The Last Days of John Keats

If you are ever in Rome, you may be interested in visiting the house where John Keats died. It's a museum now and is very easy to find right next to the famous Spanish Steps. Here's a short video about the museum.




And here is the museum's website, including audio recordings of several Keats poems, a virtual tour and more.

Just for fun, here are Anton and I at the entrance to the museum. (See what I mean by right next to the steps?)

New Ted Hughes Poem about Sylvia Plath!

A new poem by Ted Hughes has surfaced. We know Hughes from his poem "Full Moon and Little Freida". Take a look at this television report on the discovery.



I heard about this poem on this podcast where it is discussed at length. (It's the second discussion, after one about Dan Savage and before one about Bruce Springsteen, both of which are also interesting.)



For those interested, there is an interesting film about Hughes and Plath's marriage named Sylvia that can be viewed on youtube.

IGCSE Poets Quiz!

IGCSE Stories Quiz!

I have been playing around with creating web quizzes, so made this one to help keep straight authors and their respective titles from Stories of Ourselves. Enjoy!

Exam Practice Question 2

Nice job on Practice Question 1 where you wrote an empathy essay as Howard from Death of a Salesman!

Today, we will post our practice essays here in order that everyone can benefit in revision from one another's work.

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Use ALL your time during this 40 minute period to answer the following question.

Imagine that you are Benvolio from Romeo and Juliet and that you have just come from hearing the Prince banish Romeo. What are your thoughts? Write out these thoughts as a full-length essay in sentences and paragraphs that can be understood. Remember that with "empathy" questions of this sort, you should feel free to interpret, but should be careful not to invent.

Exam Revision Homework 9 - Parents and Children

1. Is the parent/child relationship an important theme in Death of a Salesman? Why/why not?

2. Is the parent/child relationship an important theme in Romeo and Juliet? Why/why not?

Exam Revision Homework 8 - "The Yellow Wall Paper"

Write a 5-10 sentence retelling of "The Yellow Wallpaper" in the first person from the perspective of John.

Exam Revision Homework 7 - "Secrets"

Write a 5-10 sentence retelling of "Secrets" in the first person from the perspective of Aunt Mary.

Exam Revision Homework 6 - Death

1. Is death an important theme in Death of a Salesman? Why/why not?

2. Is death an important theme in Romeo and Juliet? Why/why not?

Exam Revision Homework 5 - "The Signalman"

Write a 5-10 sentence retelling of "The Signalman" in the first person from the perspective of the signalman.

Exam Revision Homework 4 - "On Her Knees"

Write a 5-10 sentence retelling of "On Her Knees" in the first person from the perspective of the mother.

Something Fun

Take a look at this video of Thomas Hardy reading "The Voice". It's not really Hardy, of course, but computer animation of a photograph of him. If you go to the animator's youtube channel, you'll find over a hundred of these strange, fun animations.

Visual Storytelling Projects!

Here are the visual storytelling projects! As these come in, they will be added to this entry.
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"Secrets" by Bernard MacLaverty
Image by Polina
I will describe an episode from a "Secret" by Bernard MacLaverty. The Narrator of the story is a man, who thinks back and remembers very important, defining episode from his childhood. This part of the story is image that I've chosen.

We can see a boy (narrator as a child next to the big wooden shall who found some letters which were addressed to his aunt Mary from John Aug'15 Ballintoye. They were written with black spidery ink. You could see that letters are old because they were yellowish on the sides and you could find several holes on the paper. Reading letters was probably hard because some letters were fade and almost invisible. The boy was reading letters on the floor on the big fluffy carpet which was the size of the room floor. Letters were all around the boy and they smelled like old books from the library.

Windows were wide open and you could feel fresh wind which was blowing into the white transparent curtains. On the table where boy found bureau with letters you could see an old quill with dark blue ink on it and unfinished letter to person whom boy didn't know. Between letters the boy could see a photograph of the soldier in green uniform and on the back was written with the same black spidery ink "Brother Benignus". On the picture that I imagine the boy is wearing a clean white t-shirt, bright shorts, white shoes and socks. His hair is dark-dark black colour and eyes are brown. He is following each line of every letter very carefully.

I chose this scene because it's mysterious part of the story "Secrets". Also because it represents the climax is the most important scene in the plot of the story.


"The Lemon Orchard" by Alex La Guma
Image by Sara
I am going to take the moment when all the men are leading the man in pajamas in the darkness. They are walking on an empty orchard with lemon trees alongside them. The moon is high up in the sky hidden by a few clouds. The men who kidnapped him are all wearing thick clothes because of the cold night weather. They are wearing hood to cover their dark faces with hateful looks towards the victim while he stands out with his striped, blue and white pajamas. He as well has a panicked look on his face. One of the men has a serious face and is holding a lantern as well as a gun. The leader is a big guy with an evil smile on his face holding a gun pointed at the victim.

This image is supposed to represent the main scene of the story. The dramatic scenery inspired me to describe this image, as the full moon and dark trees give a sense of drama to what was happening in the story. The guns express the terror and seriousness of the situation the poor man is in. The themes of this image I would say are terror, panic, darkness, death, and misery. As the story's theme it is supposed to show, through the man’ s face, what South Africa has suffered with the huge segregation of educated, native, dark-colored men going on in the country at the time.

"The Taste of Watermelon" by Borden Deal
Image by Toby

My Visual Storytelling Project is a picture of a watermelon field, with the huge watermelon at the front of the field, and a shed with a gun sticking out the window, filled with salt. This image was taken from the story “The Taste Of A Watermelon” by Borden Deal. The Picture Has lots of rows of normal sized watermelons in the field because that’s what the story is like, and then in the middle of the field (the full field isn’t shown on the picture) there is a giant watermelon compared to the rest, and it’s almost the same size as the boy trying to push / roll it towards the flood plains by the river.

At the top right hand corner of the page, I chose a wooden-shack like building, with a window to be placed there, because in the story it describes how the man used to sit there, night and day guarding this prize winner watermelon, with a shotgun and it’s full of salt. The boy is trying to push it, with his back towards the shed, because it was too large and heavy to pick up, and the only way he could get it out of the way was to roll it down the hill towards the flood fields. The field was well looked after since the rows were so strait and perfect, it tried to make this imply that he was very serious about his farming. This picture was made by several pictures, cropped and edited into each other, and then I found it easier to print it off, add some touches to it by hand and then re-scan it.

"There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury
Image by Evita
The moment I have chosen is from “There will come soft rains” when the nuclear bomb explodes and leaves the silhouettes of the people enjoying themselves behind. The moment is about even though it is in the past what was there still is like it have left an imprint of its existence so anyone passing by that sees it knows what was there before. Little pieces of the past are always left behind; it is just like a photograph of that moment in time.

The impact it has is quite saddening because the people in the Silhouettes look like they were having so much fun, then something terrible happened and all that’s left is their silhouettes.
The silhouettes are of a man mowing the lawn, a lady picking flowers and a girl and a boy playing with a ball. I chose this scene because even though it is a small detail in the story it is still important it shows us that tragedy came for the family when they were enjoying themselves.

I chose to make the picture in black and white so it would have a saddening feel to it. I made the wall grey. There is also grass in the picture to show that even though the people have died that life goes on. The picture is like it is pause sort of but in reality time is still going by. I did not add in the sprinkler so that is also why I put the grass instead.


"How It Happened" by Arthur Conan Doyle
Image by Siri
My visual Storytelling is from How it Happened. I know I'm not the best artist haha but I tried :P . I took the part just after the crash, when the ghost of the friend is standing there looking at the scene and the other ghost lets it sink in what really happened and becomes distressed. I found that great picture of the crashed car and I added a few adjustments to it and then printed it out. I thought it would be quite neat if I added the white outline where the body had been. The ghosts I drew are quite midgets because as I said I am not the greatest artist. I tried to draw a gun at the back of the friend's shirt but I don't think its very clear. I chose this image because I thought it had so much emotion to offer. There was the sadness, the fear, the sympathy and the anger. The disappointment and the curiosity. I thought this is one of the moments in the story I liked most because its the point where everything comes together. The ghosts I didn't color or paste in because I thought it would be quite neat to leave them transparent and no one can see them. I enjoyed doing the project because you get so many good ideas :D


"The Taste of Watermelon" by Borden Deal
Image by Valentina
I have taken a moment from "The Taste of Watermelon". This story is about coming of age and right now I can really relate with that. The main characters and the narrator wanted to prove themselves by stealing the prized watermelon. My favorite is when the three boys are sitting on a bridge and looking over the moon lithe lake, talking about stealing the watermelon.

I have displayed this moment by presenting two boys with their backs visible. Two of the boys are sitting down and the narrator is standing up looking inspired. In the image you will be able to see a large moon and the lightened lake. The boys which are sitting down will have. The two boys sitting down are looking down at the lake talking. The shadows will give the image more depth.

The mediums I will be using are soft pencil and watercolor to give the image softness. The image looks like a child has drawn it, I tried to make it seem that way to illustrate that the boys were still children in that moment.

I'll called the image "Moon Hanger" because the moon will be a focal part of the image and "hanger" because of the inspiration hanging in the air.


"How It Happened" by Arthur Conan Doyle
Image by Tatiana
My visual storytelling is basically just a picture of the car being 'driven' quickly down the hill, from the story HOW IT HAPPENED by Arthur Conan Doyle, non-stop and at high speed, seeing as how the breaks don't seem to work. The picture is drawn in just black and white, or grayscale, on purpose to add a gloomy effect. And the writing at the top is written in an (attempted) chaotic way.

At the top of the page I have added some of the characters' thoughts as they roll down the hill towards their death. Words such as ‘confusion’ (because of the broken brakes) 'questions' (as to who broke them) 'rush' (as in the rush of the moment, and how fast they made their way down the hill), and more. They were supposed to be written faintly, as if blending in with the sky, so that it would look more ghostly, but instead I made it look like their actual thoughts (in a thought bubble). The angle the car is situated in doesn't even look potentially dangerous, and I could have made the hill much more slanted, but then the picture would look a little more distorted. I've also made the slope look darker and grimmer than actually described in the book, but not by much, and I tried to make it look steep as if crossing it would lead to a huge drop. This story also lets the viewer think about possible endings to the story described in the one picture.


Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Image by James
“Tybalt thrusts his sword at Romeo, Mercutio standing behind him. Right under Romeo’s arm, the blade slices through Mercutio’s heart. The bloody tip of Tybalt’s sword appears out of Mercutio’s back. Romeo, Tybalt and especially Mercutio are shocked. Mercutio becomes pale and starts laughing. Rage comes over Romeo; he stares at Tybalt and gets ready to fight to the death.”

I show Mercutio getting stabbed by Tybalt under Romeo’s arm with a shocked look on Mercutio’s face. I did not show Tybalt’s face in this picture as I found it looked better with only his arm. I first colored the swords red to represent the blood spilled and which was about to be spilled. I colored Mercutio blue as that is the main color of the Montagues. I colored Tybalt’s arm red and yellow as these are also the colors of the Capulets. I colored Romeo as a Capulet to show how he was just married to Juliet and could now almost be considered Capulet.

"How It Happened" by Arthur Conan Doyle
Image by Andrew
The choice that i have made for a visualisation is the moment in ‘How it Happened’ where the car is flying through the air through the estate gates, about to crash into one of the pillars on the mansion. I have decided on this moment as it shows the climax of the story, and what happens after all of the hardships that occur up to the point of the crash. The car is a few feet above the ground, and it travelling at some speed, and it is speeding through the open gates of the estate, and headed straight for a large pillar on the front of the large building in the centre of the estate. The only light is moonlight, coming from the large Moon in the background. The faces of the main character and the butler would be of excitement, but also fear.

The image shows great excitement, and reveals how the story ends, with the horrible car crash, where the main character dies, and the butler is hurt. I chose this image as it seemed to be full of movement, and is a very exciting image. It also gives a good understanding of the main character; liking action and adventure, but sometimes takes things a little too lightly. The image symbolises the dangers of driving quickly, and what can happen to you if you make a mistake whilst at the wheel.


"Meteor" by John Wyndham
Image by Caroline
I chose an image from the story Meteor by John Wyndham. It represents the moment of the cat's attack. After the aliens landed on the earth, they left their spaceship to explore the room and they met a cat. They got into a fight and a lot of them died. In the end, the leader of the alien group killed the cat, but he dies as well.

My image shows the fight between the black cat and the ant-like aliens. The cat is in an attacking position, on its feet and showing its claws and teeth. In the picture, I made the cat look very aggressive and evil because in the story, the cat is being described as 'cold, cruel and non-inteligent'. I drew the cat in the middle of the image, and I tried to make it look very big compared to the aliens surrounding the cat. I tried to put a lot of movement into the picture.

To draw the aliens, I started with drawing normal black ants, but then I wanted to make them look more unfamiliar and ‘alienlike’, that’s why I added colourful stripes on their backs. Next to the cat, I drew the aliens very small, but further in the front, I drew them quite big, so that you can see them in detail. Some of the aliens are already dead and some have weapons (fire-rods) and one of them is even shooting.

I chose this scene because it is most exciting and full of action. It is interesting, how a cat - a cute 'little' pet for us - can be so dangerous for other creatures. And it is also amazing, that even though the aliens are so small, they are still really dangerous because of their good technology and knowledge.



"There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury
Image by Dylan
I chose this particular scene of 'There Will Come Soft Rains' because I found the sheer contrast and diversity in the setting fascinating and because the image itself tells a longer tale from its individual parts (and I have a soft spot for post-nuclear holocaust stories). The image shows the modern house with one wall burnt except in places where the shape of a family can be seen. It also clearly shows the irradiated city below, dead from the nuclear explosion. You can also see the dog foaming at the mouth and crazy next to the house that is still reading the poem.

Firstly, as in the story, you have the sleek new house full of technology and modern design seemingly in order (this is represented by the unscortched side of the house) then slowly as the story progresses we start to see that the house is empty. Now this could mean nothing more than the fact it’s a show house, but when you see the image of the house in my picture it is quite clear that something bad has happened, and again when you see the glowing irradiated city below you can see what happened. The image represents the destruction that man is capable of and how in this particular case, life was ended in an instant leaving behind only stencils of the people. However the image also shows Nature’s will to survive after such incidents.




"The Taste of Watermelon" by Borden Deal
Image by Evelina
Picture where in “The Taste of a Watermelon” three boys are eating a huge watermelon.
It is a dark colour of the sky, with bright stars and full moon shining. At the background you can see some trees, green leaves, red apples hanging, brown stems. The water which is running in front of the boys is calm, dark, reflects the moon. The watermelon is green and black stripped, it is not cut, but very messy all over the place. The flesh of it is bright red, with dark black seeds. Three boys sit around the watermelon, one is fit, blonde, handsome, he is sitting with his legs crossed. The other two are brunette, one is slimmer than the other one, all are eating watermelon and all are very dirty. All of them are wearing shorts which are dirty because they are sitting on the ground, and different coloured shirts, yellow, red and white, and all of their faces are in watermelon juice. Their shirts are messy too, they all have short hair and they seem to be full of the watermelon, but happy.
I decided to choose exactly this moment of the scene because i think that it is very strong, athe whole story is just about this moment where boys are finally eating this watermelon. For me it is a key scene in the story, i also decided to choose it because the watermelon is very nice, and that would be nice to picture it, like to show how huge it is.


"The Signalman" by Charles Dickens
Image by Luke
My picture is my perspective of the scene from ‘The Signalman” where the woman jumps out of the train.

The centrepiece of the picture is the train that is coming out of the tunnel. As the story is set in the 1850s/ 60s, I have drawn a steam train. Just before the tunnel, you can see the front of the first carriage. At the rear of this carriage is the woman jumping out. The door is open behind her. The other person in the picture is the signalman. He is watching the events unfold.

Behind the train are the jagged hills. There is where the signalman’s house is located. It is a basic looking one made out of wood. There is a path leading from the entrance of the house to the tracks.

There are a few shrubs on the hills, but not many. I decided not to put too many things on the hills, as it would complicate the scene. Next to the hills is a bit of blue sky and some dark grey clouds. This symbolises the sad scene. Below this is the tunnel, which has a stone covering; the red light is on the left hand side.

I chose this scene as it is a very important one in the story and can be shown in many different ways. I have drawn what I think the scene should look like.



"Meteor" by John Wyndham
Image by Onur
My picture shows the moment the meteor hits the ground, and everyone is shocked, and everything in the room is shaking from the force of the meteor.

The basic picture is the meteor is hitting the ground outside and you can see the fire trail and the earth flying as it hits the soil and the smoke behind it. There is a cat outside that looks very surprised because the meteor hit the ground very close to it. Inside, there is a dog that barks in surprise, a man that is surprised but more calm, and a woman that is really shocked and screams very loudly. Everything in the room is shaking, including the people and the animals.

To give the effect of the meteor flying very fast and violently, I tried making it look like a real meteor. I put streaks of fire on it to do this. Also, the soil on the ground flying out when the meteor hits the ground also gives an effect to how fast the meteor is going. I put smoke behind the meteor to show that it is on fire, and it is not just a rock. I put big eyes and a sad face on the cat to show that he is really surprised and not very happy about the huge bang behind him. I tried making him look like he was walking and just froze, as two of his feet are in the air. With the dog, I put one ear up to show that he heard something very loud, because dogs only seem to do that when they hear something very loud and they want to know what it is. To put an effect of the room shaking, (it's hard to explain by writing it) I used black lines on curves of objects to show that they are vibrating, as I had seen this in a cartoon and thought it would be a very good idea. To give a greater effect of the room shaking, I made the liquid in the glass on the table look like it's about to spill out. To show what emotions the people have, I used speech bubbles for all the living things in the room. To make sure people know they are in a house, I used a jar with flowers in it, and a rug.


Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Image by Rosie

I chose Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare. When Romeo finds Juliet "dead in the church" and his reactions and feelings when he sees her.

Romeo had heard that she was sick and that she had died suddenly, but he did not belive it until he saw it. When he had heard he bought some poison, just incase. When he arrives by her side and sees her lying there dead, He decided to kill himself near her. Just as he drinks the poison, she wakes up and finds the bottle in his hand and then she decides to commit suiside.
I can imagine my image being of him taking the poison and lying down, and of her waking up and looking down on him, and his face being confused but happy. Also both of them holding hands and her touching his face.

this image gave me the idea of just love. It shows that even though Romeo was dying and he was upset, by seeing his Juliet for the last time before he died, it made him happy, and also worth it. This means true love to me, and i think Both of them shared the same feeling.




"The Signalman" by Charles Dickens
Image by Ryan
I am doing my visual image on a particular part where the Signalman is having a conversation with the narrator about his job and then tells him how he thought he was someone else, he then goes on to tell the narrator what he saw when he looked at the red warning light and then the ghost appearing telling him all manners of weird and unusual things that didn’t make sense to the Signalman at first.

My image will look like the Signalman is looking out towards the tunnel entrance and sees the ghost fading into the picture; the picture is shaded almost completely because I want to show how dark it actually gets down in the dungeon like tunnel as that’s how I feel that the story was depicted through Charles Dickens’s descriptions. I will be making the Signalman kind of scruffy looking as he has been down in the darkness with only a small crevice of moonlight. The ghost however is going to look like it’s just coming into the picture so it makes it looks like he has just saw the ghost appear from the shadows of the tunnel. I make all these choices because I write/draw what I picture the story to be and this is my version of how the Signalman, Ghost, Setting looks like but even if my vision is different to what Charles had in mind it is still the same story and following the same rules.

I think this image will go well with the moment because it gives and understanding of how the Signalman reacted, and how the ghost came into the story. It also gives a sense of fear/horror/spooky whichever you like, because of the way that I have depicted the setting to be.

"The Taste of Watermelon" by Borden Deal
Image by Samantha
The story I am choosing is ‘The Taste of Watermelon’ and the scene ive chosen is when the boy goes through the field and gets the watermelon. The imagine i get in my head of this scene is, the moon, big and bright up in the sky and the young boy being covered in mud from head to toe as he has been crawling through the dirt, one of his hands is reaching towards the watermelon and one finger is gently placed on it while his hair is in his face. He has a worried look on his face because he is looking upwards towards Mr.Wills who we can see through the window in the distance. He has a long shot gun in his hand and is sitting on a rocking chair looking out with a sort of smirk but serious look on his face mummbling away to himself. So the young boy is very scared looking towards mr.Wills but he is still determined to get that watermelon. The boy then pull’s the root of the watermelon and it budges and he keeps tugging at it while he looks very struggled, then the watermelon comes loose and the boy lays down onto his back, and rolls it down his body and is now smiling. Mr.Will’s closes his eye’s for a moment to rest, as he is sure nobody would steal the melon on such a clear day. The boy feels a sort of adrenaline rush because of what he has accomplished while he is taking through the field to show his friends, and once he reaches the end of the field and his friends are in eye sight, he takes a deep breath and goes ‘ I Told You I Could Do It’ with a smug look on his face.


"The Yellow Wall Paper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Image by Max
My project is about the part of the story where in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the mad woman is ripping down all the wallpaper and John, her husband is on the floor. Jennie is trying to lift him us as he has fainted. There is John’s suitcase on the floor as he just came back from work in the city.

In the picture there is a woman, on the right hand side, with her sharp nails and angry facial expression. She is trying to rip the wallpaper as she is trapped behind it. She is imprisoned and cannot escape so she is ripping herself free. Her hair is all messed up as she has totally gone bonkers and she is now in complete madness. On the wallpaper near the door you can see her creeping out over John out of the room. As specified in the book, it says she has to keep on creeping over him again and again. This is what it is representing. Also Jennie, John’s sister is trying to lift John up from the floor as he was fainted at the shock of his wife. Thinking she was cured when she was not and then her ripping up the wallpaper gave him the shock of his life. His briefcase is on the floor behind him, showing that he had work at the city the day before that. Also in the picture you can see the bed she was on and under it you can see the her secret diary that she was writing her notes of the day and how she felt on. You can see it says ‘DIARY’ written on the cover of it. Another important factor is that the wallpaper is being torn down. Also some of it is already torn. The window is also open, but in the woman’s condition it is barred. There is also a curtain on it so that when she was ripping down the wallpaper nobody could see her. There is a lot of detail in the room. This is one of the most dramatic points of the story. It shows that everything they did to try to cure her failed and she became worse thanks to the cursed wallpaper.

"The Taste of Watermelon" by Borden Deal
Image by Kalean

Description forthcoming.



"The Yellow Wall Paper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Image by Mike
Description forthcoming.



"The Yellow Wall Paper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Image by Anne-Mieke

Description forthcoming.



"The Taste of Watermelon" by Borden Deal
Image by Christina
In this visual image I see it as two or three guys rolling away the huge watermelon, a watermelon which is bigger than any watermelon a person has ever seen in his life (the same as it is mentioned in the story). This watermelon looks mouth watering and just ready to eat. The guys are wearing farm clothes, as in some kind of shorts together with a white t-shirt and some shoes. I imagine the owner of this watermelon seeing the guys rolling away this huge watermelon and getting ready to go outside and run after these guys.


I believe it communicates well with the moment as it continues some story however also describes the behavior of teenagers or in other words, teenage guys. I find this image very interesting as you can never for sure know what this story can continue as or if this story is going to end good or bad. It stays as a mystery until the story could continue.



"The Signalman" by Charles Dickens
Image by Nathan
The idea is the ghost warning the signalman about the train.

Romeo and Juliet - SCASI!

That's right! You knew it was coming! Please write a SCASI commentary on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet during the following period.

9A - Thursday, 20 May, Period 5

9B - Monday 24 May, Period 7

This is classwork. Please let it represent 30-40 minutes of your best focused thinking and writing. This is NOT homework but it also cannot be finished in only 20 minutes. Use your class time well!

Exam Revision Homework 3 - Love

1. Is love an important theme in Death of a Salesman? Why/why not?

2. Is love an important theme in Romeo and Juliet? Why/why not?

Exam Revision Homework 2 - Tragedy

For the remainder of the year, we will have several short (approximately 10 minute) homework assignments designed for the purpose of thinking about the sort of questions that may be asked about the texts we have studied on an exam. You have already answered the first of these questions, concerning morality in two plays. Please be sure not only to complete all these short homeworks, but to take each of them seriously.

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The American Heritage Dictionary defines tragedy as "a drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances." In a few sentences, give a thoughtful answer to the following questions.

1. Is Death of a Salesman a tragedy? Why/why not?
2. Is Romeo and Juliet a tragedy? Why/why not?

tragedy. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved May 18, 2010, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tragedy

Important Reminder! - Visual Storytelling!

Please remember that your visual storytelling project is due BEFORE NEXT WEDNESDAY! Please place a comment here letting me know what, if anything, you have done so far, what you will be doing and when you expect to have it photographed/scanned and sent.

"From Ancient Grudge"

Whoops! This was meant to have been posted yesterday, but wasn't. Please do it tonight!

Yesterday and today, we worked with the prologue to Romeo and Juliet, a Shakespearean sonnet that summarizes the story of the play (not unlike the sonnets we wrote summarizing Death of a Salesman).

Line 3 of the prologue mentions that there is a "ancient grudge" between the Montagues and Capulets, but tells us no more about the origin of this grudge.

In one paragraph of 4-6 sentence, write a speculative story about what exactly began the feud between these "two households".

We're Almost There!

We have come to the point in our school year where we have very few remaining class meetings. However, we still have a fair amount to get through, so here is the planned schedule for what remains. (As always, the unexpected may happen and changes may be made!)

Wednesday, 5 May, DAY 6
Period 6 - 9A - View and discuss Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet (Part 1)

Thursday, 6 May, DAY 1
Period 7 - 9B - View and discuss Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet (Part 1)

Friday, 7 May, DAY 2
No class

Monday, 10 May, DAY 3
Period 1 - 9A - View and discuss Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet (Part 2)
Period 2 - 9B - View and discuss Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet (Part 2)

Tuesday, 11 May, DAY 4
Period 3 - 9B - View and discuss Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet (Part 3)

Wednesday, 12 May, DAY 5
Period 4 - 9A -View and discuss Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet (Part 3)
Period 5 - 9A -View and discuss Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet (Part 4)
Period 7 - 9B - View and discuss Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet (Part 4)

Thursday, 13 May, DAY 6
Period 6 - 9A - Romeo and Juliet Key Scene Analysis (In-Class Writing)

Friday, 14 May, DAY 1
Period 7 - 9B - Romeo and Juliet Key Scene Analysis (In-Class Writing)

Monday, 17 May, DAY 2
No class

Tuesday, 18 May, DAY 3
Period 1 - 9A - Groups perform Romeo and Juliet Act 3, Scene 1
Period 2 - 9B - Groups perform Romeo and Juliet Act 3, Scene 1

Wednesday, 19 May, DAY 4
Period 3 - 9B - View and discuss Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (Part 1)

Thursday, 20 May, DAY 5
Period 4 - 9A - Romeo and Juliet Essay (In-Class Writing)
Period 5 - 9A - View and discuss Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (Part 1)
Period 7 - 9B - Romeo and Juliet Essay (In-Class Writing)

Friday, 21 May, DAY 6
Period 6 - 9A -View and discuss Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (Part 2)

Monday, 24 May, DAY 1
Period 7 - 9B - View and discuss Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (Part 2)

Tuesday, 25 May, DAY 2
No class

Wednesday, 26 May, DAY 3
Period 1 - 9A - View and discuss Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (Part 3)
Period 2 - 9B - View and discuss Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (Part 3)

Thursday, 27 May, DAY 4
Period 3 - 9B - View and discuss Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (Part 4)

Friday, 28 May, DAY 5
Period 4 - 9A - View and discuss Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (Part 4)
Period 5 - 9A - Presentations of "Visual Storytelling" Projects
Period 7 - 9B - Presentations of "Visual Storytelling" Projects

Monday, 31 May, DAY 6
Period 6 - 9A - Practice Exam Question 1 (In-Class Writing)

Tuesday, 1 June, DAY 1
Period 7 - 9B - Practice Exam Question 1 (In-Class Writing)

Wednesday, 2 June, DAY 2
No class

Thursday, 3 June, DAY 3
Period 1 - 9A - Practice Exam Question 2 (In-Class Writing)
Period 2 - 9B - Practice Exam Question 2 (In-Class Writing)

Friday, 4 June, DAY 4
Period 3 - 9B - TBA (This means "To Be Announced".)

Friday, 28 May, DAY 5
Period 4 - 9A - TBA
Period 5 - 9A - TBA
Period 7 - 9B - TBA

Visual Storytelling Projects

Today's visual storytelling proposals look great! Now come the next steps.

1. Create your image. (You are required to HAVE FUN with this.)

2. Write an accompanying essay of 200 - 250 (no more, no less) words describing and discussing your image, your choices, the moment represented, etc. (Please take this seriously. Just for starters, pay attention to spelling, capitalization and punctuation and DO NOT include "emoticons" (smiley faces, etc.). Taking this seriously, however, does not excuse you from the requirement to HAVE FUN with this step too!)

3. Photograph or scan your image. (Pay attention to quality on this please!...But HAVE FUN!)

4. Email me your photograph/scan and essay BEFORE Wednesday 26 May! (If it is not submitted by this time, it will affect your grade badly! Let's not have to deal with lateness on this one...Oh yes...Make sure to HAVE FUN!)

Exam Revision Homework 1 - Morality

Here's an interesting video where Arthur Miller suggests that his own plays and the plays of Shakespeare are deeply concerned with morality. Can you come up with THREE ways that Death of a Salesman is concerned with morality and THREE ways that Romeo and Juliet is concerned with morality?

Submit your answers here. This can take the form of a simple list.

By the way...EVERY MEMBER of our TWO CLASSES did a GREAT job with our Death of a Salesman scene. That's really impressive. Let's see if we can do this well again with our Romeo and Juliet scene!

Key Scene Analysis - Death of a Salesman

Now that you have now studied closely a key scene from Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, consider and answer the following question.

How does Arthur Miller use dialogue and stage direction (the words he has written on the page) to both advance the action of the play as well as to further the audience's understanding of its characters?

In answering this question, please pay close attention to the language of the dialogue and refer frequently to the text using direct quotation. Feel free as needed to refer to other scenes in the play.

Structure this essay however you like. It should represent forty minutes of your best focused thinking and ideas.

Visual Storytelling!

Capulet Finds Juliet Dead (Act IV, scene 5) by John Opie

Imagine that you have created some sort of visual IMAGE to represent a MOMENT in the action/plot of one of the pieces of literature we have studied this year. Describe your image and how it communicates this moment. Describe why you make the choices you do in creation of this image. (Please be sure to focus on a MOMENT, not on the story as a whole!)

Your image can take any form. It could be a painting or drawing, a collage or sculpture or could be something created digitally using software like photoshop. Try to imagine something that you could reasonably execute. (In other words, creating a billboard might not qualify, since it would be too hard to actually get done. Yes, we are going to try to follow through on these projects! Don't worry. We will take several weeks on this and use some class time if necessary.)

As a reminder, here are some of the stories and plays you may wish to choose your MOMENT from.

"The Signalman" by Charles Dickens
"How It Happened" by Arthur Conan Doyle
"There Will Come Soft Rain" by Ray Bradbury
"Meteor" by John Wyndham
"On Her Knees" by Tim Winton
"Secrets" by Bernard MacLaverty
"The Taste of Watermelon" by Bordon Deal
"The Lemon Orchard" by Alex La Guma
"The Third and Final Continent" by Jhumpa Lahiri
"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Act 3, Scene 1!

Tybalt kills Mercutio! Romeo kills Tybalt! Romeo is banished!

Here again is the scene from Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 film.

Act 3, Scene 1 begins immediately following the intermission at the 5 minute point in the "Part 8" video and ends at the 6:30 point in "Part 10".)







And here is the scene Baz Luhrmann's 1996 version.

(Here, Act 3, Scene 1 begins at the 8 minute point in "Part 6". In order to post the last portion of this scene with what exists on youtube, the final video here includes some overlap with part 7.)

Death of a Salesman Sonnets?!?

This year, we have worked closely with two Shakespearean sonnets (Edna St. Vincent Millay's Sonnet 29 and Boey Kim Cheng's "Report to Wordsworth") and written one of our own (about a classmate). Today, we will work on writing Shakespearean sonnets on a particular topic.

Challenge: Write a Shakespearean sonnet that summarizes the story of Death of a Salesman.

That's right! Understand this challenge any way you like, but it should result in a poem of fourteen lines of ten syllables each with the following rhyme scheme. (You know this already, but a reminder never hurts!)

A
B
A
B
C
D
C
D
E
F
E
F
G
G

Try to finish this in a single period. Come on. I dare you!

Death of a Salesman - SCASI!

Group 9A began this assignment for 25 minutes in class on Thursday, so need to spend 15 further minutes at home finishing the essay and submitting it as a comment here before the end of the weekend.

Group 9B has not yet begun this essay and has not yet viewed the last several minutes of the play, so will write this essay next week. (It wouldn't be a bad idea for them to start working on it now, though!)

You knew it was coming! Please spend forty focused minutes writing an essay in the "SCASI" form on Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Please focus especially on style and ideas and have fun with this. It is understood that this essay only represents forty minutes of writing and that, so far, you have only viewed a filmed production of the play and read one scene closely.

"SCASI" form - Reminder

Paragraph 1 - Introduction
Paragraph 2 - Discussion of Setting
Paragraph 3 - Discussion of Characters
Paragraph 4 - Discussion of Action (Plot)
Paragraph 5 - Discussion of Style
Paragraph 6 - Discussion of Ideas
Paragraph 7 - Conclusion

Videos of IGCSE Poems!

"Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold
Video by Valentina

I communicated my ideas in the poetry video by using images of the sea which were not completely fitting with the story of Dover Beach however the sea was a reoccurring image throughout the poem. The language of the poem was very expressive and passionate, I tried to show this by accompanying the words of the poem with a strong and dignified voice, but at the same time with calm accents with in it. The style of the poem was surrounded by greek gods and expressive imagery, I also tried to show this by experimenting with my voice and using astounding images of the sea. The feeling of the poem could be seen predominately throughout the video, the feeling was a sorrowful, dull and calm feeling which was expressed in the timing of the images and the sound of my voice. I chose the images because they fit in with feeling and style but also because they were not images of dover beach but the poem is not as much about Dover Beach but a lot about morning and sorrow, I felt that different seas would represent human's emotions but not just at dover beach but all over the world. As all humans experience emotions for better or for worse and we often identify these emotions with a certain time or place like Matthew Arnold did with Dover Beach. So imagine that the images of the seas were images which other people have associated with a certain emotion, that is what I tried to subtly include in my video.

"Lament" by Gillian Clarke
Video by Sara

I chose the poem "Lament" by Gillian Clarke. It doesn't have an exact story to it. But describes the main sad parts of the world. It contains many descriptions of wildlife and aquatic animals like turtles, dugongs, dolphins, birds etc. It has very powerful imagery in its words so i thought thats possibly a good reason to make a video out of it. The choices i made for the feeling of the poem was to have a kind of sad, depressive music, but very heartfelt as well. Also to have a soft, moderately fast voice with some drama in the voice time to time. I also tried to find some pictures the describe each image. It was difficult at times but i took pictures that were both very beautiful and fascinating but also represented its line in the poem. I made these choices to show the poems message. Which is really lament, the sadness of the world. To give a very depressing, but clearly instant message to the viewer. I hope all of my choices showed the true meaning of this poem and the extreme sorrow and gloom of it.

"First Love" by John Clare
Video by Evelina

I chose the poem “First Love” by John Clare. So this poem is basically about a boy meeting a girl, like love at first sight kind of, he is saying that she is good looking, and that when he saw her everything seemed to stop. I chose this poem because I didn’t want to choose a short one, because this way my video would be probably about half a minute long, so I chose a longer one(lol, now it’s 1 minute long), also when I was choosing between the two I liked, I saw that no one so far chose “First Love”, so I chose this one. I thought that the poem would look a bit lesbian since a girl voice is narrating it, but I think it is ok. My main idea was to learn how to include the videos, I used two movies for my video, “Lovely bones” because it has got such amazing graphics which I added in my video which made it look very creative and original, and the second movie is the Russian movie “Мы из будущего” and I chose it because I had it on my computer and the girl from the movie seemed good looking. So I think I accomplished this idea. I also used some pictures that go well with the poem, like bed of snow, I wasn’t sure whether it had to do with flower or bed, so I put both of them in the video. I also used music in order to start and finish the video, I could narrate with the music but this way my voice would not be heard, because I have a mad microphone and the one at school was not available. In general I’m sure that I did a good job on this video, it took me like 7 hours to do it, but I think it is worth it.

"On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" by John Keats
Video by James

I chose On the Grasshopper and the Cricket by John Keats. I think I will make it slow in the beginning, but faster as it starts to talk about fun and summer. If I can find appropriate music, I might add some but I don’t think I’ll add some if I cannot. Hopefully I can get a relaxed, winterry feeling and a fun, warm summery part. Maybe, If I can find a frost effect, that melts then it would look better.

Unfortunately, I realized how difficult it would be to do those things so I made my video much simpler.

"The Flower Fed Buffaloes" by Vachel Lindsay
Video by Ryan

I chose Flower-fed Buffaloes as i thought it was an interesting theme of how the once great buffaloes have left the hills because of all the tribes hunting them down and using them as a source of food and materials, i also chose it because i found it to be peaceful since it was placed in the spring time.

I spent a long time on this trying to get every thing in working order, but i took each line and i thought about it very carefully on how i would go about it, so i took a look at Spring time and worked from their. Although finding the right pictures for the buffaloes and the tribes was not as easy as i expected but everything 'meshed' together perfectly.

"Report to Wordsworth" by Boey Kim Cheng
Video by Caroline

I have chosen the poem Report To Wordsworth. I used many nature pictures - flowers, trees, leaves, forests... But then I also put some pictures of waste and smoke into the video. Then there are those pictures that show the gods - Neptune, Proteus and Triton. To search for the pictures was easy and didn't take too much time.
Then i did the narrations. This was difficult because i had to do them over and over again because i didnt read the lines the right way or read too fast or someone in the background said something.And even now im still not happy with my narrations because they are too quite.
I put some sad music at the beginning and at the end of the video. I wanted to put the music while i was talking, but i didnt manage. The music is from "Eisblume" (german song).
To put the pictures togerthe with the narrations was hard work.

"On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" by John Keats
Video by Luke

I chose On the Grasshopper and Cricket By John Keats as it has a good story and turn. I tried to keep the video simple as the story is relaxed. I also tried to include both video and photos for a more interesting video.

The only issue I had was that I couldn't put a backing audio behind my narration on imovie.

"Report to Wordsworth" by Boey Kim Cheng
Video by Tatiana

I chose Report To Wordsworth by Boey Kim Cheng. Since i find the feel of the poem very.. depressing, I made sure to add pictures that were dark and sad. But, since there is also the theme of pollution, i added some pictures of environmental problems. The music also makes the video seem very sad. Although i have now idea why my voice turned out that way >.>

"Amends" by Adrienne Rich
Video by Andrew

I chose the poem 'Amends' as it seemed interesting to me, mentioning something moving throughout everything, and finally at the end, it
"dwells upon the eyelids of the sleepers, as if to make amends." I also chose this poem as it seemed quite a mysterious poem to me.

In my video, I preferred to go for the slide show idea, and i used quite a few pictures, and they change frequently, so as to match the lines. Most of my pictures show night and darkness, incorporating moonlight or the moon, until the end, where it is revealed to make amends, and so i put a picture of the sun rising, showing the end of the night and darkness, as the amends are being made.

"Report to Wordsworth" by Boey Kim Cheng
Video by Polina

I chose "Report to Wordsworth" by Boey Kim Cheng because it’s beautiful and emotional sonnet. I put a lot of pictures of Nature in it like trees, flowers, sky, meadows...because it’s the main theme of this sonnet. Also I added the video to make it more realistic and by giving more movements to make it more interesting. I showed sadness of this sonnet by my voice when I did narration and by polluted Nature like on the line "smothered by the smoke" I put video with the factory which giving out a lot of smoke. The hardest part in my video was the music I just couldn’t find the right one but eventually I found and it was from "Titanic". That music was perfect because it didn’t have words, it was sad and calm which was good because it was style of the sonnet. However, I didn’t put music on the narration because I think you can hear me telling the sonnet better without the music. I spend a lot of time on this video and I hope you all will like it.

"Sonnet 29" by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Video by Evita

I'm keeping it short because it is 3 am in the morning and I would like to sleep. Plus i dont think my brain will last through a long story on my thoughts and choices of the video.

I did Sonnet 29. I tried to show the hidden meaning behind it like even though moon wans it will wax.I used the concept through out the piece even though on some bits it is lost i tried. I also linked it a lot to nature becasue i think the poem has a lot to do with nature( well the poet used nature to express her feelings). Thats it ENJOY !
<3>

"Time" by Allen Curnow
Video by Max

So i chose "Time" by Allen Curnow because it is a very different poem, it deals with life and death, happiness and sadness, and all the opposits. It also deals with time and in a way the poem shows you that. It talks about alllll the things in life and then shows the reader that time is everything. It is not very emotional, but it shows that time is everything and it shows also that time can be beautiful or horrible, sadness or happiness, tears or laughter, and everything else. It is an interesting poem and i hope you liike it... exept the voice!!

"Report to Wordsworth" by Boey Kim Cheng
Video by Onur

I tried to make my video very sad by using music the is quite depressing, and I think it definitely worked. My video was about 'Report to Wordsworth' and since the poem was about how we are destroying the earth with all or pollution and things, I thought I would make the video sad because it would be the right mood for the text anyway.

I used the theme song of 'I am legend' because it is very sad, again. :P
I also tried to speak very dramatically, and I think it worked, because I sound like I'm really into it when I played it back again. I tried speaking really slow and emphasizing some of the words to give a better feeling of the mood of the poem to the people that will be watching it.

I hope you see all these things in my video.

"The Flower Fed Buffaloes" by Vachel Lindsay
Video by Mike

i get the idea that this poem is ABOUT BUFFALOES. I chose pictures that were related to every sentence so it would appeal more to the viewer also because i used odd pictures.
At the end i used some music to finish it off... it wasn't really related but i think it was nice. I wasn't sure if i could have slowed it down abit but then again if it was to slow it would be to boring.
making this video was rather entertaining.

"Full Moon and Little Frieda" by Ted Hughes
Video by Dylan

Full Moon and Little Frieda isn't really a sad poem, but it does have emotion in it. I tried to convey the smooth way the poem reads by using a soft transition between pictures and talking slowly. I also tried to capture the sudden shout of Ted Hughes' Daughter when she cries Moon! with a sudden change and then creating a shocked moon! I also used real images where possible, images of nature such as the spiders web, the cows and the lane to represent the nature portrayed in the poem.

"Full Moon and Little Frieda" by Ted Hughes
Video by Siri

I chose the poem "Full moon and Little Frieda" By Ted Hughes. I am going to sound big headed but I am quite proud of my video. It has sound effects and pictures and I spent quite a bit of time on it. My video has a sort of scary aura I would say. The poem itself is quite a eery poem. My video deals with haunted cows and rivers of blood. Enjoy .


"The Flower Fed Buffaloes" by Vachel Lindsay
Video by Toby

I made my movie so the pictures worked with the lines in the poem, by using certain words that where inside the poem as pictures...
i think this helped as it made it easyer to understand what was going on... e.g. maybe you didnt know what a "pawness" was, so theres a picture of one.

"So We'll Go No More A-Roving" by Lord Byron
Video by Christina

I have chosen the poem "So we'll go no more aroving by Lord Byron" because I found it easy to read and understandable. I believe this poem is very meaningful and strong. It uses words which might seem very down to earth and this makes the poem very affective and strong.

I found the atmosphere of this poem very dark and focused mostly on the pictures to bring them out and then added a picture with color at the end when the morning sunrise showed up. The transitions I used were mostly fading as it blends well with each picture and doesn't create a sharp ending of the previous pictures.

I enjoyed making this video as I enjoy using Movie Maker even though it can be a pain some times, it still gives that great video scene.

"Report to Wordsworth" by Boey Kim Cheng
Video by Kim

I did my poetry video on Report to Wordsworth because i think that us humans need to do something against Global Warming. This poem is about how we are destroying our planet. With the aid of poetry i would like to addrress the people so that they are aware of what we are doing.
I used nature and animals as symbols.
The pictures i used were all from google and everything was from me.
I narrated it myself but the music in the backround was from Madame Butterfly the opera. I wanted to use sad and depressing music because it is so sad and so horrifying what we are doing to our planet.


"Amends" by Adrienne Rich
Video by Rosie

When i first read the poem, i got the impression of the poem being a spirit, or an object, moving around the seashore and the land, and then going into the cabins where the sleepers sleep, and it going into their eyes. I got the idea that the spirit is an object that wants to be with the humans. I tried to make the poem go along with the pictures, so that the watchers could interpret the idea of the poem.
I also added the sound to it, because that particular song gives a sence of freedom. I enjoyed making this video.


"Amends" by Adrienne Rich
Video by Samantha

Amends was written by Adrienne Rich, and is about the relationship between the moonlight and everything that has to do on the earth. The humans, trees, sea, stones, animals etc... The poem uses very descriptive language to describe what the moon is doing to each area or thing and you can easily visualize differnt scenes and settings in your head. When making my video i tried to make sure that everyone could see the moon was the main key in the poem, to show you what it is about so i tried to pick pictures that had the moon in it. It was quite difficult trying to find some of the pictures for the poem, but i think i managed to match the pictures to what the poem was saying.

"On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" by John Keats
Video by Kalean


When I was deciding on how my video was going to look like, I was thinking of colours relating to nature. The type of pictures I chose were relating more to happiness/joy than sadness.

I made the choices I made because the sonnet I was working on did not show any sadness in it, so I tried using more cheerful pictures in the poetry video.

"Full Moon and Little Frieda" by Ted Hughes
Video by Anne-Mieke


"So We'll Go No More A-Roving" by Lord Byron
Video by Nathan