Hey English 4U1 (Sem One, 2010)!

Thanks for finding your way to this blog. As you know, you've been asked to compare and contrast two of the works (poems and/or short stories) we've examined in class in Unit One. Choose a focus question from these two options:

1. With the rise of Modernism, we see a heightening of social criticism in art. Identify the social criticism offered in two works, compare and contrast the ways it is expressed, and evaluate the effectiveness of the writers' techniques. Please offer quotations in support of your assertions.

2. Modernism strives to reproduce in art the confusing, disorienting conditions of modern life. Compare and contrast the ways that these conditions are reproduced in two works, and evaluate the effectiveness of the writers' techniques. Please offer quotations in support of your assertions.

Good luck! And don't forget to respond to someone else's post (2-3 lines)!

ENG 3U7--Blog Topic #3

Hey 3U7--Please choose one of the following topics on which to post a response, and then comment briefly on someone else's post.

Option 1: Lear claims to be "a man/More sinned against than sinning" (3.2.60-61); doing so, he suggests that the treatment that Goneril and Regan offer him is worse than the treatment he offered them. This would seem in many ways to be the crux of interpreting King Lear. Please ponder Lear's claim in the context of the reading that seems to be embedded in either Shakespeare's play text, the Masterpiece Theatre presentation starring Ian Holm, or in Susanna Hamnet's play, Nearly Lear.

Option 2: The cosmic and human cruelty that characterizes the world of King Lear was somewhat mitigated by the comedy offered by Susanna Hamnet in her Nearly Lear. During our question period she explained her approach as being motivated by a desire to offer the audience an emotional break from the "horror" of the play. Did you find this approach to be effective? Is it consistent with Shakespeare's own project?

Option 3: Susanna Hamnet left off her interpretation of King Lear with a video presentation of Lear and Cordelia in younger, happier days. She explained this as an attempt to transcend the tragedy of Shakespeare's conclusion with a simple, spiritual truth. Do you think it was an effective strategy? Did it make you think about King Lear differently?

ENG 3U7--Blog Topic #2

Hey 3U7--Here's your second blog topic. This time you have a choice between three options. Don't forget to comment on a classmate's post as well!

1. What textual evidence is there to support or, conversely, take issue with critic Frank Kermode's assertion that King Lear is Shakespeare's "cruellest" play?

2. Ponder Goneril's murder of Regan and her subsequent suicide. What are Goneril's motivations? Are her actions logically consistent? Please ensure you support your argument with textual evidence.

3. Ponder Edmund's desire to do good before he dies. Is this a final attempt to "scam" his way out of damnation, or is his conversion sincere? Please ensure you support your argument with textual evidence.

ENG 3U7--Blog Topic #1

Thanks for finding this site!

What we'll do here is discuss issues that arise as we study our texts. Our classroom will thereby become wall-less and clock-less; it will be a VIRTUAL COSMOS from which there is no escape! Muwahahahahaha!

Er, ahem. I mean it will be a great learning tool.

So . . . on to the first blog topic. We've been reading King Lear and at the same time viewing the Masterpiece Theatre adaption of the stage play starring Ian Holm. Please post a comment here identifying an interesting point of dialogue between Shakespeare's original play and the interpretation offered in the Masterpiece Theatre version. Reflect on any of the following elements of the presentation: the imagery (how does it comment on the action and/or the characters?), the set, the costuming, the casting choices (for example, Lear is played by a man who is short of stature, compared to other Lears; what implications arise?), the acting and delivery of certain lines (emotion, facial expressions, body language), the pacing (including pauses), the staging (focussing on who stands/moves where and how), or the omissions (the lines that have been cut). Once you have offered your comment (or shortly thereafter), please offer a couple respectful lines in response to someone else's post. Feel free to comment on any 3U7's post (BB or FF).

Thanks!

ENG 4U1--Another Blog Possibility

Hi folks--In a well organized paragraph, explore the connections that can be made between Oryx and Crake and either Hamlet or Waiting for Godot.

ENG 4U1--Oryx and Crake Blog Topic 2

Hi folks--In a well organized paragraph on Oryx and Crake, please ponder one of the issues we discussed in class:

(a) Please explore the way chaos "wins" out, despite Crake's efforts to engineer a perfectly controlled world.

(b) In what ways is the story of the Crakers like other religious stories?

(c) Please explore the way that the Crakers defy Crake's literalism by embracing symbolism (in religion [pages 374, 404, 429] and art [430]).

(d) Please explore Crake's reductive analysis of art on page 205. Is he accurate or inaccurate?

ENG 4U1--Blog for Oryx and Crake

Hi folks--Check out the Oryx and Crake-inspired art on Ms. Schwartz's blog (http://englishschwartz.blogspot.com). Please write a well organized paragraph that evaluates the imaginative and emotional validity of these representations (i.e., do they evoke something powerful? do they convey the emotions of story? do they offer thought-provoking interpretations?).

cheerio