Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge

Author Overview

Ambrose Bierce was born in 1842 in Ohio. He was an editorialist, short story writer and journalist, among other jobs. His most famous short story is "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge", which was originally published in 1890. He is known for his use of dark imagery, vague references to time and war-themed pieces. In 1913, as he travelled to Mexico, Bierce disappeared, thus his year of death is unknown.
Ambrose Bierce's writing was influenced was influenced by his military career (he was a major) and his uncle who was an army general. He decided to start writing in part because his father owned a library, but mainly because he could not fight in the war any longer.

Story Overview

The story was published in 1890 and is set in the 1860s, during the Civil War, in Alabama. It's main character is Peyton Farquhar, a slave owner and Confederate sympathizer who is condemned to death by hanging.

Imagery

1. "They hurt his ear like the thrust of a knife."

2. "The wind made in their branches the music of Aeolian harps."

3. "Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received with formal manifestations of respect..."

4. "They seemed like streams of pulsating fire heating him to an intolerable temperature."

5. "...he swung through unthinkable arcs of oscillation, like a vast pendulum."

Vocabulary

1. Swift: moving or capable of moving with great speed or velocity; rapid

2. Stout: strong and thick or heavy

3. Sentinels: a solder stationed as a guard to challenge all comers and prevent a surprise attack

4. Secessionist: a person who secedes, advocates secession, or claims secession as a constitutional right

5. Chafed: to be irritated or annoyed

6. Driftwood: wood floating on a body of water or cast ashore by it

7. Ramification: the act or process of branching out or diving

8. Locusts: any of several grasshoppers of the family Acrididae

9. Oscillating: to swing or move to and fro, as a pendulum does

10. Ineffable: incapable of being expressed or described in words

The Nightingale and the Rose

Author Overview

The story was written by Oscar Wilde, an Irish playwright, poet, and author, born in 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. He was one of the greatest playwrights and celebrities of his time. One of his most popular plays is "The Importance of Being Earnest", which is still performed today. His story "The Nightingale and the Rose" was written for his two sons. Wilde was imprisonned for two years after being convicted for homosexuality. Following his release from prison, he left Britain and never came back. He died in 1900.

Symbolism

1. Student: The student, to me, symbolizes to things; first of all, he symbolizes young love, passionate love, and second of all, he symbolizes naivety.

2. Nightingale: The nightingale is a representation of the motherly figure, who would give her life in order to see her child, or in this case the student, happy and loved.

3. Oak Tree: The oak tree is a symbol for friendship, another form of love.

4. Princess: The princess is a symbol for materialism and how possessions and riches can surpass love in importance for some people.

5. Red Rose: The red rose represents love and how even though you must work hard to obtain it, it is easily thrown away.

Imagery

1. Personification: "But the Tree shook it's head."

2. Simile: "She passed through the grove like a shadow..."

3. Metaphor: "...the Sun in his chariot of gold..."

4. Alliteration: "...and I will sing you my sweetest song." (s)

5. Assonance: "...kisses the lips of the bride." (i)

6. Consonance: "Crimson was the girdle of the petals, and crimson as a ruby was the heart." (r)

Vocabulary

1. Opals: a kind of gem made from an amorphous form of silica, found in many varieties and colours

2. Cynic: a person who believes that only selfishness motivates human actions and who disbelieves in or minimizes selfless acts or disinterested points of view

3. Grove: a small wood or forested area, usually with no undergrowth

4. Spray: a single, slender shoot, twig or branch, with its leaves, flower or berries

5. Nipped: to affect sharply and painfully or injuriously, as a very cold temperature

6. Hawthorn: any of numerous plants belonging to the genus Cratageus, of the rose family, typically a small tree with stiff thorns

7. Chamberlain: a high official of a royal court

8. Girdle: anything that encircles, confines, or limits

9. Ecstasy: rapturous delight

10. Reel: a device, such as a cylinder, spool, or frame, that turns on an axis and is used for winding and storing rope, tape, film, or other flexible materials

WRITING

Sentence Patterns

Vocabulary

1. S: subject

2. V: verb

3. P: prepositional phrase

4. M: modify

5. DO: direct object

6. IO: indirect object

7. IC: independent clause; complete idea (s+v)

8. DC: dependent clause; incomplete idea (v)

9. ; : semi-colon

10. : : colon

11. , : comma

12. CC: coordinating conjuction

13. CA: conjuctive adverb: moreover, then, thus, hence, however, therefore (one syllable=no comma afterwards)

14. " ": quotation marks

15. -: hyphen

16. --: dash

Sentence

A sentence is a complete idea (s+v), which can either be simple or complexe (2 ics)
ex: CSL (s) has 3200 talented (m) students, which are really interesting (dc).
A phrase is an incomplete idea (no v).
A clause can either be dependent or independent.

Pattern 1

IC; IC
ex: Hard work is only one dire of the equation; talent is the other.
Some people dream of being something; others stay awake and are.
Most of us choose our fate; some let others decide.
The narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" claimed he was sane; the police thought otherwise.

Pattern 1A

IC; CA, IC
ex: The story was not very interesting; therefore, it is not worth reading.
Edgar Allen Poe had a very unusual life; thus wrote many bizarre stories.
The princess was very cunning and manipulative; consequently, she was able to discover the secret of the two doors.

Pattern 1B

IC; IC, CC
ex: The old man had always been nice to me; however, his glass eye bothered me, and this is why I had to get rid of him.
The princess was very cunning and manipulative; consequently, she was able to discover the secret of the two doors, and she used it to decide the lover's fate.
Frank Stockton started out as a woodcarver ; he later became a writer, for it was something that he loved.

Pattern 2

IC:IC
general statement to specific statement
ex: Darwin's "Origin of Species" forcefully states a harsh truth: only the fittest survive.
The empty coffin in the middle of the crypt had a single horrifying meaning: Dracula had awakened.
The princess had the fate of her lover in her hands: he could live or die.
Wilde expresses a universal sentiment: love is more powerful than logic.

Pattern 3

a series A, B, C (A, B and C/A and B and C)
ex: With passion, determination, purpose, Lincoln fought slavery.
Being rich, being a father, being happy, Peyton still gave his life for the South.
Insane, obsessed, driven to kill, the narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" thought he was sane.

The Lady or the Tiger?

Author Overview

"The Lady or the Tiger?" is a short story written by American writer and humorist Frank R. Stockton, born in 1834 in Philadelphia. He is most famously known for the aforementioned story, written in 1882, but is the author of countless more litterary works, including many innovative children's tales. His first fairy-tale dates back to 1867 and is entitled "Ting-A-Ling". His litterature is tinted with the influence of the Victorian era, which centered around rewarding good virtue and punishing crime, and this is very noticeable in "The Lady or the Tiger?". He died in 1902.

Vocabulary

1. Will: wish or desire

2. Valour: boldness or determination in facing great danger

3. Poetic Justice: an ideal distribution of rewards and punishments such as is common in some poetry and fiction

4. Wails: a wailing cry, as of grief, pain or despair

5. Mourners: a person who mourns / who attends a funeral to mourn for the deceased

6. Dire: causing or involving great fear or suffering, dreadful, terrible

7. Fate: that which is inevitably predetermined, destiny

8. Fair: free from blemish, imperfection, or anything that impairs the appearance, quality, or character

9. Choristers: a singer in a choir

10. Maidens: an unmarried girl or woman

11. The Apple Of His Eye: something, or someone, cherished above others

12. Unsurpassed: not capable of being improved

13. Startling: creating sudden alarm, surprise, or wonder

14. Damsels: a young woman or girl; a maiden, originally one of gentle or noble birth

15. Glances: a quick or brief look

16. Mazes: any complex system or arrangement that causes bewilderment, confusion or perplexity

17. Fangs: any of the canine teeth of a carnivorous animal, such as a dog or wolf, with which it seizes and tears it's prey

18. Gnashed: to grind or strike the teeth together, especially in rage or pain

19. Shriek: a loud, sharp, shrill cry

20. Anguished: feeling, showing or accompanied by anguish (excruciating or acute distress, suffering, or pain)

Question

What advice would you give the lover boy and why?

I would tell the lover boy to choose the door the princess did not point to because jealousy is an emotion that often overpowers proper judgement and kindness; during her debating of what to do, the princess seemed more torn up by the idea of seeing her lover happy without her than seeing him dead.

Vocabulary 2

1. Florid: excessively ornate; showy

2. Untrammeled: not limited or restricted; unrestrained

3. Genial: warmly and pleasantly cheerful; cordial

4. Solemnized: to perform the ceremony of mariage

5. Barleycorn: a grain of barley

6. Epithalamic: related to a song or poem in honor of a bride and bridegroom

7. Grievous: causing grief or great sorrow

8. Parapet: any low protective wall or barrier at the edge of a balcony, roof, bridge, or the like

9. Multitude: a great number of people gathered together; common people

10. Futurity: the afterlife

Speaking Criteria

There are four main points evaluated in the speaking criteria. Each of these points is also subdivided.
First of all, there is delivery, which consists of loudness, pace (speed at which the person is speaking), pronunciation, enthusiasm and movement (hand gestures, eye contact and body movement).
Second of all, and most obviously, content is evaluated. This focuses on the ability to choose your words wisely (not go into to much detail, keep things concise) and to create a suitable introduction, which can be an overview of what is to come, a question, a statistic, an anecdote or even a quotation.
Then we have organisation, an important aspect covering markers, transitions and the conclusion, which should be a quick but interesting summary of what was previously stated throughout the presentation.
Lastly, quality of the language, which can be subdivided into the use of a rich vocabulary and appropriate grammar, is judged.

Tell-Tale Heart

Author Overview

Edgar Allen Poe was born in 1809 in Boston. He was the earliest American practitioner of the short story and the inventor of detective-fiction. His eccentric lifestyle and alcohol abuse led him to write many great but bizarre stories, including "The Raven" in 1845. The early death of his wife is thought to have influenced him in writing many stories involving death. He died in 1849, though the cause of his death remains unknown.

Point of View

The point of view used in "The Tell-Tale Heart'' is the first person point of view. The narrator is the main character, thus making the statements and descriptions in the story subjective. This adds to the story because it make us see things through the eyes of the madman.

Style

1. Imagery

"His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness."

2. Metaphor

"...a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye"

3. Simile

"...a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton"

4. Personification

"All in vain; because Death, in approaching him had stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim."

5. Irony

An example of irony in the story would be the fact that the narrator keeps assuring us that he was calm and that he had perpetrated the perfect crime, but that he ends up confessing without even being asked to (because his guilty conscience makes him go mad).

Vocabulary

1. Hearken: to give heed or attention to what is said; listen

2. Cunningly: skillfully, slyly

3. Sagacity: acuteness of mental discernment and soundness of judgement

4. Bosom: the breast, conceived as the center of feelings or emotions

5. Tattoo: knocking or strong pulsation

6. Suavity: smoothly agreeable quality

7. Trifles: a matter, affaire, circumstance of trivial importance or signifiance

8. Dissemble: to give a false or misleading appearance to

9. Deeds: something that is done, performed, or accomplished

10. Foresight; care or provision for the future

Learning Express Library

COURSE 1: GRAMMAR SKILLS FOR WRITING 2: FINE-TUNING PUNCTUATION

1. INTEREST LEVEL: I found this course interesting; even though it was nothing completely new to me, it helped refresh my memory. I think that it can be relevent for anybody because punctuation is a very important skill to master.

2. DIFFICULTY: This course wasn't very difficult; it was more of a revision on how to properly punctuate my sentences for me. The questions and exercices weren't to challenging but were still relevent and practical.

3. WHAT I LEARNED:

1. I learned all the different ways semicolons can be used: to separate independent clauses, to replace a comma in a list which already contains commas (I went to Paris, France; London, England; and Montreal, Canada.), etc.
2. I learned when to use and when not to use apostrophes to show possession.
3. I learned that dashes, when used appropriately, can be a very useful punctuation mark; you can use them to mark a sudden break in thought, emphasize explanatory material and connect a beginning phrase to the rest of the sentence.

4. MY SCORE: The course did not give me a score but overall I made three errors.

5. COURSE RATING: 8/10 Like previously stated, most of the content of this course was basic punctuation knowledge which, even though it is useful, was probably a bit too easy for me. Nonetheless, the section on how to uses dashes was something that I appreciated since this a competence I lacked information on.

COURSE 2: GRAMMAR SKILLS FOR WRITING 3: PRACTICE WITH SUBJECTS, VERBS, AND PRONOUNS

1. INTEREST LEVEL: I found this course interesting. The subject matter wasn't necessarily new to me but it was presented in a that made me aware of many ways to make my writing more interesting and easy to follow.

2. DIFFICULTY: I didn't find this course very difficult; the questions seemed basic to me. Nonetheless, many elements of the content presented were more advanced and an excellent complement to anybody's pre-existing knowledge.

3. WHAT I LEARNED:

1. One of the topics in the course was the differences between all the present tense, past tense and future tense forms and when to correctly use them.
2. The course also explained how the use of the passive voice can often be "life-draining" for a text. Another"life-draining" verb construction is state-of being verbs.
3. I learned which pronouns are plural and which ones are singular. This is something I had trouble with before the course so it was very informative.

4. MY SCORE: The course did not give me a score but overall I made three or four errors.

5. COURSE RATING: 8.5/10 This course was interesting; it made me conscious of several writing flaws, such as adding unnecessary auxiliary verbs and starting sentences with "it" and "there" too much. The lesson on plural and singular pronouns was the part I found the most useful.

COURSE 3: VOCABULARY AND SPELLING COURSE 3

1. INTEREST LEVEL: This course was interesting; it helped me more clearly understand the meaning of some words of the English language which are not used as much. Futhermore, it helped me find the meaning of these word through their context, which is a very useful skill when you don't have a dictionary at hand. Nonetheless, each section had about 4 exercices which all revolved around the same words and thus seemed to be redundant.

2. DIFFICULTY: I started this course thinking it would be easy but was pleasantly surprised; many of the vocabulary words presented in the course were advanced and challenging. Therefore, I think that this course can be useful to everybody, although it might be hard for people who don't speak or read alot in English.

3. WHAT I LEARNED:

1. I learned that there are four types of context clues (context clues meaning context helping you understand a word): context clues by definition, by constrast, by example and by restatement.
2. Another course topic was words from the work world, meaning words which are more precisely related to certain work fields and which can be confusing to people who aren't familiar with them. Once again, the meaning of these words can be understood by the context in which they are used.
3. I also learned that the English language is constantly evolving; new words and expressions are always coming into the language. It is thus important to keep up with these new terminologies.

4. MY SCORE: The course did not offer me a final score but I made certain errors, especially in the section about words from the work world, since there were many technical and financial terms I wasn't familiar with.

5. COURSE RATING: I would give this course an 7/10 rating. Even though it was very useful and gave me many new vocabulary words to use, the exercices in each section were somewhat redundant.

COURSE 4: VOCABULARY AND SPELLING COURSE 4

1. INTEREST LEVEL: Spelling is an extremely important aspect of the English language and can sometimes be confusing due to phonetical / spelling differences. Nonetheless, this course was really more of an overview of basic spelling rules and might have been more interesting to someone less advanced.

2. DIFFICULTY: This course was not difficult. Although it was a good reminder about certain spelling rules, most of the exercices were extremely basic (example: how to spell chocolate and captain).

3. WHAT I LEARNED:

1. One of the aspects of this course was the fact that the English language is phonetically inconsistent, visually confusing and that pronunciation also differs regionally. Therefore, it is important to look at and listen to words before spelling them.
2. Also, the course presented two spelling rules; the IE rule and the EI rule. The IE rule goes as follows: i before e except after c. The EI rule goes like this: e comes before i when it sounds like ay, as in neighbor and weigh.
3. Finally I learned that usually "when two vowels are together, the first one is usually long and the second one is silent", as is true in the words caffeine and reach. Some exceptions to this rule are the words porcelain, beauty and healthy.

4. MY SCORE: Yet again, this course did not feature a final score but I made between 2 and 4 errors.

5. COURSE RATING: Overall, I would give this course an 8.5/10 rating; the course itself was well designed and clear. Pertaining to my personal interest and difficulty levels, I would have to give it a 5/10 rating as it was not very challenging.

Wiki Quiz

1)What is the Learning Express Library (LEL)?
The Learning Express Library is a self-learning tool found on the website of the Grande Bibliothèque. Writing and grammar courses are among the ones found on the site.

2)Where is Mr. B's office?
Mr.B's office is C-150.

3)What percentage of the course is writing and speaking worth?
Reading and speaking are each worth 50% of the course.

4)How many items are on the "Writing Correction Code"?
25 items are on the ''Writing Correction Code''.

5)What are Mr. B's office hours?
His office hours are Monday from 12 to 4 and Thursday from 4 to 5.

6)What is the 48 hour rule?
If a student is absent on an evaluation day, it is his or her responsability to contact the teacher, either via voicemail or email or in person, within the 48 hours following the evaluation to inform themself about how to retake the evaluation. If this isn't done, the student will be graded zero on the evaluation. This can only happen once per semester.

7)What is the first assignment?
Three assignments were given; to complete this quiz, to read ''The Tell-Tale Heart'' and to finish the composition about a fellow student.

8)How many references are made to "thesis statement"?
Seven references are made to ''thesis statement''.

9)How can I reach Mr. B through this Wiki?
You can either send him a message or reach him through the wiki's discussion boards.

10)Do you have to go to the Grande Bibiliotheque to register?
If you are registering for all the services, you must go to the registration desk at the Grande Bibliothèque whereas if you are only registering for the remote services, you can do it trough the internet.

11)How many short stories are we going to read?
We are going to read seven short stories.

12)How many pages on the site refer to "grammar"?
Six pages of the site refer to ''grammar''.

13)How many items are listed in the Student Agreement?
Ten items are listed in the Student Agreement.

14)What are the summative writing assignments?
There are five summative writing assignments; the book review, the mid-term test, the LEL 1 (2 courses), the LEL 2 (2 courses) and the final test.

15)Write down two questions you have about the course?
What is the name of the play we'll be seeing? No other question comes to mind.

Student Profile; Maggie Beeman

When I left home last Monday morning, I expected nothing more than the typical first day of school. Of course, it was CEGEP, and although it would be different from the rest of my education so far, it was still just school. You’ll understand my surprise when I found out I’d be sharing my first period English class for the next semester with none other than a superhero. Presenting the incredible Beeman, more commonly known as Maggie. She might be lesser know than the Supermans and Batmans of this world (obviously, that’s just because of her super stealth powers) but as my eighteen years of existence have taught me, you never pass up an interview with a superhero. Here’s what I learned.

Even a protector of the people like Maggie has goals in her life, as the rest of us regular folks do. She’d like to do well in school this year, in order to preserve her cover story of being a typical Canadian student. On a long-term basis, Beeman aspires to learn Spanish and then travel the world, stopping in Ireland and the United States to visit her relatives. She’d also secretly like to become my friend, but that’s another story. In her time off, Maggie enjoys meeting new people, listening to music and, as previously stated, travelling. Her interest in music led her to learn how to play the saxophone, one of many awesome skills our superhero has. Her talents also include working with special needs children. This came in handy when the incredible Beeman, whilst working in a summer camp, got lost in the woods with her group of children. Thankfully, and as every good story goes, she succeeded in getting everybody safely back and now considers this one of her top achievements (Marvel comics is considering making this their next comic book adventure).

As you can see, Maggie Beeman is a person well worth knowing, if only for bragging rights about befriending a crime-fighter (just kidding).