The team from The Literature Network, an online community of literature lovers, created a nice infographic that visualizes a timeline of literary periods and movements. Click on the image to see it…
"They called me mad, and I called them mad, and damn them, they outvoted me." ~ Nathaniel Lee In his April 28th blog for the New York Times, the excellent Timothy Egan wrote about "Desert Derangement Syndrome," his take on the state of things in the state of Arizona. At one point he describes members of the "birther" movement as "flat-earthers." When a friend mentioned she wasn't familiar with the term, I began wondering what the Flat Earth Society has been up to; clearly, its once-powerful publicity machine has broken down. The idea that the earth is flat was widely believed until about the 400 B.C., when Aristotle among others proposed that our planet is actually a globe. The fact that Christopher Columbus and then Magellan failed to fall off the earth's edge removed the remaining doubt for most people. The discoid earth notion was revived in the 1800s by British Inventor Samuel Rowbotham, whose interpretations of Biblical passages convinced him that, despite all evidence to the contrary, the Earth really is flat after all. He wrote a book about it, Zetetic Astronomy: Earth Not a Globe, and attracted a group of ardent followers who formed the Universal Zetetic Society, precursor to the Flat Earth Society. (Are you getting a headache yet?) The image at right is an artist's interpretation of the Society's belief that the earth is a disk and that Antarctica forms an ice wall around its outer limits. In 1956 — yes, that recently — Samuel Shenton, whom Wikipedia describes as a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and the Royal Geographic Society, must have left his peers speechless when he took up Rowbotham's cause and formed the modern-day Flat Earth Society. One might have imagined that space flight, particularly NASA's unforgettable photos of "the big blue marble," would have ended the debate, but this is not the way things work with science deniers. Space flight just gave conspiracy theorists and fellow loonies more fuel. Flat Earth Society members have been among the leading proponents of the notion that the Apollo 13 moon landing in 1969 was staged with the help of Stanley Kubrick. According to Wikipedia, the Flat Earth Society claimed 60 members as of March 2010. I'm sure there would be more, but likely candidates are no doubt too busy obsessing about President Obama's birth certificate and denying climate change. Meanwhile in the loony-loving state of Alaska, an alternate Flat Earth Society has sprung up. I like to think a polar bear with a laptop and a sense of humor is behind it. Please take a moment to enjoy its wonderfully absurd mission statement and an interesting page of "evidence." "There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other." ~ Douglas H. Everett
Read our free guide to teaching Beowulf, an epic tale perfect for examining the traits of heroes and introducing students to Old English works.
Short Notes (The Good-Morrow- John Donne)
William Shakespeare's Macbeth Infographic to help you understand everything about the book. Visually learn all about the characters, themes, and William Shakespeare.
It's been a while since I did my last scene-by-scene retelling of an entire Shakespeare play. What with the Michael Fassbender film making ripples in the popular consciousness, I thought it might be a good time to tackle.... MACBETH!!! <
This study guide and infographic for Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment offer summary and analysis on themes, symbols, and other literary devices found in the text. Explore Course Hero's library of literature materials, including documents and Q&A pairs.
After reading "The General Prologue" of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, students analyze character in a fun activity.
Source for comic: Wrong Hands Buy a copy of his book: Abridged Classics: Brief Summaries of Books You Were Supposed to Read but Probably Didn’t
The random number generator has hit upon another major character for this week's Shakespearean Character Spotlight ! Today we take a look at Desdemona.
Support exploration of 'Beowulf' with StoryboardThat's lesson plans, summaries, and vocabulary. Activities on plot and Scandinavian themes for students.
Can you tell we are tackling Beowulf next week? I am amazed at the number of quality resources available for free! This list includes research pages, writing assignments, history lessons, and literature guides. Updated 08/12/22 Beowulf Resources Beowulf: Still a Hero An Introduction to Beowulf The Beauty of Anglo-Saxon Poetry: A Prelude to Beowulf [...]
Support exploration of 'Beowulf' with StoryboardThat's lesson plans, summaries, and vocabulary. Activities on plot and Scandinavian themes for students.
Image Source: Venn Diagrams are diagrams containing circles that show the logical relations between a collection of sets or groups. They are used in many areas of life where we need to categorize o…
This study guide and infographic for Unknown's Beowulf offer summary and analysis on themes, symbols, and other literary devices found in the text. Explore Course Hero's library of literature materials, including documents and Q&A pairs.
This study guide and infographic for Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory offer summary and analysis on themes, symbols, and other literary devices found in the text. Explore Course Hero's library of literature materials, including documents and Q&A pairs.
This study guide and infographic for William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night offer summary and analysis on themes, symbols, and other literary devices found in the text. Explore Course Hero's library of literature materials, including documents and Q&A pairs.
Bring Chaucer's Canterbury Tales to life with our customizable bingo cards featuring characters like the Miller, the Knight, and the Pardoner. Perfect for literature enthusiasts and classroom activities.
Our British Literature lesson plans condense hundreds of hours of work into a simple, premium-quality lesson plan bundle. These plans boast the same qualities as our other bundles in that they are: Specifically focused on teaching rhetorical analysis and argumentative writing Fully aligned to the Common Core State Standards Designed to target skills pertinent to next-generation tests such as PARCC […]
The Shakespearean Bingo train keeps rolling with today's follow-up to last week's Shakespearean Comedy Bingo . Today we take a look at the histories.
This FULLY EDITABLE assignment allows students to use their creativity to show what they know about "The Wife of Bath's Tale" and "The Pardoner's Tale" from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The assignment includes three creative writing tasks as well as a rubric for grading the assignment. ...
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Infographic to help you understand everything about the book. Visually learn all about the characters, themes, and Mary Shelley.
Explore The Canterbury Tales through StoryboardThat's lesson plans, including character insights, plot summaries, and activities for a deep literary analysis.
This unit plan for Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales "General Prologue" is comprised of five lesson plans which include pre-reading questions, creative writing assignments, and assessments.
To be or not to be an exciting teacher of Shakespeare? The answer is obvious! Make teaching Hamlet fun and engaging with this set of lessons and activities to help you lead students on a journey through one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. The most important thing you’ll find here are comic summaries of each act. You can hand these out to students before they read to give them a summary of what will happen in the play without giving too much away or use them as a quick review for students who have been absent. In either case, I bring the story to life with humor and fun, just as Shakespeare should be presented. Furthermore, there are Easter eggs in each comic - hidden metaphors and images from the play that students can find. In addition, this set includes several activities that will engage students will the play. Many of Hamlet’s famous soliloquies are covered through in depth questions, and each act has a series of questions at the end that can be used to check how well students understand what happened. In addition, there are activities that help students engage with Hamlet in creative ways such as: A Hamlet paper doll that students create based on Ophelia’s description of his appearance An opportunity to create now song lyrics to one of Ophelia’s songs An activity where students write their own soliloquy A group activity where students add an extra scene to the play, just like Hamlet did with The Murder of Gonzago An analysis of famous paintings of Ophelia Finally after they read the play: Students will analyze whether or not Hamlet would be a good king Students will research mental disorders that Hamlet might have had and provide evidence from the play in the form of a psychological analysis. If you teach other Shakespeare plays, be sure to check out my other products including: Big Ol' Shakespeare Bundle Julius Caesar Shakespeare Bundle Romeo and Juliet: Comics and Activities A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Comics and Activities Macbeth: Comics and Activities Macbeth: Comics and Activities Shakespeare Comics: Sonnet 18 Shakespeare Comics: Iambic Pentameter Othello Comics and Activities Connect with Me! Visit my Teachers Pay Teachers Store Visit my Blog Follow me on Facebook Questions? Contact me at [email protected]. Thanks, David Rickert © David Rickert All rights reserved by author. Duplication limited to single classroom use only. Electronic distribution limited to single classroom use only.
