"The Taste of Watermelon"

We have now spent two full periods reading Borden Deal's short story "The Taste of Watermelon" but have not yet finished with our reading. For the first part of the period today, let's finish reading the story. Though the story's conclusion is very interesting, we won't spend to much time today discussing it. Instead, we will spend the final portion of the period beginning to write a "SCASI" essay about the story. This essay is to be completed before Friday, 4 December. This should only take about 20-25 minutes of homework time. If you haven't done so already, also be sure that you have memorized Edna St. Vincent Millay's "Sonnet 29" before our next class!

The Barretts of Wimpole Street

Today in class, we viewed the first portion of the film The Barretts of Wimpole Street about the courtship of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning. Given what you have viewed, please write a 10-15 minute reflection on the film. You can discuss your thoughts about the characters, setting, action, etc. of the film, the biographies of these poets, love, family, poetry, or go wherever else thinking about the film takes you. Feel free to refer to what you already know about Elizabeth Barrett Browning from reading Sonnet 43 and researching her biography. You are especially encouraged to think further about specific aspects of the poem. We probably won't be viewing this film further in class, so here's the first in a youtube playlist of the full film for you to continue enjoying.

"Sonnet 43"

Oh no! I forgot to have this blog post up for you on Friday. What was meant to be written was a commentary on "Sonnet 43" using the structure for a poetry commentary that we used before. I know that I told some students about this before Friday and hope that everyone was able to figure this out. Not to worry. We'll discuss this further this week. When you have finished this commentary, please post it as a comment here.

"Meteor"

Please submit your "SCASI" essay on "Meteor" here.

Comparison and Contrast - "The Signalman"

Today in class, we watched a film adaptation of Charles Dickens' story, "The Signalman". For homework, please spend 15-20 minutes writing two paragraphs comparing and contrasting the story with the film where your paragraphs take the following form.

Paragraph 1: Compare the story and the film. (Discuss similarities.)

Paragraph 2: Contrast the story and the film. (Discussion differences.)

Here's the video. Part one can not be embedded on our page, so here is the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c06WUYsI0ic