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Homework for Class 24
Read the poems by Robert Frost in the coursepack.
Homework for Class 23
Read "Punch, Brothers, Punch" by Mark Twain (in the coursepack) to prepare for Ugly Sweater Day.
Homework for Class 22
Use the Study guide below to prepare for the Final Exam on Friday.
Homework for Class 21 (after break)
Prepare for the Final Exam. I will post a study guide here in the next few days.
Homework for Class 20
Read two Mark Twain short stories in the coursepack: 1) "A Touching Story of George Washington's Boyhood" and 2) "Advice to Little Girls"
Homework for Class 19
Read Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving in the coursepack.
Homework for Class 18
Finish reading Shadows on the Rock.
If you did not recite a poem today, finish memorizing before Friday.
Homework for Class 17
We will have poetry recitations on Wednesday.
Refer to the syllabus for the fifth reading of Shadows on the Rock. Bring your copy of the book to class.
Homework for Class 16
Recitations have been moved to next Wednesday. Select a 12 line poem (120 syllables) to memorize.
Refer to the syllabus for the fourth reading of Shadows on the Rock. Bring your copy of the book to class.
Homework for Class 15
Refer to the syllabus for the third reading of Shadows on the Rock. Bring your copy of the book to class.
Homework for Class 14
Read the Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving (in the coursepack). Read at least to page 59.
Catch up on the readings from Shadows on the Rock. You should be finished with chapter 5 of book 2.
Homework for Class 13
Refer to the syllabus for the second reading of Shadows on the Rock. We will have a reading quiz next class, so make sure that you are caught up and that you understand what is going on.
Bring your copy of Shadows on the Rock to class whenever we are discussing it.
Homework for Class 12
Read the first reading of Shadows on the Rock a novel by Willa Cather (NOT in the coursepack). Follow the syllabus for page numbers.
Homework for Class 11 - Midterm Exam
Read at least the first 10 pages of Legend of Sleepy Hollow (coursepack, page 42).
Use the attached study guide to prepare for the Midterm Exam. Be sure that you know both the names of the 4 levels of typology as well as the description of each. The exam is during the class after Fall Break.
Homework for Class 10
Re-read The Maypole of Merry Mount and underline every time that Hawthorne mentions how happy the people of Merry Mount are or how grim the Puritans are.
Finish writing your paper. Be repared to turn in a printed copy during class tomorrow.
Homework for Class 9
Read The Maypole of Merry Mount in the coursepack.
Make corrections on your paper. It is due Friday, Oct 10.
Homework for Class 8
Edit your essay based on the feedback your Writing instructor gave you. It is due this Friday.
Read two short pieces in the coursepack: Of Plimoth Plantation and History of New England.
Homework for Class 7
Great job on the recitations!
For homework, read the selections from Christopher Columbus's journal in the coursepack. The coursepack is attached below for reference.
Paper Prompt: Write two paragraphs about life on the American Frontier. Put yourself in the place of one of the settlers, like the characters in Little House on the Prairie. How does the wide open and mostly uninhabited landscape of the Great Plains affect you? How will you survive the hot summers and the cold winters? How does leaving the civilization of the East change you? Given the hardships of settling, why do you choose to move West?
Homework for Class 6
Recitations are on Friday. Finish memorizing your poem.
Read the Indian Legends (coursepack).
Homework for Class 5
Finish reviewing Little House.
Choose a poem at least 12 lines long that you have never memorized in the past. Start memorizing it to prepare for recitations this upcoming Friday.
Homework for Class 4
Follow the syllabus for readings.
Begin preparing for poetry recitations (in class 6). Select a poem that the student has not memorized in the past. It must be at least 12 lines long and the lines must be decently long. (Some poems have only 2 or 3 syllables per line, which is why I mention that.)
Work on memorizing the 4 levels of typology (bold sections in "Homework for Class 2" below), as that will be on our next quiz, which has not been assigned a date.
Homework for Class 3
Follow the syllabus for readings.
We will have a quiz next class on typology (memorize the bold sections below) and on what we discussed in class today. Here is a summary of the main points.
Community
When the Ingalls moved from Wisconsin to Kansas, like all the frontiersmen of the period, they left a thriving community and went to a place without hardly any neighbors. There are pros and cons to neighbors, which we see throughout the novel.
Pros: Neighbors can protect you. They can help you build, heal, and lend you materials. A community of neighbors can start a church and a school. You can have all the benefits of family only when they live nearby.
Cons: Neighbors can be dangerous (although they can also protect you from dangers). They can steal your property. They can use up essential resources.
Homework for Class 2
Follow the syllabus (passed out in class and attached below) for readings. If you read Little House over the summer, review each chapter in the reading so you remember what happened. If you have not read it, you will need to read the chapters in the syllabus.
Memorize the bold portions in the "Lecture Notes" below before the quiz on Wednesday.
Lecture Notes
In class, we covered the general method for interpreting literature that St. Augustine's uses. This material will be on the next few quizzes, exams this year, and every exam for the next six years at the school. So it's pretty important. Here's a review.
The method is called typology, which means "the study of types." Types are things or characters that represent other things or characters. For example, Isaac is a type of Christ because he meekly follows his father to be sacrificed while carrying wood on his back. St. Augustine (the saint, not the school) developed typology in order to interpret Scripture, but it can also be used to interpret any piece of literature and, in fact, all of life.
There are four levels of typology which are always present in every story. Here is a brief overview of them:
1) The Literal Level: This is the nuts and bolts of the story. It is the characters, actions, speeches, circumstances, plot, etc. When we say a prayer, we literally say the words, but we believe that there is more going on than just the sounds.
The other three levels are collectively called the Spiritual Levels.
2) The Moral Level: How the story teaches us to act. Every story tells us something about right and wrong and the rewards/consequences of actions. A rule like "Thou shalt not kill" can be expressed as a story, like Cain and Abel.
3) The Biblical/Allegorical Level: How the characters in the story represent characters in Scripture. The basic rule of moral life is "Do good and avoid evil." When we do good, we are participating in God's goodness, so we typify (represent) Christ. On the other hand, when we do evil, we value ourselves over God and join Satan's rebellion against Him, so we typify Satan. We can build a chain of types, like how a generous person typifies St. Francis of Assisi, who typifies St. John the Baptist, who typifies Christ. So all of life is an allegory. Literature is an imitation of life, so all of literature is an allegory (whether the author meant it to be or not).
4) The Anagogical/Eschatological Level: How the characters/events relate to the Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. Although these usually refer to the End Times, each of us will experience them at the end of our lives. These are the things that really matter in life. Although the angels made their choice of heaven or hell at the moment of their creation (because their relationship with time is different from ours), we make our choice over a lifetime. Everything we do relates to the Four Last Things because we will be judged according to how we lived. Again, because literature is an imitation of life, everything a character in literature does also relates to the Four Last Things.
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