Modern Literature

Homework for Class 20

• Read the second third of Wuthering Heights.

• Prepare for a reading quiz on Wuthering Heights.

• Papers are postponed until after break so that you have time to do the reading.

Homework for Class 19

• Read the first third of Wuthering Heights.

• We will finish recitations on Wednesday.

Here is a link to a family tree of the characters in Wuthering. You will need to know who's who: https://literarysnarker.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/wuthering-heights-family-tree.jpg

Homework for Class 18

• Read the poetry of Lord Byron in the coursepack.

• Recitations will be split between Friday, Nov 14 and Wednesday, Nov 19.

• Start working on Paper #3, due Friday, Nov 21.

Homework for Class 17

Review Frankenstein to prepare for a reading quiz.

Homework for Class 16

Review Frankenstein. Write your paper and bring two copies on Friday (one for Writing and one for Literature).

Homework for Class 14

Read the poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley in the coursepack (pages 70 - 74).

Homework for Class 13

Re-read all three Coleridge poems in the coursepack. Pay attention to the imagery that he uses overall. For example, does he refer to turtles a lot? Or maybe islands? Or maybe the hum of machinery?

Class 12 ~ Midterm Exam

The spooooky season is upon us, so we will have a Midterm Exam next class. Prepare by using the Study Guide below.

Homework for Class 11

1. Read The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge.

2. Review your notes to prepare for the Midterm Exam (Friday after break).

Homework for Class 10

1. Read "Frost at Midnight" and "Kubla Khan" by Coleridge (coursepack).

2. Finish writing your paper. Email the paper to me by noon on Friday if you will not be at school. You may take a 5% reduction if you submit the paper by the end of fall break.

Homework for Class 9

1. Read the Wordsworth handout.

2. Memorize 15 lines of romantic poetry from the coursepack (attached below). I will hand out the coursepack next Wednesday.

3. Keep working on your paper.

Homework for Class 7

Read the second third of Northanger Abbey.

Read the paper prompt on the syllabus so you can prepare while you read Austen. The paper is due the last day before Fall Break.

Homework for Class 6

Follow the syllabus for homework. Note that "First Third" of Northanger Abbey is an approximate amount.

Homework for Class 5

Read the three handouts: 1) Paine's "Age of Reason," 2) Paine's "The Crisis," and 3) Franklin's Autobiography.

Homework for Class 4

Review all readings handed out so far. We will catch up to the readings on Friday.

Follow the syllabus for the poetry composition. Your rhyme scheme can be either AABB, ABAB, or ABBA.

Homework for Class 3

Review the Rousseau reading from the last homework (the first half of the chapter) then read the selections handed out today (selections from the second half). We will discuss the entire chapter next class.

We might have a quiz next class on the review of epistemology.

Lecture Notes: Review of Epistemology

Aristotle's Epistemology: Knowledge generally starts with the senses (eyes, ears, nose, etc), which informs the imagination (in the brain), which in turn informs the memory (also in the brain) and the passions (hormones affecting the brain). Because these processes occur in material organs, they are powers of the MATERIAL SOUL (aka "animal soul" or "sensitive soul"). Humans also have the powers of intellect and will, which comprise the IMMATERIAL SOUL (aka "rational soul" or "intellectual soul").

Descartes' Epistemology (Rationalism): All certain knowledge stems from an initial moment of self-awareness ("I think, therefore I am"). From this, he argues that 1) God exists, 2) God is good, and 3) Sensation can be trusted. After sensation has been confirmed as trustworthy, knowledge can grow as a result of sensation and inherent knowledge.

Locke's Epistemology (Materialism): Man has no innate knowledge. All knowledge comes from the senses. Man has no intellect or will (therefore no immaterial soul, hence "materialism").

Hume proved that Locke's system has a fundamental flaw because it leads to scepticism. A sceptic cannot assign a probability to anything, or, at most, everything has a 50/50 chance. The necessary conclusion of Locke's system is scepticism because it cannot prove the Conformity Principle: "the future will be conformable to the past." According to Locke, all knowledge comes from sense experience, but the Conformity Principle cannot be proven by experience because 1) we cannot have experience of the future and 2) no experience of conformity can be applied to the future without the Conformity Principle, which would be a circular argument. This is called The Problem of Induction. There's a great video about it HERE.