What is the valley of Ashes?

 

Gatsby                                 2 stars

Who is meyer Wolfsheim and how does his occurrence in the novel impact our perception of Gatsby?

 

Gatsby                                 3 stars

“Jay Gatsby had broken up like glass against Tom’s hard malice” Explain this quotation and the stylistic figure that is used here. 

Bonehus is an example of which typical Old English stylistic device?

 

Beowulf                              2 star

Many epic heroes have a fatal flaw. What is a fatal flaw and what is it for Beowulf? How does it impact the story?

 

Beowulf                              3 stars

Beowulf’s original text and its 2007 modernized film version differ quite a bit. Describe at least 2 differences and why you feel these differences are there. 

When was Macbeth written and ‘for’ whom?

 

Macbeth                             2 stars

What is the central theme in Macbeth? Explain your answer

 

Macbeth                             3 stars

“Two truths are told as happy prologues to the swelling act”. Which two truths are this and which stylistic device did Shakespeare use here?

 

 

 

Pride. We see it when Beowulf fights Grendel unarmed, but we mostly see that it is fatal at the end of the tale when Beowulf wants to fight the Dragon basically on his own and it leads to his death. 

 

 

 

 

Overall the monsters are more human. Grendel can talk and feels pain and loneliness for example. But the main differences lies with Grendel’s mother, who is now a gorgeous femme-fatale who controls both King Hrothgar and Beowulf and bears their children: Grendel and the Dragon. In the original tale. Beowulf kills her. It goes to show how the (sexualized) role of women has changed since the year 1000.

 

 

 

How evil can conquer a human being. We see how Macbeth is slowly consumed by his ambition and this leads him to completely disregard all his honor and morals in search of power. Shakespeare is telling us that this is highly undesirable and that actions such as Macbeths will not go unpunished. 

 

 

That he is already Thane of Gladys and now Thane of Cawdor. These ‘truths’ cause Macbeth to take matters in his own hands to also ensure the final ‘prophecy’ of the witches will come true. Shakespeare uses the metaphor of a play (which has acts and a prologue), which is almost like inception as Macbeth itself is of course also a play.

 

 

 

He is a criminal man who is said to have fixed the world series at some point. The fact that Gatsby does business with him, again confirms our feelings that Gatsby himself is also a criminal. 

 

 

 

This is a simile and it makes perfect sense. Tom saw straight through Gatsby (like through glass) and his already fragile act of ‘The Great Gatsby’ would never have held against someone of the old money class like Tom. Tom’s superior class clearly determines which relationship survives the novel. 

For which occasion was this poem written?

 

The Hill we Climb             2 stars

“And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us

but what stands before us

We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,

we must first put our differences aside”

How does this segment relate to the task she was given by the inaugural committee?

 

The hill we climb              3 stars

What is the effect of the use of anaphora at the end of the poem?

 

 

 

 

It clearly focuses on unity and putting differences aside. She was told to share a message of hope and unity and we see especially the unifying feature in this segment. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An anaphora is a rhetorical device and by nature a rhetorical device is aimed to persuade people. She is trying to persuade people to listen to her to indeed unify and to ‘rise’ from all the parts of the united states and fight for the hope of a new day and new leadership. 

What was the romantic period a reaction to?

 

Romantic Writers            2 stars

“And when the stars threw down their spears // and watered heaven with their tears”

Which two characteristic of romantic poetry can you spot here?

 

Romantic Writers            3 stars

Blake uses a lot of rhetorical questions in his poem ‘Tyger, Tyger’. Why?

How is Grendel’s mother, as portrayed in the 2007 version of Beowulf, comparable to Lady Macbeth?

 

 

 

Essay Questions                              1 star

How are Macbeth and Jay Gatsby similar?

 

 

 

Essay Questions                              3 stars

To what extend could you classify The Hill we Climb as Romantic Poetry?

 

 

Both Gatsby and Macbeth act is if the end goal justifies any means you may need to get there. Gatsby involves in criminal activity to get Daisy as the final part of his American Dream and Macbeth will stop at nothing to keep the crown on his head. In this way they are both corrupted and lose part of their moral identity. 

 

 

I feel that due to the historical context it is near impossible to classify the hill we climb as a romantic poem. Spoken word did not exist in the 19^th century for example and the clear and open focus on politics does not at all coincide with the characteristics of romanticism. All in all, the metaphor of the natural element of a hill might be the closest we get to it being a romantic poem.

Which types of conflict did we discuss? 

 

 

Other book questions    2 stars

Why is it that the climax is also called the turning point?

 

 

Other book questions 3 stars

Describe the exposition in one of your other books in grave detail. How does it help establish the mood?

 

 

 

 

The personification of nature (and with it the interest in mother nature) and the focus on emotion

 

 

 

 

 

He is in awe of the creation of the magnificent natural beast and aims to further show that with his large amount of rhetorical questions. 

 

 

 

The climax focuses on the rising tension in the plotline, whereas the turning point focuses on the most vital change in the protagonist. This often happens at the same place, you just view it from two different perspectives: one from the story’s perspective and the other from the character’s.

 

This is your own answer of course, but make sure you have described: main characters, the central conflict and the setting. In setting, make sure you have explained elements like the weather and the socio-economic background as they often determine the mood of the book. In other works: make sure you really explain why you book already feels ‘happy, sad, depressing, thrilling, romantic etc’ from the start