8/8!

Tone and mood are the method by which the author lets a reader know how to react to a scene or piece of information. Both tone and mood consist of more specific devices such as poetry sounds and diction. Diction enhances tone by choosing the appropriately sounding words. For example in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock the author T.S. Eliot uses diction that implies anxiety such as "QUOTE." This type of using diction to determine mood is contrasted by a poem such as "Out Out" by Robert Frost where the same type of mood is in the poem but using poem sounds instead of diction. When read out loud, the excessive sibilance in the beginning of the poem implies to the reader that there is a sinister quality to this seemingly perfect afternoon. Tone and mood operate in a way that communicates much more than the way a character is acting or the emotion invoked in the reader when reading a passage. Tone and mood can give more detail and significance to symbols and iconic scenes. Such scenes can be found in almost all great works of literature and make tone and mood integral to the significance of great works.

7/8

Diction is the most important device in crafting poetry sounds and connotation. The diction that an author uses is always intended to convey the tone and mood of a passage. The type of diction used by a character or used by the narrator can give the reader clues about that character's personality and whether or not that narrator is biased and/or reliable. For instance, Hamlet's diction when talking to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern about his feigned craziness is altered to accommodate the change in personality. This is only one example of Hamlet's consistently changing diction throughout the play. In moments of anger, sadness, madness, and wrath, Hamlet employs the appropriate diction to convey those emotions. Diction also controls every secondary element of literature. Without the words the sound of poetry, vivid imagery, character, etc. So all of literature can be either ruined or made paramount based on its appropriate use of diction.

6/8

Imagery and figurative language can often work in conjunction to illustrate themes in literature. The author will insert figurative language and allegories into the work and use imagery to describe the characteristics of whatever the subject of the allegory or metaphor is. For instance Macbeth is constantly referring to disease. Hamlet refers to disease so often, that it becomes a leitmotif. Disease is a metaphor for the corrosion of Hamlet's sanity as the play progresses. Every time that disease is described in Hamlet, the same description can be attributed to the decay of Hamlet's sanity.

5/8

As we've said in class numerous times, in poetry how something is said enhances the meaning of what is being said. For instance when a poet needs to convey a sinister tone or a sinister mood, he would use sibilance to enhance that feeling for the reader. Poems have a large arsenal of devices that affect the sound of the poem. For example a poet will use caesura to emphasize a separation between two ideas or characters by writing them consecutively, but placing a caesura between them. The way a line is said and the way that it sounds will dramatically affect its connotation. There is a sound for every type of emotion and poems take advantage of those different sounds in order to convey those tones and moods more effectively.

4/8

Symbols are closely connected with allegories and metaphors. In literature symbols have an infamous reputation amongst high school students as the objects, colors, and ideas that repeat themselves subtly and refer (somehow) to other ideas and connect larger themes in the story. The greatest example from Hamlet that I can think of is Hamlet's constant dwelling over the topic of death. Death as a symbol connects Hamlet's extremely complex character to the extremely simplistic plot of a revenge tragedy. Death is the ultimate force that ends the play, it is the force that sets the events of the play in motion, and it is enough of a mystery to give pause to Hamlet and to allow him to hesitate and procrastinate further into the play. Death and Hamlet have a close relationship that is shadily played out on stage for the audience to interpret as revealing of Hamlet's character. Symbols require another level of interpretation, which is what makes it so infamous amongst the rank and file of high school students.

3/8

The setting of a work of literature can refer to several things: the timer period; the geographic area; the weather; the surroundings; the furniture; etc. Everything that pertains to WHERE the drama happens is considered part of the setting. Obviously the setting performs one of the biggest roles in the importance and the impact of a work of literature. If Hamlet were set in pre-historical times where swords and poisons didn't exist, the work wouldn't have a great effect on society to this day but because the setting made the drama possible, Hamlet is referred to in every day language. The setting isn't usually the main operative in a work, but allows it to exist. For example if Pride and Prejudice took place in Victorian Era Russia then the novel would not have unfolded in the way that it did. Historical fiction is a genre where setting is the most important aspect  of the novel, but our works this year have been set in the time where they were written, so they fall into the categories of drama or satire, not historical fiction.

2/8

The personality traits of protagonists and antagonists are crucial to plot and literary meaning of a piece of literature. Whether it be a poem, a play, or a novel, any work will be fundamentally altered along with alterations made to its main characters' personalities. The characters' complexity is at the heart of the meaning of Hamlet, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, and Pride and Prejudice. Apprehension is a personality trait that is present in all three works. Hamlet's apprehension is what drives the plot of Shakespeare's play, Elizabeth's lack of apprehension in assigning value to Mr. Darcy's character is the focus of Elizabeth's entire character arc, and the apprehension and anxiety of Prufrock doom him to a life of anonymity. All together, the characters of any work of literature compose its content and meaning equally.

1/8

In Pride and Prejudice, the main plot operaters are characters acting out of social compulsion and being rejected by Elizabeth's strongly willed personality. In Hamlet, the plot is driven by apprehension and political maneuvering. These are two completely different plots where the similarities are more complex than simply what happens. The exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement are all irreconcilably different for both stories, but the motivations behind the major plot changes are similar. The personalities of individual characters are the primary plot driving devices of both stories. Hamlet's apprehension as a character trait is the motivation for the major plot points such as the performance of a play within the play Hamlet similar to Elizabeth's shallowness as a personality trait in her judgment of Wickham and postponement of her reconciling with Mr. Darcy. The two plots are different in substance, but similar with respect to what drives them.

Hamlet essay

I need to work mostly on revising my essay and especially proof reading... I usually hate finding little errors that seem to burrow themselves into my paragraphs. As far as revision goes, I could do a few holistic out-loud read throughs which would lead to deleting or adding sentences where I think a revision needs to be made. The read throughs provide an easier way for me to spot awkward phrasing or even grammar errors and I haven't done any so far for any of my essays.

introduction paragraph

Love is something that feels eternal. When a person is in love, time feels like an unimportant side-note. When time is taken into consideration by a lover, however, the lover realizes that time will conquer his emotions. Even when it seems as though time is aiding the lover, its effects are actually negative. Both W.H. Auden and T.S. Eliot support the idea that time's unstoppable progression is detrimental to love. In Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" the abundance of time that the lover Prufrock thinks he has allows him to be hesitant in approaching his lover, whereas in Eliot's poem time is seen as a relentless killer of everything temporary, love included. Time becomes the antagonist as the poems progress forward and because of the fact that time is so hard to perceive, both lovers are trapped by their misinterpretations of how much time that they have left.

love and death

In Eliot's familiar modernist voice, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" delivers a depiction of the mentality of the modernist man. Yeats' "The Second Coming" is also a poem about the mentality of the same time period. Both poems comment on the hopelessness and anxieties of the age but do so in wildly different ways. For instance Prufrock will use Fragmentation to illustrate anxieties but in Second Coming there is much, much more use of diction, syntax, and allusions and almost no fragmentation.

Ozymandias vs. Ponder

Both poems were about time's ability to wear everything down to nothingness. Ozymandias simply stated the fact, making side-points along the way to the conclusion about time, whereas Ponder makes a more subtle point about sexuality and commitment, and time is the supporting argument. If I were to compare and contrast the two in an essay, I would say that Ozymandias is more focused on the fact that anything that might seem vast and permanent will eventually be grinded down to dust over time but doesn't make any argument about how to act as a result of that truth whereas Ponder is taking a stance that all urges should be indulged because of the futility and pointlessness of long-standing goals such as a relationship.

acting choices

For Hamlet I chose to act angrily because of the fact that the more common choice would be to make Hamlet more clinically depressed even though it's possible to read that particular scene as though Hamlet were an angry, spiteful man with revenge on his mind. Hamlet is always depicted at this point as so depressed and it makes sense to play him as depressed, but it's rare to see Hamlet played as an angry, rage filled individual so I chose the road less traveled.

Questions on style and structure: 9. Suggestions for writing: 7

9) In Hamlet's first soliloquy, Shakespeare uses juxtapositions and metaphors such as "Hyperion to a satyr" (1.2.140) in order to fully express Hamlet's rage. The metaphors continues as Hamlet compares Claudius to a beast, Gertrude to Niobe, and himself to Hercules. Each of the metaphors have negative connotations when put into context. It's the use of metaphors, allusions, and a fixation on the word "month" that's repeated three times, that really puts the rage of Hamlet into a more graspable context for the audience.
7)
Honesty and deception is a common theme, its conflict permeates every line of the play, making every character part of the struggle between honesty and deception. The conflict takes place internally within Polonius, an internal struggle between the honest side of Polonius which is generally concerned with the welfare of his daughter, and the deceptive side of Polonius which is only concerned with his daughter with respect to her value as an asset to the family and as a tool for the king. Polonius has genuine feelings of concern for his daughter but they're largely ignored by the audience because of the fact that his motives are so mixed, it's hard to judge him positively given all his other actions within the plots of Claudius. The conflict between deception and honesty doesn't take place exclusively within Polonius but that internal conflict is a good example of the two opposing sides.

Hamlet discussion questions: 7, 14

7)
Hamlet tells his comrades because he doesn't want them getting the wrong impression of his acting crazy! Hamlet acts crazy as part of a tactic and not out of genuine anger and grief. The anger and grief manifest themselves in Hamlet's revenge plot.
14)
Hamlet means that there are no absolute truths in the world. Nothing is entirely bad or entirely good. It's up to the individual to determine whether or not something is good. For Hamlet, Denmark is like a prison.
Hamlet isn't actually crazy, he tries to drop hints to his old friends by cryptically telling them that when the time is right, I'm not crazy. In my opinion when a person still has the capacity to ask the question "am I acting crazy?" they are still capable of behaving normally.

Hamlet: discussion question #4

Both Laertes and Polonius are subjugating Ophelia by asserting that the preservation of her chastity is more important than her happiness. If her chastity is lost then she is considered a tainted woman, unfit of marriage to any man of status. Her marriage to Hamlet needs to be an absolutely sure thing before any advances are to be made in pursuit of a relationship. The arguments are incredibly similar and both seem sufficiently unfair. Polonius' advice to disregard Hamlet's advances and cut off contact completely seems like the most harsh reaction possible, and it's all in order to halt some pretty innocent advances... It's an exaggerated over reaction that does nothing but cause worry and stress for Ophelia. Their objectification of Ophelia is indicative of their self-interest. The two of them only want to preserve Ophelia's chastity because she remains to be a valuable potential wife to any suitors but if that chastity was lost then Ophelia would become an economic burden on both Polonius and Laertes. This view of women as economic burdens is extremely chauvinistic and outdated in modern times. The fact that Hamlet is royalty means that he has the freedom to choose whichever bride he wishes and is the reason that Laertes and Polonius are so concerned in the first place. Letting Hamlet spoil Ophelia and not choose her for his wife would be a tragedy for the family.

Intro paragraph for Hamlet essay

Elaborate versus concise: the implied meaning of argument length.

Manipulation is a common theme in Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. It's difficult to watch even one scene without seeing how one character is trying to exercise influence over another. The major contrast in the play between extremely manipulative of Hamlet versus honest and supportive of Hamlet is the contrast of language use in Claudius' dialogues and Horatio's dialogues. Horatio's simple and to-the-point speaking patterns reflect his fidelity to Hamlet, and his supporting role whereas Claudius' long, drawn-out speeches are indicative of hidden motives. The type of speach that Shakespeare employs in writing dialogues for Claudius and Horatio are meant to accentuate their respective intentions in giving Hamlet advice.

Prufrock: one paragraph

The line "So how should I presume?" is repeated three times with slightly different syntax in the section of the poem where Prufrock is describing a woman. The line serves the double purpose of expressing Prufrock's anxieties and fragmenting the poem's forward momentum. As soon as Prufrock starts to describe the woman in detail or starts to talk about his life in a meaningful way, he is distracted by his indecision. Prufrock's inability to be confident in himself causes him to constantly ask for approval from whoever this poem is addressed to. His need for approval is so pressing in Prufrock's mind that he can't help but interrupt his own thoughts by imploring the reader for approval. These frequent interruptions fragment the poem, and this fragmentation is an indicator of Prufrock's own anxiety. The poem in its jarring and unorganized form helps the reader to see into the mind of Prufrock by showing them the incongruity of an anxious-ridden person's thoughts.

To His Coy Mistress: mini-essay

It’s no secret to the world that Marvell was a celibate clergyman. Why then would he write love poetry? The answer is that Marvell is writing for the sole purpose of displaying his writing skill. In his three stanza approach to convincing a woman to take advantage of time, Marvell can be seen from two perspectives: one claiming that he is a literary romantic; the other claiming that he is shallow and lewd. Despite Marvell’s obvious praise of the mistress’ figure and person, his intentions are to insult her slyly. These insults are aimed at lowering the woman’s self-esteem, which Marvell hopes will then drive her back into his arms, craving approval.

            Marvell’s poem is inherently misogynistic and attempts to assert that if youth isn’t taken advantage of then there will be no hope for love or passion in the future. Marvell’s most effective use of imagery is in the second stanza where he claims that once time has passed, nothing will exist to love or comfort the mistress. As seen on line 32, “But none, I think, do there embrace,” Marvell is trying to will the mistress to believe that there is no opportunity to embrace passion other than the opportunity that exists in that moment. This is simply an attempt to mislead and manipulate the woman’s outlook on the situation. If Marvell’s first stanza were written without the condition in the first line “Had we but world enough, and time” then the poem would be a genuine expression of love but since that condition exists, Marvell’s love is also conditional, and conditional love is not admirable in any sense. Finally the last stanza is another urging to take advantage of the moment with raw, animalistic passion as seen in line 38 where Marvell refers to the himself and the mistress as “amorous birds of prey.” This poem not only betrays the idea of love and patience, but objectifies sex as the ultimate goal of a woman’s youth, making this an incredibly chauvinistic poem.

To His Coy Mistress: one line

The couplet that stands out most from the text is "Now, therefore while the youthful hue//Sits on thy skin like morning dew." This is the transition from Marvell's convincing (or lying from my point of view) phase in the poem to the urging phase in the poem. It marks the end of the fear-mongering stanza and the beginning of the plan-of-action stanza. Marvell personifies "hue" and compares it to "dew", implying that she will only be young and beautiful for a fleeting moment. It's hard to take Marvell serious in these lines because of the fact that a lifetime is a long time and his urging to take advantage of the moment seems both immoral and misleading to a reader from this time period at least. Marvell creates fantastic poetry, but not a convincing argument.

D.W. Harding paragraph: Is Mr. Collins funny or a nightmare?

D.W. Harding's idea that Mr. Collins is both a comical and a frightening character is accurate. Mr. Collins' annoying attributes are hyperbolized in Pride and Prejudice to the point where he is laughed at by the reader. To see a character that is so preposterously annoying is a funny thing when that character's antics cause so much frustration on the part of other characters in the novel. The area where Mr. Collins turns into a frightening character is when he attempts to exercise power over Elizabeth as mentioned by D.W. Harding in the quote,"economic and social institutions have such power over the values of personal relationships that the comic monster is nearly able to get her" (Harding 298). The scene in which Mr. Collins proposes to Elizabeth is both funny because of the fact that Mr. Collins is oblivious to his negative effect on Elizabeth and tries to make the proposal seem generous, something that Elizabeth is offended by. The frightening aspect of the scene is the fact that Elizabeth might indeed be trapped in a miserable marriage because of the fact that she is socially inferior and therefore doesn't have an equal say in her own future. The oblivious nature of Mr. Collins is funny for the reader, but terrifying for both Elizabeth and any readers who might find themselves in similar situations.

Essay corrections + comments

1. Obviously, the most prevalent mistake that I made in the essay is using language that's too lengthy or vacabulary-heavy. Too many of the sentences were unclear and hard to understand.
2. Another issue was proofreading. If I'd reread the essay more thoroughly, I would have been able to catch a few grammer mistakes.
3. The rest of the mistakes were easily correctible MLA format errors.

What's most important to an essay?

The most important aspect to the essay is not the most complicated and it will not make any essay greater than its main argument but without clear and concise language, an essay cannot be understood. Without being understood, it doesn't matter how well developed your arguments are, nothing will get across to the reader and your essay will be worthless.

In the B2 essay there is a clarity of language that I couldn't find in many of the other essays. Sentences were concise but not overly simplistic. The structure was easy to understand and the main points of the argument were complemented by the ease of reading.

A-Z essay choice #3

B2 Characters in Collaboration: An Analysis of How Secondary Characters Aid the Development of Primary Characters in Pride and Prejudice

• The title is very clear, no doubt as to what the purpose of the essay is
• The introduction is appropriate
• The sentence structure is clear and the ideas are presented in an easily understandable format
• The body is brief but makes its claim well, using Mr. Darcy as the only person who's being analyzed
• The scope of the overarching theme of introducing characters using other characters is broad but the thesis is directed towards only Mr. Darcy and is sufficiently narrow for me
• This is an overall good essay

A-Z essay choice #2

My favorite essay in the A-Z book is by Ms. Yolanda.

• The title is very eye catching, I liked it for no reason in particular
• The sentence structure varies regularly and is also very direct and to the point, not making any long digressions and the style is easily comprehended.
• The idea that character introductions are used as a tool to satirize the past is a common theme among all the essays but this essay presents it in a different form where instead of a byproduct of introducing characters through gossip, the whole goal of introducing characters using gossip as the medium is to critique society.
• The only real flaw that I can find with this essay is the fact that it uses a large number of lengthy quotes and the analysis can seem a bit like narrative of the story sometimes but otherwise the points are made clearly and effectively.

A-Z essay choice #1

The first sufficiently good essay that I read about Pride and Prejudice is titled "Contradiction of conformity: How Austen shapes our opinions of characters"

• The essay has a clear thesis and establishes quickly what the argument is and stays on task in developing that argument.
• Although the argument may not be incredibly ambitious, it is well thought out and argued sufficiently to earn points for achieving its goal.
• There are relatively few grammar or spelling errors to distract me from the main point and the language isn't too elaborate to distract me either, the essay was very focused.
• A couple of the faults that this essay has with respect to the grading rubrics is that the scope isn't sufficiently narrow enough, the idea that foils are used to aide the reader in understanding society is a fairly typical topic to focus on. The idea that social status and yearly salaries are used to build prejudices about characters is something that's mentioned in the introduction but not built on heavily in the body and deserved more attention, especially in the first body paragraph.

conflicting characterizations: gossip vs. actions

Through social means, characters are assumed to possess either honorable or malicious qualities. This first impression of a character is often, but not always, misleading because although some characters are portrayed inaccurately through gossip, other characters are portrayed accurately by gossip as evidenced by their actions in the novel.