We had another good discussion this week in British Lit. We've come to the end of our longest selection, Great Expectations. On a scale of 1 to 10, I asked the students how they would rate this book among others that they have read. We seemed to be split between those who would give it 8-ish, and those who more inclined towards a 4 or 5. While I recognize that not everyone will love this book, each year when we reach the end, I am newly amazed at Dickens's writing ability.
For those of you who don't know, this book, Great Expectations, was written in installments. In other words, he wrote a section and had it printed in his magazine. Then he wrote the next section and had it printed. His genius is in the cohesiveness of the plot and character development. As is common for Victorian novels, all of the details are wrapped up in the final chapters. No loose threads.
The students brought great questions to class, and I felt that we had a satisfying final discussion.
Our next unit is Romantic poetry. I gave the students a handout of the poetry that we'll be reading. In addition, I gave them a handout explaining the poetry of that time and one that discusses how to read poetry. For next week, we will focus on a few poems, but I will pull out lines or stanzas from others in the handout.
Before reading the poems, The students should read the Interpreting Poetry handout before they read the poems. Also, they should read the questions that go with poems before reading each poem.
Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read the handouts, Interpreting Poetry and Responding to Romantic Literature
-- Read the following poems:
Blake's "The Chimney Sweeper" (both poems)
Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey"
Coleridge's "The Aeolian Harp"
Byron's "She Walks in Beauty"
Shelley's "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty"
Keats's "Ode on a Grecian Urn"
-- Note: We will especially work through the Keats poem
Links for this week:
Class Notes
Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Prichard
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