For the ill and the absent-minded -

Here, you will find a very brief summary of class discussions and activities, lists of assigned readings, and links to other resources. The posts are reminders of what we covered in class and/or of what you missed by being absent physically and/or mentally. If we are required to work remotely, the posts will give directions for the day's activities, and let you know when we will meet via Google Meets. Please read the posts, talk with your classmates, and do the practise work as it suits the timing at home. Please put all work in your digital folders via Google Drive. Feel free to make comments and if you're still confused, please email me!

(NB: I do not condone class absences - you must be present, in class, actively listening and participating whenever possible. Always communicate your absences with the school office as well as with me. It is your responsibility to make arrangements for missed learning opportunities. You MUST meet all assignment deadlines. If we have to meet via Google Meets, please make a note of the QR link posted in Room 205 for the meeting id and passwords.)

12 November 2024

B - The one about the chase.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: What does the sonnet form suggest about how Elizabethans viewed love?

After Kylie's speech about how Queen Elizabeth boss-ladied her way through the Renaissance (I said that it was her roman empire - see what I did there?), we launched into some discussion about the sonnet form. Learners presented their oral analyses of early sonnets by Wyatt, Spenser, and Sidney. We discussed the issue of reading only men's versions of "the chase," which always seems to be ego-centric and about winning "an object."

After Jaya's comment about not finding iambic pentametre, I spoke about rhythm and metre. I defined specifically what pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables form:

  • an iamb (iambic foot)  ⏑ / (unstressed, stressed)
  • a trochee (trochaic foot)  /⏑
  • an anapest (anapestic foot) ⏑⏑/ 
  • a dactyl (dactylic foot) /⏑⏑
  • a spondee (spondaic foot) / /

We looked at Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 in an effort to see the growth of the sonnet. Brianna fed Stephanie the lines so that she could read them dramatically to Kylie. Stephanie noted the difficulty really expressing something coherent because Brianna was feeding her the lines so slowly. A second and third try finally gave Stephanie a chance to express the lines more gracefully.

READ: the excerpt from Spenser's The Faerie Queen

PRACTISE: Arrange a dramatic reading of Sonnet 18

NEXT CLASS: love, the sonnet, Shakespeare's contemporaries, OP

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