Due Monday, Nov. 2

Okay, so I decided on a more structured paragraph after all:


You will write a paragraph that analyzes the struggle between Reason and Romanticism (in this case understand Romanticism to emphasize the imagination and unexplained) in "The Fall of the House of Usher." Imagine that your paragraph belongs to a paper with the following topic:

Prompt: To what extent does "The Fall of the House of Usher" represent the triumph of Romanticism over Reason?"

The paragraph you're writing is the the first thesis paragraph (not the introduction or the antithesis paragraph) so you will write about the side you belief in. In other words, you will either say that the story shows Reason triumphing of Romanticism(the imagination) or Romanticism triumphing over Reason.

Topic statement(s): Transition + acknowledgement of antithesis + thesis statement. (You do not have to use a specific POA point for this assignment.)

You will need three piees of evidence. Your evidence should be a quotation from the text. If there is a long passage, provide a short quotation that is at least an excerpt from the story.

Instead of following a strict What/How/Why format after each quotation, explore what is interesting about your quotation focusing on some insights that your quotation reveals about the characters, symbolism, imagery, parallels, etc. Make sure, however, that you do ultimately explain that your quotation shows your side of the prompt.


Note: This is still a formal voice essay (so you can't say "I think this is interesting..."). Please avoid saying "This is interesting because" because that will drive me crazy.

Also, this assignment will allow you to practice transitions for thesis/antithesis writing, which is a good thing.

Due Wednesday, 10/28

Read "The Oval Portrait" by Poe.If you forgot your book, there is an online copy available here.

We will be discussing "The Fall of the House of Usher" on Friday, and this is a pretty long story. I advise getting a head start on this reading as soon as possible. For Usher, you should be gathering evidence of places in the story where REASON seems to be emphasized and well as moments where ROMANTICISM (the unexplained) is emphasized.

Due 10/27

After a lengthy history discussion today, we only had time to discuss in small groups some aspects of the story of The Devil and Tom Walker. For tomorrow, we'll use this group preparation to direct our discussion on:

The characterization of Tom, his wife, and the Devil
Themes of the story
Setting/Role of Nature
Role of the Narrator
Similarities to previous literary movements
Differences to previous literary movements

If you were absent, use these topics to help your thinking about the story.

Due Monday, October 26th

Read the short story "The Devil and Tom Walker". Please bring your books to class.

Due 10/22

Final copy of your Colonial Authors Paper!

Bring with you the chart, and your rough draft versions to turn in. If you'd like access to our editing sheet from in class,it can be found here.

Due 10/21

You should bring the next two body paragraphs of your paper and be ready to edit them in class.

Due Monday, October 19th

You will need to bring a rough draft (typed) of the INTRODUCTION and FIRST BODY PARAGRAPH of your Colonial Author's paper. You may have your body paragraph be on any of the three authors that we will eventually write on.

Make sure to:

- Establish context in the introduction
- Have a clear and effective topic sentence
- Focus on the analysis: How is that specific device example persuasive
- Remember to connect back to the thesis as the final step of the Analytical unit.
- Have 3 Examples (3 complete analytical units) per paragraph.

More information about the paper is available in the previous post.

Due Monday, October 12

You are writing a paper with the following thesis:


Colonial authors used a variety of literary devices to persuade their audience to separate from the English. (The POA for this paper will be the authors’ names OR the names of the document.)

The authors you are writing on will be: Henry, Jefferson, and Paine.

You must create a chart that lists three examples of literary devices that each author uses to persuade his audience. The first column will be the author's name. The second will be the 3 quotations for each author that shows them using a literary device. The third column will explain the effect that device is having on the reader, and how it persuades them.

A sample of the chart is available here.


(Notice that the previous post contains information about your Unit 1 Test)

Unit 1 Test on Tuesday, October 13th

Puritans through Age of Reason

Link to in-class review activity.

73 Multiple Choice Questions

Make sure you know:

Linking, Progressive, Passive (15 questions)

Literary Devices:
Aphorism,
Personification
Periodic Structure
Allusion, Metaphor
Parallel Structure
Metaphysical Conceit
Epanorthosis
Rhetorical Questions
Rhetorical Appeals

Title of Passages we’ve read

General History or Virginia
Of Plymouth Plantation
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
Wonders of the Invisible World
Huswifery
On a Wasp
Dialogue…Gout
Autobiography
Poor Richard’s Almanac
Speech in the Virginia Convention
Declaration of Independence
The Crisis
To his Excellency, General Washington

 Authors of Passages we’ve read

 General time period and purpose of passages we’ve read

 You will need to be able to identify excerpts from the passages we’ve read.

Due 10/8

Read Thomas Paines "The Crisis".

Due 10/2

Antithesis rewrite (if applicable)

Reading: Autobiography (Franklin)

Due Monday: Creative Writing Dialog between you(fill in name) and the (fill in personified object. 2-3 pages