четверг, 29 ноября 2007 г.

Dec.6 -Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

1. Read Emily Dickinson's biography.
Words and expressions for the quiz: self-imposed social seclusion, pillars of the local community, to smuggle, deferential to, to defer to, to be aloof, descendents, inherently, adherent, crucial issue, austerity, a keen artist and accomplished musician, to have a sharp eye for art, quick -witted, to be (ill) at ease, to hold in high esteem, prolific writer.

2. Listen to Prof. Weinstein's lecture #32 "Emily Dickinson - In and Out of Nature".
- Why did Prof. Weinstein call her the first poet of "Babel"?
- What are peculiarities of the Dickinson style?
3. Read a selection of E.Dickinson's poems, learn one poem by heart and prepare it for reciting in class.

вторник, 27 ноября 2007 г.

Public Poll: Please Vote for the Best Recital (see the post below)

And the winner is... GEORGE BUNTILOV (8 votes). Our heartfelt congratulations!!!
Anna K. is the second best with 4 votes.
Julia M. has got 2 votes.
Rita K. received one vote.


I hope it was an enriching experience for you. Having struggled with voice recorders, cookies, uploading and downloading, you have definitely become more technically savvy . I also hope that you've learned something about reading and feeling poetry. I wish we hadn't had all those browser-related issues. I am sure more people would have participated in our poll. Anyway, thanks to those of you who took the challenge. You did very well!



Please kindly leave your comments on how we have scored!

понедельник, 26 ноября 2007 г.

Song of Ourselves (Where is the Rest of the Choir??!)

Julia M.(Group 3CCC), Anna K.(Group 2Tr.), Anna M. (Group 2Tr), Rita K.(Group2Tr.) and George B. (Group 3CCC) reading from "Song of Myself" by W.Whitman. Give it a listen!

ANNOUNCEMENT: We are going to have a public poll for the most impressive reading and recording.
The voting will be open on Wed. Nov.28 (from noon to midnight only). All the students are eligible for the poetry reading contest, so you'd better hurry!





UPDATE: Anna Sh. just sent the URL to her podcast.Please listen to her reading at http://anna-shib.podomatic.com/

You can also listen to our podcasts from my podcast page at http://jilimili.podomatic.com/ Stay tuned for more stuff!

четверг, 22 ноября 2007 г.

Nov.29 -"Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman

1. Read this long poem "Song of Myself" from "Leaves of Grass".

2. Listen to an hour-long program devoted to "Song of Myself" on New York Public Radio and be ready to discuss it in class:
or you can download this recording in .mp3 format from the WNYC web site http://www.wnyc.org/arts/articles/54050#music

3. Choose one section of the poem that you like and record yourself reading it. You might want to play some relevant background music or add other sound effects. By Monday (11/26), I expect you to send me your recording at filatowa@mail.ru. You can download an mp3-recorder from http://www.zshare.net/download/50895968771609/
You can also opt for recording yourself online at podomatic.com . NOTE: If you have a hard time converting your files (if you use your cell phone to record yourself) into .mp3 format, I suggest using an online media converter http://media-convert.com/ru/

суббота, 17 ноября 2007 г.

пятница, 9 ноября 2007 г.

Nov.15 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
1. Read Longfellow's biography at http://wikipedia.org/

2. Poems for reading (please practise reading outloud at home) and analysis: Hymn to the Night, the Secret of the Sea, A Psalm of Life.

3. S.V.Titova "Studies in American Literature" p.35, 53-59 (definitions of imagery, poetic lines, caesura, meters, rhythm, alliteration, consonance, assonance, onomatopoeia)

понедельник, 5 ноября 2007 г.

What Blocks Your Blogs??!

Dear 3CCC Group Students,
I was wondering how your project work goes and why you fail to post a weekly entry on that. The deadline fast approaching, you are supposed to collect enough material for your web site, which looks as a daunting task at the moment, as you are lagging behind.

Here are the links to all the groups blogs:

Arina and Natasha V. have chosen the topic "Destroyed but not defeated", which will cover the theme and the levels of meaning in "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Miller Hemingway.

George and Alex are working on "Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451". The value of written culture, book&fire symbolism".

Alyona and Polina are tackling the topic of Spiritual Quest in Salinger's "Franny" and Zooey".

Lera is writing about the "Portrait of a Lady" by Henry James.

Julia has chosen the "Theatre of Absurd: E. Albee`s The Zoo Story".

Natasha A. deals with "The Catcher in the Rye" by Salinger.

Dasha, Marina and Kate are working on Zora Neale Hurston's literary legacy.

Sveta is working on Fenimore Cooper's images of noble Indians.

Please, be sure to read my post on academic plagiarism which a big no-no. When you take something (be it a text from an encyclopedia, or an innocent image) without giving a due credit to the author/source, you are stealing. So please always provide links to the web site from where you cut and paste information, and all the pictures should have a subtitle "Image Source: http://www.something.somewhere"

Your posts will be monitored and graded on a weekly basis.

воскресенье, 4 ноября 2007 г.

Mid-Term Test (Nov.8)

1. The test will be based on the material we have covered, i.e. early national literature, F.Franklin, Romanticism, W.Irving, N..Hawthorne, E.A.Poe.

2. Vocabulary Quiz will be based on E.A.Poe's stories "The Cask of Amontillado”,
“MS found in a bottle”, and “The Purloined letter”

to avenge smb
to take revenge on smb for smth
to punish with impunity
to pride oneself on one’s connoisseurship in wine
to drink to smth
to seize smth
to flash with light
to be bewildered
to ejaculate
to wall up the entrance
to wear off
to plaster smth
in vain

hereditary wealth
notoriously known
reveries of fancy
to quiver
a stern of the ship
the salvation of smth
dim, sullen, feeble glow
to believe in superstitions
a stupendous sea
to experience the feeling of awe
concealment
to scrutinize smth
an appalling size
to be doomed to smth
to hover upon
to plunge into
irrepressible reverence
to pace
to ponder upon one’s destiny
to get into whirlpool

to bestow the power
to be susceptible of smth
to waylay smb
to anticipate smth
to conceive
to be thunder-stricken
to grasp smth in agony
to open smth with a trembling hand
to cast a glance at smth
to rush from the house
to fill up the check
human ingenuity
the routine of one’s duty
a disposal of smth
to sacrifice smth
to distinguish smth from smth
to take for granted
a strong relish
to contemplate about smth
pagan legends
to embellish a description
miscellaneous letter
soiled and crumpled letter
to be in search of smth
to be in the view of everybody
inside out
to tear into two
to call for
replace smth by smth
to feel curiosity
to outwit

3. Read E.A.Poe's detective story "The Purloined Letter"

суббота, 3 ноября 2007 г.

Storytelling Contest Photos




Photo Credit: George Buntilov

Congratulations to our winners Vlad Prevezentsev and Arina Kozhukhar!!!

You can download other pictures from
http://www.zshare.net/download/46412623cfc26b/ and http://www.zshare.net/download/4648966a6f7cc9/