Monday November 1

Northeast Indian Village, as was encountered by the Puritans.

Due in class today: short responses to The Dividing Line by Byrd.

Quiz Thursday on the list of words given out last week by Ms. Kazer in preparation for the Franklin's Gout. Here is the list, if you have misplaced yours. I'll also have additional copies in class. The quiz will simply be a matching.


SOMETHING DIFFERENT ON NOVEMBER 5...

Vocabulary:
indolence: (noun) laziness, sloth, lack of activity
reproach: (verb) blame, discredit, disgrace
glutton: (noun) a person with a remarkably great desire or capacity for something
tippler: (noun) one who engages in excessive drinking
complaisant: (adj) exhibiting a desire or willingness to please
sedentary: (adj) doing much sitting, not physically active
replete: (adj) filled, abounding, abundantly supplied
stagnant: (adj) not flowing or running, lack of development or advancement
dissipate: (verb) to drive away, to disperse
abate: (verb) reduce in degree or intensity, nullify
commodious: (adj) spacey and convenient, roomy
attenuated: (verb) to make thinner
ruddy: (adj) a healthy reddish color
concomitant: (adj) occurring or existing concurrently
insuperable: (adj) incapable of being surmounted, overcome or solved
sage: (adj) wise through reflection and experience
palsy: (noun) paralysis of a body part, uncontrollable muscle movement
dropsy: (noun) the swelling of soft tissue
apoplexy: (noun) sudden impairment of neurological function, stroke
dolefully: (adv) full of grief, sorrowfully, with sadness
temperately: (adv) moderately

The following is a list of missing work:
cumulative vocabulary test: Lee
Origin of evil tale: Peri, Lee, Leon, Roberto, Manny
Vocabulary 4: Lee
Walum Olum responses: Shanelle, Lee, Melissa, Emil, Leon, Roberto, Manny

Final Assessment on Colonial Literature due Wednesday, November 3. See the following. Handout in class.

This weekend’s assignment was to have read the excerpts from William Boyd's The History of the Dividing Line. Choosing from this work, Smith's General History of Virginia, Jonathan Edwards’ Sinners at the Angry Hands of God and Bradstreet’s poem, you should have an understanding of the English view towards the indigenous peoples. Now you will demonstrate your understanding of the cultural and philosophical conflict that existed between these two groups. How will this be accomplished? Based upon all the readings dating prior to 1750, create a dialogue between one of the European groups (Plymouth, Jamestown, Boyd's, Bradstreet’s) and the Indians. Be especially careful with the Indians, as those of the eastern woodlands lived very differently than those further west. Stick with only two characters. Who wants what from whom? What attitudes are being professed? And how will you convince or compromise to obtain a particular objective. Your dialogue must accurately reflect their attitudes and belief systems. Remember these are different, depending upon the area of the Atlantic seaboard. Please do not make these anachronistic, that means they must be accurate for the 17th century, so draw on your outside historical knowledge and check your facts. You may extract from individual texts for your dialogue. Your dialogues should be complete scenes with a solid conclusion. These are due on Wednesday. I’ll make some copies, so they can be performed on Thursday.
Length: 2 /3 typed pages. See model below for formatting.
MLA heading

Setting: where, when, time of day?
Character 1: (who, physical description, doing / thinking what?

Character 2: same as above.

Note that this single spaced for each character’s lines, but double spaced between the individual character’s lines.

Friday October 29, 2010

In class assessment of vocabulary units 1-4. Hand in the responses to the Delaware Walum Olum and be prepared to share your origin-of-evil stories with the class, which will then be collected.









Homework: Please read three pages that constitute the History of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina for Monday. Write out the responses for the 5 Thinking About questions at the end of the reading. Please note that you will be writing in class on Monday. HAPPY HAUNTING THIS WEEKEND.

See copy of in class handout below.




History of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina
William Byrd II of Westover1674-1744
History of the Dividing Line: Run in the Year 1728


Before I enter upon the journal of the line between Virginia and North Carolina, it will be necessary to clear the way to it, by showing how the other British colonies on the Main have, one after another, been carved out of Virginia, by grants from his majesty's royal predecessors. All that part of the northern American continent now under the dominion of the king of Great Britain, and stretching quite as far as the cape of Florida, went at first under the general name of Virginia.1.
The only distinction, in those early days, was, that all the coast to the southward of Chesapeake bay was called South Virginia, and all to the northward of it, North Virginia.2.
The first settlement of this fine country was owing to that great ornament of the British nation, sir Walter Raleigh, who obtained a grant thereof from queen Elizabeth of ever-glorious memory, by letters patent, dated March the 25th, 1584.3.
But whether that gentleman ever made a voyage thither himself is uncertain; because those who have favoured the public with an account of his life mention nothing of it. However, thus much may be depended on, that sir Walter invited sundry persons of distinction to share in his charter, and join their purses with his in the laudable project of fitting out a colony to Virginia.4.
Accordingly, two ships were sent away that very year, under the command of his good friends Amidas and Barlow, to take possession of the country in the name of his royal mistress, the queen of England.5.
These worthy commanders, for the advantage of the trade winds, shaped their course first to the Charibbe islands, thence stretching away by the gulf of Florida, dropped anchor not far from Roanoke inlet. They ventured ashore near that place upon an island now called Colleton island, where they set up the arms of England, and claimed the adjacent country in right of their sovereign lady, the queen; and this ceremony being duly performed, they kindly invited the neighbouring Indian to traffick with them.6.
These poor people at first approached the English with great caution, having heard much of the treachery of the Spaniards, and not knowing but these strangers might be as treacherous as they. But, at length, discovering a kind of good nature in their looks, they ventured to draw near, and barter their skins and furs for the bawbles and trinkets of the English.7.
These first adventurers made a very profitable voyage, raising at least a thousand per cent. upon their cargo. Amongst other Indian commodities, they brought over some of that bewitching vegetable, tobacco. And this being the first that ever came to England, sir Walter thought he could do no less than make a present of some of the brightest of it to his royal mistress, for her own smoking. The queen graciously accepted of it, but finding her stomach sicken after two or three whiffs, it was presently whispered by the earl of Leicester's faction, that sir Walter had certainly poisoned her. But her majesty soon recovering her disorder, obliged the countess of Nottingham and all her maids to smoke a whole pipe out amongst them.

14th. Before nine of the clock this morning, the provisions, bedding and other necessaries were made up into packs for the men to carry on their shoulders into the Dismal. They were victualled for eight days at full allowance, nobody doubting but that would be abundantly sufficient to carry them through that inhospitable place; nor indeed was it possible for the poor fellows to stagger under more. As it was, their loads weighed from 60 to 70 pounds, in just proportion to the strength of those who were to bear them. It would have been unconscionable to have saddled them with burthens heavier than that, when they were to lug them through a filthy bog, which was hardly practicable with no burthen at all. Besides this luggage at their backs, they were obliged to measure the distance, mark the trees, and clear the way for the surveyors every step they went. It was really a pleasure to see with how much cheerfulness they undertook, and with how much spirit they went through all this drudgery. For their greater safety, the commissioners took care to furnish them with Peruvian bark, rhubarb and hipocoacanah, in case they might happen, in that wet journey, to be taken with fevers or fluxes. Although there was no need of example to inflame persons already so cheerful, yet to enter the people with the better grace, the author and two more of the commissioners accompanied them half a mile into the Dismal. The skirts of it were thinly planted with dwarf reeds and gall bushes, but when we got into the Dismal itself, we found the reeds grew there much taller and closer, and, to mend the matter, were so interlaced with bamboo-briers, that there was no scuffling through them without the help of pioneers. At the same time, we found the ground moist and trembling under our feet like a quagmire, insomuch that it was an easy matter to run a tenfoot pole up to the head in it, without exerting any uncommon strength to do it. Two of the men, whose burthens were the least cumbersome, had orders to march before, with their tomahawks, and clear the way, in order to make an opening for the surveyors. By their assistance we made a shift to push the line half a mile in three hours, and then reached a small piece of firm land, about 100 yards wide, standing up above the rest like an island. Here the people were glad to lay down their loads and take a little refreshment, while the happy man, whose lot it was to carry the jug of rum, began already like andAElig;sop's bread-carriers, to find it grow a good deal lighter.124.


After reposing about an hour, the commissioners recommended vigour and constancy to their fellow-travellers, by whom they were answered with three cheerful huzzas, in token of obedience. This ceremony was no sooner over but they took up their burthens and attended the motion of the surveyors, who, though they worked with all their might, could reach but one mile farther, the same obstacles still attending them which they had met with in the morning. However small this distance may seem to such as are used to travel at their ease, yet our poor men, who were obliged to work with an unwieldy load at their backs, had reason to think it a long way; especially in a bog where they had no firm footing, but every step made a deep impression, which was instantly filled with water. At the same time they were labouring with their hands to cut down the reeds, which were ten feet high, their legs were hampered with the briers. Besides, the weather happened to be warm, and the tallness of the reeds kept off every friendly breeze from coming to refresh them. And, indeed, it was a little provoking to hear the wind whistling among the branches of the white cedars, which grew here and there amongst the reeds, and at the same time not to have the comfort to feel the least breath of it.125.

In the mean time the three commissioners returned out of the Dismal the same way they went in, and, having joined their brethren, proceeded that night as far as Mr. Wilson's. This worthy person lives within sight of the Dismal, in the skirts whereof his stocks range and maintain themselves all the winter, and yet he knew as little of it as he did of Terra Australis Incognita. He told us a Canterbury tale of a North Briton, whose curiosity spurred him a long way into this great desert, as he called it, near twenty years ago, but he having no compass, nor seeing the sun for several days together, wandered about till he was almost famished; but at last he bethought himself of a secret his countrymen make use of to pilot themselves in a dark day. He took a fat louse out of his collar, and exposed it to the open day on a piece of white paper, which he brought along with him for his journal. The poor insect, having no eye-lids, turned himself about till he found the darkest part of the heavens, and so made the best of his way towards the north. By this direction he steered himself safe out, and gave such a frightful account of the monsters he saw, and the distresses he underwent, that no mortal since has been hardy enough to go upon the like dangerous discovery.126.
To think about…
1. Describe the contents of the men’s packs. How much do they weigh?
2. Name two obstacles that the men encounter in the dismal swamp.
3. What, according to Mr. Wilson, did the North Briton use to find his way out of the swamp, after becoming lost in it? How did it help him find his way out?
4. How does Byrd’s detailed description of the vegetation and surface of the swamp reflect his knowledge of science?
5. Give one example of Byrd’s use of exaggeration in this excerpt.
FOR MONDAY: be prepared to respond to the following: (250 words in class)
Byrd’s Dividing Line is written after John Smith’s Historie of Virginia and about twenty years before Franklin’s Gout. How do these writings represent the transitioning attitudes of the colonists?

Thursday October 28, 2010

Reminder: vocabulary 4 due tomorrow. As well, there is a cumulative assessment on vocabulary units 1-4. This specifically involves sentences taken from the 4th exercise of each unit.
DON"T FORGET YOUR ORIGIN OF EVIL stories TOMORROW. WE ARE SHARING.

In class today: reading Navajo Origin tale and excerpt from the Pima poem House of Magic- deer. Please note the introduction on oral tradition.

Navajo Creation Story
Only the Creator knows where the beginning is. The Creator had a thought that created Light in the East. Then the thought went South to create Water, West to create Air, and North to create Pollen from emptiness. This Pollen became Earth.

Light, air, water, and earth is contained in everything within nature; all of the natural world is interconnected and equal.

All of these elements mixed together, and the first thing created were the Holy People. These Holy People were given the job and responsibility of teaching what is right and wrong. Holy people were given the original laws, then they created the earth and human beings.

The Creator with the help of the Holy People created the Natural World. They created humans, birds, and all of the Natural World was put in Hozjo (BALANCE). This Hozjo (harmony, balance, and peace) is dependent on interconnectedness. All of the Natural World depends on another. The Navajo say they are glued together with respect, and together they work in harmony. To the Navajo this present world is the fifth.

The place of emergence into this level was Xajiinai, a hole in the La Plata mountains of SW Colorado. The Holy People have the power to hurt or help, and centuries ago taught the Dineh how to live in harmony with Mother Earth, Father Sky and the other elements: man, animals, plants, insects. The Dineh believe that when the ceremonies cease the world will cease.
Oral Traditions
Oral tradition refers to the process of passing down sayings, songs, tales and myths from one generation to the next by word of mouth. Native Americans did not have a written language, through they occasionally recorded myths or historical events in pictographs engraved on wood or hide or in symbols painted on strings of beads. Therefore, members of a tribe memorized the tribal literature and communicated it orally to the next generations. In some tribes, the person who had the best memory became the “keeper” of the tribe’s history, songs and myths.
Indian poetry began as songs chanted to a regular beat. Sometimes complicated melodies accompanied the words. To help the singer remember the poem or song, lines were often repeated, sometimes with a slight variation in the second line. Each line usually contained the same number of accented syllables or beats. Certain images and comparisons wer also used so often that the listeners expected to hear them in tribal songs.
The following songs survived for generations in the oral tradition. As you read them, listen to the rhythm and look for repeated lines and images.

From The Houses of Magic: deer Pima
1. Down from the houses of magic,
Down from the houses of magic;
Blow the winds, and from my antlers
And my ears, they stronger gather.

Over there I am trembling,
Over there I am trembling,
For bows and arrows pursued me,
Many bows were on my trail.

2. I ran into the swamp confused,
There I heard the tadpoles singing,
I ran into the swamp confused,
Where the bark-clothed tadpoles sang.

In the west the dragonfly wanders,
Skimming the surfaces of the pools,
Touching only with his tail. He skims
With flapping and rustling wings.

3. At the time of the white dawning,
At the time of the white dawining,
I arose and went away,
At Blue Nighfall I went away.

4. The evening glow yet lingers
The evening glow yet lingers;
And I sit with my gourd rattle
Engaged in the sacred chant,
As I wave the eagle feathers
We hear the magic sounding.

5. Pittable harlot that I am
My heart glows with the singing
While the evening yet is young.
My heart glows with the singing.
6. Now the swallow begins his singing;
Now the swallow begins his singing;
And the women who are with me,
The poor women commence to sing.

The swallows met in the standing cliff,
The swallows met in the standing cliff;
And the rainbows arched above me.
There the blue rainbow arches met.

7. In the reddish glow of the nightfall,
In the reddish glow of the nightfall.
I return to my burrow
About which the flowers bloom.

With four eagle feathers,
With the four eagle feathers,
I stir the air. When I turn
My magic power is crossed.

To think about…
1. Summarize the narrator’s movements What
does he do at “the time of the white dawning”?
2. The Pims, as well as many other Indians, considered
the deer to be a sacred animal. (a) What qualities of
make them appropriate for being considered sacred?
3. How does the way in which most people regard deer
differ from the Pima view?
4. What does this difference suggest about the contrasts
between Pima society and today’s.

Tuesday October 26, 2010

Reminder Vocabulary 4 is due this Friday. Cumulative assessement on units 1-4; excerpts will be taken from exercise 4 of each. Please note the following explanation of satire; this is from Wikipedia.

Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement.[1] Although satire is usually meant to be funny, its greater purpose is constructive social criticism, using wit as a weapon.
A common feature of satire is strong irony or sarcasm—"in satire, irony is militant"[2]—but parody, burlesque, exaggeration, juxtaposition, comparison, analogy, and double entendre are all frequently used in satirical speech and writing. This "militant" irony or sarcasm often professes to approve (or at least accept as natural) the very things the satirist wishes to attack.
Satire is nowadays found in many artistic forms of expression, including literature, plays, commentary, and media such as lyrics.

In class you are reading

Dialogue Between Franklin and the Gout

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)


Midnight, 22 October, 1780.


FRANKLIN. Eh! Oh! eh! What have I done to merit these cruel sufferings? 1
GOUT. Many things; you have ate and drank too freely, and too much indulged those legs of yours in their indolence. 2
FRANKLIN. Who is it that accuses me? 3
GOUT. It is I, even I, the Gout. 4
FRANKLIN. What! my enemy in person? 5
GOUT. No, not your enemy. 6
FRANKLIN. I repeat it, my enemy; for you would not only torment my body to death, but ruin my good name; you reproach me as a glutton and a tippler; now all the world, that knows me, will allow that I am neither the one nor the other. 7
GOUT. The world may think as it pleases; it is always very complaisant to itself, and sometimes to its friends; but I very well know that the quantity of meat and drink proper for a man, who takes a reasonable degree of exercise, would be too much for another, who never takes any. 8
FRANKLIN. I take—eh! oh!—as much exercise—eh!—as I can, Madam Gout. You know my sedentary state, and on that account, it would seem, Madam Gout, as if you might spare me a little, seeing it is not altogether my own fault. 9
GOUT.in life is a sedentary one, your amusements, your recreation, at least, should be active. You ought to walk or ride; or, if the weather prevents that, play at billiards. But let us examine your course of life. While the mornings are long, and you have leisure to go abroad, what do you do? Why, instead of gaining an appetite for breakfast, by salutary exercise, you amuse yourself with books, pamphlets, or newspapers, which commonly are not worth the reading. Yet you eat an inordinate breakfast, four dishes of tea, with cream, and one or two buttered toasts, with slices of hung beef, which I fancy are not things the most easily digested. Immediately afterwards you sit down to write at your desk, or converse with persons who apply to you on business. Thus the time passes till one, without any kind of bodily exercise. But all this I could pardon, in regard, as you say, to your sedentary condition. But what is your practice after dinner? Walking in the beautiful gardens of those friends with whom you have dined would be the choice of men of sense; yours is to be fixed down to chess, where you are found engaged for two or three hours! This is your perpetual recreation, which is the least eligible of any for a sedentary man, because, instead of accelerating the motion of the fluids, the rigid attention it requires helps to retard the circulation and obstruct internal secretions. Wrapt in the speculations of this wretched game, you destroy your constitution. What can be expected from such a course of living, but a body replete with stagnant humors, ready to fall prey to all kinds of dangerous maladies, if I, the Gout, did not occasionally bring you relief by agitating those humors, and so purifying or dissipating them? If it was in some nook or alley in Paris, deprived of walks, that you played awhile at chess after dinner, this might be excusable; but the same taste prevails with you in Passy, Auteuil, Montmartre, or Sanoy, places where there are the finest gardens and walks, a pure air, beautiful women, and most agreeable and instructive conversation; all which you might enjoy by frequenting the walks. But these are rejected for this abominable game of chess. Fie, then, Mr. Franklin! But amidst my instructions, I had almost forgot to administer my wholesome corrections; so take that twinge,—and that. 10
FRANKLIN. Oh! eh! oh! Ohhh! As much instruction as you please, Madam Gout, and as many reproaches; but pray, Madam, a truce with your corrections! 11
GOUT. No, Sir, no,—I will not abate a particle of what is so much for your good,—therefore— 12
FRANKLIN. Oh! ehhh!—It is not fair to say I take no exercise, when I do very often, going out to dine and returning in my carriage. 13
GOUT. That, of all imaginable exercises, is the most slight and insignificant, if you allude to the motion of a carriage suspended on springs. By observing the degree of heat obtained by different kinds of motion, we may form an estimate of the quantity of exercise given by each. Thus, for example, if you turn out to walk in winter with cold feet, in an hour’s time you will be in a glow all over; ride on horseback, the same effect will scarcely be perceived by four hours’ round trotting; but if you loll in a carriage, such as you have mentioned, you may travel all day and gladly enter the last inn to warm your feet by a fire. Flatter yourself then no longer, that half an hour’s airing in your carriage deserves the name of exercise. Providence has appointed few to roll in carriages, while he has given to all a pair of legs, which are machines infinitely more commodious and serviceable. Be grateful, then, and make a proper use of yours. Would you know how they forward the circulation of your fluids, in the very action of transporting you from place to place; observe when you walk, that all your weight is alternately thrown from one leg to the other; this occasions a great pressure on the vessels of the foot, and repels their contents; when relieved, by the weight being thrown on the other foot, the vessels of the first are allowed to replenish, and, by a return of this weight, this repulsion again succeeds; thus accelerating the circulation of the blood. The heat produced in any given time depends on the degree of this acceleration; the fluids are shaken, the humors attenuated, the secretions facilitated, and all goes well; the cheeks are ruddy, and health is established. Behold your fair friend at Auteuil; a lady who received from bounteous nature more really useful science than half a dozen such pretenders to philosophy as you have been able to extract from all your books. When she honors you with a visit, it is on foot. She walks all hours of the day, and leaves indolence, and its concomitant maladies, to be endured by her horses. In this, see at once the preservative of her health and personal charms. But when you go to Auteuil, you must have your carriage, though it is no farther from Passy to Auteuil than from Auteuil to Passy. 14
FRANKLIN. Your reasonings grow very tiresome. 15
GOUT. I stand corrected. I will be silent and continue my office; take that, and that. 16
FRANKLIN. Oh! Ohh! Talk on, I pray you. 17
GOUT. No, no; I have a good number of twinges for you to-night, and you may be sure of some more tomorrow. 18
FRANKLIN. What, with such a fever! I shall go distracted. Oh! eh! Can no one bear it for me? 19
GOUT. Ask that of your horses; they have served you faithfully. 20
FRANKLIN. How can you so cruelly sport with my torments 21
GOUT. Sport! I am very serious. I have here a list of offenses against your own health distinctly written, and can justify every stroke inflicted on you. 22
FRANKLIN. Read it then. 23
GOUT. It is too long a detail; but I will briefly mention some particulars. 24
FRANKLIN. Proceed. I am all attention. 25
GOUT. Do you remember how often you have promised yourself, the following morning, a walk in the grove of Boulogne, in the garden de la Muette, or in your own garden, and have violated your promise, alleging, at one time, it was too cold, at another too warm, too windy, too moist, or what else you pleased; when in truth it was too nothing, but your insuperable love of ease? 26
FRANKLIN. That I confess may have happened occasionally, probably ten times in a year. 27
GOUT. Your confession is very far short of the truth; the gross amount is one hundred and ninety-nine times. 28
FRANKLIN. Is it possible? 29
GOUT. So possible, that it is fact; you may rely on the accuracy of my statement. You know M. Brillon’s gardens, and what fine walks they contain; you know the handsome flight of an hundred steps, which lead from the terrace above to the lawn below. You have been in the practice of visiting this amiable family twice a week, after dinner, and it is a maxim of your own, that “a man may take as much exercise in walking a mile, up and down stairs, as in ten on level ground.” What an opportunity was here for you to have had exercise in both these ways! Did you embrace it, and how often? 30
FRANKLIN. I cannot immediately answer that question. 31
GOUT. I will do it for you; not once. 32
FRANKLIN. Not once? 33
GOUT. Even so. During the summer you went there at six o’ clock. You found the charming lady, with her lovely children and friends, eager to walk with you, and entertain you with their agreeable conversation; and what has been your choice? Why, to sit on the terrace, satisfy yourself with the fine prospect, and passing your eye over the beauties of the garden below, without taking one step to descend and walk about in them. On the contrary, you call for tea and the chess-board; and lo! you are occupied in your seat till nine o’clock, and that besides two hours’ play after dinner; and then, instead of walking home, which would have bestirred you a little, you step into your carriage. How absurd to suppose that all this carelessness can be reconcilable with health, without my interposition! 34
FRANKLIN. I am convinced now of the justness of Poor Richard’s remark, that “Our debts and our sins are always greater than we think for.” 35
GOUT. So it is. You philosophers are sages in your maxims, and fools in your conduct. 36
FRANKLIN. But do you charge among my crimes, that I return in a carriage from M. Brillon’s? 37
GOUT. Certainly; for, having been seated all the while, you cannot object the fatigue of the day, and cannot want therefore the relief of a carriage. 38
FRANKLIN. What then would you have me do with my carriage? 39
GOUT. Burn it if you choose; you would at least get heat out of it once in this way; or, if you dislike that proposal, here’s another for you; observe the poor peasants, who work in the vineyards and grounds about the villages of Passy, Auteuil, Chaillot, etc.; you may find every day among these deserving creatures, four or five old men and women, bent and perhaps crippled by weight of years, and too long and too great labor. After a most fatiguing day, these people have to trudge a mile or two to their smoky huts. Order your coachman to set them down. This is an act that will be good for your soul; and, at the same time, after your visit to the Brillons, if you return on foot, that will be good for your body. 40
FRANKLIN. Ah! how tiresome you are! 41
GOUT. Well, then, to my office; it should not be forgotten that I am your physician. There. 42
FRANKLIN. Ohhh! what a devil of a physician! 43
GOUT. How ungrateful you are to say so! Is it not I who, in the character of your physician, have saved you from the palsy, dropsy, and apoplexy? one or other of which would have done for you long ago, but for me. 44
FRANKLIN. I submit, and thank you for the past, but entreat the discontinuance of your visits for the future; for, in my mind, one had better die than be cured so dolefully. Permit me just to hint, that I have also not been unfriendly to you. I never feed physician or quack of any kind, to enter the list against you; if then you do not leave me to my repose, it may be said you are ungrateful too. 45
GOUT. I can scarcely acknowledge that as any objection. As to quacks, I despise them; they may kill you indeed, but cannot injure me. And, as to regular physicians, they are at last convinced that the gout, in such a subject as you are, is no disease, but a remedy; and wherefore cure a remedy?—but to our business,—there. 46
FRANKLIN. Oh! oh!—for Heaven’s sake leave me! and I promise faithfully never more to play at chess, but to take exercise daily, and live temperately. 47
GOUT. I know you too well. You promise fair; but, after a few months of good health, you will return to your old habits; your fine promises will be forgotten like the forms of the last year’s clouds. Let us then finish the account, and I will go. But I leave you with an assurance of visiting you again at a proper time and place; for my object is your good, and you are sensible now that I am your real friend. 48

Wednesday October 27, 2010

Friday cumulative vocabulary assessment; vocabulary 4 due





We are looking at two Native American works today: The Navajo creation legend and The Walum Olum. Make sure you get copies if you are absent.

Please note the relationship between man and the environment. How does this contrast with the English settlers' attitudes toward the land? How are two groups spirituality expressed through their writing, pictographs or oral tales. Where do you observe potential problems in their interactions?


Thinking about the Walum Olum
1. List five of the Great Manio’s creations.
a.

b.

c.

d.

e.
2. What did the evil Manito create?

3. What six troubles did a “mighty magician” bring to the earth?
a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

f.
4. According to The Walum Olum, what constitutes a happy life for the Delaware?

5. Examine the pictographs carefully. What evidence is there that the “evil Manito” and the “evil being, a mighty magician” might be the same spirit?

Writing assignment: due Friday. MLA heading; minimum 250 words. Reflect upon one of our contemporary evils. Select one and provide an imaginative explanation for its origin.


1. At first, in that place, at all times, above the earth,
1. Sayewi talli wemiguma wokgetaki,



2. On the earth, [was] an extended fog, and there the great Manito was.
2. Hackung kwelik owanaku wak yutali Kitanitowit-essop.


3. At first, forever, lost in space, everywhere, the great Manito was.
3. Sayewis hallemiwis nolemiwi elemamik Kitanitowit-essop.



4. He made the extended land and the sky.
4. Sohawalawak kwelik hakik owak [read, woak] awasagamak.
See handout for additional. You may access this on the web, as well.

Navajo Creation Story
Only the Creator knows where the beginning is. The Creator had a thought that created Light in the East. Then the thought went South to create Water, West to create Air, and North to create Pollen from emptiness. This Pollen became Earth.

Light, air, water, and earth is contained in everything within nature; all of the natural world is interconnected and equal.

All of these elements mixed together, and the first thing created were the Holy People. These Holy People were given the job and responsibility of teaching what is right and wrong. Holy people were given the original laws, then they created the earth and human beings.

The Creator with the help of the Holy People created the Natural World. They created humans, birds, and all of the Natural World was put in Hozjo (BALANCE). This Hozjo (harmony, balance, and peace) is dependent on interconnectedness. All of the Natural World depends on another. The Navajo say they are glued together with respect, and together they work in harmony. To the Navajo this present world is the fifth.

The place of emergence into this level was Xajiinai, a hole in the La Plata mountains of SW Colorado. The Holy People have the power to hurt or help, and centuries ago taught the Dineh how to live in harmony with Mother Earth, Father Sky and the other elements: man, animals, plants, insects. The Dineh believe that when the ceremonies cease the world will cease.

Monday October 25, 2010

Reminder: Friday review of vocabularies 1-4. These are excerpts from exercise 4 of the units.
Vocabulary 4 due on Friday

In class: application of Jonathan Edwards persuasive techniques to contemporary commericals.

Review of "Gout" vocabulary in preparation for Ms. Kazer's lesson tomorrow.
“Dialogue Between Franklin and the Gout”
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

Vocabulary:

indolence: (noun) laziness, sloth, lack of activity

reproach: (verb) blame, discredit, disgrace

glutton: (noun) a person with a remarkably great desire or capacity for something

tippler: (noun) one who engages in excessive drinking

complaisant: (adj) exhibiting a desire or willingness to please

sedentary: (adj) doing much sitting, not physically active

replete: (adj) filled, abounding, abundantly supplied

stagnant: (adj) not flowing or running, lack of development or advancement

dissipate: (verb) to drive away, to disperse

abate: (verb) reduce in degree or intensity, nullify

commodious: (adj) spacey and convenient, roomy

attenuated: (verb) to make thinner

ruddy: (adj) a healthy reddish color

concomitant: (adj) occurring or existing concurrently

insuperable: (adj) incapable of being surmounted, overcome or solved

sage: (adj) wise through reflection and experience

palsy: (noun) paralysis of a body part, uncontrollable muscle movement

dropsy: (noun) the swelling of soft tissue

apoplexy: (noun) sudden impairment of neurological function, stroke

dolefully: (adv) full of grief, sorrowfully, with sadness

temperately: (adv) moderately

Friday October 22, 2010

Pocahontas

ON MONDAY you will have an assessment where you will apply the qualities of a persuasive speech as exemplifies in Jonathan Edwards' sermon to two commercials. Please review the handouts; as well, the information can be found on the blog for yesterday. Know the speaker's qualifications, the audience, occassion and technique. I would suggest you practice by noting the tv commercials over the weekend.

Please have finished reading John Smith's Generall Historie for Monday.

On Friday October 29, there will be a general vocabulary review of units 1-4. Please review.
The following is copy of the chart handed out in class. Please note the connections between the literature and the reasons behind the settlements.

New England colonies
Massachusetts
Plimouth 1620 William Bradford Religious Freedom
Massachusetts Bay 1630 John Winthrop Religious Freedom

Middle Colonies
New York/ 1624 Peter Minuit expand trade
Delaware 1638 Swedish Settlers expand trad
New Jersey 1664 John Berkeley George Carteret
Pennsylvania 1682 William Penn profit from land sales
religious / political freedom
Southern Colonies
Virginia 1607 John Smith trade and farming
Maryland 1632 Lord Baltimore trade and farming / religious
The Carolinas 1663 group of eight proprietors
Georgia 1732 James Oglethorpe Profit, home for debtors and
buffer against Spanish Florida

Captain John Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England & the Summer Isles (1624)
Being thus left to our fortunes, it fortuned that within ten days scarce ten amongst us could either go or well stand, such extreme weakness and sickness oppressed us. And thereat none need marvel, if they consider the cause and reason, which was this: Whilst the ships stayed, our allowance was somewhat bettered by a daily proportion of biscuit, which the sailors would pilfer to sell, give, or exchange with us for money, sassafras, furs, or love. But when they departed, there remained neither tavern, beer house, nor place of relief but the common kettle. Had we been as free from all sins as gluttony and drunkenness, we might have been canonized for saints. But our President would never have been admitted, for engrossing to his private [use] oatmeal, sack, oil, aquavitae, beef, eggs, or what not, but the [common] kettle. That, indeed, he allowed equally to be distributed, and that was half a pint of wheat, and as much barley boiled with water for a man a day. And this having fried some 26 weeks in the ship's hold contained as many worms as grains, so that we might truly call it rather so much bran than corn. Our drink was water, our lodgings castles in the air.
With this lodging and diet, our extreme toil in bearing and planting Pallisadoes so strained and bruised us, and our continual labor in the extremity of the heat had so weakened us, as were cause sufficient to have made us as miserable in our native country or any other place in the world.
From May to September those that escaped lived upon sturgeon and sea crabs. Fifty in this time we buried. The rest seeing the President's projects to escape these miseries in our pinnace by flight (who all this time had neither felt want nor sickness) so moved our dead spirits that we deposed him and established Ratcliffe in his place (Gosnold being dead), Kendall deposed. Smith newly recovered [from illness], Martin and Ratcliffe was by his care preserved and relieved, and the most of the soldiers recovered with the skillful diligence of Master Thomas Wotton, our surgeon general. But now was all our provision spent, the sturgeon gone, all helps abandoned. Each hour expecting the fury of the savages, when God, the patron of all good endeavors, in that desperate extremity so changed the hearts of the savages, that they brought such plenty of their fruits and provisions that no man wanted. And now, where some, affirmed it was ill done of the Council to send forth men so badly provided, this incontradictable reason will show them plainly they are too ill advised to nourish such ill conceits. First, the fault of our going was our own. What could be thought fitting or necessary we had; but what we should find or want or where we should be we were all ignorant; and supposing to make our passage in two months with victual to live and the advantage of the spring to work, we were at sea five months, where we both spent our victual and lost the opportunity of the time and season to plant by the unskillful presumption of our ignorant transporters that understood not at all what they undertook.
Such actions have ever since the world's beginning been subject to such accidents, and everything of worth is found full of difficulties; but nothing so difficult as to establish a commonwealth so far remote from men and means, and where men's minds are so untoward as neither do well themselves nor suffer others. But to proceed.
The new President and Martin, being little beloved, of weak judgment in dangers and less industry in peace, committed the managing of all things abroad to Captain Smith; who by his own example, good words, and fair promises set some to mow, others to bind thatch, some to build houses, others to thatch them, himself always bearing the greatest task for his own share, so that in short time he provided most of them lodgings, neglecting any for himself.

……… Leading an expedition on the Chickahominy River, Captain Smith and his men are attacked by Indians, and Smith is taken prisoner.
But our comedies never endured long without a tragedy; some idle exceptions being muttered against Captain Smith, for not discovering the head of Chickahamania river, and taxed by the council, to be too slow in so worthy an attempt. The next voyage he proceeded so far that with much labor by cutting of trees insunder he made his passage; but when his barge could pass no farther, he left her in a broad bay out of danger of shot, commanding none should go ashore till his return: himself with two English and two savages went up higher in a canoe; but he was not long absent, but his men went ashore, whose want of government gave both occasion and opportunity to the savages to surprise one George Cassen, whom they slew, and much failed not to have cut off the boat and all the rest.
Smith little dreaming of that accident, being got to the marshes at the river's head, twenty miles in the desert, had his two men slain (as is supposed) sleeping by the canoe, while himself by fowling sought them victual: who finding he was beset with 200 savages, two of them he slew, still defending himself with the aid of a savage his guide whom he bound to his arm with his garters, and used him as a buckler, yet he was shot in his thigh a little, and had many arrows that stuck in his clothes but no great hurt, till at last they took him prisoner.
When this news came to Jamestown, much was their sorrow for his loss, few expecting what ensued.
Six or seven weeks those Barbarians kept him prisoner, many strange triumphs and conjurations they made of him, yet he so demeaned himself among them, as he not only diverted them from surprising the fort, but procured his own liberty, and got himself and his company such estimation among them, that those savages admired him more than their own Quiyouckosucks...
At last they brought him to Meronocomoco, where was Powhatan their emperor. Here more than two hundred of those grim courtiers stood wondering at him, as he had been a monster; till Powhatan and his train had put themselves in their greatest braveries. Before a fire upon a seat like a bedstead, he sat covered with a great robe, made of Rarowcun (raccoon?) skins, and all the tails hanging by. On either hand did sit a young wench of 16 or 18 years, and along on each side the house, two rows of men, and behind them as many women, with all their heads and shoulders painted red: many of their heads bedecked with the white down of birds; but every one with something: and a great chain of white beads about their necks.
At his entrance before the king, all the people gave a great shout. The queen of Appamatuck was appointed to bring him water to wash his hands, and another brought him a bunch of feathers, instead of a towel to dry them: having feasted him after their best barbarous manner they could, a long consultation was held, but the conclusion was, two great stones were brought before Powhatan: then as many as could laid hands on him, dragged him to them, and thereon laid his head, and being ready with their clubs, to beat out his brains, Pocahontas the king's dearest daughter, when no entreaty could prevail, got his head in her arms, and laid her own upon his to save him from death: whereat the Emperor was contented he should live to make him hatchets, and her bells, beads, and copper; for they thought him as well of all occupations as themselves. For the king himself will make his own robes, shoes, bowes, arrows, pots; plant, hunt, or do anything so well as the rest.
Two days after, Powhatan having disguised himself in the most fearful manner he could, caused Captain Smith to be brought forth to a great house in the woods, and thereupon a mat by the fire to be left alone. Not long after from behind a mat that divided the house, was made the most doleful noise he ever heard; then Powhatan more like a devil than a man, with some two hundred more as black as himself, came unto him and told him now they were friends, and presently he should go to Jamestown, to send him two great guns, and a grindstone, for which he would give him the country of Capahowosick, and forever esteem him as his son Nantaquoud.
So to Jamestown with 12 guides Powhatan sent him. That night they quartered in the woods, he still expecting (as he had done all this long time of his imprisonment) every hour to be put to one death or other: for all their feasting. But almighty God (by his divine providence) had mollified the hearts of those stern barbarians with compassion. The next morning betimes they came to the fort, where Smith having used the savages with what kindness he could, he showed Rawhunt, Powhatan's trusty servant, two demi-culverins and a millstone to carry Powhatan: they found them somewhat too heavy; but when they did see him discharge them, being loaded with stones, among the boughs of a great tree loaded with icicles the ice and branches came so tumbling down, that the poor savages ran away half dead with fear. But at last we regained some conference with them, and gave them such toys; and sent to Powhatan, his women, and children such presents, as gave them in general full content.
Now in Jamestown they were all in combustion, the strongest preparing once more to run away with the pinnace; which with the hazard of his life, with Sakre falcon and musket shot, Smith forced now the third time to stay or sink.
Some no better than they should be, had plotted with the president, the next day to have put him to death by the Levitical law, for the lives of Robinson and Emry; pretending the fault was his that had led them to their ends: but he quickly took such order with such lawyers, that he laid them by the heels till he sent some of them prisoners for England.
Now every once in four or five days, Pocahontas with her attendants, brought him so much provision, that saved many of their lives, that else for all this had starved with hunger.
Thus from numb death our good God sent relief,
The sweet assuager of all other grief.
His relation of the plenty he had seen, especially at Werawocomoco, and of the state and bounty of Powhatan, (which till that time was unknown) so revived their dead spirits (especially the love of Pocahontas) as all men's fear was abandoned.
Thus you may see what difficulties still crossed any good endeavor; and the good success of the business being thus often brought to the very period of destruction; yet you see by what strange means God has still delivered it.
As for the insufficiency of them admitted in commission, that error could not be prevented by the electors; there being no other choice, and all strangers to each other's education, qualities, or disposition.
And if any deem it a shame to our Nation to have any mention made of those enormities, let him peruse the Histories of the Spaniard's Discoveries and Plantations, where they may see how many mutinies, disorders, and dissensions have accompanied them, and crossed their attempts: which being known to be particular men's offenses; does take away the general scorn and contempt, which malice, presumption, coveteousness, or ignorance might produce; to the scandal and reproach of those, whose actions and valiant resolutions deserve a more worthy respect.
Now whether it had been better for Captain Smith, to have concluded with any of those several projects, to have abandoned the country, with some ten or twelve of them, who were called the better sort, and have left Master Hunt our preacher, Master Anthony Gosnol, a most honest, worthy, and industrious gentleman, Master Thomas Wotton, and some 27 others of his countrymen to the fury of the savages, famine, and all manner of mischiefs, and inconveniences, (for they were but forty in all to keep possession of this large country;) or starve himself with them for company, for want of lodging: or but adventuring abroad to make them provision, or by his opposition to preserve the action, and save all their lives; I leave to the censure of all honest men to consider....

Thursday October 21, 2010

In class: review of Sinners at the Angry Hand of God by Jonathan Edwards
accompanying responses due at the end of class; if you are absent, please turn them in. See below.
Homework: Please read the excerpt from Captain John Smith's History of Virginia
Copy below, if you are absent.

Note: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is a PERSUASIVE SPEECH, that is it attempts to convince listeners to think or act in a certain way. The effectiveness of a persuasive speech depends to a large extent upon the audience's perception of the speaker, the speaker's consideration of the audience and setting, and the choice of persuasive techniques.

The Speaker's Qualifications. A speaker must establish his or her qualifications to speak on the subject. In many cases the speaker's reputation alone convinces an audience of his or her qualifications. In other cases the speaker must gain the audience's trust by displaying his or her knowledge of the subject or presenting his or her credentials.

Audience. It is also important for the speaker to be aware of the audience he or she is addressing. The writer must take into account the backgrounds, ages, interest and beliefs of the audience.

Occasion. The time and place at which a persuasive speech is to be presented will also affect its content. Often the speaker will include references to current events or examples that will appeal to current interests.

Technique. Finally, the speaker must decide which persuasive techniques will best serve his or her purpose. A speaker may choose to present a logical argument or may appeal to past traditions or to the audience's emotions or sense or reason, or she or he may use a variety of other techiques.

MONDAY: in class application of the above to a television commercial. Make sure you are very familiar to the above.

Please respond to the following questions pertaining to Jonathan Edwards’ sermon.
1. Why do you think Edwards begins his semon with a vivid description of Hell?


2. Describe God's wrath. Use specific text in your response.


3. How does this impact the speech?


4. What is the purpose of the sermon?


5. Do you think the approach Edwards takes would be effective in today's society? Be ready to explain your answer

Captain John Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England & the Summer Isles (1624)
Being thus left to our fortunes, it fortuned that within ten days scarce ten amongst us could either go or well stand, such extreme weakness and sickness oppressed us. And thereat none need marvel, if they consider the cause and reason, which was this: Whilst the ships stayed, our allowance was somewhat bettered by a daily proportion of biscuit, which the sailors would pilfer to sell, give, or exchange with us for money, sassafras, furs, or love. But when they departed, there remained neither tavern, beer house, nor place of relief but the common kettle. Had we been as free from all sins as gluttony and drunkenness, we might have been canonized for saints. But our President would never have been admitted, for engrossing to his private [use] oatmeal, sack, oil, aquavitae, beef, eggs, or what not, but the [common] kettle. That, indeed, he allowed equally to be distributed, and that was half a pint of wheat, and as much barley boiled with water for a man a day. And this having fried some 26 weeks in the ship's hold contained as many worms as grains, so that we might truly call it rather so much bran than corn. Our drink was water, our lodgings castles in the air.
With this lodging and diet, our extreme toil in bearing and planting Pallisadoes so strained and bruised us, and our continual labor in the extremity of the heat had so weakened us, as were cause sufficient to have made us as miserable in our native country or any other place in the world.
From May to September those that escaped lived upon sturgeon and sea crabs. Fifty in this time we buried. The rest seeing the President's projects to escape these miseries in our pinnace by flight (who all this time had neither felt want nor sickness) so moved our dead spirits that we deposed him and established Ratcliffe in his place (Gosnold being dead), Kendall deposed. Smith newly recovered [from illness], Martin and Ratcliffe was by his care preserved and relieved, and the most of the soldiers recovered with the skillful diligence of Master Thomas Wotton, our surgeon general. But now was all our provision spent, the sturgeon gone, all helps abandoned. Each hour expecting the fury of the savages, when God, the patron of all good endeavors, in that desperate extremity so changed the hearts of the savages, that they brought such plenty of their fruits and provisions that no man wanted. And now, where some, affirmed it was ill done of the Council to send forth men so badly provided, this incontradictable reason will show them plainly they are too ill advised to nourish such ill conceits. First, the fault of our going was our own. What could be thought fitting or necessary we had; but what we should find or want or where we should be we were all ignorant; and supposing to make our passage in two months with victual to live and the advantage of the spring to work, we were at sea five months, where we both spent our victual and lost the opportunity of the time and season to plant by the unskillful presumption of our ignorant transporters that understood not at all what they undertook.
Such actions have ever since the world's beginning been subject to such accidents, and everything of worth is found full of difficulties; but nothing so difficult as to establish a commonwealth so far remote from men and means, and where men's minds are so untoward as neither do well themselves nor suffer others. But to proceed.
The new President and Martin, being little beloved, of weak judgment in dangers and less industry in peace, committed the managing of all things abroad to Captain Smith; who by his own example, good words, and fair promises set some to mow, others to bind thatch, some to build houses, others to thatch them, himself always bearing the greatest task for his own share, so that in short time he provided most of them lodgings, neglecting any for himself.

……… Leading an expedition on the Chickahominy River, Captain Smith and his men are attacked by Indians, and Smith is taken prisoner.
But our comedies never endured long without a tragedy; some idle exceptions being muttered against Captain Smith, for not discovering the head of Chickahamania river, and taxed by the council, to be too slow in so worthy an attempt. The next voyage he proceeded so far that with much labor by cutting of trees insunder he made his passage; but when his barge could pass no farther, he left her in a broad bay out of danger of shot, commanding none should go ashore till his return: himself with two English and two savages went up higher in a canoe; but he was not long absent, but his men went ashore, whose want of government gave both occasion and opportunity to the savages to surprise one George Cassen, whom they slew, and much failed not to have cut off the boat and all the rest.
Smith little dreaming of that accident, being got to the marshes at the river's head, twenty miles in the desert, had his two men slain (as is supposed) sleeping by the canoe, while himself by fowling sought them victual: who finding he was beset with 200 savages, two of them he slew, still defending himself with the aid of a savage his guide whom he bound to his arm with his garters, and used him as a buckler, yet he was shot in his thigh a little, and had many arrows that stuck in his clothes but no great hurt, till at last they took him prisoner.
When this news came to Jamestown, much was their sorrow for his loss, few expecting what ensued.
Six or seven weeks those Barbarians kept him prisoner, many strange triumphs and conjurations they made of him, yet he so demeaned himself among them, as he not only diverted them from surprising the fort, but procured his own liberty, and got himself and his company such estimation among them, that those savages admired him more than their own Quiyouckosucks...
At last they brought him to Meronocomoco, where was Powhatan their emperor. Here more than two hundred of those grim courtiers stood wondering at him, as he had been a monster; till Powhatan and his train had put themselves in their greatest braveries. Before a fire upon a seat like a bedstead, he sat covered with a great robe, made of Rarowcun (raccoon?) skins, and all the tails hanging by. On either hand did sit a young wench of 16 or 18 years, and along on each side the house, two rows of men, and behind them as many women, with all their heads and shoulders painted red: many of their heads bedecked with the white down of birds; but every one with something: and a great chain of white beads about their necks.
At his entrance before the king, all the people gave a great shout. The queen of Appamatuck was appointed to bring him water to wash his hands, and another brought him a bunch of feathers, instead of a towel to dry them: having feasted him after their best barbarous manner they could, a long consultation was held, but the conclusion was, two great stones were brought before Powhatan: then as many as could laid hands on him, dragged him to them, and thereon laid his head, and being ready with their clubs, to beat out his brains, Pocahontas the king's dearest daughter, when no entreaty could prevail, got his head in her arms, and laid her own upon his to save him from death: whereat the Emperor was contented he should live to make him hatchets, and her bells, beads, and copper; for they thought him as well of all occupations as themselves. For the king himself will make his own robes, shoes, bowes, arrows, pots; plant, hunt, or do anything so well as the rest.
Two days after, Powhatan having disguised himself in the most fearful manner he could, caused Captain Smith to be brought forth to a great house in the woods, and thereupon a mat by the fire to be left alone. Not long after from behind a mat that divided the house, was made the most doleful noise he ever heard; then Powhatan more like a devil than a man, with some two hundred more as black as himself, came unto him and told him now they were friends, and presently he should go to Jamestown, to send him two great guns, and a grindstone, for which he would give him the country of Capahowosick, and forever esteem him as his son Nantaquoud.
So to Jamestown with 12 guides Powhatan sent him. That night they quartered in the woods, he still expecting (as he had done all this long time of his imprisonment) every hour to be put to one death or other: for all their feasting. But almighty God (by his divine providence) had mollified the hearts of those stern barbarians with compassion. The next morning betimes they came to the fort, where Smith having used the savages with what kindness he could, he showed Rawhunt, Powhatan's trusty servant, two demi-culverins and a millstone to carry Powhatan: they found them somewhat too heavy; but when they did see him discharge them, being loaded with stones, among the boughs of a great tree loaded with icicles the ice and branches came so tumbling down, that the poor savages ran away half dead with fear. But at last we regained some conference with them, and gave them such toys; and sent to Powhatan, his women, and children such presents, as gave them in general full content.
Now in Jamestown they were all in combustion, the strongest preparing once more to run away with the pinnace; which with the hazard of his life, with Sakre falcon and musket shot, Smith forced now the third time to stay or sink.
Some no better than they should be, had plotted with the president, the next day to have put him to death by the Levitical law, for the lives of Robinson and Emry; pretending the fault was his that had led them to their ends: but he quickly took such order with such lawyers, that he laid them by the heels till he sent some of them prisoners for England.
Now every once in four or five days, Pocahontas with her attendants, brought him so much provision, that saved many of their lives, that else for all this had starved with hunger.
Thus from numb death our good God sent relief,
The sweet assuager of all other grief.
His relation of the plenty he had seen, especially at Werawocomoco, and of the state and bounty of Powhatan, (which till that time was unknown) so revived their dead spirits (especially the love of Pocahontas) as all men's fear was abandoned.
Thus you may see what difficulties still crossed any good endeavor; and the good success of the business being thus often brought to the very period of destruction; yet you see by what strange means God has still delivered it.
As for the insufficiency of them admitted in commission, that error could not be prevented by the electors; there being no other choice, and all strangers to each other's education, qualities, or disposition.
And if any deem it a shame to our Nation to have any mention made of those enormities, let him peruse the Histories of the Spaniard's Discoveries and Plantations, where they may see how many mutinies, disorders, and dissensions have accompanied them, and crossed their attempts: which being known to be particular men's offenses; does take away the general scorn and contempt, which malice, presumption, coveteousness, or ignorance might produce; to the scandal and reproach of those, whose actions and valiant resolutions deserve a more worthy respect.
Now whether it had been better for Captain Smith, to have concluded with any of those several projects, to have abandoned the country, with some ten or twelve of them, who were called the better sort, and have left Master Hunt our preacher, Master Anthony Gosnol, a most honest, worthy, and industrious gentleman, Master Thomas Wotton, and some 27 others of his countrymen to the fury of the savages, famine, and all manner of mischiefs, and inconveniences, (for they were but forty in all to keep possession of this large country;) or starve himself with them for company, for want of lodging: or but adventuring abroad to make them provision, or by his opposition to preserve the action, and save all their lives; I leave to the censure of all honest men to consider....

Wednesday October 20

1. QUIZ TODAY ON THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION SHEET

2. Vocabulary 3 was due Monday. I have one set of responses with no name. Does it belong to one of the following folks? That means two of you have not turned in your work. As of today, it is 20 points off. Roberto, Emil, Peri, Marissa

3. Turn in responses for the Bradstreet poem. This counts as a test grade. After class it is late.

HOMEWORK: read Jonathan Edward's sermon. See copy below, if you are absent.

Excerpts from
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God - sermon given in 1741 by Jonathan Edwards


I. There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment. Men's hands can't be strong when God rises up: the strongest have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his hands.

He is not only able to cast wicked men into hell, but he can most easily do it. Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a great deal of difficulty to subdue a rebel, that has found means to fortify himself, and has made himself strong by the numbers of his followers. But it is not so with God. There is no fortress that is any defense from the power of God. Though hand join in hand, and vast multitudes of God's enemies combine and associate themselves, they are easily broken in pieces: they are as great heaps of light chaff before the whirlwind; or large quantities of dry stubble before devouring flames. We find it easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth; so 'tis easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that anything hangs by; thus easy is it for God when he pleases to cast his enemies down to hell. What are we, that we should think to stand before him, at whose rebuke the earth trembles, and before whom the rocks are thrown down?


II. They deserve to be cast into hell; so that divine justice never stands in the way, it makes no objection against God's using his power at any moment to destroy them. Yea, on the contrary, justice calls aloud for an infinite punishment of their sins. Divine justice says of the tree that brings forth such grapes of Sodom, "Cut it down; why cumbreth it the ground" (Luke 13:7). The sword of divine justice is every moment brandished over their heads, and 'tis nothing but the hand of arbitrary mercy, and God's mere will, that holds it back.

III. They are already under a sentence of condemnation to hell. They don't only justly deserve to be cast down thither; but the sentence of the law of God, that eternal and immutable rule of righteousness that God has fixed between him and mankind, is gone out against them, and stands against them; so that they are bound over already to hell. John 3:18, "He that believeth not is condemned already." So that every unconverted man properly belongs to hell; that is his place; from thence he is. John 8:23, "Ye are from beneath." And thither he is bound; 'tis the place that justice, and God's Word, and the sentence of his unchangeable law assigns to him.


IV. They are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God that is expressed in the torments of hell: and the reason why they don't go down to hell at each moment, is not because God, in whose power they are, is not then very angry with them; as angry as he is with many of those miserable creatures that he is now tormenting in hell, and do there feel and bear the fierceness of his wrath. Yea, God is a great deal more angry with great numbers that are now on earth, yea, doubtless with many that are now in this congregation, that it may be are at ease and quiet, than he is with many of those that are now in the flames of hell.


VII. It is no security to wicked men for one moment, that there are no visible means of death at hand. 'Tis no security to a natural man, that he is now in health, and that he don't see which way he should now immediately go out of the world by any accident, and that there is no visible danger in any respect in his circumstances. The manifold and continual experience of the world in all ages, shows that this is no evidence that a man is not on the very brink of eternity, and that the next step won't be into another world. The unseen, unthought of ways and means of persons going suddenly out of the world are innumerable and inconceivable. Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that they won't bear their weight, and these places are not seen. The arrows of death fly unseen at noonday; the sharpest sight can't discern them. God has so many different unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the world and sending


Closing:
And you that are young men, and young women, will you neglect this precious season that you now enjoy, when so many others of your age are renouncing all youthful vanities, and flocking to Christ? You especially have now an extraordinary opportunity; but if you neglect it, it will soon be with you as it is with those persons that spent away all the precious days of youth in sin, and are now come to such a dreadful pass in blindness and hardness.

And you children that are unconverted, don't you know that you are going down to hell, to bear the dreadful wrath of that God that is now angry with you every day, and every night? Will you be content to be the children of the devil, when so many other children in the land are converted, and are become the holy and happy children of the King of kings?

And let everyone that is yet out of Christ, and hanging over the pit of hell, whether they be old men and women, or middle aged, or young people, or little children, now hearken to the loud calls of God's Word and providence. This acceptable year of the Lord, that is a day of such great favor to some, will doubtless be a day of as remarkable vengeance to others. Men's hearts harden, and their guilt increases apace at such a day as this, if they neglect their souls: and never was there so great danger of such persons being given up to hardness of heart, and blindness of mind. God seems now to be hastily gathering in his elect in all parts of the land; and probably the bigger part of adult persons that ever shall be saved, will be brought in now in a little time, and that it will be as it was on that great outpouring of the Spirit upon the Jews in the apostles' days, the election will obtain, and the rest will be blinded. If this should be the case with you you will eternally curse this day, and will curse the day that ever you was born, to see such a season of the pouring out of God's Spirit; and will wish that you had died and gone to hell before you had seen it. Now undoubtedly it is, as it was in the days of John the Baptist, the ax is in an extraordinary manner laid at the root of the trees, that every tree that brings not forth good fruit, may be hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Therefore let everyone that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come. The wrath of almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over great part of this congregation: let everyone fly out of Sodom. Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed [Genesis 19:17].

Tuesday October 19, 2010

Hand out in class on general information on American Literature prior to 1750. Read: quiz on this material Wednesday.

In class: poetry of Anne Bradstreet.
We are reading and analyzing Anne Bradstreet's poem. See copy below and questions for which you will reponsible for as class work. If you are absent, be prepared on your own and discuss with me any questions you might have.


Here followes some verses upon the burning of our house, July 10th, 1666.


By Anne Bradstreet


In silent night when rest I took,
For sorrow neer I did not look,
I waken'd was with thundring nois
And Piteous shreiks of dreadfull voice.
That fearfull sound of fire and fire,
Let no man know is my Desire.
I, starting up, the light did spye,
And to my God my heart did cry
To strengthen me in my Distresse
And not to leave me succourlesse.
Then coming out beheld a space,
The flame consume my dwelling place.

And, when I could no longer look,
I blest his Name that gave and took,
That layd my goods now in the dust:
Yea so it was, and so 'twas just.
It was his own: it was not mine;
Far be it that I should repine.

He might of All justly bereft,
But yet sufficient for us left.
When by the Ruines oft I past,
My sorrowing eyes aside did cast,
And here and there the places spye
Where oft I sate, and long did lye.

Here stood that Trunk, and there that chest;
There lay that store I counted best:
My pleasant things in ashes lye,
And them behold no more shall I.
Under thy roof no guest shall sitt,
Nor at thy Table eat a bitt.

No pleasant tale shall 'ere be told,
Nor things recounted done of old.
No Candle 'ere shall shine in Thee,
Nor bridegroom's voice ere heard shall bee.
In silence ever shalt thou lye;
Adieu, Adeiu; All's vanity.

Then streight I gin my heart to chide,
And didst thy wealth on earth abide?
Didst fix thy hope on mouldring dust,
The arm of flesh didst make thy trust?
Raise up thy thoughts above the skye
That dunghill mists away may flie.

Thou hast an house on high erect
Fram'd by that mighty Architect,
With glory richly furnished,
Stands permanent tho' this bee fled.
It's purchased, and paid for too
By him who hath enough to doe.

A Prise so vast as is unknown,
Yet, by his Gift, is made thine own.
Ther's wealth enough, I need no more;
Farewell my Pelf, farewell my Store.
The world no longer let me Love,
My hope and Treasure lyes Above.

Text notes:
Line 5: fire and fire, Fire! and Fire!
Line 11: beheld a space, watched for a time
Line 14: I blest his name that gave and took, see Job 1:21
Line 24: Sate, sat
Line 40: Arm of flesh, see 2 Chron. 32:8; Isa. 9:18-20; Jer. 17:4-7
Line 42: Dunghill mists, see Ezra 6:9-12.
Line 43: House on high erect, see 2 Cor. 5:1; Heb. 11:10
Line 48: Enough to doe, ie. enough to do it
Line 52: Pelf, property, possessions
Line 54: Treasure lyes Above, see Luke 12:34
Upon the Burning of Our House
July 10th, 1666

What does the speaker do when she can no longer look at her burning house?


What does the speaker see when she passes by her house?


In the end, where do the speaker’s “hope and treasure” lie?



Interpreting:

Why does the speaker bless God as her house is burning down?



With what emotions is the speaker filled when she passes by the ruins of her house?



To what is the speaker referring when she speaks of the “house on high”?


On the basis of this poem, what generalization would you make about the Puritan attitude toward worldly goods?


What is the theme of the poem?



Point out three basic, plain words referring to everyday items.




The following is the reading material handed out in class.

The New Land to 1750

Let England know our willingnesse,
For that our worke is good:
Wee hope to plant a nation,
Where none before hath stood
Thomas Dale
Governor of the Jamestown Colony

More than a century after European explorers discovered North America, there were no permanent settlements in the New World north of St. Augustine, Florida. By 1607, however, a small group of English settlers was struggling to survive on a marshy island in the James River in the present state of Virginia. In 1611, Thomas Dale, governor of the colony, wrote a report to the king expressing the colonist’s determination to succeed. Despite disease and starvation, Jamestown did survive.
The first settlers were entranced by the presence and, to them, the strangeness of the native inhabitants. They did not at first realize that these earlier Americans, like Europeans, had cultural values and literary traditions of their own. The literature was entirely oral, for the tribes of North America had not yet developed writing systems. This extensive oral tradition, along with the first written works of the colonists forms the beginning of the American literary heritage.

The Historical Setting:

When Christopher Columbus reached North America in 1492, the continent was already populated, though sparsely, by several hundred Native American tribes. Europeans did not encounter these tribes all at once. Explorers from different nations came into contact with them at different times. As we now know, these widely dispersed tribes of Native Americans differed greatly from one another in language, government, social organization, customs, housing and methods of survival.
What we do know is that the Native Americans usually, but by no means always, greeted the earliest Europeans as friends. They instructed the newcomers in New World agriculture and woodcraft, introduced them to maize, beans, squash, maple sugar, snow shoes, toboggans and birch bark canoes.
A small group of Europeans sailed from England on the Mayflower in 1620. The passengers were religious reformers, who were critical of the Church of England. Having given up of or “purifying” the church from within, they chose instead to withdraw from the church. This action earned them the name Separatists. We know them as Pilgrims. They established a settlement at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts. Eventually, it was engulfed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the much larger settlement to the north.
Religion affected every aspect of Puritan life, although the Puritans were not always as stern and otherworldly as they are sometimes pictures. Their writings occasionally reveal a sense of humor, and the hardships of daily life forced them to be practical. In one sense, the Puritans were radical, since they demanded fundamental changes in the Church of England. In another sense, however, they were conservative. They preached a plain, unadorned Christianity that contrasted sharply with the cathedrals, vestments, ceremony and hierarchy of the Church of England.
What exactly did the puritans believe? Their beliefs were far from simple, but they agreed that human beings exist for the glory of God and the Bible is the sole expression of God’s will. They believed in predestination--John Calvin’s doctrine that God has already decided who will achieve salvation and who will not. The elect, or saints, who are to be saved, cannot take election for granted, however. Because of that, all devout Puritans searched their soul with great rigor and frequency for signs of grace. The Puritans believed in original sin and felt that they could accomplish good only through continual hard work and self-discipliner. When people speak of the “Puritan ethic,” that is what they mean.
It was an oddly assorted group that established the foundations of American literature: the Native Americans with their oral traditions, the Puritans with their preoccupation with sin and salvation and the Southern planters with their busy social lives. Indeed, much of the literature that the colonists read was not produced in the colonies. It came from England. Yet by 1750 there were the clear beginnings of a native literature that would one day be honored throughout the English-speaking world.

Note: The Puritans in general had a theory of literary style. They believed in the plain style of writing, one in which clear statement is the highest goal. An ornate or clever style would be a sign of vanity and, as such, would not be in accordance with God’s will.

The important literature of the pre-Revolutionary South can be summed up in one name-William Byrd. Byrd lived at Westover, a magnificent plantation on the James River bequeathed to him by his wealthy father. Commissioned in 1738 to survey the boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina, he kept a journal of his experiences. That journal, never intended for publication, was found among his papers after his death. Published nearly a century later as The History of the Dividing Line, it was immediately recognized as a minor humorous masterpiece.

Monday October 18, 2010

New marking period. Vocabulary 3 is due today. As usual, 10 points off for each day late.
In class: a quick sonnet review as an extension of Ms. Kaser's work with you last Thursday. As well, we'll look at two contemporary sonnets by Sherman Alexie. See copies of the material below.

“A sonnet is fundamentally a dialectical construct which allows the poet to examine the nature and ramifications of two usually contrastive ideas, emotions, states of mind, beliefs, actions, events, images, etc., by juxtaposing the two against each other, and possibly resolving or just revealing the tensions created and operative between the two. “
O. K., so much for the fancy language. Basically, in a sonnet, you show two related but differing things to the reader in order to communicate something about them. Each of the three major types of sonnets (Italian or Petrarchan, Spenserian (from Spenser’s Faerie Queene) and Shakespearean) accomplishes this in a somewhat different way. There are, of course, other types of sonnets, as well, but since we are looking at Shakespeare…The English sonnet has the simplest and most flexible pattern of all sonnets, consisting of 3 quatrains of alternating rhyme and a couplet:
a b a b
c d c d
e f e f
g g
As in the Spenserian, each quatrain develops a specific idea, but one closely related to the ideas in the other quatrains.
Not only is the English sonnet the easiest in terms of its rhyme scheme, calling for only pairs of rhyming words rather than groups of 4, but it is the most flexible in terms of the placement of the volta, that is the turn, when a new idea is introduced.

Sonnet 29 William Shakespeare

When, in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, 5
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least,
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state, 10
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings,
That then I scorn to change my state with kings 14

Blood Sonnets by Sherman Alexie

Years ago, in Spokane, a woman saved
A family of orphaned baby geese.
An amateur ornithologist, she raised
Those birds into adulthood, and then released
Them into the pond at Manito Park,
Where a dozen swans, elegant and white,
Tore the tame geese open and ate their hearts.
Of course, all of this was broadcast live
On the local news. Eyewitnesses wept.
My mother and I shrugged, not at death,
But at those innocent folks who believe
That birds don't murder, rape, and steal.
Like us, swans can be jealous and dangerous,
And, oh, so lovely, sure and monogamous.



When my father left me (and my mother
And siblings), to binge-drink for days and weeks,
I always wept myself into nosebleeds.
And sure, you might think this is another
Poem about a wounded father and son,
But honestly, the only blood was mine,
And it flowed from absence, not from a punch
Or kick. My father, drunk or not, was kind
And passive, and never lifted a fist
To strike. Drunk daddy only hit the road,
missed And I'd become the rez Hamlet who
His father so much that he bled red ghosts.
Years later, in Seattle, my nose bled
When my mom called and said, "Your father is dead."