12: rhetoric devices

A Glossary of Rhetorical Terms with Examples

about Dan Brown

From The Telegraph: Dan Brown's 20 worst sentences. Here's a taste:

10. The Da Vinci Code, chapter 4: Five months ago, the kaleidoscope of power had been shaken, and Aringarosa was still reeling from the blow.

Did they hit him with the kaleidoscope?

That article has a link to The Dan Brown Code by Geoffrey Pullum:

Brown's writing is not just bad; it is staggeringly, clumsily, thoughtlessly, almost ingeniously bad. In some passages scarcely a word or phrase seems to have been carefully selected or compared with alternatives.

It's worth a read.

10: leaders fighting it out

I mentioned this in class in reference to chapter 2 of AQWF:

8: Talking in Whispers assignment

Here is the assignment.

12: personal statements

Here is a sample I wrote few years ago. Look at the style rather than the content.

If you want me to look at a draft of your statement, the date is Wednesday, October 7.

11: 'Mending Wall' essay

Write a 600-1000 word essay in which you identify the theme of the poem and analyze how the poet uses specific poetic techniques to develop that theme.

Due through Moodle Monday, 5 October. File name will be last name + wall.

Here the notes I gave on the assignment:



I wrote a short sample essay about 'Nothing Gold Can Stay.' Check it out.

And if you want to read the Catcher essay I wrote, it is here.

11: Frost slideshow

10: Henry V

10: Streetcar questions

short answer questions

Answer all of these, briefly.

8: Outsiders creative assignment

The assignment is here.

10: responding to a text assignment

Here's the information on how to respond to a text, plus a text with which we will practice together.

Here's an example of a response to a text.

Here are the success texts, to one of which you will write a response paragraph.

Bring an electronic copy to class on Wednesday.

8: Outsiders paragraphs assignment

Check out the paragraphs assignment. (T-shirt not included.)

Here is the sample we did together in class today:

Can children suffer because they are given everything?

8: 'Right or Wrong?' (1951)

Here's the movie.

12SL: commentary sample

Here is a bit of commentary I wrote on a single line from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, just to give you a flavor of what a commentary looks like.

There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signior Benedick and her. They never meet but there's a skirmish of wit between them. (I, i)

Leonato provides exposition for the relationship between Benedick and Beatrice and one of the conflicts of the play, and sets the tone for that conflict. Leonato's use of war as a metaphor is apt since Benedick is a soldier, and foreshadows the contrast between being a soldier and a lover as discussed later in the play. The paradox of a 'merry war' sums up a view of love: that it is competitive, but at the same time light. This sets the context for the relationship between the two characters and lets the audience know that their respective jibes are not to be taken seriously. Beatrice has already made insulting comments regarding Benedick (contrasting the praise the messenger has heaped on him), and so the audience sees her as a shrew, but Leonato's explanation contextualizes her behaviour and makes it less threatening. Leonato follows this exposition with the further explanation that they engage in a 'skirmish of wit' when they meet, and Beatrice’s play on words on the lost wits of Benedick illustrate her use of wit. This is contrasted in the scene with Hero's lack of verbal interaction generally, encouraging the audience to see Hero and Beatrice as foils.

199 words

12: world literature 2 template

Download a template for WL2 and follow the instructions.