The 10th and 12th-grade English students have been taking advantage of the quieter, darker winter months to delve into our contextual understanding of tone and mood through poetry.
Seniors read Frankenstein
Senior students have been learning about the Victorian Era, and the particular cultural shifts that shaped a generation before technology. In our reading of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, we have begun by identifying the fear of impropriety and social banishment. What does it mean to be an outsider? What was the cost of the first cities, and social growth across the globe?
Exemplars
The Long Journey
Jordan Allard
Where Did the Thrush Go
Holden Larmie
Sophomores read The Moderns
Likewise, the Sophomores have picked up their own thread in studying the very next generation of poets: The Moderns. In preparation for The Great Gatsby, and Poetry Outloud, Sophomore students have made fervent investigations into the themes of industrialization, wealth and prohibition after the fallout from WWI. In looking at some of the representative presentations of these poets, students were quick to point out the departure from Nature and religion towards the birth of technologies like the phone, camera and electric light.
Exemplars
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Reid Allegretti
Spring
Sydney Renfro
September 1, 1939
Kiara Nestler
