Beowulf

Beowulf
How to slay a dragon like Beowulf

Friday, December 12, 2014

A forgone conclusion

It's a forgone conclusion that the second quarter of this year is coming to a rapid close, and that you will soon be enjoying the holidays with your families. I'd like to think it is also an "inevitable conclusion" that you have done your best and enjoyed learning in class this quarter, but if I am being too optimistic, you can let me know.

Shakespeare coined a long list of useful phrases, including "a forgone conclusion," which comes from Othello, and you may easily find more listed here and perhaps a few sprinkled throughout this post.


As a reminder for some who are trying to fill in gaps with missing assignments, I will list the Q2 required homework assignments below - there are just 8 of them. A few still need to confirm their final drafts of papers or get in Q2 classroom notebooks, but Monday is the last day and at this point you should consider yourself late and hurry before Santa decides to leave you only a lump of coal for Christmas!

Q2 British Lit HW
HW9 Passionate Shepherd p. 298: 2,3,4,5
HW10 Coy Mistress p. 307: 2,4,5,6,7
HW11 Shakespeare Sonnets 29 & 30 p. 315-316: On 29: 3,4,5;  On 30: 3,4,5,6
HW12 Shakespeare Sonnets 116 & 130 p. 319-320: 1,3,4 for both
HW14 Death Be Not Proud p. 352: 1,2,3,4,5
HW16 Bible: Prodigal Son parable p. 381: 3, 4,5,6
HW20 A Modest Proposal p. 594: 8-15                
HW22 Candide – Voltaire p. 623: 6,8,9,10
HW23 Don Quixote p.632: 3,4,6,7

For HW11 & HW12, the highest score is taken and so you may do one of those.

Please remember to turn in your textbooks to Mr. Catlin at the final exam!


For Speech Meet, which happens in January, you will need to memorize the first 400 words of the following Wordly Wise lesson you have been assigned to from your book. Do exercises C & E by the Tuesday after break.

Molly   –  Chapter 11 Women’s Day (women’s suffrage in the USA)
Oscar   –  Chapter 18 A Family Affair (organ transplants)
Gordon   – Chapter 10 The Tycoon of Pop (Andy Warhol)
Book  –  Chapter 12 On Death and Dying (psychiatrist Kubler-Ross)
George  –  Chapter 9 White Death (sharks)

At one fell swoop, we have made the approach to speech meet this year simple and appealing to those wanting to memorize something straightforward, while ensuring vocabulary is being acquired. Anyone who would like to memorize something else, like a poem or TED talk for public performance and extra credit is not being denied the opportunity to do so, and we can find a larger space than the usual classroom to use!

With speech meet this year, if we approach the activity with an open mind, we should find that all's well that ends well, and we will have gained something for our efforts. At least during our fine holidays, you will be able to surf online or have gaming parties to your heart's content.


If you are a bit of a night owl, you will get some more info on the final exam this weekend, and I hope you will not find yourself saying "woe is me" after seeing the list.


Here are the stories covered by the Final Exam:
HW9 The Passionate Shepherd to His Love – C. Marlowe
HW9 The Nymph Replies to the Shepherd – W. Raleigh
HW10 To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time – R. Herrick  
HW10 To His Coy Mistress – A. Marvell – TEST on HW9 & HW10  
HW11 Shakespeare’s Sonnets 29 & 30 – TEST
HW12 Shakespeare’s Sonnets 116 & 130 – TEST
HW14 Death Be Not Proud – J. Donne – TEST
HW16 The King James Bible: Prodigal Son parable
HW20 A Modest Proposal – J. Swift – TEST
HW21 Heroic Couplets – A. Pope  
HW22 Candide – Voltaire – TEST
HW23 Don Quixote – M. de Cervantes  

There will be 5 to 6 questions each major assignment or author that was tested, and 2 questions each of the three minor stories.
HW9 & HW10 – the pastoral and Carpe Diem poems, have 4 questions
HW11 & HW12, the Shakespeare Sonnets, has 5 questions total, as does Death Be Not Proud, which was HW14.
HW20 & HW23 have 6 questions each, and HW16, HW21, & HW23 each have 2 questions.
There are 32 questions, with no writing, vocabulary, or questions from the Book Groups.

List of helpful terms for the Exam: pastoral, Carpe Diem, Shakespearean Sonnet, quatrain, couplet, turn, meter, iambic pentameter, paradox, parable, allegory, verbal irony; persuasion, antithesis, satire, parody, hyperbole, understatement, simile, personification



Enjoy your Christmas holiday!

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