Alright, gentle test-takers, we have survived our first practice AP English Literature multiple choice exam. Thank you for your willingness to give it a good effort. While I personally enjoy matching my literary wits against things from time to time, there is nothing fun about this exam.
With that said, please direct your attention to our AP English Notes tab on the blog. There you will find a link to AP Pass where you can plug and chug some of your test scores (which now includes both the multiple choice exam and some essay scores from first quarter...). Voila! you know where you currently stand on the 1-5 AP Scale. More importantly, you know how much further you need to climb to reach the score you need for college credit.
Use this information wisely. In other words, motivation before frustration.
My suggestion on what to do next? Brush up on your literary devices vocabulary...
Friday, October 23, 2015
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Poe's Beak
I love it when Poe's manic "The Raven" speaker proclaims "Take thy beak from out my heart!" Shouting at that dumb bird as it pluckily perches on the pale bust of Pallas, he delivers an all-time great line. The irony here is that it is he, the manic speaker, unknown to himself, that speaks from a position of wisdom and not the bird who symbolically clings to Athena's brain. If only the speaker could hear himself.
Clearly the bird is the antagonist here; surely the speaker is antagonized. And yet, right there, smack dab in the very middle of his stress, he announces his own remedy.
"Take thy beak from out my heart!"
And yet it appears that he is so focused on the bloody bird that he fails to consider his own advice. Or rather, he fails to assign the correct person with the power in this scenario. Clearly he suggests the bird holds the power:
"Hey bird, take your stupid beak out of here!"
But surely it is the speaker--and only the speaker--who truly holds that power:
"Hey bird, I'm hurtin' here. I need to move away from that beak!"
Poe nails despair. True despair, the kind generated by high doses of grief, begets despair if left unchecked. And that dang raven is no friend. His job isn't to antagonize our gentle speaker to peace; he isn't there to help our speaker "work through it." In fact, the raven is there to plunge the speaker ever further down the slope, ironically shouting his own cures at himself on the way down. Too off balance to notice, too self-loathing to care. Every bit a despairing man.
"Take thy beak from out my heart!"
It's like a poetic version of carbon monoxide poisoning: I was always told that you can't save yourself from carbon monoxide (a stern reminder from my Driver's Ed teacher, about safety first). If Poe is right, then he seems to suggest the same thing about real despair and how to truly defeat it.
Buddy system, people.
Clearly the bird is the antagonist here; surely the speaker is antagonized. And yet, right there, smack dab in the very middle of his stress, he announces his own remedy.
"Take thy beak from out my heart!"
And yet it appears that he is so focused on the bloody bird that he fails to consider his own advice. Or rather, he fails to assign the correct person with the power in this scenario. Clearly he suggests the bird holds the power:
"Hey bird, take your stupid beak out of here!"
But surely it is the speaker--and only the speaker--who truly holds that power:
"Hey bird, I'm hurtin' here. I need to move away from that beak!"
Poe nails despair. True despair, the kind generated by high doses of grief, begets despair if left unchecked. And that dang raven is no friend. His job isn't to antagonize our gentle speaker to peace; he isn't there to help our speaker "work through it." In fact, the raven is there to plunge the speaker ever further down the slope, ironically shouting his own cures at himself on the way down. Too off balance to notice, too self-loathing to care. Every bit a despairing man.
"Take thy beak from out my heart!"
It's like a poetic version of carbon monoxide poisoning: I was always told that you can't save yourself from carbon monoxide (a stern reminder from my Driver's Ed teacher, about safety first). If Poe is right, then he seems to suggest the same thing about real despair and how to truly defeat it.
Buddy system, people.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
What is College Worth?
John Cassidy's article from The New Yorker, College Calculus: What's the real value of higher education?
Thursday, August 27, 2015
How to Take Down Bruegel
AP writing season is officially open, and our second stab at poetic analysis this year comes with a double helping of Dutch Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel. Apparently he painted a bunch of masterpieces for the sole purpose of being used years later by poets who needed help expressing their poetry.
Ok, not quite. W. H. Auden and Sylvia Plath can hold their own. In fact, they are giants in the field. Which begs the question, gentle reader: why do Auden or Plath need Bruegel?
Answer: they don't. But wow, he sure comes in handy.
Consider exhibit A:
Auden's Musee des Beaux Arts explores the theme of inevitable, ubiquitous, unnoticed suffering. Auden's first stanza compliments the "old Masters" and their portrayal of suffering's "human position" in the world: as just one more thing. The interaction between things, events, people, and suffering...
...you know what, let's pause right there. Rather than make this a mini-sermon on what is the theme of the poem, let's focus on tactics for tackling our essay prompt:
How does a painting complement a theme?
or
How does x complement y?
or
How does x "complete or make better" y?
The first distinction we should make is that we are talking about the poets' theme, not the poem entire. It is the idea that is sharpened or bettered by the painting. As stated earlier, these two writers do not need help conveying their ideas. What they did was deliberately use a readily available resource that captures their idea and stands on its own.
As a concrete, tangible model. To be put under the microscope and pointed at.
Rather than say "like this" or "like this" a bunch of times (similes get so stale, don't they???) these two poets found a painting to use as the simile and simply referred to its details as support.
Pretty crafty. Well done, you crafty poets.
Our task is to explain how this simile-painting-model complements--or makes better--the initial idea--or theme--presented by the poet.
Suffering. Inevitable suffering. Ubiquitous suffering. Unnoticed suffering. Huh? I kind of get it, but can't quite put it into... Oh! Icarus drowning (suffering) and no one paying attention? The ploughman also suffering (because plowing fields is really hard work) and no one paying attention? The shepherd suffering (because shepherding sheep is really boring work) and no one paying attention? Yep, that is pretty ubiquitous, pretty inevitable. Very unnoticed. It makes sense in the painting.
Same with Plath's ideas in Two Views of a Cadaver Room. Whatever is happening in section 1 is being handled with the same attitude as whatever is happening with those "Flemish lovers" in section 2. Now, how does x (the Flemish lovers) complete or sharpen the ideas of y (whatever is happening in section 1)?
Whatever it is, please use complete sentences.
Ok, not quite. W. H. Auden and Sylvia Plath can hold their own. In fact, they are giants in the field. Which begs the question, gentle reader: why do Auden or Plath need Bruegel?
Answer: they don't. But wow, he sure comes in handy.
Consider exhibit A:
Auden's Musee des Beaux Arts explores the theme of inevitable, ubiquitous, unnoticed suffering. Auden's first stanza compliments the "old Masters" and their portrayal of suffering's "human position" in the world: as just one more thing. The interaction between things, events, people, and suffering...
...you know what, let's pause right there. Rather than make this a mini-sermon on what is the theme of the poem, let's focus on tactics for tackling our essay prompt:
How does a painting complement a theme?
or
How does x complement y?
or
How does x "complete or make better" y?
The first distinction we should make is that we are talking about the poets' theme, not the poem entire. It is the idea that is sharpened or bettered by the painting. As stated earlier, these two writers do not need help conveying their ideas. What they did was deliberately use a readily available resource that captures their idea and stands on its own.
As a concrete, tangible model. To be put under the microscope and pointed at.
Rather than say "like this" or "like this" a bunch of times (similes get so stale, don't they???) these two poets found a painting to use as the simile and simply referred to its details as support.
Pretty crafty. Well done, you crafty poets.
Our task is to explain how this simile-painting-model complements--or makes better--the initial idea--or theme--presented by the poet.
Suffering. Inevitable suffering. Ubiquitous suffering. Unnoticed suffering. Huh? I kind of get it, but can't quite put it into... Oh! Icarus drowning (suffering) and no one paying attention? The ploughman also suffering (because plowing fields is really hard work) and no one paying attention? The shepherd suffering (because shepherding sheep is really boring work) and no one paying attention? Yep, that is pretty ubiquitous, pretty inevitable. Very unnoticed. It makes sense in the painting.
Same with Plath's ideas in Two Views of a Cadaver Room. Whatever is happening in section 1 is being handled with the same attitude as whatever is happening with those "Flemish lovers" in section 2. Now, how does x (the Flemish lovers) complete or sharpen the ideas of y (whatever is happening in section 1)?
Whatever it is, please use complete sentences.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Thursday, May 21, 2015
The Real World Admittedly Anxious, Unsure About Readiness to be Entered by This Year's Grads
With annual graduation deadlines looming around the nation, the Real World admitted to sources yesterday that he is just not sure if he's ready.
"I just don't know if I'm there yet," he said in an informal press conference held at his home. "I mean, look at this place. There's just a ton of stuff to do around here, and those graduates are coming, ready or not."
"Actually, I could use a little help," he added, holding out a Swiffer.
Census data shows just how much of the country's economic success rides on these graduates entering, and no one feels this pressure more acutely than the Real World.
"Look, it's a no-brainer," he said as he snapped another yellow latex glove over his knuckles. "I know what's at stake. I know those graduates expect to enter. But look at that oven grease. It's not going to clean itself."
Despite the heavy workload that he is expected to shoulder each late spring, the Real World does concede that things aren't as bad as they seem.
"It used to be worse," he said. "Back in the '70s and '80s, the fashionable thing to do was to 'go hit the Real World.' Well, I can tell you, that was a dark period in my life."
"Do you like being punched?" he asked. "It's a rhetorical question. I still can't lift my left arm fully over my head. Even with the rehab."
But the Real World is optimistic about this year's timetable.
"I got an early start," he said transferring the laundry from the washer to the dryer. "I marathoned all my favorite shows on Netflix this year, so I honestly didn't have anything else to do."
"Don't you worry about me," he stated. "I'll be ready."
"I just don't know if I'm there yet," he said in an informal press conference held at his home. "I mean, look at this place. There's just a ton of stuff to do around here, and those graduates are coming, ready or not."
"Actually, I could use a little help," he added, holding out a Swiffer.
Census data shows just how much of the country's economic success rides on these graduates entering, and no one feels this pressure more acutely than the Real World.
"Look, it's a no-brainer," he said as he snapped another yellow latex glove over his knuckles. "I know what's at stake. I know those graduates expect to enter. But look at that oven grease. It's not going to clean itself."
Despite the heavy workload that he is expected to shoulder each late spring, the Real World does concede that things aren't as bad as they seem.
"It used to be worse," he said. "Back in the '70s and '80s, the fashionable thing to do was to 'go hit the Real World.' Well, I can tell you, that was a dark period in my life."
"Do you like being punched?" he asked. "It's a rhetorical question. I still can't lift my left arm fully over my head. Even with the rehab."
But the Real World is optimistic about this year's timetable.
"I got an early start," he said transferring the laundry from the washer to the dryer. "I marathoned all my favorite shows on Netflix this year, so I honestly didn't have anything else to do."
"Don't you worry about me," he stated. "I'll be ready."
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
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