AP Lit 2B/3B/3G: Tone, Diction, Frankenstein, and Art!

AP Lit 2B/3B/3G: Tone, Diction, Frankenstein, and Art!

Today we started by revisiting one of our Frankenstein passages. 

With the passage on the board we worked towards identifying the tone by circling and discussing the diction we thought contributed to tone. Together we decided on some very fitting tone words and created a thesis as if we were going to write an essay on tone and diction in the passage. 

After that we decided it was much easier to work towards identifying tone in a passage on our own, and that's just what we did! 

But we didn't stop there. We took it to the next level and drew a picture to block out everything but the words we thought contributed to tone. We then wrote individual theses based on our passages and constructed essays around them. 

Though we're still exploring, we're getting a lot closer to really understanding the importance of understanding theme!

Just check out some of these awesome examples:

Blog: 3+ Posts
Req'd Post:  What are you passionate about?  Write as much, draw as much, audio record as much, video as much as you can and post your passions.  The subjects, the ideas, the interests that get you fired up -- that make you want to know as much as you can as fast as you can.
Due: Friday, Mar 21

Reading: Read up until the bottom of page 91 in Heart of Darkness
Due: Thursday, Mar 20 (2B, 3B) and Monday, Mar 24 (3G)

AP Lit 2B/3B/3G: Tone & Frankenstein & On Demand Writing

This week we started to tackle tone.  Little word.  Big deal.

We started with an on-demand of Wordsworth's "The World Is Too Much with Us"

Tone, the speaker's attitude toward the subject, may well be the most difficult literary device to identify and characterize.  We know what we mean when we say "tone of voice," and yet identifying the tone evident in a poem or selection of prose can be prove daunting and make one want to smack one's self in the face with a wooden spoon.  Repeatedly.

Remember how much we've talked about diction and its importance?

When it comes to tone, it isn't just the choice of words that matter.  It's their placement, the syntax, the structure.  And tone? Tone is all about what the audience hears in the words, making it one of the most human-centered design elements of the entire work.

For example. . .

This video is a presentation of Jonathan Reed's "Lost Generation."  Look at what happens when the words simply arrive in reverse order.

In class we discussed the difference between tone & mood.  (Tone contributes to the mood.) We determined that diction, syntax (word order in a sentence), structure (overall order of ideas), and context all contribute greatly to the tone.  

For the first time all year, I think, I failed to take pictures of the board and all of the notes accumulated.

That was not wise.

With the weather being what it is, one of our lessons from these two weeks is going decidedly digital and will serve as the blog post for this week.  It will NOT BE DUE UNTIL MONDAY, MARCH 17.

Blog: 3+ Posts

Req'd:

Read, annotate & then exploring the connections & disconnections -- similarities, dissimilarities, threads, insights, reveals -- between the following poems.  Consider also the subtitle of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: A Modern Prometheus

"Prometheus" by Lord Bryon

"Prometheus Unbound" by Percy Bysshe Shelley

"Prometheus" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Due: Monday, March 17

Comments on Frankliners are Coming VERY Soon (a.k.a. Wednesday)

Comments on Synthesis Essays are Coming VERY Soon (a.k.a. Sunday)

Revision Due Dates Are Coming.

Remember!  Analytical and writing process paper due in early April!