Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Great Gatsby Analytical Writing Essay Example for Free

Great Gatsby Analytical Writing Essay Gatsby is a pillar of the American literary canon and has been woven over generations into the very fabric of American culture. You should read this text carefully and interactively – annotating your text so that, during class discussions, you are able to find and reference meaningful passages. On the second day of classes you will turn in a well-crafted, thoughtful essay of 3-6 pages. Your essay must be typed, doubled spaced, in 12 pt. Times New Roman font, with one-inch margins and formatted according to proper Modern Language Association (MLA) standards [proper header, page numbers, and parenthetical citations]. If you have any doubt about how to write in MLA format, consult the most recent edition of the MLA handbook (available in the ISS library). This will be my first encounter with your formal writing. Some things to consider when writing a formal literary analysis paper: 1.The paper should have a defined, focused, and assertive argument (thesis). 2.The paper should be written in third person (no use of â€Å"I,† â€Å"we,† â€Å"you,† etc.). 3.The paper should be written in the literary present tense (e.g. â€Å"Gatsby goes† as opposed to â€Å"Gatsby went†). 4.The paper should paraphrase and quote specific passages as evidence to support claims. 5.Quoted material should be properly assimilated in the student’s writing. 6.The paper should be structured according to a logical progression for the argument. 7.The paper should be thoroughly edited for proper grammatical usage. 8.The paper should hold the reader’s interest. 9.Good essays have interesting titles. Options for responding to the text: 1.Choose two characters in the work and compare them – noting their similarities and differences. Do so, though, not merely on a surface level, but in such a way that you explore the greater issues and concerns of the novel that the characters’ represent. 2.Choose two particular places that represent two opposing forces or ideas that are central to the novel. Write an essay explaining how the places differ, what each place represents, and how their contrasting contributes to the meaning of the work. 3.Choose at least two â€Å"social† scenes from the novel and discuss how these scenes establish some of the values or concerns that pervade the novel.

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Henrik Ibsen Essay -- essays research papers

In the plays Ghosts, An Enemy of the People, and Wild ducks by Henrik Ibsen there are many similar themes, which become evident to the reader. A theme, which is consistant though out these plays, is the opposing values of the Ideal and the Real. The views of the idealist versus the realists make for many duels between the two personalities. The theme of idealism versus realism is also dealt with in the play The Wild Duck. Gregers Werle has avoided his father, whom he detests, by spending fifteen years in the family mining concern. Gregers is so unattractive in appearance that he has given up all hope of marrying and having a family. Instead he has become an idealist and goes about advocating and preaching a theme of truth and purity. He calls his mission the â€Å"claim of the ideal.† His father, Old Werle, has allegedly driven his sick wife to her death by carrying on love affairs in his own home. Once he had his serving girl, Gina, as his mistress. Arranging her marriage with Hialmar Ekdal, the son of his former partner, Werle also sets the couple up in the profession of photography. Hialmar is pleased with his marriage and believes that Gina’s child is his own daughter. Lieutenant Ekdal, Werle’s former partner, is now a broken old man. He does odd jobs for Werle. He is now living with Hialmar and Gina. Gregers Werle comes to Hialmar and explains the claim of the ideal and tries to make Hialmar see that his marriage is based on a lie. But rather than making Hialmar happy by understanding the true nature of his marriage, Gregers only succeeds in turning Halmar against his daughter, Hedvig. The daughter, in order to prove her love for her father who is rejecting her, takes a pistol and kills herself. The Wild Duck is a play in which reality versus idealism becomes a structural feature. Each scene illustrates this dualism. First Gregers confronts his father, a realist, and accuses him of a life built on lies and deception. The conflict between Gregers and his father reveals a lot about the two. It shows that Gregers is obsessed with the truth and in changing the wrongs of the past. This is shown when he attacks his father’s ability to allow Ekdal to be found solely guilty for crimes in which both men were involved. He also attacks his father for his ulterior motives in having Hialmar and Gina married, for the death of his wife, and for his intended marriage to ... ...appear. At the end of the play it is not clear what she will do.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first Act of the play Ghosts had many functions. It introduces the characters, illustrates the central problem of the play, and gives the reader the essential story line. Through this Ibsen carefully forewarns his audience of the themes he will develop in later acts. The protagonist, Mrs. Alving is shown to have somewhat of a dual personality. Although she reads controversial literature she continues to conform to the wishes of the church and community. She also speaks about her husband and his reckless life and how she hid the truth from her son, Oswald. Despite her husbands acts she wishes to hide these truths by creating an orphanage in his name.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Manders, is one of the characters who can be considered somewhat of a idealist. His ideals are not so righteous as those of Dr. Stockmann or Gregers Werle, however. Unlike the previous two plays this play has the most concrete message in that it definitely shows that Manders’ idealism is wrong and can no truly be realized. Manders’ idealism results in the destruction of the four major characters in this play.

Monday, January 13, 2020

Intro to Jazz Study Guide

What shaped American Music? * People: conglomeration of cultures. The Elements of Popular Music * Harmonic Progression * Chords that are changing in harmony * Call and Respond * A musical phrase in which the first and often solo part is answered by a second and often ensemble part * Rhythm Four Basic Qualities of Musical Sound * Duration: how long or short * Intensity: how loud or soft * Pitch: how fast or slow the sound vibrates; how high or low * Timbre: distinctive â€Å"color† of the sound; ex. Sax vs.Violin The combination of these four musical elements are what help to organize the music. Duration -> Rhythm (mixture or long and short notes) Intensity -> Dynamics (pp p mp mf f ff) Pitch -> Melody and Harmony * Melody is one note at a time * Harmony is chords where you have notes stacked up together; notes sounding simultaneously Timbre becomes Instrumentation * Tessitura: how an instrument sounds in different ranges Previous Exam Question Rhythm Section – developed in America and set the foundation of today’s music 1. Chord Instrument 2.Bass Instrument 3. Percussion Instrument Texture – How the music is â€Å"interwoven† * Classical and Jazz: counterpoint * Rock Styles: homophonic Counterpoint vs. Homophonic * Counterpoint: a contrapuntal texture, 2-3 or more melodies work together to create the rhythmic energy in piece. * Homophonic: where the bass line coincides with chords (provides roots) Terms to Know Tempo: speed of the beat (think of a metronome) Surface Rhythms: faster rhythms that are emphasized over the basic tempo Measure: a group of beats delineated barlines which separate measures.Meter/Time Signature: how many beats within a bar (3/4, 4/4) The Basic Rhythms * Quarter-notes * Eighth-notes * Triplets * Sixteenth-notes Evolution of rhythm in Twentieth-Century Pop Music 1920’s – Foxtrot, two-beat (half-notes) 1930-40’s – Swing, four-beat (quarter-notes) 1950-60’s – Rock n’ Roll (eighth-notes) 1970-80’s – Latin-Rhythms in pop music and disco (sixteenth-notes) 1990’s – Techno (thirty-second notes) Backbeat- something is struck on beats TWO and FOUR * found commonly in almost all American popular music Melody * The horizontal organization of pitches Involving Shape and Rhythem * Riff based melodies * Repetition or Development Scale * the â€Å"normal† scale – technically known as Major Scale * Octave 1-8 * â€Å"Key† * major and minor * Seven chords in a key Previous Exam Questions * three most important chords – I IV V * Most common progression in jazz – II V I American Music Heritage Previous Exam Question: * Three Main Sources * The European Heritage (Classical Music) * Anglo-American Folksong (Folk Music) * African Heritage * Western Music * Carefully crafted melodies * High point/low point in line.Careful text setting * Syllabic vs. Melismatic * Syllabic – one syllable o f text for every note. * Melismatic – melody covered several notes for one syllable of text * Harmony – sophisticated hierarchy of chords * Ex: I ii iii IV V vi vii * Form – teleological form/goal-oriented forms/sectionalized * Ex: sonata form, minuet and trio form etc. AABA and ABAB * Westerns favorite forms that had chunks * Notation – music of extreme specificity * Created the orchestra – establishment of ensemble units, orchestration Neumes’ * how high or low the melodies are. Two most common forms in Jazz * AABA * ABAB Anglo-American Folk Song * Lots of repetition with no variation * Little harmonic variety * Verse-chorus form African-American Heritage * Percussion plays continuously with a vocal line sung or spoken over top of the drums * Rhythm and Texture: syncopation, complex rhythmic layering, vocals and non-pitched instruments, smooth continuum between speech and song. * Form: stasis; not goal-oriented, not sectionalized * Harmony : no chord progression, harmonic stasis Call and Repsonse Griot and the Kora African story teller and west African harp Previous Exam Question: * Between 1750 and 1843, over 5,000 theater and circus productions included blackface (mockery of the African-American race and culture) – turned into musical shoes – minstrelsy Stephen Foster * The most famous songwriter of the nineteenth-century American popular music. * Foster composed both minstrel and parlor songs Words to Know Arpeggio – color of an instrument – acoustic principle make it sound different Tempo – speed of the beatMeter – how many counts per measure Riff – short, repeated pattern The Blues * A feeling indicated by the lyrics * A style of various types of inflections: bent notes, rough voice, cracked notes etc. * A form – 12-bar blues * Perpetual noodling/riffs over the blues scale * Blue notes (note not within the major scale * Read/Repeat/Rhyme lyrics * Two types o f blues * Country Blues * Oldest type of blues * Work songs, evening entertainment * Urban Blues * Forms and harmonic pacing are much more fixed than the country blues. Cyclical Form Blues would loop around the circle of I IV V chords Bessie Smith * In the 1920’s massive migration of Afro-American to the north * â€Å"Empress of Blues† * Rough Style * Blues on Stage – vaudeville troupes W. C. Handy – Father of the Blues. First to publish a blues song. – St. Louis Blues – combine fox-trot beat with blues form! Dominate Chords in Jazz * I IV V Lyric/Poetic Form (Read/Repeat/Rhyme) Previous Exam Question * Line 1 (Statement), Line 2 (Repeated), Line 3 (Varied with end-rhyme) Words to Know Pentatonic Scale – doesn’t always have a sharp 4Blues – Form of music. Form relates to lyrics and chord progression. Lyric Form – State, Repeat, Rhyme Country Blues – Free in Form Urban Blues – 12 Bar Blues Ragtime â⠂¬â€œ Syncopation * Piano Rags * Ragtime Songs Marching Music * John Phillip Sousa becomes the greatest conductor and composer of his time for march music. * Woodwinds * Brass * Percussion * Sectionalized form * 16 Bar Strains * The â€Å"C† portion is the â€Å"Trio† and is played in softer dynamics * Two-beat feel – low brass playing beats 1 and 3 * Cymbals on the backbeat. *