Before class email to me (mrmontasmph@gmail.com) your essay on Much Ado about Nothing. (Topics are posted to the right.)
Bring a printed copy of your Poetry Out Loud poem. We will work on it in class. The date of your recitation is Tuesday, Dec. 9.
Lastly, bring your copy of Michael Sandel's What Money Can't Buy. We will begin discussing it in class.
Friday, November 21, 2014
Friday, November 14, 2014
Assignment for Tuesday, Nov. 18
Finish reading Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing. You will have a writing exercise in class (four-to-five short answer questions) about the play. You will not be able to use your book.
Also, continue looking at poems for the Poetry Out Loud recitation. Some of you will be happy to know that Philip Larkin's "The Mower" is eligible for the competition. You can find it here.
Also, continue looking at poems for the Poetry Out Loud recitation. Some of you will be happy to know that Philip Larkin's "The Mower" is eligible for the competition. You can find it here.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Assignment for Friday, Nov. 14
Finish reading Act 4 of Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing. Also, look at the essay topics about Much Ado about Nothing that are posted to the right. This essay is due on Monday, November 24. Email it to me at mrmontasmph@gmail.com.
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Assignment for Wednesday, Nov. 12
Finish reading Act 3 of Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing. You do not have a writing assignment.
Monday, November 3, 2014
Assignment for Wednesday, November 5
Finish reading Act 2 of Much Ado about Nothing (pp. 23-39). You do not have a writing assignment.
Friday, October 31, 2014
Assignment for Monday, November 3
Read and annotate to the end of Act 1 (p. 17) in Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing. Email (mrmontasmph@gmail.com) your answers to two of the following questions before class on Monday. (If you have misplaced your copy of the book, here is a reliable online edition of the play, but the line numbers do not match those below.)
1. When his brother is present, Don John masks his ill will. However, Shakespeare often gives his villains opportunities to confess their secret thoughts to the audience. Write a monologue for Don John (at least eight lines) that he might speak at the end of Act 1, scene 3, after Borachio and Conrad have left. Write it in the same prose style that Don John uses earlier in the scene.
2. In Act 1, we see Benedick the returning soldier, carefree and unconcerned with love. But is he? Write two entries from Benedick's diary: one written that evening, and one written after an earlier meeting with Beatrice before he went away to war. What does he really think of Beatrice? What are his thoughts after their latest "skirmish of wit" in Act 1, scene 1, lines 94-119?
3. This play has many powerful men: two princes (Don Pedro and Don John), a count (Claudio), a signor (Benedick), and a governor (Leonato). How do Beatrice and Hero cope with being around such potentially intimidating men? Why would Beatrice and Hero be so close when they have such different, even contrasting, personalities?
The preceding questions were adapted from the second edition of The Cambridge School Shakespeare edition of Much Ado about Nothing (2005).
1. When his brother is present, Don John masks his ill will. However, Shakespeare often gives his villains opportunities to confess their secret thoughts to the audience. Write a monologue for Don John (at least eight lines) that he might speak at the end of Act 1, scene 3, after Borachio and Conrad have left. Write it in the same prose style that Don John uses earlier in the scene.
2. In Act 1, we see Benedick the returning soldier, carefree and unconcerned with love. But is he? Write two entries from Benedick's diary: one written that evening, and one written after an earlier meeting with Beatrice before he went away to war. What does he really think of Beatrice? What are his thoughts after their latest "skirmish of wit" in Act 1, scene 1, lines 94-119?
3. This play has many powerful men: two princes (Don Pedro and Don John), a count (Claudio), a signor (Benedick), and a governor (Leonato). How do Beatrice and Hero cope with being around such potentially intimidating men? Why would Beatrice and Hero be so close when they have such different, even contrasting, personalities?
The preceding questions were adapted from the second edition of The Cambridge School Shakespeare edition of Much Ado about Nothing (2005).
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Assignments for Friday, Oct. 24, and Tuesday, Oct. 28
By the end of Friday's class, email to me at least five entries for your annotated bibliography (mrmontasmph@gmail.com). During class, you may work on your annotated bibliography or, if you have a Nov. 1 application deadline, you may work on your college essay.
By the end of Tuesday's class, email to me at least 8 entries for your annotated bibliography. You will work on it in class, but you'll want to have as much done as possible so I can tell you how to improve it during class.
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