Archive for July, 2008

American Literature

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

Puritanism and Native American Voices

(The New Land to 1750)

Navajo Tribe
The Navajo Origin Legend (oral legend)

Iroquois Tribe
The Iroquois Constitution (circa 1570)

Bradford, William (1590-1657)
The History of the Plymouth Plantation (1620)

Smith, John (1580-1631)

Bradstreet, Anne (1612?1672)
“Upon the Burning of Our House”
“TO My Dear Loving Husband”

Edwards, Esther (1732-1758)
“Diary Entries” (1743)

Edwards, Jonathan (1703-1758)
Religious Affections (1754)
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (1745)

The Revolutionary Period

(1750-1800)

Franklin, Benjamin (1706-1790)
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Wheatly, Phillis (1753-1784)
“On Being Brought to America from Africa”
“To His Excellency General Washington”

Henry, Patrick (1736?1799)
Speech in the Virginia Convention (1775)

Jefferson, Thomas (1743-1826)
The Declaration of Independence (1776)

Adams, Abigail (1744-1798)
Letter to Her Daughter from the New White House (1800)

A Growing Nation

(1800-1840)

Bryant, William Cullen (1794-1878)
“Thanatopsis” (1811)

Irving, Washington (1783-1859)
“The Devil and Tom Walker” (1824)
“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1820)

Poe, Edgar Allan (1809-1894)
“The Fall of the House of Usher”
The Tell Tale Heart

Romanticism: New England Renaissance

(1840-1855)

Hawthorne, Nathaniel (1804-1864)
“The Birthmark” (1843)
The Scarlet Letter (1850)

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth (1807-1882)
“Paul Revere’s Ride”

Holmes, Oliver Wendell (1809-1894)
“The Chambered Nautilus”
“The Last Leaf”

Lowell, James Russell (1819-1891)
“Selection from Biglow Papers”

Whittier, John Greenleaf (1807-1892)
“The Barefoot Boy”

Dickenson, Emily (1830-1886)
“Emancipation”
“I’m Nobody, Who Are You?”

Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882)
Poems

Thoreau, Henry David (1817-1862)
Walden (1854)
“Civil Disobedience” (1866)

Melville, Herman (1819-1891)
Billy Budd (1924)

Division War and Reconciliation

(1855-1865)

Whitman, Walt (1819-1892)
“O Captain, My Captain”

Negro Spirituals
“Go Down Moses”
“Deep River”
“Roll Jordan, Roll”
“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”

Lincoln, Abraham (1809-1865)
“The Gettysburg Address” (1863)

Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce (1840-1904)
“I Will Fight No More Forever” (1877 Surrender) -movie

Douglass, Frederick (1818-1895)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Realism, Naturalism and the Frontier

(1865-1915)

Twain, Mark (Samuel Clemens) (1835-1910)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)

James, Henry (1843-1916)
Portrait of a Lady (1881)
“Daisy Miller” (1878)

Washington, Booker T. (1856-1915)
Up From Slavery (1901)

Crane, Stephen (1871-1900)
Red Badge of Courage (1895)

Harte, Bret (1836-1902)
“The Outcasts of Poker Flat” (1869)

Chopin, Kate (1851-1904)
“The Story of an Hour” (1894)

Dreiser, Theodore (1871-1945)
Sister Carrie (1900)

London, Jack (1876-1916)
The Call of the Wild (1903)
White Fang (1906)

Masters, Edgar Lee (1868 -1950)
“Lucinda Matlock” (1916)

Robinson, Edwin Arlington (1869-1935)
“Richard Cory” (1897)
“Cassandra” (1921)
“Mr. Flood’s Party” (1921)

The Modern Age: Late Romanticism/Naturalism

(1915-1946)

Sinclair, Upton (1878-1968)
The Jungle (1906)

Warton, Edith (1862-1937)
Ethan Frome (1922)

20th Century Poetry:

Pound, Ezra (1885-1972)

Cather, Willa (1873-1945)
The Song of the Lark (1915)
My Antonia (1918)

Eliot, T.S. (1888 – 1965)
“Prufrock” (1915)
“Hippopotamus” (1920)
“The Wasteland” (1922)
Murder in the Cathedral (1935)
Stevens, Wallace (1879-1955)
Cummings, E.E. (1894-1962)
Crane, Hart (1899-1932)
“The Bridge” (1930)
“Voyages” (1923)
“At Melville’s Tomb (1926)

Milay, Edna St. Vincent (1892-1950)
“Harp Weaver”
“God’s World”
“Renascence”

Moore, Marianne (1887-1972)

Hughes, Langston (1902-1967)
A New Song (1933)

Frost, Robert (1874-1963)
“The Road Not Taken” (1916)
“Fire and Ice” (1916)
“Once by the Pacific” (1916)
“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” (1922)
“Nothing Gold Can Stay” (1923)
“Death of a Hired Hand”

Hemingway, Ernest (1899-1961)
A Farewell to Arms (1929)

Faulkner, William (1897-1962)
The Unvanquished (1938)

Hurston, Zora Neale (1901-1960)
Mules and Men (1935)
Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)

Steinbeck, John (1902-1968)
The Pearl (1947)

The Modern Age: Realism/Naturalism

(1946-1960)

20th Century Drama:

O’Neill, Eugene Gladstone (1888-1953)
The Emperor Jones (1924)

Hellman, Lillian (1905-1984)
The Little Foxes (1939)

Williams, Tennessee (1911-1983)
The Glass Menagerie (1945)

Miller, Arthur (1915-2005)
The Crucible (1953)

Knowles, John (1926-2001)
A Separate Peace (1959)

O’Conner, Flannery (1925-1964)
“Everything That Rises Must Converge” (1965)

Welty, Eudora (1909-2001)
“A Worn Path” (1940)

Porter, Katherine Anne (1890-1980)
“The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” (1930)

Contemporary Writers

(1960-Present)

Potok, Chiam (1929-2002)
The Chosen (1967)

Burns, Olive Ann (1924-1990)
Cold Sassy Tree (1984)

Skills for Literary Analysis Books/Resources

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

I normally do not “overtly” push my products, and, really, I am not trying to do that now. However, some of my readers, have asked me to include the books that I read in each of my books. Ergo, I am going to spend 3 days and do that.

Here is my Skills for Literary Analysis (a dialectic/logic level, grades 6-9, skill based, whole book literature course) books/resources:
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Foreward to Skills for Literary Analysis Part 12

Friday, July 25th, 2008

(Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2005), James P. Stobaugh

Social critic Os Guinness in his seminal work The Dust of Death (Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1973) prophetically argues that “western culture is marked . . . by a distinct slowing of momentum . . . a decline in purposefulness . . . Guinness implies that the ideals and traditions that have been central to the American civilization are losing their compelling cultural authority. There is, in short, no corpus of universally accepted morality that Americans follow. As Dallas Willard in The Divine Conspiracy (San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishers, 1997) states ” . . . there is no recognized moral knowledge upon which projects of fostering moral development could be based.”

In his poem “The Second Coming” William Butler Yeats writes

The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity
Turning and turning in the widening gyre,
The falcon cannot hear the falconer.

America in the beginning of the 21st century is spinning out of control. America is stretching its wings adventurously, but drifting farther away from its God. America is in trouble. How do we know? You are first generation to grow up when wholesale murder is legal; the first generation to access 130 channels and at the same time to access almost nothing of value. In 1993, James Patterson and Peter Kim in their book The Day America Told the Truth (NY: Simon & Schuster Publishers, Inc., 1993) warned that 87% of Americans do not believe that the Ten Commandments should be obeyed and 91% of them tell at least one lie a day. Unfortunately I doubt things are any better today than they were over 10 years ago. This is a time when outrage is dead. This is the challenge, the bad news.

The good news is that I think we are turning a corner. It is my belief that Americans in the near future will be looking to places of stability and strength for direction. Besides, by default, those people whose lives are in reasonable good shape, who have some reason to live beyond the next paycheck will have almost an inexorably appeal. Those who walk in the light will draw others into the very-same light. My prayer is that this curricula will help you walk in the light.

It is my belief, at the very time that 21st century Americans are searching for truth, at the very time they are hungry for things of the Lord God is raising a mighty generation! You will be the culture-creators of the next century. You are a special generation.

Young people, it is my strong belief that you are the generation God has called for such a time as this to bring a Spirit-inspired revival. At the beginning of this century God is stirring the water again. He is offering a new beginning for a new nation. I believe, you are the personification of that new beginning.

You are part of one of the most critical generations in the history of Western culture. Indeed, only the generation of which Augustine was a part comes close in importance to your generation. In both cases—today and during thee life of Augustine, Bishop of Hippo—civilizations were in decline. Young Augustine lived through the decline of the Roman world; you are living through the decline of American cultural superiority. However, the barbarians conquered Rome; the Christians conquered the barbarians.

As did Anne Bradstreet and other young Puritans who settled in 1630 Boston, you will need to replace this old, tired culture with a new God-centered, God-breathed society, or our nation may not survive another century.

To that end, this book is dedicated to the ambitious goal of preparing you to be twenty-first century world changers for the Christ whom John Milton in Paradise Lost called “the countenance too severe to be beheld.” (VI, 825)

Preface to Skills for Literary Analysis Part 11

Thursday, July 24th, 2008

(Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2005), James P. Stobaugh

Lesson Twelve *How Green Was My Valley, Richard Llewellyn Narration Problems in Style: Parallelism

Lesson Thirteen *Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll Theme Problems in Style: Keep Related Words Together

Lesson Fourteen *Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll Parody Problems in Style: Irregardless vs. Regardless

Lesson Fifteen “Oracle of the Dog,” G. K. Chesterton Dialogue Problems in Style: Different than vs. Different from

Lesson Sixteen *Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis Humor vs. Satire Problems in Style: Colloquialisms

Lesson Seventeen *Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe Tone: Propaganda Problems in Style: Misused Words

Lesson Eighteen *Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe Allegory Problems in Style: Misused Words

Lesson Nineteen *Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank Character Development Problems in Style: Misused Words

Lesson Twenty *Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank Setting Problems in Style:
Writer in the Background

Lesson Twenty-One *Silas Marner, George Eliot Plot: Coincidence Problems in Style: Overworked Words

Lesson Twenty-Two *Silas Marner, George Eliot Tone: Irony and Sentimentality Problems in Style:
Periods for Commas

Lesson Twenty-Three *Silas Marner, George Eliot Theme Problems in Style: Consistency

Lesson Twenty-Four *The Religious Life of the Negro, Booker T. Washington Precis Problems in Style:
Specific, Definite Language

Lesson Twenty-Five *Anne of Green Gables, L. Maude Montgomery Characterization Problems in Style:
Quotation Marks

Lesson Twenty-Six *Anne of Green Gables, L. Maude Montgomery Theme Problems in Style: Using Unnecessary Words

Lesson Twenty-Seven *Ivanhoe, Sir Walter Scott Plot Problems in Style: Same Size Font

Lesson Twenty-Eight *Ivanhoe, Sir Walter Scott World Views in Characters Problems in Style: Misused Words

Lesson Twenty-Nine *Shane, Jack Warner Schaefer Tone: Suspense Problems in Style: Write in Positive Style

Lesson Thirty *Shane, Jack Warner Schaefer Character: Internal Conflict Problems in Style: Wordy

Lesson Thirty-One *A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare Literary Review: Drama Problems in Style: Use of Exclamation Points

Lesson Thirty-Two “Letters,” C. S. Lewis Literary Review: Letters Problems in Style: Misused Words

Lesson Thirty-Three “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere,” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Literary Review: Poetry Problems in Style: Review

Lesson Thirty-Four “Lady or the Tiger,” Frank Stockton Literary Review: Short Story Problems in Style: Review

Lesson Thirty-Five Final Project Final Project Final Project

*Must be obtained by the student (or downloaded).

I join you in prayer for our young people that they will pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. That they will fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which they were called when they made their good confession in the presence of many witnesses (1 Timothy 6:11-12). May they fulfill all our dreams and more as they bring this country and world back to our Lord.

Preface to Skills for Literary Analysis Part 10

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

(Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2005), James P. Stobaugh

Parent/Educators’ Roles and Responsibilities
It is the parent/educator’s responsibility to:
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Preface to Skills for Literary Analysis Part 9

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

(Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2005), James P. Stobaugh

Special Needs Strategies

Skills for Literary Analysis is a perfect course to use with learning disability students. The unit studies format lends itself well because the parent/educator can skip some literary works and teach others. Each unit stands alone. The parent/educator is free to spend as much time on each unit. Besides the ability to skip very difficult works, he may also choose the question(s) he wishes to do. For example, the student may be assigned the Literary Analysis Question and Biblical Application Question but skip the Challenge Question. The parent/educator may want to help the student read the more difficult readings by providing unabridged a book tape copy of the assigned text. Book tapes of most works can be obtained from Our Main Site.

Preface to Skills for Literary Analysis Part 8

Monday, July 21st, 2008

(Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2005), James P. Stobaugh

Spiritual Development of the Student
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Preface to Skills for Literary Analysis Part 7

Friday, July 18th, 2008

(Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2005), James P. Stobaugh

Goals and Objectives

Learning how to write literary analysis will never be easy. The student will have to commit himself to a year long, indeed, lifelong, discipline of learning. However, this book takes age-appropriate literature and, in incremental ways, invites the student to learn how to write about specific literary techniques.
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Preface to Skills for Literary Analysis Part 6

Thursday, July 17th, 2008

(Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2005), James P. Stobaugh

This course implements mostly higher level thinking exercises: application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. There will be a few knowledge, comprehension, and application questions on the tests.

What does it mean “to think critically?”
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Preface to Skills for Literary Analysis Part 5

Wednesday, July 16th, 2008

(Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2005), James P. Stobaugh

The following is a literary critical paper concerning the main character in the modern American novel A Separate Peace, by John Knowles.
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