Finishing Masterpiece's Essay

Alexus Wilson
Dr. Preston
AP English
9 June 2015
                                                   My Own Bildungsroman
                     
                       In the start of this year I had decided that I was going to be taking a full class schedule unlike my other classmates and actually be taking two English classes; this one and ERWC. Since the beginning of my existence I have always known that I've never been much of a writer and that I'd much rather be reading a piece that writing it. So to make myself better and to slightly torture myself I took all honor/AP classes in high school and this year I pushed it with taking the two English classes. I thought that if I forced enough English into my system that it would eventually wear off on me and I would get better. I can say that I've slightly improved and any improvement I'll gladly take, but like I said I'd rather be reading a novel than trying to write one.
                      This year and this class particularly I had to adopt the meaning of espousing learning. Most of the elements of this course is finding something you're interested in a delving deep into it a learn all that you can about it; which was basically our masterpiece's. This course is really preparing you for the next step of learning because in college we can't expect the professors to be doing all the work, no the students are going to have to do all the learning and studying independently and if you don't, then you don't learn. I'm literally lazier than a sack of rocks so I had to really work on improving my independent learning this year.
1. Espousing Learning
                       I can say at some points I have espoused learning, but like any couple we have our differences and then end up sleeping on the uncomfortable couch for a week. It was a lot harder transitioning from the old way of learning that I had endured my whole life, open a book, read, answer the designated questions, then you're done, rather than the process that our whole class had to do. The first day of class when Preston had basically said there or no rules as long as you posted things to your blog about facts, opinions, hobbies, homework all that jazz, you would essentially get an "A"(because Preston doesn't believe in letter grades).
1.1 Deserve the Trust?
                      Like me and the rest of the class we had to go through the period of timidness because we couldn't possibly trust the words that just came out of Preston's mouth, but blowing our minds, he kept his word and never went back on his word. Granted once some of the kids figured out that Preston wasn't like the rest of the teachers, they took advantage of the trust that Preston had given us, and even me at times betrayed that trust. I loved the fact that Preston gave us the respect and trust that we humans deserved instead of treating us like the stereotypical not trustworthy, up-to-know good teenagers. I can say for myself that I worked pretty hard to honor Preston's trust and in the instances that I didn't I was straight up with him and never tried to pull a fast one.
2. Favorite Literary Authors/Characters
                     Someone who can relate to my journey is Pip from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens who undergone his own amazing journey. John Grady Cole from All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy , and last but not least Macbeth from Macbeth by Shakespeare himself. When Preston first assigned Great Expectations I was so excited to be finally reading a novel by Dickens himself, a great novelist. The reason I was so excited was that I was trying to broaden by reading by reading some of the classics, like I read Mr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, one by Steinbeck and Dickens, but due to a conflicting it's very hard to find spare time to read for fun. But back to point, Preston had assigned the book and i had started to read it, but i never got around to finishing when i was supposed to. Then one day, long after the book was assigned, i opened the book to where i last read and finished the book. I don't know why i was so surprised, but i liked the book so much that I had to tell Preston that I had finished It even though I was supposed to finish it along while back. Pip was so an awesome, dynamic, and learning character. Every little or big situation that Pip was put through you wanted to root for him. At the end of the boom Pip felt like my best friend because I felt like i knew him so well! That's just evidence of how good of an author Dickens is. People who have read the book know that Pip goes through a great journey and Dickens is so good that the reader can relate to the situations even though the novel took place awhile back. All the Pretty Horses is honestly one of the best books that I read this year and I really recommend it. If you like adventure, cowboys, Indians, romance, tragedy, comedy, then this book is for you. Cole was so an amazing character because he was so physically and mentally strong and he was put into so many hard situations, but he always came out of them a better and stronger man. Macbeth was also a pretty amazing character even though he kind of deserved the ending he got. I envied Macbeth's power and warrior personality in the first few scenes, but like any regular person we have flaws and his was that he relied on the word of mythical creatures on a prophecy that was due to be his downfall. I enjoyed reading the transition Macbeth went through from being an honorable warrior to a deceiving king.
3. Reconnected with my Passion?
                   I would like to say that my passion has never really left. I don't think that a passion can actually leave, meaning that even though you may move away from it, it's always going to be there, whether in the back of our mind, the representations in our house/work/school environment and there will always be something that will trigger your passionate side. One of my passions would be music and I'm actually listening to music write now as I type this thing. I don't play any instruments or sing, even though I think I'm not that bad, but my mother tells me other wise. I just love to listen to it. I can honestly say that i love all types of music except country (sorry country lovers). There's just something about country that makes me hold my head and groan because i can feel an incoming headache coming on and country music and my ears are just not compatible. Other than that I'll listen to basically anything. My masterpiece project was to try and put a cool concert together, but like everyone knows life comes along and you lose time of the things you want to do. Basically I have been dying to go to a concert because my last concert was when i was in 6th grade and that's not acceptable for a music lover and i decided that that was going to be my masterpiece. Part of the reason I haven't been to a concert in awhile is because my family struggles off and on with our financial problems and I hate asking for money to buy a ticket when i know we don't have the money for it. So my thought process was that if i couldn't go to a concert then i would bring the concert to me. My goal now is to try to get a really cool band to come here to my town and play. Cool bands don't really ever visit our small town and if i got one to come, i would be ecstatic!
4. Something that made me laugh.
                  One of my most treasured qualities that I love is my ability to laugh at mostly everything, all the really silly/nerdy things, the really serious jokes, anything that can be remotely funny I'll laugh at it. So believe me when i say that I have had a lot of laughs this year and in this course. One that's really coming to mind was when Preston was gone one of the days(shocker...just playing) and he had asked the sub what the class wanted to read for our next novel and at the time 50 shades was the hype..I hope you know where I'm going with this. So I don't know how but our class told the sub that we wanted to read 50 shades and the next day when Preston was there we were kind of hoping the sub hadn't left any notes from our discussion for Preston. Sadly the next day Preston being Preston brought up that we wanted to read 50 shades?? We were so embarrassed at first but we actually discussed the pros's and cons of reading that novel and I'm cracking up just writing about this situation. That moment is definitely one of the funnest, awkward, and unexpected one's that I had in that class.
5. Unifying Themes in Masterpiece's
                   Many of the presentations that I witnessed in my class had the themes of either tying in there passions with a designated media, making connections with people, healthy and informative transitions into college, world peace, art, and nature. My classmates and I had a vary diverse group of passions and ideas and I can't stress how happy I was to see the finishing products of every one's masterpiece's. I can honestly say that I enjoyed every one's masterpiece and I could really tell who the person, even if I didn't know them that well, was by how they presented. Everyone put in a lot of work and that's bound to happen when you work on something you are passionate about. Like when Haley Kestler at the end of her presentation pulled out a collage of magazine's that hang by her bed that she collects, it really showed you she was and her personality shined through and that's how every one's presentation turned out. All the presenters would have pieces that showed the audience who they are and their true passions.
6. Finished my Hero's Journey
                   I would like to keep this one simple and answer no. I would like to continue my journey for whatever passion/hobby/skill that comes by way and never stop at just having one passion. I would like to become the master at my passion then move on to my next activity and master that, and so on. The question of whether I'm a hero, nope I don't I'm a hero yet. I haven't full filled some of the necessary hero qualities and let me say that It's a daily struggle to make sure at the end of my journey I'm a hero.

My First Voting of the Battle of the Blogs!

I absolutely had no idea that choosing one blog over another would be so difficult! I thought that when I got down to it and looked at each blog I would know, "oh yeah this one is better," but they were all so good and creative that it was sooo hard to pick one over the other. So keeping it a secret, I might of voted for everyones blog.....;)

Oops, Sorry to post so late, but here's my post for comments on the battle of the Blogs! (if any:))

#1 Macbeth Notes

Word of the Day

Derring-Do
(Noun) -daring deeds; heroic daring

Vocabulary #1

adumbrate: to produce a faint image or resemblance of; to outline or sketch
apotheosis: the elevation or exaltation of a person to the rank of a god
ascetic: a person who leads an austerely simple life, especially one who abstains from the normal pleasures of life or denies himself or herself material satisfaction
bauble: a showy, usually cheap, ornament; trinket; gewgaw
beguile: to influence by trickery, flattery, etc.; mislead; delude
burgeon: to grow or develop quickly; flourish:

-The town burgeoned into a city.

complement: something that completes or makes perfect
contumacious: stubbornly perverse or rebellious; willfully and obstinately disobedient
stubbornly perverse or rebellious; willfully and obstinately disobedient:
didactic: intended for instruction; instructive
disingenuous: lacking in frankness, candor, or sincerity; falsely or hypocritically ingenuous; insincere
exculpate: to clear from a charge of guilt or fault; free from blame; vindicate
faux: artificial or imitation; fake
pas: a step or series of steps in ballet
fulminate: to explode with a loud noise; detonate
fustian: a stout fabric of cotton and flax
hauteur: haughty manner or spirit; arrogance
inhibit: to restrain, hinder, arrest, or check (an action, impulse, etc.).
jeremiadt: a prolonged lamentation or mournful complaint
opportunist: a person who practices opportunism, or the policy of adapting actions, decisions, etc., to effectiveness regardless of the sacrifice of ethical principles
unconscionable: not guided by conscience; unscrupulous

Poem Analysis "My Last Duchess"

Meaning:	The story or poem starts off with a Duke, the narrator, speaking with another man about his marriage when the happen to pass by a portrait of his late wife. The story then takes off from there and the Duke recalls the profound love he had for his dutches, but yet she truly never loved him as equally as he did her. The Duke then basically admitts he had the Dutchess killed because of her lack of love, and honor that should come when marrying a person of his standard. The two men come back to reality and they carry on discussing the Dukes new marriage and wandering down the halls pointing out other notable artworks that he has.
Antecedent Scenario	I think the narrator, the Duke, must have had the Dutchess on her mind before the emissary came to talk to him. The Duke loved her very much and having someone killed can cause severe mental damage and having very likeless of a portrait of her is probably not very healthy for his mentality either.
Structural Parts	I would say there is 5 parts the poem. The first part is sort of like an introduction, the second a reminisce, and the third back to reality. The fourth is back to the Dukes past and he kind of goes on a rant about the Dutchess, like how someone says I'm so over that person, but yet they can't stop talking about them, thats the Duke. Then theres the fifth where the two men come back to the present and continue on with there day like nothing had ever happened.
Climax	I think the Climax is when the Duke says, "This grew; i gave commands; then all smiles stopped together," which at first i thought it was him breaking up the marriage, but with later discussion with a classmate, found out that it meant that he killed his wife!
Other Parts	Theres only one part in the poem that changes. In the middle when the narrator has fully enveloped talking about the Dutchess, it goes from talking about her in the past to talking about her like she was right there in the room with them.

Skeleton	I think the skeleton of the poem falls back on the structure of it. The author builds his poem through the outward questioning and internal thoughts of the character.
Content Genre- games	Love, heartbreak, lust, the past/future, lost time, reminiscent, etc.
Tone	I found the tone of the poem to be laced with love and heart break, but not at all sappy. It has a hint of wonder and no regrets attached to it. The tone is shown through the Duke struggles when losing the woman he loves, then it falls into anger trying to fix things, and the lasting tone for me, was  when he realizes he has to end this marriage, and when I say end I mean end her life. The tone can be described as reminiscent but hopeful for a better tomorrow in the chance to find true love, maybe in the new wife he is about to marry. In short, I think the tone can best be described as a mending tone of putting the pieces of his lost love back together.
Agency
Roads Not Taken	I think the poem needed to be a lot more organized as in stanza and punctuational wise. Maybe it was the format that I had, but comas and stanzas really have an effect on me when reading and if they don't coincide then I get confused as to what i'm reading.
Speech Acts	I found that it began in a bragging act, the Duke goes on about how beautiful his wife was and that she had a lot of admires and thats where the bitter act comes along. The Duke loved her beauty, but wanted it all for himself. Then I would say it turns into an acknowledgement act. And in the last part the act is hopeful in which the Duke can now hopefully get over his late wife and move on with his new one.
Outer and Inner Structural Forms
Imagination- The author did a beautiful job with the story, At first I didn't get it, but with the help of Megan Stevens, my fellow classmate, I came from confusion to Love. Just earlier I had been complaining to Megan about how I'm not a poetry sort of girl, but yet this poem had us talking about it throughout the whole class period. Thats how good I think it was. We had determined the top layer of its context, but there was so much more meaning that we are still talking about it after we left from school.