READ sections 1-3 of the Beowulf e-text. Find one strong example of alliteration. Consider how the use of alliteration in this particular passage effects the rythm of your speech when the passage is read aloud. Then breifly explain how alliteration is used here to develop a particular theme, meaning or tone in the text.
Link to Beowulf E-text
READ sections 1-3 of the Beowulf e-text. Find one strong example of alliteration. Consider how the use of alliteration in this particular passage effects the rythm of your speech when the passage is read aloud. Then breifly explain how alliteration is used here to develop a particular theme, meaning or tone in the text. Link to Beowulf E-text
READ sections 1-3 of the Beowulf e-text. Find one epithet. Identify to whom the epithet refers, and breifly explain how this particular epithet is used to develop a particular theme, meaning or tone in the text. Link to Beowulf E-text
READ sections 1-3 of the Beowulf e-text. Find one kenning. Analyze the kenning by breaking it down into an analogy. Breifly explain how this particular kenning is used to develop a particular theme, meaning or tone in the text. Consider the tale-within-a-tale about Beowulf’s swimming match with Brecca. What does this story contribute to your understanding of Beowulf’s heroic character and of his powers?
Re-read pp. 46-49. Reflect on the poet's tone and characterization.
What can you infer about the poet's attitude toward King Hrothgar? Is he depicted in a black and white way? As all good or all bad? Re-read Beowulf, lines 64-81. What words or phrases does the author use to establish Grendel's character? How effective are these in conveying the trauma of Grendel's assault on the Danes?
Explain the story of Cain and Abel in light of the idea that human beings were created in the image of God. What role does the divine image play in the story of Cain and Abel?
Identify one Petrarchan conceit that Shakespeare subverts in this sonnet. Explain the effect of this subversion.
Be sure to consider the meaning of the final couplet before attempting to draw any conclusions about the intention or effects of this subversion. Explain one metaphor that Shakespeare uses in lines 5-8 to describe love. What does it suggest about the nature of love?
How would you characterize the apeakers views about a beloeved woman (lines9-12)? about the value of his poetry (lines 11-14)?
Reread lines 13-14 of "Sonnet 30." Does this couplet suggest that the speaker has overcome the heartache expressed in the preceding quatrains? Support your answer with evidence from the text.
Select any sonnet other than "Whoso List to Hunt" from the Petrarch and the Invention of the Sonnet packet. Identify and explain the volta in your selected sonnet.
Be sure to use the terms we have discussed in class to explain the relationship between the volta, content (conceit) and form (octave, sestet). Compare the two translations of Petrarch's "Rime 292" on p. 5 of the Sonnet Packet: How are these translations different? How does the meaning differ from one translation to the other?
Now that you have finished reading the novel, discuss its title. What is the significance of the title? How does the title help to clarify the meaning of the events in the novel?
We can understand why Kurtz -- with his European appearance and technology -- is impressive to the African natives, but why do others -- like the Russian -- find Kurtz so impressive?
What is the literal and the metaphorical significance of the fog surrounding the boat?
Describe the characterization about Kurtz provided by the manager and his uncle. How does Conrad preserve the ambiguity of the novel?
I didn't want any more loitering in the shade, and I made haste towards the station. When near the buildings I met a white man, in such an unexpected elegance of get-up that in the first moment I took him for a sort of vision. I saw a high starched collar, white cuffs, a light alpaca jacket, snowy trousers, a clean necktie, and varnished boots. No hat. Hair parted, brushed, oiled, under a green-lined parasol held in a big white hand. He was amazing, and had a penholder behind his ear. In the passage, Conrad provides a description of the Company’s chief accountant. In about 100 words, discuss one literary technique Conrad uses to characterize the chief accountant.
In the following excerpt Marlow describes a period of time he spent in London after six years at sea. I had then ... just returned to London ... was loafing about, hindering you fellows in your work and invading your homes, just as though I had got a heavenly mission to civilize you. This, and Marlow's earlier description of the Romans invasion of Britain, provide a context in which the reader can begin to decipher Marlow's descriptions of English imperialism.
What do these two desciptions, one figurative and one historical, reveal about Marlow's attitude toward English imperialism? There also seems to be an issue as to what drives the action within this short story. A lot of awful things seem to be happening due to a family "curse" and the moralistic fallacy that "the sins of the parents will be visited upon their children." How powerful or powerless are the characters in effecting their individual fates? Should we see these people as caught helplessly in an improbably situation, or can they be held responsible for some of the tragedy? What role does the "supernatural" play?
Is Manfred a round or a flat character? Support your answer with specific evidence from the novel.
In The Castle of Otranto, women seem to function as commodities, to be traded for, bred, or set aside at a whim. Manfred's primary reason for wanting to marry Isabella is because he wants to legitimize his claim to Otranto, but it is Isabella who opposes him and thereby sets into motion the remaining events of the story. Are we supposed to see the female characters as mere pawns to be used as bargaining pieces, or does Walpole offer a way in which they can assert their own agency?
How does the idea of machinery in The Castle of Otranto interact with the supernatural within the novel? Does it seem contradictory that a tool built through reason could be used to illuminate events that lay outside of the reasonable?
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