Here is, first thing on a Monday morning, a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Cleopatra. Time to get a brain signal and get to work.
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
“Irish-born novelist and philosopher. Murdoch’s novels are noted for intricacy of plot and character, psychological penetration, and subtlety of style, with a with that changes from recondite irony to the crazily comic. Their structure is elaborate and unrealistic, often concerning a group of characters who become involved with each other through a complex network of love affairs. People’s need for love and freedom are explored as part of their greater need to affirm their own reality. In Under the Net (1954), The Bell (1958), and An Unofficial Rose (1962), the twin philosophical questions are posed: how free can man be and how much can he know himself? Among her many works are the novels The Flight from the Enchanter (1956), The Sandcastle (1961), A Severed Head (1961), The Unicorn (1963), An Accidental Man (1972), Henry and Cato (1972), The Sea, the Sea (1978; Booker Prize for literature), and Nuns and Soldiers (1980), as well as a study of Sartre, Romantic Rationalist (1953), and The Fire and the Sun (1977), a discussion of Plato’s aesthetic theory. Her later novels are The Philosopher’s Pupil (1982), The Good Apprentice (1985), and The Message of the Planet (1989). In 1987 Murdoch was made a Dame of the British Empire.”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
Friday morning at last, which means it’s time for the Weekly Text, this one in observance of Women’s History Month. This week I offer this reading on Lydia Maria Child. To accompany it, here is a reading comprehension worksheet. Finally, here is an Everyday Edit worksheet on “Women Get the Vote.” (And, incidentally, you can get more Everyday Edit Worksheets–indeed, an entire year’s worth–from the generous people at the Education World website.
If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
“In the fearful years of the Yezhov terror, I spend seventeen months in prison queues in Leningrad. One day somebody ‘identified’ me…and whispered in my ear…’Can you describe this?’ And I said: ‘Yes, I can.’”
Requiem Preface (written 1957)
Excerpted from: Shapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged poetry, readings/research, women's history
Here, to complement yesterday’s post of a Cultural Literacy worksheet on sexism, is another Cultural Literacy worksheet, this one on the double standard of sexual behavior that is one of the most common manifestations of sexist hypocrisy.
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
“U.S. gospel singer. As a child, Jackson sang in the choir of the New Orleans church where her father preached. She learned sacred songs but was also exposed to blues recordings by Bessie Smith and Ida Cox. In Chicago she worked at odd jobs while singing with a gospel touring quintet, and opened several small businesses. Her warm, powerful voice first came to wide public attention in the 1930s, when she participated in a cross-county tour singing such songs as “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.” Closely associated with Thomas A. Dorsey, she sang many of his songs. “Move on up a Little Higher” (1948) sold over a million copies, and she became one of the best-selling singers of the 1950s and ‘60s. She first appeared at Carnegie Hall in 1950. Active in the civil-rights movement from 1955, she sang at the epochal 1963 civil-rights march in Washington.”
Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference
Tagged black history, music, readings/research, women's history
My first exposure to Feminism in the 1970s was in a class I took at my high school called “Sexism in America.” The teacher was excellent. At age 15, needless to say, I found it edifying. Also, I began then to see sexism as primarily a feminist issue, since the majority of sexists acts, in my view and in fact, are committed by men.
So I think it entirely appropriate to post this Cultural Literacy worksheet on sexism as part of the array on Mark’s Text Terminal for Women’s History Month.
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
[In book review] “This is not a book that should be set aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.”
Quoted in The Algonquin Wits, ed. Robert E. Drennan (1968)
Excerpted from: Shapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Posted in English Language Arts, New York City, Quotes, Reference
Tagged fiction/literature, humor, literary oddities, women's history
On a Tuesday morning, here is a Cultural Literacy exercise on the muses, those goddesses of cultural inspiration from ancient Greece.
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
“Pen name of Anna Andreyevna Gorenko, Russian poet. In her youth Akhmatova was strongly influenced by both the French and Russian symbolists. In 1903, she met the poet Gumilev, who included one of her poems in the journal Sirius, which he published in Paris. Akhmatova and Gumilev were married in 1910, and were divorced in 1913. In 1911, Akhmatova became secretary of the Guild of Poets, organized by Gumilev and Gorodetsky.
Akhmatova’s first book, Vecher (Evening, 1912), is notable for its detail and clarity; her unmistakable feminine voice and her beautiful love lyrics won her attention from Russian readers. Also in 1912, the Acmeist literary group formed, and Akhmatova became one of its most prominent members. Her second book of poem, Chetki (Rosary, 1914), made her one of the most popular poetesses of her time. Beginning with her third book of verse, Belaya staya (The White Flock, 1917), Akhmatova’s poetic image changed from that of a contemporary poet who tells of an unhappy love to that of a poet who issues from the tradition of Russian classical verse. In the early 1920s, two more collections of Akhmatova’s poetry appeared—Porodozhnik (Plantain, 1921) and Anno Domini (1922). After that, it became difficult for Akhmatova to publish her poetry. The Soviet government disapproved of her apolitical themes, highly personal love lyrics, and religious motifs, consider her a poet alien to the new order. During this period, she wrote a number of scholarly articles and pieces about Pushkin. In connection with the mass repressions and those of her son and second husband, Akhmatova wrote the long poem ‘Requiem,‘ which was never published in full in Soviet Russia. From 1940 to 1965, Akhmatova worked on her long poem ‘Poema bez geroya’ (translated Poem Without a Hero, 1973), which is dedicated to the second decade of 20th-century Russian culture, the Petersburg Silver Age. In 1946, there began a new round of round of repressions and Akhmatova, along with [Mikhail] Zoshchenko, was the subject of harsh attacks by the Soviet cultural authorities.
With the onset of the thaw under Khrushchev, Akhmatova was again able to publish. During this period she was at the center of a group of young poets, including [Joseph] Brodsky, and was recognized for her contributions to Russian literary culture. Of particular interest are [Lidia] Chukovskaya’s multivolume reminiscences about Akhmatova, Zapiski ob Anna Akhmatova (1967; translated The Akhmatova Journals, 1994). Many translations of Akhmatova’s poetry exist, including The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova (1992), translated by Stanley Kunitz and Max Hayward.”
Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
 | A Measurement Conver… on An Elegantly Simple Cooking Co… |
| A Measurement Conver… on The Weekly Text, October 25, 2… |
 | markstextterminal on Cree |
 | panzer046a139293db on Cree |
| markstextterminal on Cree |
Mark's Text Terminal 
You must be logged in to post a comment.