11/16/2012

Today in class,

Students walked around and wrote down questions underneath the Dante's Inferno pictures. We will finish this on Monday. If you are not going to be here Monday, then you don't have to make anything up, but you just won't benefit from the rich discussion.


Wife of Bath

Mrs. Johnson

Just in case you can't get this on my "Study Guides" tab, here is the Middle Ages Study Guide. This is a hard exam, so make sure to take the necessary time you need to study for a test that involves many works and many literary devices significant within those works.

Middle Ages Literature Test Study Guide:

I.                    Test Format

A.      Matching the Characters

B.      Multiple Choice

A.      Matching the Characters/Objects: For these sections of the test, you will need to be able match the character/or objects to their description; this requires knowing their role in each story, as well as their key traits.

B.      Multiple Choice: For these sections of the test, you will need to know the Power Point notes for each story we read as many of those notes will be test questions. You will also need to know each story very well in order to answer questions correctly. If applicable (meaning an author for a work was provided), you will need to know who wrote each piece we read.

Matching/Multiple Choice: You will need to know the following characters/objects from each of the following stories:

Song of Roland	Roland Oliver Saracens Durendal Olifant Oliver chansons de geste
“Perceval” (The Grail)by Chretien de Troyes	Perceval The Fisher King Holy Grail Bleeding Lance
“Chevrefoil” by Marie de France	lai extended metaphor the traits of courtly love
The Inferno/Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri	Beatrice Dante and politics in Florence, Italy Why the work was referred to as comedy? The places Dante is taken to on his journey. What the entire journey is symbolic of . . . The concept of Purgatory The concept of Paradise How the work embodies Medieval Literature cantos Why 100 cantos symbol Virgil vernacular How many cantos is each section? What rhyme scheme pattern? Significance of rhyme scheme? Why Virgil can’t go to Paradise with Dante . . . The various names Dante calls Virgil . . . Why did Dante choose Virgil (hint: think about human reason) List the many reasons why The Divine Comedy is considered the finest work ever written in Italian. allegory themes present in the work
“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer	What all contributed to Chaucer writing one of the richest pieces of English literature? How does the history of Canterbury Cathedral hold significance in The Canterbury Tales?  Who uttered the phrase: “Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?” How is Chaucer’s work characteristic of medieval literature? Why was writing in Middle English a bold move on Chaucer’s behalf? frame story dynamic verses static characters Reread and review the “Wife of Bath” story, so you know it well! Know the dates of the Middle Ages Literature Period.

AN EXTRA CREDIT QUESTION: This includes romantic adventures, fabliaux, saint’s biographies, animal fables, and even a sermon.

AN EXTRA CREDIT QUESTION:  Identify the piece of literature this quotation is from.  “’And have I won the mastery?’ said she. / ‘Since I’m to choose and rule as I think fit?’”

11/13/2012

For those of you who can't get the information by creating a Google account and clicking on the provided link, I have pasted the Song of Deeds Requirements right here for you. 

Aside from editing your Song of Deeds this week, there will be no take home work for me as I want you to have time to work on this assignment and of course the DRAG.

***Please take the time to find a good editor (even if you are one yourself, it's important to get another perspective) and have them comb over your paper for errors. Also, ask them to make sure that you have covered the following things (in addition to the checklist below):

• Do you have believable characters who the readers wants to see succeed or fail?
• Do you have holes in your plot? For example did you forget to thoroughly cover an area of your story line so that it's all resolved in the end? 
• Do you have a strong conflict? Stories that drag on with the hero and villain looking for each other or too much dialogue etc. don't capture the reader's attention. 
• Do you have an ending that isn't a cliche or a cop-out--in other words, it's obvious when a writer doesn't know how to end a story, so he/she abruptly just ends it with a random death that makes no sense or is cheesy or ends with the ever-favorite "It was all a dream" cliche. You know what I mean . .  

Song of Deeds Creative Writing Assignment

1.        Your Song of Deeds must include:

                                    a hero

                                    a sidekick/loyal friend

                                    a weapon with a name

                        good must triumph over evil

                        descriptions/details of battles and gore

                                     you must respect your household’s rules regarding violence and your violence must be                                             appropriate for school

                        repetition of key phrases

2.         You may include the following elements for extra credit

                        a love interest

                        a mentor

3.         Your setting may be any time or any place

4.         Your point of view may be first or third

5.         Characters:

                        hero may be male or female

                        sidekick may be male or female

                        if characters are animals—take into consideration your setting

                        you may combine elements into one character (for example: love interest is also the hero’s mentor)

6.         You may write in prose or poetry

7.         Your story length has a three page maximum--please talk to Ms. McLean about a page maximum for poetry

8.         Type or write your story in ink and make sure to double space

9.         Margins are one inch

10.       Font size is 10 or 12

11.       You may create a creative title page OR use MLA Heading—DO NOT DO BOTH

12.       MLA Heading is as follows (note it is double spaced)

                        Super Student

                        Mrs. Johnson

                        World Humanities

                        16 November 2012

13.       A Creative Title is a must

14.       For dialogue—remember that a new paragraph starts each time the speaker changes

            "It's hard to believe that this huge valley is actually a meteor crater," commented Mark.

            "Really, look how wide it is—at least half a mile!" exclaimed Phil.

            Mark laughed as he said, "Well, I’m glad I wasn’t around when the meteor fell.”

16.       Please remember to respect others' intellectual property. For example, you shouldn't be using Hunger Games, Twilight, or Harry Potter because you don't have their creators' permission.

17.       EACH CONVENTION ERROR WILL COST YOU ½ POINT

18.       You may earn extra credit for writing a grammatically clean song of deeds.

November 5

Spelling \Words

Conjunctions

Song of Deeds Requirements