Poetic Scansion

Yesterday we began our glorious (or maybe dreaded?) poetry unit. We had a great discussion about scansion. HERE is the note-sheet from yesterday. HERE is the PowerPoint. So far we have covered through slide 15.

Today we will continue our exploration of poetic meter with some activities around syllable stresses (iambic, trochaic, etc.) HERE is the note-sheet for today.

Things Fall Apart & Anti-Colonialism

Today we talked about colonialism and our own stereotypes and assumptions about Africa. We began the hour by watching Taylor Swift's music video for "Wildest Dreams" and the 2014 Louis Vuitton campaign (both below). We considered these problematic depictions of Africa that completely leave out Africans!






I gave THIS lecture about Chinua Achebe and his inspiration for the novel Things Fall Apart.

HERE is the handout, "How to Write About Africa" by Wainaina

HERE is the full clip of John Stewart's interview with Trevor Noah called "Spot the Africa."

HERE is the full text of Achebe's article, "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'"

Tragedy Terms

Today we continued our discussion on the history of Greek tragedy. We got more specific about the language of tragedy, specifically:

• catharsis
• dithyramb
• tragodia
• tragedy
• chorus
• peripety
• hubris
• hamartia

HERE is the PowerPoint I gave today.

Tiresias & Oedipus (Background)

Hello!

Today you all had to listen to the very dry, very boring back stories of Tiresias and Oedipus. Just kidding! The Greeks were crazy and (let's face it) I'm a brilliant story teller.

HERE is a copy of the PPT I gave. There were a lot of important terms today. I really want you to understand:

• Foresight (Tiresias' gift)
• Sophocles' dates
• Oracle at Delphi
• Sybil
• 3 inscriptions at Delphi
• Oedipus' parents (Laius & Jacosta)
• transgression
• taboo