Sonnet Memorization

Literature Analysis #3

Gulliver's Travels    
By: Jonathan Swift

1. Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift, follows Lemuel Gulliver's sea-bound journey among many English colonies after his business goes under. He makes his way to four colonies, the first being Lilliput. This land is colonized by tiny "Lilliputians" who welcome Gulliver with open arms. They treat him as royalty, and see him as a great asset to their province. Some conflicts arise with the emergence of a palace fire, and Gulliver is forced to travel to his new destination, Blefuscu, the Lilliput's enemy. He is only here for a short time, to fix his boat and return to his family in England. He doesn't remain in England long, and after two months, he is of to his next land, this time occupied with giants, Brobdingnag. He is sold to the Queen as some sort of joke, and used for his entertainment value once again. It is an unwelcoming experience for him. The people have no boundaries and are completely ignorant, so fortunately he is carried back to sea. Gulliver, however, hits another bump in the road when he comes across pirates and is forced to make landfall in Laputa. This land is night and day from the last destination. The inhabitants are educated and completely engulfed in their studies. Feeling aloof, he stays on the move, and sets on his fourth and final journey to an unknown land. This time the population consists of houyhnhnms, horses, and yahoos, the human counterparts that rule the horse-like creatures. He wears out his welcome quickly, and the houyhnhnms soon see him as a yahoo, and he is banished. After his reflection on the idea of colonialism and the regions he has encountered, he comes to the conclusion that all of the land belongs to England.

2. The theme in this novel is alienation. He travels to the different provinces of England and the audience gets the feel for the different utopias, and how each land is completely different and unaware of the outside world. For example, in the Brobdingnag land, the people are completely clueless, and treat Gulliver as this amazing tiny, entertaining toy.

3. The tone in Gulliver's Travels is satirical. At first Gulliver has an innocent and candid outlook. He goes on his beginning journeys with hope and curiosity. By his last destination, he has lost respect for the civilizations he has visited, and thinks that they are ignorant and useless. This is satirical to England, and the colonization of English utopias.

• "...that whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together.” 
• "…he leaves me worse than in ignorance, for I am led to believe a thing black when it is white, and short when it is long.” 

4. Characterization: Gulliver narrates this novel in first person, and Swift uses indirect characterization. We learn Gulliver's personality and his views as he goes on his voyages. As for the minor characters, Gulliver directly informs the audience.

• "...taller than his brethren by the breadth of a human fingernail.”
• "in observing the manners and dispositions of the people, as well as learning their language; wherein I had a great facility, by the strength of my memory.” 

Symbolism: The countries that Gulliver travels to are symbols of the utopianism in England during the eighteenth century. The imaginary lands that Gulliver visits, the Lilliputians, the Brobdingnagians, the Laputans, and the Houyhnhnms all represent the real English colonies.

• "I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth.” 

Foreshadowing: With Gulliver witnessing ignorant societies every place he stops, he is bound to eventually reject the civilization as a whole. This occurs on his fourth, and final journey to the land of the Houyhnhnms.

• "I observe among you some lines of an institution, which, in its original, might have been tolerable, but these half erased, and the rest wholly blurred and blotted by corruptions."

Sonnet Analysis Part 1

I have chosen Robert Frost's sonnet, Design. This work appealed to me as it contains imagery and will be relatively easy to visualize while memorizing. My knowledge of sonnets at this point ends with knowing that they are poems of fourteen lines, typically having ten syllables per line.

Big Question

If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don't like, and like so many things we don't do?

Vocabulary Week 11

Affinity- relationship by marriage

Bilious- of or indicative of a peevish ill nature disposition
Cognate- of the same nature

Corollary- A proposition inferred Immediately from a proved proposition with little or no additional proof 

Cul-de-sac - a pouch

Derring-do- a daring action

Divination- The art or practice that seeks to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge due to the interpretation of omens 

Elixir- A substance capable of prolonging life indefinitely 
Folderol- a useless accessory 

Gamut- an entire range or series

Hoi polloi- the General populace

Ineffable- incapable of being expressed in words 

Lucubration- to study by night 

Mnemonic- intended to assist memory

Obloquy- abusive language

Parameter- an independent variable used to express the coordinates of variable point and functions of them

Pundit- a learned man 

Risible- provoking laughter

Symptomatic- having the characteristics of a certain disease but arising of a different cause 

Volte-face- a reversal in policy

Sonnet: Design by: Robert Frost

Design

I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,
On a white heal-all, holding up a moth
Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth --
Assorted characters of death and blight
Mixed ready to begin the morning right,
Like the ingredients of a witches' broth --
A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth,
And dead wings carried like a paper kite.

What had that flower to do with being white,
The wayside blue and innocent heal-all?
What brought the kindred spider to that height,
Then steered the white moth thither in the night?
What but design of darkness to appall?--
If design govern in a thing so small. 

Robert Frost

Hamlet PLN

Here are my fabulous 5 outside resources for Hamlet. :)

1. www.bcsd.org/webpages/chall/ap.cfm

This AP Literature class's website is a great source for those students who enjoy studying through discussion and study questions.

2. www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=hamlet-quiz-ap-english-literature-composition

This link leads to a quiz on Hamlet, created by AP students, for AP students.

3. chisnell.com/apeng/lists/hamlet/allitems.aspx

This link is my personal favorite, and a critical discussion of Hamlet among AP students.

4. http://www.crawfordsworld.com/jaimie/engIVH/hamindex.htm

This website has an array of Hamlet links with notes, text, and character analyses.

5. flashcardexchange.com/tag/hamlet

This contains quizzes on specific acts in Hamlet and also flashcards.