Quest on Syntax

Quiz on Syntax Terms next Monday October 7, 2013!

Poem for Homework due on Thursday October 3, 2013

Directions: Read the poem and discuss in two paragraphs how syntax contributes to the overall meaning in the poem. You must have at least five to seven sentences per paragraph.

  D. H. Lawrence

Snake

A snake came to my water-trough
On a hot, hot day, and I in pyjamas for the heat,
To drink there.
In the deep, strange-scented shade of the great dark carob-tree
I came down the steps with my pitcher
And must wait, must stand and wait, for there he was at the trough before
me. He reached down from a fissure in the earth-wall in the gloom
And trailed his yellow-brown slackness soft-bellied down, over the edge of
the stone trough
And rested his throat upon the stone bottom,
i o And where the water had dripped from the tap, in a small clearness,
He sipped with his straight mouth,
Softly drank through his straight gums, into his slack long body,
Silently. Someone was before me at my water-trough,
And I, like a second comer, waiting. He lifted his head from his drinking, as cattle do,
And looked at me vaguely, as drinking cattle do,
And flickered his two-forked tongue from his lips, and mused a moment,
And stooped and drank a little more,
Being earth-brown, earth-golden from the burning bowels of the earth
On the day of Sicilian July, with Etna smoking.
The voice of my education said to me
He must be killed,
For in Sicily the black, black snakes are innocent, the gold are venomous. And voices in me said, If you were a man
You would take a stick and break him now, and finish him off. But must I confess how I liked him,
How glad I was he had come like a guest in quiet, to drink at my water-trough
And depart peaceful, pacified, and thankless,
Into the burning bowels of this earth? Was it cowardice, that I dared not kill him? Was it perversity, that I longed to talk to him? Was it humility, to feel so honoured?
I felt so honoured. And yet those voices:
If you were not afraid, you would kill him! And truly I was afraid, I was most afraid, But even so, honoured still more
That he should seek my hospitality
From out the dark door of the secret earth. He drank enough
And lifted his head, dreamily, as one who has drunken,
And flickered his tongue like a forked night on the air, so black,
Seeming to lick his lips,
And looked around like a god, unseeing, into the air,
And slowly turned his head,
And slowly, very slowly, as if thrice adream,
Proceeded to draw his slow length curving round
And climb again the broken bank of my wall-face. And as he put his head into that dreadful hole,
And as he slowly drew up, snake-easing his shoulders, and entered farther,
A sort of horror, a sort of protest against his withdrawing into that horrid black hole,
Deliberately going into the blackness, and slowly drawing himself after,
Overcame me now his back was turned. I looked round, I put down my pitcher,
I picked up a clumsy log
And threw it at the water-trough with a clatter. I think it did not hit him,
But suddenly that part of him that was left behind convulsed in undignified haste.
Writhed like lightning, and was gone
Into the black hole, the earth-lipped fissure in the wall-front,
At which, in the intense still noon, I stared with fascination. And immediately I regretted it.
I thought how paltry, how vulgar, what a mean act!
I despised myself and the voices of my accursed human education. And I thought of the albatross
And I wished he would come back, my snake. For he seemed to me again like a king,
Like a king in exile, uncrowned in the underworld,
Now due to be crowned again. And so, I missed my chance with one of the lords
Of life.
And I have something to expiate:
A pettiness.

Male Athletes with a 3.0 or Higher Listen Up!

Please so see Ms. Hollins immediately about a scholarship opportunity!!!

Questions for Chapter 3 of Song of Solomon

 Directions: Answer these questions using complete sentences. Also, if you use words directly from the text make certain to put quotations around them and include the page numbers using parenthetical docuementation!

1.       What was the point of Railroad Tommy’s rant about what the boys were not going to be able to have?

2.       How did the fact that Milkman having intercourse for over six years change how he saw his mother?

3.       How does Toni Morrison characterize Doctor Foster using the opinions of Macon Dead Jr.? How is Dr. Foster’s influence seen in the personality and actions of his daughter, Ruth?

4.       What does Macon reveal to Milkman and how does that add to your understanding of the relationship Macon has with his wife?

5.       On page 75, Milkman begins to reflect on his mother. What does he say about her? More importantly, what does this characterization of his mother say about him?

6.       What does this revelation by Macon Dead Jr., cause Milkman to remember?

7.       List all of the men in the barber shop.

8.       What was the exchange between Freddie and Porter about? What allusion is referenced during this conversation? Where have we seen Porter before in the novel?

9.       Describe Mary’s. What made it so “special”?

10.   How does Guitar’s story about the doe relate to Milkman’s situation with his parents?

11.   According to Guitar, how do black people get their names?

12.   How does Morrison play on the name Dead at the end of Chapter 3?

How to Write About Syntax

I would recommend that you discuss syntax AFTER you have discussed the basics, diction, tone, and imagery. Alternatively, you might discuss syntax IN RELATION TO the basics. For example, you might discuss how the final lines in "The Crossing" convey-the sense of wonder in almost poetic form as the sentences are not really sentences at all, but are like the character's stream of consciousness.
Here are some guidelines.
When you see very long sentences, consider:
Is the author trying to replicate the physical movement of the character (as when McCarthy describes how the hunter in "The Crossing" carefully lowers the animal after cradling it in his arms, unwraps the body, and washes the blood off the sheet)?
Is the author trying to suggest confusion or simulate the rapid flow of ideas or emotions, as when Rachel silently and furiously denies that the sweater is hers?
Is the author piling on detail after detail to illustrate the enormity, weight, or extensiveness of something, like the enormous English breakfast and the extensiveness of English domination?
When you see very short sentences, consider:
Is the author trying to stress a key idea?
Is the author trying to sound objective and/or factual?
Is the author trying to convey anxiety or quicken the pace in contrast to longer, more complex ideas?
When you see parallelism ("on the sea, in the air, over the land...") consider:
Is the author trying to stress the sheer number of things?
Is the author trying to create rhythm, force, power?
Is the author trying to stir emotion? ("I have a dream ")
When you see repetition of key words or phrases ("Made in England"), consider:
Is the author trying to stress a key. idea?
Is the author using repetition to convey emotion, such as anger, bitterness, joy?

Aboukhadijeh, Feross. "Essay Tips: Syntax - What to Say About It" StudyNotes.org. StudyNotes, Inc., 17 Nov. 2012. Web. 19 Sep. 2013. <http://www.apstudynotes.org/english/sample-essays/syntax-what-to-say-about-it/>.

ASVAB TESTING INFO!!!

The ASVAB will be given on October 3, 2013 at TCHS. Please see Ms. Grate if you are interested!

Syntax AP Language Study Guide 2011