Diction Here & There

It's our last full 5 day week for a long while, so we might as well spend our time on identifying diction, describing diction, constructing thesis statements about diction, and writing about diction. And what is at the end of the rainbow after diction has exhausted our faculties? A return to vocab and tone analysis.

F.Y.I. All syntax quizzes were to be completed today - whether you used your class time or came after school to complete.

1: After constructing our class thesis statement for "A Birthday," we spent quality family bonding time on the floor with a plethora of quotes, a plethora of adjectives to describe diction, and a plethora of verbs and purposes to make it worth our time. For each quote, we composed thesis statements indicating the author, an active verb, specific forms of diction, and mature purpose. If you would like to see these quotes again, there are links under the October 18 blog. Tomorrow, you will be completing the same task but with longer passages and in groups.

3: Returning to Gray's "Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat," you broke down the stanzas for types of diction and supplied evidence to support your diction adjectives. Then, we read Shelley's "Ozymandias" https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46565/ozymandias in order to create a thesis statement connecting the purposes of both poems.  And, what a "fish" and "sculpt" thesis it was! As we continued forward, we made it through the first 4 stanzas of "Ode on a Grecian Urn" https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44477/ode-on-a-grecian-urn, a poem of interpretation by my beloved Keatsy. We will be finishing this text tomorrow and then moving into the letter portion of our diction analysis.

4: We finished our "Ode on a Grecian Urn" analysis, breaking up into groups with each group clarifying the types of diction and providing evidence of support. Then, we made a class thesis statement covering the poem in its entirety. Since we already were in Keats' perspective, you then found out more about his background via my ethos and my slides from his house in London. With that historical context, you now have his letters - in packet form. For homework, close read the first letter. I will be presenting you the letter tomorrow to model what I expect from the remaining texts.

7: Check out third hour's synopsis - we are in the same place!