Gatsby Vocabulary Quiz

________________adj. sharing in the knowledge of (something secret or private).

________________v. pretend to be affected by (a feeling, state, or injury).

________________n. humor or frivolity, especially the treatment of a serious matter with humor or in a manner lacking due respect.

________________n. a published false statement that is damaging to a person's reputation; a written defamation.

________________having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views

as unworthy; cocky

________________to go with impatient or impetuous, exaggerated movements

________________to damage, ruin, deface

________________(noun) a short, four-wheeled, closed carriage, usually with a single seat for two passengers and an outside seat for the driver. (p. 53)

________________(verb) to walk during sleep, sleepwalk. (p. 69)

________________(noun) wasteful extravagence in spending (p. 40)

Privy

Feign

Levity

Libel

Supercillious

Flounce

Mar

coupé

somnambulate

prodigality

Gatsby Essay Question

Analyze how the American dream is portrayed in The Great Gatsby.

Gatsby 30 Second Questions

What sport does Jordan play?

In what state does the novel take place?

What is Gatsby's given name?

What college in England does Gatsby claim to have attended?

Where do Tom and Daisy live?

Five Minute Question

1.) How does Nick's perspective affect the reader's perception of the story?

2.) What is the difference between East Egg and West Egg?

Wallstreet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQOGfCy-K_c

Essay Question

Analyze one of the major themes of Howl.

30 Second Questions

Who did Ginsberg dedicate “Howl” to?

Who is part III of “Howl” about?

What word is repeated multiple times in the footnote?

What is Moloch?

How many parts are there in “Howl?"

Five Minute Question

What or who does Moloch represent?

Vocabulary Quiz

__________________: (adj) attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature.

__________________: (adj) intimate and affectionate but not sexual.

__________________: (noun) a completely empty space

__________________: (noun) an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.

__________________: (verb) think about.

__________________: a run-down and often overcrowded apartment house, especially in a poor section of a large city.

__________________: a small flat or folded sheet of printed matter, as an advertisement or notice, usually intended for free distribution.

__________________: semen, climax

__________________: any large, overpowering, destructive force or object, as war, a giant battleship, or a powerful football team.

__________________: having catatonia, a syndrome characterized by muscular rigidity and mental stupor.

Wordbank:

fascism

supernatural

contemplate

void

tenement

juggernaut

catatonic

gyzym

platonic

leaflet

Does everyone live in the same America?

Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,

And sinks into my throat her tiger's tooth,

Stealing my breath of life, I will confess

I love this cultured hell that tests my youth!

Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,

Giving me strength erect against her hate.

Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood.

Yet as a rebel fronts a king in state,

I stand within her walls with not a shred

Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer.

Darkly I gaze into the days ahead,

And see her might and granite wonders there,

Beneath the touch of Time's unerring hand,

Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand. 

"America," by Claude McKay is similar to the writing of both Ginsberg and Whitman and combined who thier views of America. The poem is stylistically different; it is a rhyming sonnet, while the work of he other two poets are more free form. At first the poem dipicts the authors contempt and hatred of America and how it is a corrupt nation, yet he claims to depend on "her" too. It is a love/hate relationship told using elaborate metaphors to emphasize his frustration for dependence. Both Ginsberg and Whitman wrote poems with the same title, where they discuss thier opinions of America too. Whitman is the more cynical of the two, effectively making a mockery of his country. He talks distainfully about America and disagrees with the Cold War. He also explains how society and conformity destroy the individuals and creativity, this is a parralell to Mckay's line, "stealing my breath of life." Whitman on the other hand celebrates America and appears to be patriotic at a glance. Whitman talks about all those who thrive in the country and explains how every person has a place or specific niche to fit into. This is a similarity to McKay's America, where he narrator is dependant on the country, just as Whitman's workers are dependant on America and the system they so neatly fit into. McKay's America is a perfect combination of both Whitman: who expresses love, and Ginsberg: who expresses hate and contempt. This shows that America is a an uncategorisable topic and will convey a different emotion to each author. 

Comparison

“An American Poem” by Eileen Myles describes the narrator’s personal journey from youth into adulthood.  This may sound very different than Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl,” which makes one political statement after another.  However, the poems share striking similarities.  For one, Myles’ narrator is homosexual, just like Ginsberg, who narrates “Howl.”  The narrator of “An American Poem” also sheds light on the struggles of homosexuals in the United States, just as Ginsberg does.  In both poems, American society as a whole is blamed for some of the struggles of gays and lesbians.  Furthermore, both poems feature graphic sexuality.  In “An American Poem,” Myles portrays actual sexual experiences.  In “Howl,” Ginsberg uses sexual language, such as “cock and endless balls.”  The fact that both poems go so far out on a limb by eliciting sexual thoughts gives them a bond unlike any other.

Restrictive Order

“Order” by Linda Kunhardt is similar to Ginsberg’s “Howl” and Whitman’s “Song of Myself.” In “Order,” each line describes an everyday activity or event in an ordinary person’s life, such as “a narrow girl sells purses made of reed.” This is similar to Canto 15 of “Song of Myself,” in which Whitman describes the different roles of individuals in society. They both target individuals and are fairly specific, however they seem to have a different message. Canto 15 celebrates individuals and their seemingly ordinary lives instead of judging them and sees each role being a crucial part for society to work and in order for each person to be able to define himself. “Order” does not imply that these ordinary activities are something one should celebrate, but sees them as acts that are constricting and meaningless. This idea is similar to Ginsberg’s idea of the absence of freedom where authoritative figures intervene. “Order” repeats a line multiple times “while chicken crammed in cages peck their seed,” in order to compare that image the other individuals Kunhardt describes. She implies that people are in “cages,” similarly how in “Howl,” people are stripped away form their freedom in asylum houses or factories.

USA

http://www.gradesaver.com/allen-ginsbergs-poetry/study-guide/section3/

According to this Gradesaver summary, the name “Moloch” that is used by Ginsberg repeatedly in part II is meant to represent all that is wrong with America.  The name was apparently chosen because it is the name of an ancient god who required lots of sacrifice.  The name choice, then, is a subtle criticism of the United States by Ginsberg.  However, Ginsberg makes many more criticisms of his country in part II.  To an extent, this is okay.  It was the 1950s, a time in which the Civil Rights situation in the United States was absolutely disgusting.  As a gay man, Ginsberg has especially good reason to be upset about this.  However, he goes overboard in part II.  He criticizes cities, industry, electricity, and banks.  He suggests that capitalism is inherently evil because it is creates poverty.  By criticizing things that have nothing to do with morals or Civil Rights, Ginsberg lets his bitterness become apparent.  He would be better off sticking to the issues he cares most deeply about, which are presumably social ones.  By trying to effect change in all aspects of society, he has hindered his ability to effect change in any aspect of society.  His bitterness towards totally acceptable aspects of American society hurts the chances of success that his more intelligent points could potentially have, because critical readers are able to denounce him as a hater of America based on tenuous evidence whose opinions on the nation cannot be taken seriously.

Moloch in Metropolis

In Part II of Ginsberg’s poem “Howl,” the word Moloch comes up to represent all that is bad or evil. Though oftentimes Moloch is associated with the Bible as an evil angel, Moloch also could be making a connection to the silent film Metropolis. The film is set in an industrial city and explores the dystopia of workers and owners in factories. After an accidental machine explosion in a factory that kills some of the workers, the protagonist starts to see the machine as a beast, which he calls Moloch. In the movie there are two classes of people: the workers and the oweners.  The workers live underground, while the owner live in the skyscrapers. Ginsberg makes reference to this: “Moloch whose skyscrapers stand in the long streets like endless Jehovas!” Drawing from the movie, Ginsberg is associating evil with the skyscrapers, which represent the authority figures. Therefore government, factories, and money are all evil figures that impose lifestyles on the comman man like the owners imposed hard work on the factory workers in the film.

Cosmopolitan Greetings Response

In "Cosmopolitan Greetings," Ginsberg draws from many prominent figures from the past and the current. Ginsberg directly references Einstein and Whitman, but also indirectly references Emerson and Thoreau. He does this in the first line when he writes; "Stand up against governments, against God." Emerson expressed these same thoughts when he wrote over a hundred years earlier. Both Ginsberg and Emerson believes that as long as one does not let oneself be confined by outer influences, one will make the right choices. While Emerson defines this fixed human nature as the oversoul, Ginsberg is more vague in that he argues that in order to let this fixed human nature come through, one has to be "irresponsible." The ultimate goal for humans in Emerson's and Ginsberg's eyes would be freedom. This freedom can be achieved by humanity, as it is humanity that defines the universe. According to Einstein humans define the universe, because humans are the ones observing it. Therefore, humans can achieve freedom by being and observing. 

Five A.M.

Poem Five A.M.

Part One

Gradesaver.com explains the title of the Ginsberg's poem in great depth. It explains that the title, "Howl", sets the story up for what it is. The website says that the title says to the reader that the poem will not be quiet, it will not be a happy little sonnet or ode. Instead, the poem will be one of noise. The poem will say things that the reader is not used to hearing. The poem will be unlike anything the reader has ever read. The epic will feature sex, drugs, and alcohol. It is interesting that a title can give so much information about a story

Hum Bum

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hum-bom/ 

Cosmopolitan greetings

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/cosmopolitan-greetings/

"Crossing Nation" by Allen Ginsberg

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/crossing-nation/

Why "Howl?"

http://www.gradesaver.com/allen-ginsbergs-poetry/study-guide/section1/

The Gradesaver account of Part I of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl”  discusses the choice of the title.  Ginsberg’s in-depth thinking in choosing the name “Howl” is analyzed.  This is fascinating because the poem itself does not clarify the reasoning for the title.  Never does anyone howl, nor are there any animals that howl in the poem.  Most readers will be confused by the title.  According to Gradesaver, however, it was chosen by Ginsberg to represent the feelings that he expresses in the poem.  He found it an appropriate verb to represent the breaking from an American culture that he found poisonous.  Ginsberg was entirely dissatisfied with his generation and its excessive submission to this culture, which in his mind stressed submissiveness and shunned ingenuity and uniqueness.  To Ginsberg, howling was to embrace ingenuity and uniqueness and shun traditional American culture.  He thought it important for an individual to go out on a limb and be creative.

Ginsberg's Inspiration

In the article “The Paradox of Howl,” Stephen Burt argues that Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” is hypocritical in that it captures and foresees the beginning of a new culture, but at the same time draws most of its information from the past. “Howl” imitates 17^th-century stanzaic poetry and observes the author’s own life experiences and his generation’s concerns. Ginsberg analyzed his classmates’ conformity to societal standards and the problems with his mentally ill mother. Ginsberg also draws from his time in the Columbia Psychiatric Institute with his fellow patient Carl Solomon. The poet is against Solomon’s confinement and uses his case as an example of the confinement of passion, self-expression and free thought in America. In that way, the poem resembles past European literature and existing ideas, such as that of the French comic playwright Molière. It is clear, that Ginsberg is not the first writer who is anti-establishment and that he has learned and drawn from many minds in the past. But what separated Ginsberg from the rest is the attention and intensity in the response he received after publishing his poem, which is mostly a result of the post-war time it was published in.

The Censorship Controversy

When Allen Ginsburg’s published his poem “Howl,” in the 1950s, the public did not respond very welcoming. Not only was the poem culturally shocking for its criticism of a psychially starved culture, but it was also excluded from most stores and libraries due to its obsenities. Thirty years later, the poem was broadcasted on the radio, over which the controversy arose yet again. The Federal Communications Commission posed a difficulty in the process, because of recent rulings on indecent language. Ginsberg himself was interviewed on this issue, and he takes a very rigid stance. Ginsberg called these rules intimidating and chilling for broadcasters and even went so far as to compare the United States government with the Soviet censorship bureaucracy. He claims that by regulating art, freedom of thought and speech is restricted, which should be a given right for a citizen of the United States, which claims to be a free country. Though a lot of people assume this issue has past, it is still very current and debated.

Allen Ginsberg and Walt Whitman

As a very public American figure and gay man during the middle of the twentieth century, his sexuality was a big part Allen Ginsberg’s image.  He made sure to promote homosexuality through his writing and to let it be known that he was very opposed to discrimination.  In 1955, Ginsberg challenged traditional American principles by publishing “Howl,” which included graphic sodomy.  It must be true, then, that Ginsberg admired writers who he felt embodied the spirit of standing up for what is right, even if most of America does not agree.  Ginsberg was known to revere Walt Whitman.  It is interesting just to imagine what in Whitman’s work appealed to Ginsberg.  Never did Whitman support homosexuality, nor address it.  Perhaps it was simply Whitman’s willingness to be different, by writing about nature and very interpersonal phenomenons while most American scribes were writing about the Civil War.  We may never know for sure.

Choate canto 15

The small soprano sings in the midst of the Mayeros,

The chef flips the omelets with a skilled hand, he lets them sit to perfection,

The dean scolds and punishes, handing out candy simultaneously,

The secretary signs the late clearance slips at last and already prepares an e-mail handing out Sunday Detention,

The News editor pulls an all-nighter, skimming through the articles in time for printing,

The petrified freshman paces up the hill, fighting the weight of his backpack pulling him down,

The dining hall monitor reaches for the boy’s hat,

The Junior deletes his facebook account during exam week,

The floozy looks left and right, she climbs out the first-floor window,

The girls eye her distastefully, the guys comment beastly,

(Miserable! I do not sneer nor heckle you;)

The school president makes his way up to the podium, while the back row fifth formers chant “Stuuuuu,”

The PG stares blankly at his Fundamentals of Precalculus  quiz,

The swimmer shaves off his hair into a Mohawk and bleaches its color out,

The pre-season lacrosse player sits antsy in his room as he endures restriction,

The candidate for vice president promises form Jacuzzis,

The freshman in love sneaks to the tennis court,

The suspicious dorm advisor hesitates in granting coed visitation,

The form president is stood up at the pool party,

The head of Athletics cracks his flat jokes,

The students pretend to think he is funny and laugh with him,

The bored girl turns on subtitles on her Netflix during Spanish class,

The Senior lays on the grass, not a care in the world,

The C-proctor preaches recycling and hopes to shock with statistics,

The fourth former hides his tin, the fratwater boy bites his lip,

The boar pen cheers with his chest painted gold and blue,

The Community Safety officer lingers in his car,

The kid recounts his sudden stomach symptoms to the nurse on test day,

The doctor hands the boy Advil for his broken arm,

The Greenwich boy flaunts his vineyard vines,

The varsity athlete avoids practice at the trainers,

Chapel bells ring throughout the campus,

The dorm sleeps and the school sleeps,

The graduating student sleeps by his roommate and the arriving student sleeps by his roommate;

And these tend inward to me, and I tend outward to them,

And such as it is to be of these more or less I am,

And of these one and all I am the Choate student.

Movie Project

The Song of the Choate Student

Five Minute Questions

1.) What is the overall tone of the poem?

2.) What is the importance of grass?

3.) What is the author’s take on judgement.

Thirty Second Questions

1.) In canto 1 who is Whitman celebrating?

2.) Is Whitman a positive narrator?

3.) How many cantos are there?

4.) Which canto describes the workers?

5.) What does the child ask the narrator about the grass?

Essay Questions

1)  What are Whitman's thoughts on his own place in the world?

2)  Is Whitman a narcissist?

Vocabulary Quiz

Vocabulary:

___________________: disdainfully proud, snobbish, scornfully arrogant, supercilious

___________________: temporary inactivity, cessation, or suspension

___________________: a secret or disguised way of writing; a code

___________________: to restore to health or strength

___________________: a system of Christian or other religious belief

___________________: mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, esp. in a difficult situation

___________________: across from side to side, transversely

___________________: incapable of being measured

___________________: the highest point, summit, peak

___________________: to look at or read (something) in an informal or relaxed way

Wordbank:

creed

athwart

acme

haughty

fathomless

abeyance
recuperated

Equanimity
to peruse
cipher

Subtle Criticism

From canto 32:

I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contain'd,

I stand and look at them long and long.

This selection from “Song of Myself” shows what Whitman values in a person.  By detailing the reasons for his admiration of animals, Whitman makes clear to the reader what human qualities are important to him.  In the ensuing lines, the poet goes on to profess his happiness with the fact that animals do not complain, do not feel sorry for themselves, do not discuss religion, are not material-obsessed, do not practice unwarranted deference to each other, and do not feel more important that “the whole earth.”  This passage is directed less to animals than it is to human beings.  By applauding animals for avoiding these bad habits, Whitman is demeaning fellow humans for doing them.  This may get lost in translation because he uses a separate medium to voice his qualms, but it is not surprising that the ever optimistic poet chooses to make his point by complementing a group of beings rather than by criticizing the real culprits.

Ultimate Knowledge

           Socrates once said that all he knows is that he knows nothing. In Canto 44 of “Song of Myself,” Walt Whitman seems to agree with this claim, as he writes: “What is known I strip away, I launch all men and women forward with me into the Unknown.” Whitman feels that in order to embark on his journey of finding truth, reality and his innermost self, he must abandon all his fundamental beliefs that have been established by society and have been drilled into his mind. For only by clearing himself from all outer influence, can he “launch into the Unknown.” The unknown is capitalized in this line, meaning it is the ultimate Unknown he is looking for. The ultimate Unknown might be referring to the ultimate truth from which people have been ignorant of all this time. Whitman wants other people to progress forward with him on this journey, and acknowledges that he does not know any more than other people and has yet to learn and reveal the truth too. In that sense he is like Plato; he may have theories and ideas, but the one and only aspect in which Whitman is more knowledgeable than the rest, is not his superior knowledge, but his wisdom of knowing that he knows nothing.

Cantos 21-24

Cantos 21-24 of Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” together have their own identity, similar yet distinguishable from the rest of the poem.  In these verses, Whitman begins discussion of evil.  Specifically, Whitman has the narrator claim that that character has an evil side.  Gone are self-glorifying statements such as this one from canto 5: “I have no mockings or arguments, I witness and wait.”  Instead, the narrator now makes self-accusatory statements as this from canto 22: “I am not the poet of goodness only, I do not decline to be the poet of wickedness also.”  Clearly, the tone has changed.  In cantos 1-20, the narrator said nothing bad about himself and spoke positively and happily about most everything.  Yet in cantos 21-24, the narrator’s voice becomes more negative as he lets the readers know about his potential for cruelty.  The narrator even goes on to deepen his connection to evil, saying later in canto 22, “Evil propels me and reform of evil propels me, I stand indifferent.”  Whether this narrator actually does perform evil acts is unproven at this point, but his discussion of them alone demonstrates a change from the opening twenty cantos.