Voice lesson on 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. (ps Don't forgot to vote in the poll to the right)

Rhyming couplets 2.1

Come up with a rhyming couplet for Demetrius to say to Helena just before leaving (see lines 241-244), summing up his opinion or feelings.  Write in iambic pentameter!  Feel free to comment on your classmates' rhyming couplets.

Far from the Madding Crowd: quotations

Choose a quotation from the first two instalments of the novel (chapters 1-5 / chapters 6-8).  Remind us what chapter it comes from, then explain briefly why you chose it.  Feel free to comment on other quotations!  Due by Thursday, December 3rd. (Also, please vote in the poll on the right!)

Voice lesson on 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.

Voice lessons - 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.

Voice lesson on tone

Write a paragraph about something that amazed or amazes you.  Use diction, detail, imagery, and syntax to convey your sense of wonder.  Comment on the effects and/or effectiveness of a classmate's blog post.  Due by Friday, November 6th. (Also, please answer the poll on the right)

Voice lesson on syntax

Write a short paragraph on the subject of your choice. Use a variety of sentence types and lengths, with at least one exclamatory sentence that clarifies or amplifies a declarative sentence.  Comment on the effects and the effectiveness of at least one other post.  Due by Friday, October 9th.

Voice lesson on Imagery

Write two sentences that create a particular mood (terror, threat, joy, gloom, excitement...).  Use at least two types of imagery to describe the weather, thereby setting and reinforcing the mood.  Comment on at least one other post (imagery, language, effects, effectiveness...).  Due by Friday, October 2nd.

Voice lesson on detail

Choose a color and describe a scene using at least three varieties of that color.  Try to mix details of landscape and people.  Share your description with the class on the blog, and comment on at least one other blog post (effects created through the use of detail, effectiveness...).  Due by Thursday, September 24th (both your blog post and your reaction to another post).

Voice lesson on diction

Share the a simile you wrote comparing a tree with a person (using a word that is normally used as a noun as an adjective).  Comment on at least one of your classmate's similes (why you like it, what it evokes for you, how effective it is...).  To be done by Friday, September 18th.

Comparing and contrasting poems

Please share your argumentative statements showing a link (similarity or difference) between at least two of the poems we have studied.  Remember that the aim is effectiveness and insight.  Comment on other statements (compliments, suggestions, corrections) in order to take full advantage of this blog!

Film adaptations of Romeo and Juliet

Briefly describe and comment on the way one aspect of the play is treated in either Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet or Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet.  What are the effects of the artistic choices made?

Shakespearean Sonnets

Read some Shakespearean sonnets (http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/).  Try to get a feel for the common themes and features of language.  Write about your findings, and feel free to make reference to specific sonnets.

Travel blog: "how to"

Write a "how to" post.  Explain how to do something in Singapore, first explaining how you did it, then explaining what the reader should/shouldn't do.

Travel blog: a list

Make a list about Singapore (Top 5... 10 Best... The most important things to...).  Focus on whatever you like (food, places, habits, language...).  Give a brief explanation of each item on your list.

Imagery in Romeo and Juliet

Find an example of striking imagery from the first scene.  Present your quotation and who said it, then explain the meaning and comment on the effectiveness or dramatic impact of the imagery.