Poetry: Irony

Richard Cory 

Whenever Richard Cory went down town, 

We people on the pavement looked at him:  

He was a gentleman from sole to crown,  

Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,

And he was always human when he talked;

But still he fluttered pulses when he said,

“Good-morning,” and he glittered when he walked.

 

And he was rich — yes, richer than a king —

And admirably schooled in every grace:

In fine, we thought that he was everything

To make us wish that we were in his place.

 

So on we worked, and waited for the light,

And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;

And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,

Went home and put a bullet through his head.

                                                                                   Edwin Arlington Robinson

Questions

1) How many stanzas are in the poem?

2) Identify the rhyming scheme?

3) Who is the persona?

4)  Describe Richard Cory.

5)  Why did the people admire Cory?

6) Contrast the lifestyle of Cory to his admirers.

7) Identify 2 devices in Richard Cory.

8) What is the main theme of the poem?

9)  What  is the irony in stanza 3?

10) What is the irony in stanza 4?

11) What is the moral of the poem?

12) Why do you believe Richard Cory was unhappy?

Exposition Assignment 2

 Identify the dominant organisational pattern or device in each paragraph below.

A

B

C

D

E

F

Exposition Assignment

 Identify the dominant organisational strategy/pattern in each paragraph below.

A

Different students attend various types of schools; however, they can usually be classified as either public, private religious, private non-religious, or alternative. Public schools are funded by the state, and the majority of students in the United States attend them. Private religious schools are based around a particular faith, such as Catholicism, Judaism, and so forth. The religion is part of the everyday lives of the students and they also learn about the faiths. All types of private schools do not receive state funding. Therefore, private non-religious schools are simply just that: schools which do not receive state funding and have the ability to make their own rules. Alternative schools can be made up of a variety of different categories, such as the Montessori program or technical schools. Most students who attend class in an actual school building go to one of these types of institutions....

B

Anger is a natural, though sometimes unwanted or irrational, emotion that everybody experiences from time to time.  Anger experts describe the emotion as a primary, natural emotion which has evolved as a way of surviving and protecting yourself from what is considered a wrong-doing.

C

Masculine language sometimes appears in business documents. For example, in a business document, the following statement appeared: “The employee must arrive approximately 5 to 10 minutes prior to his scheduled time.” The use of “his” calls into question if this employer allows females to work there. If females do work there, the language of this document disregards their importance in the work place. This example shows that gender stereotypes still exist in career fields today. 

D

There are several characteristics which distinguish plants from animals. Green plants are able to manufacture their own food from substances in the environment. This process is known as photosynthesis. In contrast, animals, including man, get their food either directly from plants or indirectly by eating animals which have eaten plants. Plants are generally stationary. Animals, on the other hand, can usually move about. In external appearance, plants are usually green. They grow in a branching fashion at their extremities, and their growth continues throughout their lives. Animals, however, are very diverse in their external appearance. Their growth pattern is not limited to their extremities. It is evenly distributed and only occurs in a definite time period. Therefore, the differences between plants and animals is quite significant.

E

There is an old story that says you can't kill a frog by putting him in boiling water. He reacts so quickly to the sudden heat that he jumps before he is burned. But if you put him in cold water and then warm it up gradually, he never decides to jump until it is too late. By then, he is cooked. Men are just as foolish. Take away their freedom overnight, and you have a violent revolution. But steal it from them gradually in the guise of security, peace, and progress, and you can paralyze an entire nation.

F

Pupils are more like oysters than sausages. The job of teaching is not to stuff them and then seal them up, but to help them open and reveal the riches within. There are pearls in each of us, if only we knew how to cultivate them with ardor and persistence.

G

It is premised that since food requires careful preparation and special skills, it should not just be brought to the table on a platter. Instead, it should be the subject of a performance. Thus, the table becomes the stage; the chef, the performer; and the diners, the audience. The performance starts when the chef puts on his red hat and begins to act his part. He cuts the vegetables with spritely movements, tosses in some seasoning, and then attends to the meat, the fish, or the seafood on hand. The vegetables dance on the grills at the chef's command and jump into the diner's plate. Applause or an encore may be inevitible,but of course, the test of the pudding is in the eating.

                                                                                H

                                                                              I

J

Exposition: Organisational Strategies/Devices

Exposition is one type of discourse or writing. We use this type of discourse everyday: when we give information to someone, when we explain how something was done, etc.

Definition-meaning

Illustration-examples

Cause and Effect (causal analysis)-reasons for...and results

Comparison and Contrast-similarities and differences

Classification-categorisation

Analogy-a comparison of two unlike things

Analysis (process/subject)-step by step explanation, explain what                                                                              something is like

Problem-Resolution-problem-solution

Cause and Effect: Showing how facts, events, or concepts (effects) happen or come into being because of other facts, events, or concepts (causes).

Comparison and Contrast: Pointing out the likeliness (comparison) and/or differences (contrast) among facts, people, events, concepts, and so on... 

Classification: to organise items into a group and explain the characteristic of that group.

Analogy is another form of comparison.  It is different from a simile or metaphor because:

1) it highlights the similarities between two things you would never expect it to compare,

such as a television addict to a drug addict

2) it usually makes sure that we are familiar with one of the things in the comparison like a drug addict, but we never really view people who love to watch television as addicts.

Analysis: There are two types of analysis: process and subject.

Process analysis involves a step by step explanation of how something is done.

Subject analysis requires an explanation of what something is like e.g. cricket, love and marriage.

See more under comments.

Conclusion

 

Essay: MEAL Plan

 

Essay: Introduction

                                                        Identify the thesis statements below.

Identify any other elements that are likely to be found in an introduction.

Critique Sample #1

According to Aldous Huxley, “After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.”  Music, the free expression of a people, is a universal language that has the power to capture and transform a society. Dancehall is a type of music developed in Jamaica dance halls in the late 1970’s and incorporates hip-hop and rhythm and blues music.  This genre has infiltrated the social conscience of our youths, through its mind gripping lyrics from R to X rated content.  The evolution of dancehall has perpetuated negative influence against our youths worth and dignity.  The result is a generation of young people with deviant behaviours. Dancehall music promotes the use of drugs, advocates violence and encourages promiscuity, as well as the spread of HIV.

Critique Sample #2

One writer described communication as the basis of all relationships. Communication is a vital skill. According to Robinson and Hamil (2013), “Communication is the means by which we create, transmit and interpret ideas, facts and information, data, feelings and opinions.” Harold Laswell (1948) stated that the most convenient way to describe communication is to answer four questions: Who? Says what? Through which channel? To whom? Popular examples of communication include: written, oral, visual, and electronic.