English

The English program is based on two assumptions. The first is that mastery of one’s own language is essential to an individual’s personal development; he must be able to express himself clearly, communicate with and persuade others. The second assumption has three parts: that the experience of great literature allows us to enlarge our experience of and ability to deal with the world we live in, that contact with the best thoughts of the best minds can be a source of wisdom and delight, and that the individual can better appreciate his own values and those of his culture if he is familiar with the process by which they have evolved. No Upper School English program can possibly provide students with all the instruction in language and literature that they will ever need. Properly understood, education is a life-long process. An effective English program equips the student with the skills he will need to pursue formal study and to continue the self-educational effort which marks and makes the well-rounded individual.

Form III

Form III English exposes students to a variety of literary works, including novels, short stories, plays, and poems. Building on the work of the Middle School, more literary terms are introduced, and the structure and function of literary forms are examined. The reading of literature provides a foundation for the integration of grammar, spelling, and vocabulary lessons within the framework of a comprehensive study of the writing process. Considerable time is spent on planning, writing, evaluating, and revising essays in order to produce writing that is clear, concise, and persuasive. Some time is devoted to developing better study skills and habits, with emphasis on organizational, reading, and analytical skills. Students will use the Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary Workshop, Level E, and Hacker’s Pocket Style Manual, for technical studies and vocabulary enrichment.

Fall Term: Heroic Figures

Texts include Achebe, Things Fall Apart; Hilton, Lost Horizon; Homer, The Odyssey; and selected stories.

Winter Term: Heroic Choices

Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun; and Shakespeare, Julius Caesar. Poetry: terms and structure.

Spring Term: Heroic Consequences

Mishima, The Sound of Waves; Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye.

Presentation Skills

This three-term Form III requirement helps to develop excellent oral communication skills in students and to teach them to express themselves in a clear and articulate manner in all circumstances, including debates, interviews, and other public speaking occasions. Students are encouraged to develop confidence and poise when they present themselves in their public and personal lives. One term is devoted to learning how to make effective use of computer programs when making presentations. In the second and third term, focus is on original oratory, and the oral interpretation of literature. Emphasis is placed on content as well as non-verbal communication, with particular focus on persuasive and inspirational speeches.

Form IV

Form IV English provides an introduction to the history and development of the English language and a survey of the various literary forms. The reading is chosen to encourage discussion of such themes as maturity, the dignity of the individual, friendship, fate, and moral integrity. Strategies for approaching, reading, and retaining a knowledge of challenging texts are discussed and implemented. The reading covers a wide range of material from Sophocles to Shakespeare, from Geoffrey Chaucer to Phillip Larkin. Some memorization is required. The writing of organized, supported, and persuasive essays finds emphasis in reading and in practice. Planning and revision merit special attention. Grammar study and vocabulary are pursued in textbook exercises and in the context of reading and writing assignments. Students will use the Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary Workshop, Level F, and Lafarge, Usage, a Workbook for Students, for technical studies and vocabulary enrichment.

Fall Term: The Poet and the Satirist

An examination of the increasing complexity and flexibility of the English language. Texts may include selections from Beowulf; a selection of ballads; selections from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales; Shakespeare’s sonnets; Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle; Swift, “A Modest Proposal.”

Winter Term: Finding Order: Man and the Mysteries of his World.

Shakespeare, Macbeth; Stoker, Dracula; poetry of Blake, Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, Tennyson; the term project involves composition of a range of original pieces of writing.

Spring Term: Romanticism and its Legacy.

Dickens, Great Expectations. Poets studied include Blake, Wordsworth, Tennyson, Browning, Arnold, Housman, Yeats, Thomas, and Larkin.

Functional Grammar

This class meets once a week for one trimester and concentrates on recognizing and correcting common grammar mistakes. Instruction focuses on the application of basic grammar rules in speech and writing. A review of the parts of speech and the clarification of punctuation, including commas, apostrophes, and semi-colons are presented. Strategies for implementing parallel structure and agreement are also emphasized.

Form V: Themes in American Literature

Students will approach selected works of American literature not only as sovereign texts but also as products of the developing culture of the United States and expressions of concerns uniquely American which can be traced through our literature from colonial days to the present. The course will be structured to encourage students to recognize the connections between the Form V American History course and the American literature they will read in this course. Students will also continue the development of their writing skills through expository and creative writing assignments on topics related to the reading.

Fall Term: Freedom and Race

Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; Wright, Native Son; Hughes, poems.

Winter Term: Men at War

This term will focus on the experience of men during wartime. Texts: Homer, The Iliad (selected passages); Crane, The Red Badge of Courage; Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms; O’Brien, The Things They Carried.

Spring Term: After the Wars

Hemingway, selected stories; Agee, A Death in the Family; poems by Poe, Dickinson, Frost, Millay, and others.

Form VI:

Students in Form VI will select three different courses during the year. These courses change from year to year and are designed to suit the interests and needs of the students, to approximate in their general approach the literature courses encountered by college undergraduates, and to bridge the gap between high school and college-level work. Courses in recent years have had thematic, historical, or genre orientations, and writing courses of several kinds have been offered. The following choices are presented to students for the 2006-2007 school year.

Fall Term: The Short Story:

This class concentrates on the techniques used by the writers of short stories. Class discussion and analytical writing (2-3 essays) will be used to explore the implications and narrative structure of the stories we read. The students will write three stories of their own, following up their compositions with carefully considered revisions. Text: Perrine, Story and Structure. Occasional reading quizzes and period tests will be administered. Tests are usually an open book format.

The Universal Road Trip:

This course will examine a fundamental trait of being human: the movement from childhood to adolescence to adulthood. Through novels, short stories, poems, and song lyrics, we will study the coming of age experience. We will discuss ways in which our family and societal influences affect the journey. Each student will have an opportunity to explore his own journey as both unique and universal. Possible texts may include In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, and William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience. We will also study a variety of other selected short stories, poems, and song lyrics.

Winter Term: The Magic of Memoir

Life must be lived forward, but can only be understood backwards.”

Soren Kierkegaard

This course will closely examine the art of memoir: narrative composed of personal experience. Discussions will focus on central questions about why people choose to write a memoir. What do we gain by writing about our own lives? What is the process like? What are potential problems? Each student will write approximately ten pages a week of his own personal reflections. At the end of the course these pages will be combined into one cohesive piece of writing. Possible texts may include The Color of Water by James McBride, Stop-Time by Frank Conroy, All Souls by Michael Patrick MacDonald, and selections from Modern American Memoir edited by Annie Dillard.

Poetry: Analysis and Composition

This course will begin with a brief overview of the history of poetry and a review of the methods of critical analysis. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Donne, Marvell, Wordsworth, Tennyson, Dickinson, Whitman, and Arnold will be revisited, after which the bulk of the course reading will concentrate on the modern poets, including Eliot, Frost, Hughes, Larkin, Heaney, MacNeice, Berry, Auden, Lowell. Attention will be paid to the techniques of close reading as a preparation for those interested in taking the AP English examination. Students will also be writing their own poetry, experimenting in style and theme, exploring resonating diction and imagery. Revision will be an essential part of this process. The trimester project will be the compilation of a portfolio of creative and analytical writing. There will be occasional quizzes and period tests. Text: Norton Anthology of Poetry. Students will be required to have access to an unabridged dictionary,

Spring Term: Shakespeare and the Varieties of Love

This is not a Valentine class, but a study of a concept that seems to be at the heart of how we think of ourselves as human. Filial love, the bonds of friendship, the need for companionship, and the complexities of sexual desire are all part of Shakespeare’s investigation of “love.” This course will concentrate on the text and the performance history of Romeo and Juliet. Additional reading will include critical commentary, speeches from other Shakespearean plays, selected sonnets, and modern pieces on the same topic. Three analytical essays will be required. Period tests, quizzes, and short memorizations will also be part of the class. Text: Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Cambridge School Edition. DVD: Romeo and Juliet, film, Zeffirelli; Romeo and Juliet, film, Lurhman.

Against the Grain

There are always people who choose to exist on the edge of society and live against the rules. This course will explore the minds of these individuals. Through essays, novels, and movies the class will attempt to make sense of these people and the decisions they make to live in mental and physical exile. Possible texts may include selections from of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl,” and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey. We will also watch the 2005 documentary about Timothy Treadwell called “Grizzly Man.”