MY OPINION ISN'T (A) RIGHT

Notes for Pages 2-14 in Textbook

From Legend to History (A.D. 449-1485)

The Conquest of Britain

• There were two groups of Celts: the one group called themselves the Brythons, or Britons; other group was known as Gaels who settled on Ireland.
• The celts were farmers and hunters.
• Both of these groups, the Britons and the Gaels strongly hated each other.

The Coming of Christianity

• By  the 4th century, the Romans accepted to Christianity and had introduced it to Britain.
• Although Rome fell to Barbarian tribes in A.D. 476, the Celtic Christian church continued to thrive. In the late sixteenth century, a soldier and abbot named Columba along with some monks, gained converts to Christianity and established monasteries in the north.

Danish Invasion

• In the nine century, the Norse and the Danes were pressured by rising pop. and took to the seas.
• In the late tenth century Danes from europe tried to recapture Danelaw.

The Norman conquest

• The normans were descendants of Vikings who had invaded the coast of FR.
• After the dispute over whether or not the throne belonged to William, he confiscated the lands of the Anglo-Saxon.
• Feudalism had come about on the European continent at a time when no central government was strong enough to keep to order.

The Magna Carta

• The king promised not to tax land without first meeting with the barons in the Magna Carta.
• Although the document had caused no changes in government, some historians believe its restriction on royal power marked the start of constitutional government in england.  

Decline of the Feudal System

• The social structure of England was changing while royal families struggled for supremacy.
• After the Black Death, a massive labor shortage increased the value of a peasant’s work
• Landowners gave the workers a sense of freedom when they paid in cash.

Anglo-Saxon Literature

• Spoken verse and incantations were the structure of anglo-saxon literature.
• This early verse falls mainly into two categories: heroic poetry, and elegiac poetry.
• All important prose written in the British Isles was composed in Latin. The monks who transcribed these works knew the language of the people as “vulgar tongue”. The greatest of England’s Latin scholars was Venerable Bede. He wrote History of the English Church and People Gives.
• Beowulf was this epic, or long heroic poem. It is the story of a great warrior praised for his courage, strength and dignity.

Literature of the English Middle Ages

• During this time the first true dramas were started.
• One section was medieval drama. During the Norman times, the Church often sponsored the plays as part of religious services.
• In 1454, a german silversmith, Johann Gutenberg, perfected a process of printing from movable type. One of Caxton’s first projects included the printing of Geoffrey Chaurcer’s work.
• Poet Geoffrey Chaucer was born into the merchant class that was adding to the wealth of London and the nation.

Reflections on Week 1

1. There won’t be too many factors that affect my participation and experience in class. One thing that could affect it is that Matthew and sometimes have to use the same computer, but that is not that big of a problem. The other thing that could affect it is my schedule. Along, with basketball and the other things I do, it possibly could affect my participation of this class. Most likely, both of these examples will not affect it at all though.

2. The best ever learning experience that changed me was when I heard about this man that is somewhat close to my family. He was ran over by a vehicle and wasn’t supposed to live, let alone walk again. Recently, he has been working very hard to get on his feet and is making progress. This changed my outlook on things and in life. If this man could do this and not give up, think of all the things i could do and not give up. It was truly inspiring.

3. To be honest I don’t know exactly what I am excited to learn about. Although,I am excited to use open source learning more. I do think learning more can help my life tremendously. Half the game is not just learning the material, but wanting to learn the material, and I am getting a lot better at that.

Vocabulary #1

adumbrate - verb give to understand; describe roughly or briefly or give the main points or summary of

Ex: The ending of the novel is already adumbrated in the first chapter.

apotheosis - noun the elevation of a person (as to the status of a god); model of excellence or perfection of a kind; one having no equal

Ex: Celine Dion singing love songs is the apotheosis of romantic music.

ascetic - adj. practicing great self-denial; pertaining to or characteristic of an ascetic or the practice of rigorous self-discipline; noun someone who practices self denial as a spiritual discipline

Ex: Monks live an ascetic life, denying themselves of earthly pleasures and involvement.

bauble - noun a mock scepter carried by a court jester; cheap showy jewelry or ornament on clothing

Ex: The Christmas tree was covered with baubles.

beguile - verb attract; cause to be enamored; influence by slyness

Ex: Thats a beguiling argument, but I am not convinced by it.

burgeon - verb grow and flourish

Ex: The town burgeoned into a city.

complement - noun something added to complete or make perfect; either of two parts that mutually complete each other; a word or phrase used to complete a grammatical construction; number needed to make up a whole force; a complete number or quantity; one of a series of enzymes in the blood serum that are part of the immune response; verb make complete or perfect; supply what is wanting or form the complement to

Ex: The shirt complemented her eyes wonderfully.

contumacious - adj. wilfully obstinate; stubbornly disobedient

Ex: Your repeated violations of the rules was contumacious.

curmudgeon - noun a crusty irascible cantankerous old person full of stubborn ideas

Ex: Clearly, I only play a curmudgeon in the newspaper.

didactic - adj. instructive (especially excessively)

Ex: My parents was being didactic about doing the right thing.

disingenuous - adj. not straightforward or candid; giving a false appearance of frankness

Ex: He always gives a quick, disingenuous response; you never get a straight answer.

exculpate - verb pronounce not guilty of criminal charges

Ex: The jury exculpated the verdict.

faux pas - a behavioral gaffe or some type of social mistake that you make.

Ex: I realized I'd committed a serious faux pas by joking about his wife's family.

fulminate - noun a salt or ester of fulminic acid; verb cause to explode violently and with loud noise; come on suddenly and intensely; criticize severely

Ex: Public officials fulminated against the perceived security threat.

fustian - noun a strong cotton and linen fabric with a slight nap; pompous or pretentious talk or writing

Ex: The man was wearing a fustian jacket.

hauteur - noun overbearing pride evidenced by a superior manner toward inferiors

Ex: His manner was hauteur

inhibit - verb limit the range or extent of; to put down by force or authority

Ex: The use of bleach will inhibit the growth of bacteria on surfaces.

jeremiad - noun a long and mournful complaint

Ex: But the jeremiad will always have its place in such a course.

opportunist - adj. taking immediate advantage, often unethically, of any circumstance of possible benefit; noun a person who places expediency above principle

Ex: She was an opportunist, and thus never turned down any chance to get ahead.

unconscionable - adj. greatly exceeding bounds of reason or moderation; lacking a conscience

Ex: Most scientists agree that it is unconscionable to clone humans when tests in animals have not been perfected.

Montaigne/Austen Essay

    If someone was to write down every thought that came to their mind it would be impossible to do it.. Our brains processes  information so fast that expressing or explaining what we mean will barely scratch the surface of one tiny thought. David Foster Wallace attested to this statement in his 2001 story “Good old Neon” Montaigne's Essays demonstrate this as he wrote 107 essays characterized under 3 different books. Personal experiences and stream of consciousness are the two areas that Montaigne develops his style from. In opposition to David Foster Wallace and Montaigne, Jane Austen takes a different standpoint with a more traditional and organized approach to writing her novel, Pride and Prejudice.

    Montaigne and Wallace have similar views on the fact that its almost impossible to write down your feelings in exact detail. In Montaigne’s Essays he demonstrates this by writing 107 essays out of stream of consciousness that don’t exactly point to a clear theme.. Each essay is interconnected and leads to another. He writes the essays in a way like a thinking process. After every thought he has an essay that resembles it, but he only scratches the surface of each thought and then moves on to the next. In a way Montaigne does have some organization when writing the essays. For example, each essay is drawn from personal experiences and is categorized into 3 different books.

    Jane Austen contradicts David Foster Wallace’s thinking with her romantic novel, Pride and Prejudice. The organization and and traditional narrative style suggests that things can be explained directly through writing. The fact that her writing of Pride and Prejudice is satirical also opposes the style and rhetoric of David Foster Wallace. In Montaigne's style he focuses on understanding the human condition in general. Austen's purpose is to reflect the ignorance of the people during her time period. To do this she would utilize her characters such as Mrs. Bennet.

    With Montaigne's stream of thought and conventional writing and Austen’s organized, satirical narrative, they both are confrontational in their styles. Even though both Montaigne and Austen contradict each other, they still come to the same conclusion. No matter what they write about they can barely sketch out a guideline for what they really are thinking. This concept relates to much more than just Montaigne and Austen it relates to all other pieces of literature as well. Through every form of writing there hasn’t been a time and will probably never will be a time where thoughts will be explained exactly how they are thought.

I CAN READ!

Here is the url for my video of Fox in Socks. I had 19 errors. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHi4ORScQcA

1987 AP Exam

1.c

2.a

3.e

4.e

5.a

6.a

7.e

8.c

9.e

10.c

11.b

12.b

13.a

14.d

15.a

16.c

17.a

18.b

19.a

20.e

21.e

22.c

23.b

24.a

25.c

26.c

27.a

28.b

29.b

30.b

31.d

32.a

33.d

34.b

35.e

36.e

37.a

38.d

39.b

40.c

41.c

42.a

43.b

44.e

45.a

46.c

47.b

48.a

49.a

50.d

51.d

52.b

53.e

54.b

55.a

56.a

57.b

58.d

59.e

60.b

61.e

Poetry #1

1. From what poem/author does this commercial borrow (without credit)?

The poem in this commercial is called “the laughing heart” by Charles Bukowski.

2. Why might the use of this poem by a corporation be considered ironic?

When the corporation of Levis uses the poem it is can be ironic for a couple reasons. The one that stood out to me was when the commercial started out with the first line.,”Your life is your life, don’t let it be clubbed into dark submission” the company contradicts itself because they are telling you to buy a product in the commercial, but saying this at the same time.

3. Does this poem reflect the  reputation of the author? Why or why not?

No, the poem does not reflect the reputation of the author because the poem is inspiring, upbeat, and motivational. Charles Bukowski’s isn't one to be any of those. All of the things he wrote about were dealing with poor people and their problems.

4. How did you find the answers to number 1 and 3? Describe in great detail your research process.

For number 1 i typed in the first line of the poem into Google and the first website was the text of the poem with the authors name. For number 3 I typed in “reputation of Charles Bukowski” into Google and the first website i picked was called poetry foundation. It gave a biography of his life and where he found his inspiration to write his poetry. 

Essay #1

Exile

            "Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience.  It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home; its essential sadness can never be surmounted." When exile happens from either leaving a place, or in this case with the Poison Wood Bible, moving from the United States to the Congo to be a missionary things tend to change drastically. Immediately following the arrival in the Congo Nathan Price and his family noticed and experienced the change of the environment. There were some negative experiences as they arrived as well as some encouraging ones. Through all of this the author, Barbara Kingsolver, gives the reader a different perspective of the culture and atmosphere involved with the Congo natives and how distinct others like Americans are.

            Multiple negative experiences were results of the Price family entering into the Kilanga village. One challenge that occurred was that they were the only people from America in the village which meant that they needed a translator for everything. Also a little while later the chief came into the church and made the people take a vote on if Jesus was their God. Of course Nathan Price had never had to deal with this predicament in the U.S, because of freedom of religion so this was a lot different than he was used to.

            Although, the time spent in the village and the other places of the Congo wasn’t the best some good things did come as a result to it. For example, Rachel moved to Johannesburg, South Africa to live with Axelroot and enjoy the culture and society there. Adah eventually goes to college and becomes a doctor. After learning to walk without a limp she became very successful in her discoveries of Aids and the Ebola virus. Last, Orleanna becomes active in the Civil Rights movement. This gives insight to the reader that even when your life is filled with darkness the light can always be found.

            Throughout the book it not only contrasted between dark and light experiences, but it shed light on the fact that because of the exile the United States is extremely different in various ways. In Nathan’s first sermon he uses the phrase, “nakedness and darkness of the soul” to refer to the natives of Kilanga, but when Kingsolver describes Nathan she uses the phrase, “heart of darkness”. Through these phrases she gives the irony that Nathan thinks that the natives are in darkness when he is the one with the dark heart. Kingsolver adds onto this statement with the positive and negative experiences of the family while living in Kilanga.

 

The Complete Essays Notes

• The complete essays of Michel Montaigne are personal but are more general thoughts pertaining to life in stead of his life.
• Montaigne lived his life in sixteenth century in France.
• Montaigne's main topics he wrote about were happiness, children's education, repentance, and solitude.
• During his time period there was much religious conviction.
• Michel Montaigne is skeptic towards the after life posing the question "What do I know?"
• Throughout the essays Michel Montaigne refers to a backroom. This backroom is a room where people can escape the front room. The front room is where you meet with people in life and socialize. The back room is suppose to be the back of the house.
• Montaigne wants to be accustomed to death. He doesn't want to be scared or frightened of the future. He wants to take it with ease.
• All his life Montaigne was a Roman Catholic.
• Most of his essays in this book are from Michel de Montaigne's thoughts and nobody elses.
• His essays have no unity or structure in them.
• Montaigne describes the essays as his children to give them a more personal look.
• Most of Montaigne's thoughts and imagination comes from the past.
• Physiognomy is the art of judging human character from facial features.
• According to Montaigne, he believes that there is nothing more unjust than when something wicked becomes lawful.
• Montaigne explains that it is human nature for even facts to be questioned because not everybody who relays information onto another person knows where the truth or story first took place. People keep relaying the information they heard onto other people because it is natural to feed into these so called facts that along the way could have exaggerated a little bit to make what has been told more interesting.
• In the case of Socrates who was an ugly man, he had the most beautiful mind and soul. The saying might no mean a person has to be beautiful to have a beautiful soul it could mean in Socrates case that he was ugly in order to disprove this theory.
• Being beautiful can mean many things. It doesn't always mean from the outside. Because you can be beautiful from the outside and not inside, or both, or beautiful on the inside and not the outside.
• Nobody can make you happy unless a person is happy with themselves first.
• The power of freedom over oneself can be harder to attain but is not unlikely to have, a person just has to be willing to fight it.
• The thought of knowing when a certain thing will happen will make the person tormented on when it will happen.
• People who think about suffering actually feel the suffering because knowing something is going to happen can be a blessing or a curse.
• The point of departure of the essays is negativity.
• Michel de Montaigne sees the human being as weak full of failure.
• The whole time the essays puts out the question of all knowing.
• Often he rejects commonly accepted ideas. This is mainly because he uses skepticism a lot.
• All of his essays are not to be formal or instruct us how to do something with a clear purpose. The don't even sometimes have intentions in the writing.
• The essays mean "to test" or "to try". In this view his complete essays were written successfully in that he wanted to put a personal note on them with his experiences and life stories.
• Some topics that he uses in the essays include education, happiness, repentance and many more.
• His life stories and experiences had to do with cruelty and the disorder that came with the religious conviction.
• This was when he lived in sixteenth century France.
• He put emphasis on trying to see his subjects from different point of views.
• Part of the reason his works were so good was because he read so many books that just enhanced his knowledge.
• He makes sure to utilize his quotations and put a unique style on everything which is relaxed, but humorous.  One quotation he wrote was that was in the end of the essays under Of Experience “The most beautiful lives, to my mind, are those that conform to the common human pattern.."
• In the eleventh essay the topic is virtue that Montaigne writes about. He explains to the reader that virtue is much more than just being good.
• The reader doesn't have to read very far to realize that Montaigne writes out of respect to the past. Mainly, he centers around Greece and Rome.
• Some skills that Montaigne uses a lot are irony and references to the past.
• A lot of the time when he is writing he has a concern for the readers, but in some other parts he holds a message for the readers.
• During his time Montaigne when writing the Complete Essays was known to have a modern voice in the literary period.
• His purpose is to limit or redirect the traditional activities of the people. These people mainly being intellectual and intelligent people.