – the repetition of vowel sounds, usually within words. (Assonance is marked in purple.)

Onomatopoeia – the use of a word whose sound imitates its meaning. (Onomatopoeia is marked in yellow.)

Internal rhyme – the rhyming of words within a line of poetry, not just at the end of the lines. (Internal rhymes are marked in red.)

Rhyme scheme – the pattern of end rhymes (rhyming words at the end of a line) in a poem. Rhyme scheme is commonly indicated with letters of the alphabet, each rhyming sound represented by a different letter of the alphabet.

Assignment: Alliteration, assonance, internal rhyme, rhyme scheme, and onomatopoeia are marked in the first two stanzas of the poem. Find and mark these devices in the later verses.

The Raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, a Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, b While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, c As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. b `'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door - b Only this, and nothing more.' b Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December, d And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. b Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow e From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore - b For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore - b Nameless here for evermore. b And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before; So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating `'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door - Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; - This it is, and nothing more,' Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer, `Sir,' said I, `or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore; But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping, And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, That I scarce was sure I heard you' - here I opened wide the door; - Darkness there, and nothing more. Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token, And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!' This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!' Merely this and nothing more. Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning, Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before. `Surely,' said I, `surely that is something at my window lattice; Let me see then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore - Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; - 'Tis the wind and nothing more!' Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore. Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he; But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door - Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door - Perched, and sat, and nothing more. Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling, By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore, `Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,' I said, `art sure no craven. Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore - Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!' Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.' Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly, Though its answer little meaning - little relevancy bore; For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door - Bird or beast above the sculptured bust above his chamber door, With such name as `Nevermore.' But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only, That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour. Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered - Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before - On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.' Then the bird said, `Nevermore.' Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken, `Doubtless,' said I, `what it utters is its only stock and store, Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore - Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore Of "Never-nevermore."' But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling, Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door; Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore - What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore Meant in croaking `Nevermore.' This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core; This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er, But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er, She shall press, ah, nevermore! Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor. `Wretch,' I cried, `thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he has sent thee Respite - respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore! Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!' Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.' `Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! - Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore, Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted - On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore - Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!' Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.' `Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! By that Heaven that bends above us - by that God we both adore - Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore - Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?' Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.' `Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!' I shrieked upstarting - `Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore! Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken! Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door! Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!' Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.' And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor; And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor Shall be lifted - nevermore!

"The Raven" Comic--in six panels (exactly) illustrate the events of "The Raven." You will not be graded on your artwork but on your command of the ideas in the poem.