In class essay

Pros essays

  Macbeth is known as one of the most infamous Shakespearean plays due to its tragic ending and back stabbing plot. Macbeth the main character is given two different roads to take, one in which he is a non-harmful person and another where he and his wife gain power in the ranks of Scotland ultimately killing people along the way. He encounters many struggles throughout the play that the author so craftily put in. Macbeth written by William Shakespeare stars Macbeth who is forced to make his decision of good versus evil, Shakespeare shows his work through characterization and theme.
Macbeth is often faced with different characters giving him different direction. One of the first challenges he faces is his wife telling him to kill he king. Macbeth struggles with this decision and ultimately decides to do it. Lady Macbeth is a very strong character in this play that evidently swayed Macbeth's thoughts and actions. She is a very vindictive person who knows what she wants. Another character the author puts in is the three witches; they tell Macbeth his different options. Macbeth thinks they are trying to persuade him in certain directions but in reality it is all up to him making this a interior conflict between him and his-self. Macbeth ends up choosing a side to take, knowing if it is the right on is up to the readers self.
This play is known for tragedy but also for the power struggle. One sees throughout the play there is power struggle with the different characters. Killing one another just to get to the top and have the most power in Scotland. What the reader can also see is the power struggle between Macbeth and himself. When Macbeth is deciding weather or not to kill the King, where he should kill Duncan and of course how to betray Banquo. In the end of course no one really wins seeing that all but a few die from each other’s insanity for the power. Yet one does see that Macbeth is troubled with his inner struggle of right and wrong. This theme is one of the most predominant due to it being such a big part of good versus evil in the main character helping make the play more significant.
In this tragic play Macbeth has two differing sides to choose from; one being taking the high road and not gaining power, yet staying out of the killings or gaining the power and taking some lives along the way. In the end Macbeth does kill and does gain power, not without the struggle between the two. Although he did choose one side it didn't work out exactly as planned, being a tragedy the main character even though he is a protagonist does not get to live. Macbeth is a strong play that puts importance on proving to one self who is in all more powerful.

Poetry Essay's

Essay 1:


Two different writers can look at one thing  and see many different things. When H.D. and Edger Allen Poe look at Helen from Greece they come up with totally different viewpoints of the same person.  H.D. poet of Helen and Edger Allen Poe poet of To Helen come up with two totally different contrasting ideas of Helen through tone, imagery, and structure.

“All Greece Hate ” and “hating it deeper still” in H.D.’s poem sets a violent sense in the readers mind. Obviously he was not happy with Helen and believes that Greece has a negative perception of this women, the character in this poem is “the beauty of cool feet and slenderest knees”. Not showing off her good attributes making her unappealing to the reader even after there is a shift in the poem. Then you look at Poe’s poem and see that “Helen, thy beauty is to me” putting Helen on a pedestal making her seem like the god that she is.  Poe makes his character come to life with beauty and grace making the reader’s opinion softens of the character. This contrast makes the reader go from a dark poem to light all in about six stanzas.

H.D uses imagery conveys what Helen looks like to all of Greece, “white ash amid funereal cypresses”. This tries to portray that everyone in Greece is basically disgusted with her and her looks. Reading that makes the reader not want to care for his character. Yet in Poe’s poem he writes “Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face, Thy Naiad airs have brought me home” showing the reader that this character is someone to rely on for comfort. Then goes on to explain  that she is  “To the glory that was Greece” which shows the reader that it is something to miss and long for the hope of Greece. When the author wants to portray a character and their actions and characteristics it is now in authors hands to show the character in the way they want. Especially with only having such few words to use it may be hard to paint a picture for some but both poets’ do the job of telling a story and painting a good picture.

When structuring a poem you only have a few ways to turn yet both poets took a similar root. Although H.D’s poem is longer they both have stanzas of five and use some rhyming scheme. Poe’s poems use a more rhyming consistently where H.D’s does not and are shorter per line. Each still tell a story and get the message across yet you can see more detail in Poe’s poem explaining further while H.D’s goes for less is more.

Both poem have great structure, tone in which they were looking for, and imagery to compliment that.  The reader can take one side or another on Helen as a character but there is no reason not to compliment both poets on their writing. Each has their own style and feelings to the subject and even though they don’t have too many words to portray it they do the job.


Essay 2:

1998 Poem: “It's a Woman's World” (Eavan Boland)
Prompt: The following poem was written by a contemporary Irish woman, Eavan Boland. Read the poem carefully and then write an essay in which you analyze how the poem reveals the speaker’s complex conception of a “woman's world.”

When you read a poem you can come from it with an overall feeling and figure out by context clues how the author’s feelings were of the subject as well. “It’s a Woman’s World” written by Eavan Boland goes through the struggles and restraints society hold to being a woman. The speaker had a complex with it being a “Women’s word” and you can see that through diction, imagery and symbolism.
Boland uses strong diction such as “burning plume” and gored its basket grim harvest,” to set an example of the complex she possess. When the author talks about the gored head she is proving that in all of women’s time they were never at the scene of the crime nor be put up for accusation. The author does not take this lightly wanting to be put on the same standard as men. A great example to compare this to is in Macbeth when Lady Macbeth is the mind behind the whole operation of killing the king. Her character along with the speaker wants to have the same control as men are for bad or for good. The author is trying to convey with her diction that she wants her point across in the poem that women don’t have to be set under what they can accomplish.
There is a lot of imagery in this poem, yet one of the recurring pieces is fire. The speaker brings it up many times such as “and what we never will be: star-gazers, fire-eaters.”  and “moth our children to the flame of hearth not history.” The fire imagined as the fire that the author is set under to want to change women’s role in society. Painting the picture of her passion and longing for throughout the poem, She then ends the poem with “she's no fire-eater, just my frosty neighbor coming home.” Acknowledging that even though she wants all these things for her and her gender something’s may not happen, especially since this had to be written at least 50 years ago.
The speaker talks about the wheel in the first stanza, “Our way of life has hardly changed since a wheel first whetted a knife” this could be symbolized as the wheel being all of women kind. One can say the speaker is talking about all of women kind in the poem and that could be connected with women actually making the world go round. The speaker points out “Appearances reassure: that woman there, craned to the starry mystery,” exemplifying that really even though women stay the same in some ways that they are changing in others.
Throughout the whole poem the speaker has a definite mood and author has a specific tone. To prove that the women race can do more and shouldn't be held to such standards when they can do more than what mankind says they can. The speaker has a complex towards to the “Women’s World”  being that she wants it to change and be viewed at the top of society.

GROUPTHINK

After Rheanna and I collaborated on the gridlocks together, we both agreed on most things about the three poems. Yet after reviewing on our own we found a few different things that brought up some interesting conversation.

1. Where the shift is in Mr.Pope; if it is where he dies or if it where he goes missing

2. In Poe's poem Alone; the theme of the poem and if there is a deep underlying meaning that we are missing.

3. In Plath's Poem, why the title was named after it was and why it ended with a question. (Personally this one was the hardest for me to destruct)

After Rheanna and I had a few conversations I feel much more ready for the Poetry part of the AP Test now.

GRIDLOCK

TPCASTT:  Poem Analysis Method:  title, paraphrase, connotation, diction, attitude, tone, shift(s), title revisited and theme
Title of poem means	Mr. Pope as a title is to represent the memory of main character and how he is now gone
Paraphrase  parts of the Poem	"For Pope's tight back was rather a goat's than man's" -scared others "Than skeletons provide for speedy dust, The urn gets hollow, cobwebs brittle as stones" -  he was brittle and old and then passed away
Connotation  of some of the words – changing literal meaning to implied or associated values	"dribbled couplets like a snake" - loved to write poetry
Attitude What is the attitude of the author, characters or yourself?	The author is showing remorse for the character. He is a sad unloved man who never got attention and even in his afterlife he disappearing  with no one noticing.
Shift At first we think or feel one way – then there is a shift:  identify the shifts and explain them	"Is missing. The jar is empty; you may break It only to find that Mr. Pope is gone." - even though he already passed he was still physically there. Then his shifts to where he is gone and not tangible.
Title revisited Any new insights on meaning or significance of title?	Nothing really else strikes being such a simple name with it being named after the main character
Theme	The tone is dark and mysterious seeing as it involves death and the body disappearing.

"SEVENTH READING"

Step 1:

My group: Rheanna and I

Step 2:

Sylvia Plath: http://allpoetry.com/poem/8498431-Conversation_Among_The_Ruins-by-Sylvia_Plath

Allen Tate: http://allpoetry.com/poem/8572655-Mr._Pope-by-Allen_Tate

Edgar Allan Poe: http://allpoetry.com/poem/8448407-Alone-by-Edgar_Allan_Poe

Lit Circle Responses

Life of Pi:

Multiple Choice

1.     E

2.     D

3.     B

4.     B

5.     C

6.     A

7.     B

8.     B

9.     C

10. A

11. A

12. C

13. A

14. D

15. D

16. B

17. D

18. B

19. B

20. C

21. D

22. B

23. B

24. B

25. B

26. D

27. C

28. D

29. C

30. A

31. B

32. D

33. B

Act 2- Act 4 of Mcbeth

Mcbeth history/active reading notes act 1

Fahrenheit 451 Lit Circle

My section was to research and make 2 open prompt essay questions. Here they are:

1. In the "Sand and Sieve" section of Fahrenheit 451 Faber tells Montag that he believes three things are necessary in order for books to be able to make a difference in society. In a well-developed essay, discuss whether or not you agree with his assessment? Support your answer with anecdotal evidence from the novel as well as your personal life. You must specify what Faber's "three things" are.

http://mikesell128-c.blogspot.com/2011/05/pre-ap-sand-and-sieve-essay-prompt.html


2. Fahrenheit 451 is about burning books, why is this book then known as a Classic in English classes? What is the significance? Use 3 literary elements to help your reasoning.

3.Bradbury broke the book up in three sections, how are the names of each section important to the book and why should they be emphasized when reading?