Blake

William Blake and Contemporary Literature / Film

"I feel that a man may be happy in this world. And I know that this world is a world of imagination and vision. I see everything I paint in this world, but everybody does not see alike. To the eyes of a miser a guinea is far more beautiful than the Sun, and a bag worn with the use of money has more beautiful proportions than a vine filled with grapes. The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing which stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity, and by these I shall not regulate my proportions; and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself. 

As a man is, so he sees."

“When reason denies the validity of intuitive or visionary knowledge or when moral obedience is fostered at the expense of the will, strength, or intelligence, the creative interplay of contraries is short-circuited and Man is alienated from Himself.”

"Without contraries, there is no progression."

-William Blake

1757-1827 

Course Description:  In this course, we will interpret the poems and paintings of William Blake in order to understand the mutually enhancing perspectives of innocence, experience, and organized innocence.  We will follow these poems and paintings with contemporary novels and films. Blake will help us understand David Duncan’s The River Why-a novel about coming of age as a young fisherman and one Cutthroats have been reading for 20 years. Blake will turn up as integral to Chris Furman’s amazing novel and film The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys. We will then apply the perspectives of innocence and experience to Jonathan Safran Foerr's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close- a novel and film about a young boy who loses his father in 9-11 and seeks to live on in his spirit.

There will be two short papers and a longer paper on the intertextuality of these poems, novels and films.  Honors projects will help students prepare these texts for the AP Literature and Composition exam.

Texts include:  

Songs of Innocence and Experience, William Blake

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, William Blake

The River Why, David Duncan

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, Chris Furman

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foerr

Classroom expectations: 

1  Please avoid being absent and / or late. Lateness or absences will be reflected through the class participation grade. 

2  Please bring your texts to class. (Loss of a homework grade each day you forget your text).

3  No cell phones in class.

4  No food will be allowed in class. 

5  Late papers lose 10% each day.

Honors: 

HONORS OPTIONS:

Honors students must maintain a B+ or above term average in the course, complete all of the honors level paper assignents, be a discussion leader, and turn in consistently high quality work on time.

OPTION 1:   Consult with Phil about reading and presenting on another text and how it adds value to the concepts of this course:

-Slaughterhouse Five

-All the Pretty Horses

-________________

OPTION 2:   Purchase Standardized Test Prep books and complete one practice test at least three areas of testing in the fall:  

-AP Literature  and Composition Test:  AP Literature and Composition 2019 and AP Language and Composition 2019:

-SAT Critical Reading and Writing:  SAT 2019:

https://www.amazon.com/Official-SAT-Study-Guide-2020/dp/1457312190/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=SAT+2019&qid=1600702480&sr=8-3

-ACT English Test and Essay:  ACT 2019

                                         TEST PREP REVIEW DATES FALL TERM 2019:

SAT WRITING AND ESSAY:    OCT 8 TUESDAY (meet in Phil’s room during Activity Period)

SAT CRITICAL READING:  OCT 22 TUESDAY (meet in Phil’s room during Activity Period)

ACT WRITING SECTION AND ESSAY:   OCT 29 TUESDAY (meet in Phil’s room during Activity Period)

AP LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION EXAM:   NOV 12 TUESDAY (meet in Phil’s room during Activity Period)

Course Requirements:   Students' grades will be determined by papers, quizzes, contributions to class discussion, and daily Google Doc Reading Journals. 

Papers:  40% (revision grades averaged into first best draft)

Class discussion:  20%

Quizzes / Tests:  20%

Final Exam:  10%

Homework:  10%

Three paper assignments will be completed:

#1 close reading / compare and contrast paper on William Blake poems and art

#2  -fiction analysis of The River Why

#3  three text multi-pattern paper on Blake poems, Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, The River Why, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

 Several quizzes will ask students to analyze passages from the texts we are discussing.