Timed Writing

You have 40 minutes in which to complete the following timed essay.  Please begin your time with your first reading of the prompt.

The following open ended question was taken from the 2010 AP Literature and Composition Exam.

BEGIN TIME - 40 minutes

"In the following soliloquy from Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part II, King Henry laments his inability to sleep.  In a well-organized essay, briefly summarize the King's thoughts and analyze how the diction, imagery, and syntax help to convey his state of mind."

How many thousand of my poorest subjects
Are at this hour asleep!  O sleep!  O gentle sleep!
Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,
That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down,
And steep my senses in forgetfulness?                   (5)
Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs,
Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee,
And hush'd with buzzing in night-flies to thy slumber,
Than in the perfum'd chambers of the great,
Under the canopies of costly state,                        (10)
And lull'd with sound of sweetest melody?
O thou dull god, why liest thou with the vile
In loathsome beds, and leav'st the kingly couch
A watch-case or a common 'larum-bell?
Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast                (15)
Seal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains
In cradle of the rude imperious surge,
And in the visitation of the winds,
Who take the ruffian billows by the top,
Curling their monstrous heads and hanging them   (20)
With deaf'ning clamour in the slippery clouds,
That with the hurly death itself awakes?
Canst thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose
To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude
And in the calmest and most stillest night,              (25)
With all appliances and means to boot,
Deny it to a King? Then, happy low, lie down!
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.
__________________________________
huts
not impartial

Words to Know Week 6

epitome
pragmatic
laconic
languid

Words to Know Week 5

myopic
conundrum
paradoxical
oblivious

Words to Know Week 4

antiquity
superficial
disconcerting
trepidation

The Canterbury Tales: Symbolism

Please discuss the following three symbols from "The Prologue": springtime, clothing, and physiognomy.

Questions to consider for springtime:
     1. What does Spring represent?
     2. What does Spring have in common with a pilgrimage?
     3. Why is this time of year particularly suited to a journey?

Questions to consider for clothing:
     1. Why did Chaucer spend time describing what each pilgrim was wearing?
     2. What do our clothes symbolize?

Information you need to know for physiognomy:
     1. In Chaucer's day people believed that members of a particular social class
         shared the same physical features.

This should be three separate paragraphs.

       

I apologize for the quality of this video. Listen as best you can and take notes.  I will want to see them.