I. A FAREWELL TO ARMS – ERNEST HEMINGWAY
• SENIOR DIVISION ENGLISH STUDY GUIDE • FOR 2017-2018 SUPER BOWL • “World War I” II. POETRY
A. “PHASES” – WALLACE STEVENS
SENIOR DIVISION ENGLISH STUDY GUIDE FOR 2017-2018 SUPER BOWL “WORLD WAR I” II. POETRY
B. “I HAVE A RENDEZVOUS WITH DEATH” – ALAN SEEGER
SENIOR DIVISION ENGLISH STUDY GUIDE FOR 2017-2018 SUPER BOWL “WORLD WAR I” II. POETRY
C. “BOMBARDMENT” – AMY LOWELL
SENIOR DIVISION ENGLISH STUDY GUIDE FOR 2017-2018 SUPER BOWL “WORLD WAR I” II. POETRY
D. “WHERE IS JEHOVAH?” – MARY BORDEN
SENIOR DIVISION ENGLISH STUDY GUIDE FOR 2017-2018 SUPER BOWL “WORLD WAR I” Two of the poems are available online through the Poetry Foundation:
• “Phases” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetryma gazine/poems/detail/12986
• “I Have a Rendezvous with Death” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems- and-poets/poems/detail/45077 Amy Lowell’s poem can be found through PoemHunter.com:
• “Bombardment” https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the- bombardment/ Mary Borden’s poem can be found within an online collection:
• “Where Is Jehovah?” http://www.ourstory.info/library/2- ww1/Borden2/fz.html APPROACHING THE NOVEL HEMINGWAY’S STYLE
Modernist • Plain, unadorned, • A turning away from Victorian uncomplicated sentences values • But sometimes includes stream • All things are relative of consciousness • Themes – alienation, loss, • Common, accessible diction despair • Few adjective, fewer adverbs • Focus on the individual • Concrete rather than abstract • Unstructured nature of life • Paucity of conversational tags • Open-ended symbolism • Repetition of images and diction • Omission DISCOVERING HEMINGWAY'S STYLE • Read closely • Read critically • Discuss what is unusual, frustrating, attractive, real . . . about Hemingway’s style • Describe his syntax, diction, means of characterization, themes THE HEMINGWAY HERO
• Masculinity • Stoicism • Alcohol • Honor • Sensuous pleasure • Action • Reticence • Adventurousness • Bravery • Inevitability/finality of • Individualism death THE HEMINGWAY HERO
• Frederic Henry
• Catherine Barkley THE “NADA” PRINCIPLE
• Naturalistic world
• Devoid of purpose, order, meaning, value . . .
• An indifferent or hostile universe RELATED MOTIFS
• DEATH – the great “nothing” • DARKNESS – the unknowable; death; hostile world • WAR – the pervasiveness of pain and death • INSOMNIA – the irresistibility of the “nada” • HOPELESSNESS – the inevitability of death • RELIGION – avoided or denied APPROACHING THE NOVEL
• Make a character list as you read, noting names, roles, relationships, and other interesting traits and even quotes. (It is also OK to consult summaries and commentaries after you have read a chapter or chapters. Most online resources will connect chapter by chapter.)
• Work with your teammates, reading according to a mutually agreed upon schedule (or a schedule established by your coach) and discussing when you have each reached an established set of chapters. FIVE STEPS TO CAREFUL AND CLOSE READING OF FICTION 1. If possible, read the novel more than once.
2. Keep a dictionary by you and use it – or read near a computer and access an online dictionary.
3. Look up historical and geographical references and other allusions.
4. Keep track of characters, noting descriptions, attitudes, relationships, etc.
5. Keep a notebook, especially for the novel, noting character traits, values, and changes. CHARACTERS: A CLOSER LOOK • Keep a running program of characters as they are introduced. (There aren’t as many as you may think.)
• Note character relationships. (Attend to details that connect them – in positive or negative ways.)
• Note remarkable statements. (Note what characters say about themselves, about each other, and about their situations and circumstances, looking for details that develop not only their personalities but also the plot and theme.) PLOT: A CLOSER LOOK • Note physical conflicts that are focal points of the action.
• Note mental conflicts that motivate characters.
• Note emotional conflicts that develop and define relationships.
• Note moral conflicts and resolutions that define characters and point to themes. MOTIF According to Holman’s Handbook to Literature, a motif may be recognized in “recurrent images, words, objects, phrases, or actions that tend to unify the work”
A motif supports or develops a theme, but is not a theme itself. SYMBOLS IN A FAREWELL TO ARMS
According to A Handbook to Literature (Seventh Edition), a SYMBOL is “itself and also stands for something else.”
“In a literary sense a symbol combines a literal and sensuous quality with an abstract or suggestive aspect.”
The symbols in A Farewell to Arms, generally, acquire their “suggestiveness not from qualities inherent [themselves] but from the way in which [they are] used” in the novel. EXAMPLES OF SYMBOLS IN THE NOVEL Rain – danger, death
Snow – peace
The priest – constancy
Alcohol – escape, distraction TONE: A CLOSER LOOK The writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward the subject, the audience, or himself/herself
The emotional coloring, or emotional meaning, of a work THE DEVELOPMENT OF TONE Connotation Imagery Figurative language/allusion/symbolism Irony Hyperbole/Understatement Detail Sentence construction Organization or structure THE POEMS “I HAVE A RENDEZVOUS WITH DEATH”
• Traditional view of the glory and sacrifice of war
• Traditional verse form
• Traditional devices • To what phases does the title refer? “PHASES”
• How are the phases developed?
• What poetic devices does Stevens employ?
• How do those devices develop tone and meaning? Prose poem “THE BOMBARDMENT”
• “A poem printed as prose, with both margins justified.”
• Format is the distinction.
• Lowell meant it to be performed, not just read. • Influenced by Walt Whitman “WHERE IS JEHOVAH?” • Her poetry is “loose, impressionistic, steeped in feeling and imagery that conveys emotion almost hysterical in its intensity.” – Janet Cameron
• Rich in imagery and biblical allusion MAKE EACH POEM YOURS FOUR STEPS TO CLOSE READING A POEM 1. Read a poem more than once. Know the poem – as much as possible – by heart.
2. Keep a dictionary by you and use it. Consult encyclopedic sources.
3. Read poetry aloud (or lip-read) slowly.
4. Pay careful attention to meaning. [On the first reading you should determine the subjects of the verbs and the antecedents of the pronouns.] PRACTICE ORAL INTERPRETATION
• Read affectionately, but not affectedly.
• Read slowly enough that each word is clear and distinct and that the meaning has time to sink in.
• Read so that the rhythmical pattern is felt but not exaggerated. I HAVE A RENDEZVOUS WITH DEATH
I have a rendezvous with Death At some disputed barricade, When Spring comes back with rustling shade And apple-blossoms fill the air— I have a rendezvous with Death When Spring brings back blue days and fair. DENOTATION AND CONNOTATION Denotation – dictionary definition (Know the meanings of every word in every poem.)
Connotation – the force or impact carried by a term that goes beyond denotation IMAGERY •Visual (sight) •Auditory (sound) •Olfactory (smell) •Gustatory (taste) •Tactile (touch) •Organic (internal sensation) •Kinesthetic (motion) DEVICES OF SENSE • Simile (explicit) and metaphor (implicit) [literal and figurative elements] • Personification [literal and figurative elements] • Apostrophe • Metonymy • Paradox • Oxymoron • Hyperbole • Understatement DEVICES OF SOUND •Alliteration •Assonance •Consonance •Rhyme (perfect, internal, end, approximate (or slant) •Blank verse •Free verse •Refrain METER: STRESS • Iamb unstressed – stressed (tonight)
• Trochee stressed – unstressed (fearsome)
• Anapest unstressed - unstressed – stressed (comprehend)
• Dactyl stressed - unstressed – unstressed (surgery)
• Spondee stressed – stressed (doorway) METER – RHYTHM Monometer 1 foot Pentameter 5 feet
Dimeter 2 feet Hexameter 6 feet
Trimeter 3 feet Heptameter 7 feet
Tetrameter 4 feet Octameter 8 feet POETRY Students will need to . . .
•Research any classical, biblical, and other allusions
•Analyze rhetorical elements/literary devices PRACTICE QUESTIONS COACHES PRACTICE 1 In this partial sentence from Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms – “They splashed more mud than the camions even . . .” – what does the word camions mean?
A. motor cars B. freight trucks C. heavy artillery D. troop transports COACHES PRACTICE 1 In this partial sentence from Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms – “They splashed more mud than the camions even . . .” – what does the word camions mean?
B. freight trucks COACHES PRACTICE 2 In Lowell’s “The Bombardment,” the fire is developed with each of the following EXCEPT ______
A. vivid color B. apostrophe C. plant imagery D. personification COACHES PRACTICE 2 In Lowell’s “The Bombardment,” the fire is developed with each of the following EXCEPT ______
B. apostrophe PRACTICE QUESTION 3 In terms of form, Stevens’ “Phases” is MOST accurately described as exhibiting all of the following EXCEPT ______
A. end rhyme B. regular meter C. stanza divisions D. rhetorical questions PRACTICE QUESTION 3 In terms of form, Stevens’ “Phases” is MOST accurately described as exhibiting all of the following EXCEPT ______
B. regular meter PRACTICE QUESTION 4 Seeger’s “I Have a Rendezvous with Death” is devoid of any elements evoking ______
A. passion B. accession C. trepidation D. acquiescence PRACTICE QUESTION 4 Seeger’s “I Have a Rendezvous with Death” is devoid of any elements evoking ______
A. passion B. accession C. trepidation D. acquiescence PRACTICE 4 Seeger’s “I Have a Rendezvous with Death” is devoid of any elements evoking ______
A. passion B. accession C. trepidation D. acquiescence PRACTICE 5 Consider these lines from Borden’s “Where Is Jehovah?”: “[He] led His people out of bondage to scatter them again like dead leaves in a storm.” These words evoke the speaker’s ______
A. confusion of God and nature B. disapproval of God’s inconstancy C. view of the soldiers as slaves of war D. hope that God will save the soldiers PRACTICE 5 Consider these lines from Borden’s “Where Is Jehovah?”: “[He] led His people out of bondage to scatter them again like dead leaves in a storm.” These words evoke the speaker’s ______
B. disapproval of God’s inconstancy