B - ...when we got to the Early Romantics.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: Why is it important to notice the shift in literature at the end of the enlightenment?

Learners posted their Pope-like epigrams and Johnson-style dictionary definitions to the digital whiteboard and offered their reactions to each other.

We spoke briefly about the shift in thinking at the end of the enlightenment and I assigned poems by Gray and Blake:

• Anne & Aiesha - "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"
• Sarah - "Introduction" from Songs of Innocence
• Alison - "The Lamb"
• Azza - "The Tiger"

READ:

• Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer
• Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"
• Burns's "To A Mouse"
• Blake's "The Lamb" and "The Tiger"

NEXT CLASS: The Pre-Romantics

F - ... when we began to make deeper connections between prose, poetry, and film.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: Does the act of facing mortality lead to the destruction of the hero or his/her regeneration?

Learners shared their physical representations of their interpretation of one of the motifs from Hamlet before finishing our appreciation of Yeats's "The Second Coming." I asked learners to reflect on if and how the motifs from the play echo in Yeats's poem.

As we watched the opening 20 minutes of the film, Hamnet (2026), learners kept "field notes" on how the motifs from Shakespeare's play echo in the film.

NEXT CLASS: Hamnet (2026)

B - ... when it was about wit, satire, and enlightenment.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: Despite being from the same "age" in literature, why do Pope and Johnson approach the human condition differently?

Learners shared their work on their sections of Cantos III and V from Pope's Rape of the Lock. We discussed the difference in Pope's approach to the enlightenment (ridicule, satiric - "mock" epic - exclusive, aristocratic) and Johnson's (middle-class, universal, moral reflection).

Aiesha and Anne made their "modest pitches."

PRACTISE: Write one Pope-style epigram and create 10 word definitions in the style of Johnson

NEXT CLASS: The Pre-Romantics

F - ... when we wrapped things up with the motifs in Hamlet.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: Are the mighty opposites that exist in Shakespeare's play really so different from the ones we observe in this century?

 The Act IV group finally presented their choral performance of a soliloquy. We discussed catharsis in at the end of Act IV (for Claudius and for Ophelia), and recalled the motifs of the play with particular attention to Hamlet's "mighty opposites" in Act V.

Learners changed groups and shared their person connections to the motifs from the play.

We read together and shared opening impressions or remembrances from last class with regard to Yeats's "The Second Coming."

PRACTISE: Bring in a physical representation of your interpretation of one of the motifs from Hamlet.

NEXT CLASS: Yeats, Hamnet (2026)

B - ... when we chatted about your crazy proposals.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: To what extend do our filters prevent us from forming authentic connections?

Learners shared their "modest pitches" from last class.

We spoke briefly about prose in the 18th century - auto-biography, biography, essay, story all function as social and political commentary, with mostly satirical tones.'

We read together the introduction to Pope's mock epic Rape of the Lock, and also the first part of Canto III.

READ: 

• She Stoops To Conquer
• Canto III & Canto V of Rape of the Lock
• Pope's epigrams, pg 412
• Wit & Nature, pg. 414-415
• The Age of Johnson, pg 416-418
• from "Preface to Shakespeare" pg. 422

NEXT CLASS: the mock epic, epigrams, dictionaries

F - ... when you had Ms. Baird.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: What makes Hamlet a tragic hero?

According to Ms. Baird, you did okay! 

She said: Learners "seemed to get on well with preparing a response to the statement. When I walked around to check in with them, they all said they understood what they needed to do. We read the Yeats poem together and discussed meaning and connections to Hamlet. At the end, I asked them to consult the class blog about the activities in next lesson."

READ: Yeats's "The Second Coming"

NEXT CLASS: the Act IV group presents, sharing your structured responses to Hamlet's regeneration, Act V, the graveyard, mighty opposites

B - ... when the TTOC hopefully reminded you about ethos, pothos, logos in your "modest pitches."

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: To what extend is extreme absurdity necessary to expose cruelty?

Learners used the period to complete their "modest pitch," which I assigned last class.

READ: She Stoops to Conquer