Literature

Discuss how the characters Gwendolyn and Cecily break gender roles.

Discuss the symbol “blue roses” used by Jim as a nickname for Laura. How does it show some of her specific characteristics?

Guernica by Pablo Picasso

Check out this site for the words Ballad of the Dead Ladies of Yesteryear by François Villon ( Oú sont les neiges d’antan? Where are the snows of yesteryear?)

http://lachlan.bluehaze.com.au/snows_of_yesteryear.htm

Is Lady Macbeth as guilty as Macbeth in the murder of the King? Comment and explain your answer.

1. Instead of you, say thou. Instead of y’all, say thee.
2. Rhymed couplets are all the rage.
3. Men are Sirrah, ladies are Mistress, and your friends are all called Cousin.
4. Instead of cursing, try calling your tormenters jackanapes or canker-blossoms or poisonous bunch-back’d toads.
5. Don’t waste time saying “it,” just use the letter “t” (’tis, t’will, I’ll do’t).
6. Verse for lovers, prose for ruffians, songs for clowns.
7. When in doubt, add the letters “eth” to the end of verbs (he runneth, he trippeth, he falleth).
8. To add weight to your opinions, try starting them with methinks, mayhaps, in sooth or wherefore.
9. When wooing ladies: try comparing her to a summer’s day. If that fails, say “Get thee to a nunnery!”
10. When wooing lads: try dressing up like a man. If that fails, throw him in the Tower, banish his friends and claim the throne.

From: http://www.talklikeshakespeare.org/

This is the type of theatre in which Shakespeare’s plays were presented.

In what way does the magical world show types of problems that can occur in the real world?

Harry Potter lives in two worlds that are parallel to each other, yet really elongs to the magical world. Discuss in what way the magical world is more colourful and creative than the ‘real’ world.

Bilbo leaves his home, his common everyday life and starts a quest or an adventure as it is called in the book. He is in fact forced by Gandalf to begin his journey.  In the first nine chapters, we see Bilbo facing perils, going into the ‘underworld’ twice, and facing episodes that are part of fairy stories. We also see that Bilbo is a fairy story ‘hero’ because he is the unexpected hero, the one no one, besides Gandalf, thinks has the capacity for heroic actions. Discuss the above elements in your first blog about Bilbo.

By the way, the header is an illustration of Bag End by John Howe. You can see more of his illustrations of Tolkien’s work at: http://www.john-howe.com/portfolio/gallery/