Week 2 Syllabus: April 2
WE ARE WRAPPING UP OUR EPIC POETRY unit this and next week, completing a quick review of all our English skills that we’ve been practicing, as well as writing a personal narrative and completing an annotated bibliography on a Greek god/hero before moving on into drama. For this unit, we will read and practice performing Seamus Heaney’s translation of Sophocles’ play “Antigone,” which he calls “Burial at Thebes.” We will then move into our reading performance of Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet.” That will be the next book you’ll need to purchase—more detail on that next week.
TUESDAY, April 2
Practicing our poetry analysis skills, and the three rules of poetry.
Our focus will be the poem, “Ithaka.” After individual annotation and class-wide discussion, we’ll write a paragraph in small groups.
After posting these on Squarespace classroom blog, we will turn our attention to a Smithsonian article on geographic Ithaka.
Collecting your Odyssey annotations, and new seating chart.
HW: Read the end of this graphic novel version of the epic poem, pages 58-71, which retells Odysseus’ return to Ithaca. That’s located here. Also, read through the seven paragraphs posted on Squarespace about the poem, “Ithaka.”
THURSDAY, April 4
Starting in the same groups as Tuesday, analyzing your (and other groups’) paragraph about the poem “Ithaka.”
Revising these paragraphs, and posting the revision as a comment to your first draft.
Shifting into Greek drama, we will read an overview of Sophocles tragedies: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone.
HW: Read through the first half of the play for class on Monday, page 5 through 38. Here’s a link to the play. We will meet in the library next week for research work on Greek mythology—starting with Antigone!