1.  Reflection:  Why is it significant that Icarus "isn't sorry"?  What might he be sorry for?  Do you think he should be sorry?  Why or why not?  It might help to consider other versions of the Icarus myth.

Many of us, like Icarus, believe there are much worse things to experience than death. To merely exist without truly living life is more ( Read more... )

Part 1 - Reflection: write a TEA paragraph or two in which you compare the way the two authors have presented the myth of Persephone.

Rita Dove and Eavan Boland both use the myth of Ceres and Persephone in their poems “Persephone, Falling” and “The Pomegranate” to express feelings about holding on and letting go through changing relationships as ( Read more... )

Part One: Reflection
Write a strong TEA paragraph in which you summarize and compare how all three authors use an extended metaphor to write about life or growing up.

In each of the pieces we examined this week, Richard Wilbur’s “The Writer,” Lorna Crozier’s “Packing for the Future,” and “Miracle” by Harry Thurston, is expressed the conflicting ( Read more... )

Week 7 Blog Questions

1. Reflection
Use some of the ideas that might come up in this week's discussion to help you with this: write an obituary for Oedipus from the point of view of a citizen of Thebes.  Remember that the play is called "Oedipus the King" (not Oedipus, the guy who killed his father and slept with his mother).  You will need, as well ( Read more... )

Week 6 Blog Question:

Part 1: Reflection

Now that we're at almost the half-way point in the term, reflect a moment.  What has been the most useful or interesting aspect of studying literature for you, so far?  What do you still want to learn?  Any concerns or fears?

The first few pieces we looked at in this class were the types of pieces I would ( Read more... )

Being unfamiliar with LiveJournal, I decided it was best to complete my first two blog entries in Microsoft Word before copying and pasting them into LiveJournal. After realizing that it automatically saves your work frequently, I decided it was safe to complete the week three assignment in LiveJournal. Earlier in the week, I had started the blog ( Read more... )

Blog Question #3

Part 1, Reflection: Read the course notes page on the T.E.A. paragraph and listen to my little lecture on intertextuality, then write a T.E.A. paragraph on "The Boat."  Consider your answers to last week's blog question on intertextuality, and suggest a) what they have in common and b) why the NARRATOR (not just the author) of the ( Read more... )

Blog Question #2

A. Reflection: In the story "Boys and Girls," look very carefully at the descriptions of the areas where the father and mother work, and where the children sleep.  How does the narrator feel about each of these areas, and how can you tell?  Do these descriptions illustrate one or more binaries?

In "Boys and Girls," the descriptions ( Read more... )

Blog #1:

Part 1, Reflection: Thinking about literature, and having read Larkin's "This Be the Verse," do you think the poem fits some criteria for "great literature"? For example, do you think Larkin is dealing with a universal theme?

After having reviewed our class' response to the discussion question as to what is needed for a piece of work to ( Read more... )