How many RPMs, Christina?

So at the risk of sounding poetically prudish, which we might as well be for the duration of this semester, here's a recording of our now-tired carol of the Midwinter, from BBN online.
Listen to the last line of the poem and compare it to the original we learnt in class. Sure, everyone messes up on it, turning Rossetti's declaration in the indicative into an interrogative.  But how fast do you think Rossetti is spinning as they mangle it?
PS: compare the other carol with this.

Holiday Homework for Everybody

Grade 9
If you can, read all of The Pearl, inserting at least 5 comments or questions that you have. For example, inserting a definition, pronunciation tip, or useful website on a difficult term (e.g. pulque) would qualify as 1 comment.

Grade 10
Read all of The Pearl at least once, at least 11 pages per day, inserting at least 5 comments or questions that you have. For example, inserting a definition, pronunciation tip, or useful website on a difficult term (e.g. pulque) would qualify as 1 comment.

Fill in the worksheet after you finish, and being it back to class in the new year.

Grades 11 - 12

Complete your assignments and upload them to your blog, esp. versions 1-3.

Listen to the Macbeth commentary audio at least twice. Then let me know your selected passage to perform and your paper proposal. As a reward, enjoy this Harvard lecture!

Cheatsheet - Midwinter, FWIW

Here's a suggested treatment of the poem we've been working on:

A different, more reader-responsive approach,  titled "Snow on Snow."

TOEFL FUN QUIZ

Yeah right

Macbeth Act 1 Scenes 1-2 (till audio 8:10) ... Plus!

Go ahead, folks, and post your selection (Cliff's page and line numbers) and modern translation.


Act 1 Scene 3 8:10
Act 1 Scene 4 16:10
Act 1 Scene 5 19:35

Act 1 Scene 6 24:25

Act 1 Scene 7 26:30

Act 2 Scene 1 31:40
Act 2 Scene 2 36:00
Act 2 Scene 3 41:00
Act 2 Scene 4 50:10

Act 3 Scene 1 53:13
Act 3 Scene 2 1:01:10
Act 3 Scene 3 1:04:40
Act 3 Scene 4 1:06:10
Act 3 Scene 5 1:15:10
Act 3 Scene 6 1:17:32


Act 4 Scene 1 1:20:45
Act 4 Scene 2 1:30:10
Act 4 Scene 3 1:34:22
Act 4 Scene 4 1:?:?


Act 5 Scene 1
Act 5 Scene 2 1:53:35
Act 5 Scene 3 1:55:30
Act 5 Scene 4 1:53:35

Looking to Become an English academic?

Well, the future's a bleak midwinter for all but one kind of English PhDs, according to this report.
But we seek and we trust the will of our sovereign Master.

List of Literary Devices

Literary Devices 

Which are relevant to "Midwinter"?

• Alliteration
• Allusion
• Anthropomorphism
• Assonance
• Asyndeton
• Authorial Intrusion
• Caesura ... but how about Enjambment?!
• Chiasmus
• Juxtaposition
• Onomatopoeia
• Polysyndeton