Synoptic topic: links

Make links between the main texts or between a main text and a poem.  Explain the effect(s) of the chosen aspect in each work, and whether the authors use this to convey similar or different ideas.  Please comment on the posts made by your classmates to help develop ideas or introduce new ways of interpreting the link!  Due by Thursday, March 24th, 9 a.m.

Translations: quotation analysis

Choose a memorable quotation from the play and explain its significance, especially regarding how it develops ideas related to postcolonialism.  Do not write about a quotation that has already been posted unless you have something different to say about it!  Due by Monday, March 7th.

The God of Small Things - quotation analysis

Choose your favourite short quotation (or at least one of your favourites) from the novel.  Give a little context (speaker, situation), then explore the meaning and significance of the quotation (how it reveals or develops elements such as plot, character, atmosphere, theme...).  Be literary!  Due before Monday, February 8th.

The God of Small Things: chapters 9-11

Share with the rest of the class one insightful idea that you and your group discussed.  Try to make reference to a specific aspect of the novel to back up your idea.  Feel free to comment on any other posts! Due by Thursday, December 17th. Don't forget to vote in the poll to the right!

Imagery (2)

—Write a paragraph in which you create a scene through auditory imagery.  The purpose of your paragraph is to create a particular mood.  Use one olfactory image to enhance the mood created by auditory imagery. Comment on at least one other post - mood created, choice and effectiveness of imagery. Due by Friday, December 18th.

Detail (2)

About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters: how well they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;
    W. H. Auden, “Musée des Beaux Arts”

Task: substitute another general term for suffering in the first line (e.g. laziness, happiness…).  Now rewrite the fourth line with details about the opposite condition of your term.  Share your new stanza on the blog and comment on one other stanza.  Due by Friday, November 27th.

Diction 2

"Her face was white and sharp and slightly gleaming in the candlelight, like bone."

Substitute a noun for bone that changes the meaning and feeling of the sentence.  React to a classmate's substitution, commenting on how it changes the sentence's connotation and impact.