High School Resources: [flag bg_color=”#d6e3bc” text_color=”#9d241a”]Grades 9-12[/flag]
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Literature & Composition Resources
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[tab_title]Units 12-16
Literature[/tab_title]
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Dante’s Inferno
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LITERATURE RESOURCES
- This site gives background information and important information on the poem. Toward the end of the page is wonderful explanation of Inferno as an allegory.
- The World of Dante contains much information on both Dante and the three parts of The Divine Comedy.
- To view an interactive version of Inferno, visit this site created by folks from the University of Texas.
- This site has a wonderful video course on Inferno from Yale University. If you click the “visual resources” link about the video, you will see art inspired by Inferno with descriptions of the pieces.
- Remember that Inferno consists of thirty-three cantos with an introductory canto. We will read Inferno over the next five weeks. If you have trouble understanding what you are reading, a good companion book is Introduction to Dante’s Inferno by Adolphus Thomas Ennis.
VISUAL RESOURCES
MUSIC RESOURCES
AUDIOBOOK
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[tab_title]Units 17-20
Literature[/tab_title]
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Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
(Use a good annotated version, or this unit will be very, very challenging!)
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ONLINE RESOURCES
- The Canterbury Tales, retold by Geraldine McCaughrean, is a good re-telling of the Tales in prose. This is an illustrated version for middle-grade readers, but if you read it or any brief modern-language version before starting the Middle English version, youʼll be better prepared to understand each story. You can “Teach Yourself to Read Chaucerʼs Middle English” by following the tutorial on this page. This is nicely done, and will help you as you work with the Middle English text.
- Cookery presents The Life and Times of the Canterbury Tales Pilgrims, which contains information about the life of the pilgrims.
- The “history mystery” Who Murdered Chaucer? by Terry Jones, et al., gives an informative view of the fourteenth century.
- The University of York offers a detailed look at the concept and purpose of the pilgrimage, this site will help you understand the purpose of the pilgrimsʼ journey.
- The Electronic Canterbury Tales offers a great deal of well-organized information, along with high-quality links and information about documenting your research.
- Harvard University offers an excellent Chaucer site with a good timeline of Chaucerʼs life.
- For more info on the author, see “A Letter from the Editor” and this site.
- The BBC offers a very brief introduction plus a few additional insights on Chaucerʼs life and works.
- The Italian poet Dante Alighieri is thought to have influenced Chaucer in his work. This Harvard site offers a few quotations that help to make the connection.
- Be sure to listen to at least part of The Canterbury Tales in audio format.
- This site from Virginia Military Institute (VMI) offers short recordings of English professors reading Chaucer the way scholars think it was probably pronounced. From the main page click on the section you want to hear, then click on the page title to get the recording.
- Music Professor Baragona at Virginia Military Institute (VMI) has gathered clips of some fourteenth-century music. These are the type of sounds Chaucer and his contemporaries may have heard in both formal and informal settings.
- The pilgrims were on their way to the Canterbury Cathedral. You can see a number of good photos with detailed contextual information, at Jane Zattaʼs scholarly website
- At Mulder Media youʼll find a nicely presented gallery of illuminated manuscripts. They are shown as pages in a book, and the “back” and “next” buttons move you through the text. There are also links to other manuscript sites on the web.
- Stained glass was another major art form in the medieval period. Youʼll find some stunning examples on this page (scroll down).
- The Victoria and Albert Museum offers a virtual tour of a Gothic art exhibition. Very interesting!
- Eyewitness Medieval Life by Andrew Langley.
- This site offers a good overview of important events of the fourteenth century. The illustrations include reproductions of illuminated manuscripts, which was a major art form during the middle ages.
- Read “The First Crusade—Sanctifying War: Overview” topic at the Norton website.
- You may find it helpful to use study questions as you read the text. Find them HERE and HERE.
- Visit this site for information on the tales.
- Canterbury Tales (in the curriculum/HSB)
THE AUTHOR
POETRY RESOURCES
AUDIO RESOURCES
VISUAL RESOURCES
HISTORIC CONTEXT
AUDIOBOOK
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[tab_title]Units 21-24
Literature[/tab_title]
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Renaissance Poetry
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Various Renaissance poems:
- Visit this site for more information on rhyme scheme, form, and rhetoric.
- Each week you will write an explication for one of the poems studied. Use the information found at this website to write an explication.
- The Poetry Foundation also gives a list of poetic terms. It is a wonderful resource for the study of poetry
on a literary level. - Since we are studying many poets at once, it is worth your time to read the biographies of each poet as
we study them. Luminarium.org has pages of information on each of the poets and Renaissance
Literature in general. - Sir Thomas Wyatt
- Edmund Spenser
- Christopher Marlowe
- Sir Walter Raliegh
- John Donne
- Andrew Marvell
- John Milton
- Study the works of some of the most famous Renaissance artists: The Italian Renaissance artists
- Music of the Renaissance: This website offers free mini-files of Renaissance music organized by composer. You can listen to the sort of music the poets of this unit might have heard.
“Whoso List to Hunt,” Sir Thomas Wyatt
Sonnet 30 and 75, Edmund Spenser
“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” Christopher Marlowe
“The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd,” Sir Walter Raleigh
“A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,” John Donne
“To His Coy Mistress,” Andrew Marvell
Introduction to Paradise Lost, John Milton
VISUAL RESOURCES
MUSIC RESOURCES
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
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[tab_title]Units 25-29
Literature[/tab_title]
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Hamlet and Macbeth by William Shakespeare
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READINGS
- Shakespeare by Peter Chrisp: Itʼs a valuable, inexpensive introduction to the world of Shakespeare, and includes a splendid synopsis of each of his plays.
- This delightful introduction to Shakespeareʼs Grammar will help you understand his writings much more easily.
- Charles and Mary Lamb rewrote all of Shakespeareʼs plays for children. You will probably find their Tales from Shakespeare at your local library, or you can read it online.
- Shakespeareʼs Food Poesies: Food shows up in many places in Shakespeareʼs dramas, and on this site there is an alphabetically organized encyclopedia of quotes. Itʼs an interesting way to see what was in the Elizabethan diet!
- Timeline Summary of Shakespeareʼs Life
- The Seven Ages of Shakespeareʼs Life
- Shakespeare Biography Quiz
- All of Shakespeareʼs poetry can be found in a well-organized, searchable database.
- Visit the Shakespeare poetry page to read poetry from Shakespeareʼs contemporaries, including Queen Elizabeth, Sir Philip Sydney, and Sir Walter Raleigh.
- Music of the Renaissance: This website offers free mini-files of Renaissance music organized by composer. You can listen to the sort of music Shakespeare might have heard.
- All of Shakespeareʼs plays and poetry can be found in a well-organized, searchable site.
- This site includes Shakespeareʼs genealogy, interesting introductions to various editions of his works, and much more. Itʼs well worth browsing.
- The American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia offers performances in the Blackfriars Playhouse, a replica of William Shakespeareʼs original indoor theater.
- The Folger Shakespeare Library, located on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., has a large collection of Shakespeare materials, including audio and video resources. Admission is free.
THE AUTHOR
POETRY RESOURCES
VISUAL RESOURCES
MUSIC RESOURCES
ONLINE RESOURCES
AUDIOBOOKS
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