:( I'm getting sad.

Today I wrote my essay on Grendel and it made me think about how “the end of man is knowledge.” That idea comes up throughout many of the books that we have studied this year, For example, All the Kings Men, Grendel, the Awakening, Hamlet, and many others. In Grendel, one of the main ideas is that power leads to destruction and eventually that power and destruction proves the fall of man is a result of too much knowledge. We studied this subject throughout many novels. In All the Kings Men Willie Stark gains tons of power and gets shot by a physician. Nobody likes him towards the end of the novel. In the awakening there is another display of power when Edna is beginning to discover life in the more self taught way she become to sure of herself and eventually loses out.

This idea is also very clearly seen Hamlet in the closing scene where Hamlet and the others are fighting with another. They all feel that they are stronger than their enemies and they feel that they can defeat the others. Gertrude switches the poisons and kills Claudius who planned to kill Hamlet. Hamlet kills Laeretes, and Gertrude kills herself by accidentally drinking the poison in celebration. Hamlet drinks the extra poison and falls to death. To me, this scene highlights the ideas planted into their society that power comes from physically being the most fitting for a win. Hamlet thinks he has power because he let himself get to him. He killed himself and he should have just lived. I mean what is the point in just defeating everyone and the vanishing?

It seems that this was the theme of literature this year. I’ve learned that schools think we can not learn unless each year has a theme. Like, sophmore year was all about conformity and crazy people between Lord of the Flies and the Catcher in the Rye. Junior year was about people not fitting in and how hard people try to fit into society with The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin and The Scarlet Letter. Why does every year have a theme? It is so strange.

Oh my goodness, Ms. Clinch. THIS IS MY LAST BLOG EVER! I love you. Thank you for being such an awesome teacher. Thank you for writing countless recommendation letters, helping with tons of essays, and for always being so understanding throughout the years. Thank you for coming to the art show. That meant so much to us art kids. I am so happy I got to have you for two years. You have taught me more than just literature these two years--- I am so thankful for all of the life lessons you have shown me throughout the years and for all of the support you give to the entire class. Your class is such a positive environment and I really value that. It makes everything so much less stressful. Thank you so much for everything. <3

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I have been thinking about the AP Literature exam since you just gave them back to us and considering the fact that the test is next week. AHHH!!! :) yay! I got a three on my exam. I think it is because I got fives on all of my exams. I really need to get those up because then I could get a four. If I could get six or seven’s on my essays maybe I could be not at a three on the exam. I found that it was much harder to answer the prose passage because I was not used to them anymore. There was a point where I felt that the poetry ones were harder but now it’s the other way around. The poetry ones are so much easier because I feel that there is actually something to analyze. I feel like the prose passages are just parts of movies or something. Sometimes I find it difficult to find any literary merit in the passages chosen. During my essays for the prose passages I tend to summarize way too much. I already summarize too much but I think in prose passages I feel like I have nothing else to talk about.

The thing I need to work on most is not falling into summary too much. I always think I need to explain parts of the passage but I really do not need to do that. My writing would be so much stronger if I could avoid so much summary in my writing. I think I need to implant it into my brain that summary is not necessary.

The multiple choice part is easy but after a while it becomes difficult to comprehend the passages because there are so many of them. Also, sometimes it feels like the passages are far too unrelated to the questions. I guess that means that I just need to read more deeply into the passage and analyze the phrasing and word usage, not the plot.

I feel so ready for this test! I am going to destroy it. Your class has prepared me for everything and I do not think I could be any better prepared after the practice exam. I know what I need to fix and what has to be done to get the score I desire. I am so excited that there is only a couple more days until the exam because then we get to have fun with you the rest of the time! I’m excited for the AP lit feast! Can we bring another piñata?

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“The Importance of Being Earnest” is quite hilarious. I adore the satire in his play because the satire really draws the audience in. It’s sort of getting annoying how everyone in AP Lit can quote something from every piece of work we read.  From this play it is “Now to minor matters, are your parents living?” Why are we so able to quote so much? This quote seems to be really important to the feel on the entire play. I believe that Wilde feels that the people of the upper class are much too focused on the things that do not truly matter.

In Act 3, all of Algy and Jacks bunburrying is revealed in a hilarious way. I love all of the Victorian “wars” over bread and whatnot. Not only does Wilde successfully make the audience laugh, he also achieves the truth of the time period as well. I love how Cecily and Gwendolyn act towards each other. I find it quite hilarious how they are forced to act when they are not getting along with each other. I loved how the two girls figured out the truth about “being Earnest”. The parts about the men being christened were very important because the whole idea of the fresh purified baptisms/ christening to rid themselves of their given names to give them a fake name is ironic because it would just create a piled on fake name with no value in their lives. Everything is so opposite.

Now, I don’t have anything more to say about the play. I was working on my writing portfolio today and I have really really changed as a writer, especially if you can get passed the fact that I hardly go into enough depth about the passages prepared for us. I did improve on many things though. I have learned to improve my abilities to expand my ideas of the passage and how I feel about it. In the beginning of the year I tended to use phrases such as “the poem said…”  like really Marie? What the heck? So now, I do nor do that so often which is improvement. So I guess that is good. Grr. Ms Clinch… I so want to point out how much you have made me socially awkward as well as just in general; awkward. I am watching stupid Disney channel with my sisters and I keep pointing out really obnoxious allusions. I do not think I could be friends with me. At prom I was doing the same thing. Anyone who is not in AP Lit does not understand!

Poems or something.

This week what has caught my attention the most in class was today’s poem by John Donne. I really like the metaphysical style of the work. It is interesting to me because it sounds less like a song ad more like a deep thought as you read the lines. As you said, these poems really make you have to think. The poem today used an extended metaphor of finances and money. He looked at love in terms of finance, which, I am pretty sure, was not done often. The writers of this motion would use words and phrases that make the reader question the meaning.

Collette, Andrea, Maggie, and Allie really made class interesting today with that lovely Hamlet video! I can not wait to see Reuben’s! I only wish I had made a video! Haha. Give them a 100000000. because #40000dollarsisalot.

Now I will analyze some poetry or something.   I choose “The Apparition”   by John Donne.

When by thy scorn, O murd'ress, I am dead 

         And that thou think'st thee free 

From all solicitation from me, 

Then shall my ghost come to thy bed, 

And thee, feign'd vestal, in worse arms shall see; 

Then thy sick taper will begin to wink, 

And he, whose thou art then, being tir'd before, 

Will, if thou stir, or pinch to wake him, think 

         Thou call'st for more, 

And in false sleep will from thee shrink; 

And then, poor aspen wretch, neglected thou 

Bath'd in a cold quicksilver sweat wilt lie 

         A verier ghost than I. 

What I will say, I will not tell thee now, 

Lest that preserve thee; and since my love is spent, 

I'had rather thou shouldst painfully repent, 

Than by my threat'nings rest still innocent.

The poem is about being rejected by your love.  He feels that he is being rejectedfrom someone that is not

 as great as he is. Like he is better and she is crazy to not go for it. Te first lines create the idea that he is 

dead, lost, confused and the girl “thinkst” free.  He writes “From all solicitation from me, Then shall my ghost 

come to thy bed” meaning that after all your pleading then the ghost will come to the 

bedside. The ghost, I thinks is sorta like the girls conscience following her and making her miserable. In the

 next lines he talks about how the “sick taper will begin to wink” which reminds me of death. The next three 

line are the guy getting tired of her horridness. The next lines, “And then, poor aspen wretch, neglected thou,

 Bath’d in a cold quicksilver sweat wilt lie” are saying that energy has just run out the aspen is neglected, he 

has given up. There is nothing left but cold disregard. The shift is in the last quatrain. Here Donne talks about 

how he has spent his love on her and he has no love left for her.

HAMLET AND ANATOMY? WHAT?!!!

I have been noticing so many Hamlet refrences in everyday life it almost makes me crazy. I was watching Grey's Anatomy this weekend and I noticed many sayings from Hamlet in Grey's Anatomy! In the episode Izze and george had sex and that was something they regretted because George and Calliope are newly married and they care deeply for eachother. They continue to fight for days. During one of the confrontational fights. Izzie tries to convince George that their little adventure was not a shameful, bad thing. George dissagre's and says "I'm going to hold my tongue" because he cares so much for Callie. I thought this was very strange.
There is also a Hamlet refrence in "The Lion King." Simba is like Hamlet. Simba is born to be the sucessor King and he can not deny his duties. Hamlet and Simba are both carefree in the beginning but as they realize their duties they become more serious. Simba acts as a child would and then, later on, he realizes that he must assume duties after the loss of his father, as does Hamlet. Hamlet is completley enthrawled in discovering the truth. Mufasa is King Hamlet. Scar is like Claudius because they are both undesired and they are the antagonists of the plot. Scar does everything that he can to prevent Simba from succeeding. Actually, he does this to basically everyone. Claudius does this too. For example, Claudius sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy and get information from Hamlet. Both characters are the enemy of the main character. Claudius murders King Hamlet by poisoning him in the ear and Scar murders Musafa by pushing him down from the hill and let the wildebeest stamp on Musafa and kill him. Claudius is killed with poison! Woah! In the end of both stories, the villains both are killed in the same exact way they tried to harm other people that they are supposed to look up to. Claudius is forced to drink the poison he prepares for Hamlet, while Scar falls off the cliff and gets killed by the folk of hyenas. The deaths are so similair!

Nala is Ophelia, sweet and daring. Nala and Simba have a cute relation similar to that of Ophelia and Hamlet. The only difference is that they do not really get angry with eachother.
I also noticed that when Mufasa is still ruling pride rock is and sunny and bright and when scar rules(or tries to) it becomes dark and gloomy. This also happens in Hamlet. When Claudius takes over it becomes dark and gloomy. just as it does in Lion king.
Also, Is "whos the fairest of them all?" evolved from Hamlet or was that just a common phrase of the time period?

OH MY GOODNESS.

       This week we focused on timed writings and how to improve them. I wrote one essay  and got a "see me" and then that day in class you asked us to write a paragraph on a new topic. When i got that one back i magically got a 7 something. I was amazed. So, i have been working on my actual essays re-write. I have been basically been doing the same thing as what i did when i rewrote a chunk of paragraph. If you focus on particular words and themes in that section only you begin to go further in depth. It is amazing! thank you so much for that activity we had to do.    
        Now, since i don't really have anything to talk about i will talk about my weekend. I went on a church retreat  and we played this game guys vs. girls about who knew more about the other. The guys were convinced they knew more about us girls and that they were superior. this of course, made me think of Hamlet. Hamlet thinks that men are superior to women. In the nunnery scene Hamlet treats Ophelia like a joke. He pushes her around and tells her lies that just mess with her head. This later drives her to madness. Also, during this game, the guys had a question to name three of the disney princesses and it made me remember the social commentaries and the psychological thingamajigs we studied in the beginning of the year. I thought it was funny that you have forever corrupted my brain with you AP Lit stuff. Now i have this dang AP Lit brain and people constantly think i am a weirdo.  oh well. I will live... I guess. maybe. hmm. I was not the only one on this retreat that kept quoting Hamlet. Harper and austin were quoting it like it was their job. haha. i am positive people wanted to punch us so badly. My friends kept yelling at me. I hope their are plenty of nerds in college.  
      I am really excited to learn about sonnets. I like how they can be structured but not feel structured at all. okay.... i quit. I have to tell you how thankful i am for the letter of recommendation you wrote me. Thanks to you i have gotten scholarships for two of three schools and i have not even heard from that third school. You must have written s great letter. So thank you. so much. I GOT INTO MY DREAM SCHOOL! Kansas City Art Institute likes me! they really really like me! :) eeeeek thank you so much.