Office hours this week

To clarify the 800 emails I've been sending out in the last few days, my office hours for this week (and this week only) are

• Noon to 2 pm on Tuesday in the Open Book Cafe (on the first floor of College Library)
  
• 3:30 to 5:30 pm on Thursday at the Fair Trade Coffee House
  

Reviewing for the midterm

The midterm that is coming up this Thursday is going to be fairly difficult. Prof. Dubrow and I have done what we can to prepare you for it, but the rest of the work lies with you: we expect your exam essay to prove that you have taken the time to master the texts we have covered so far. How, though, do you prepare for an essay exam?

Here, loyal blog readers, is how I would prepare:

1. Begin by reviewing your notes. Type up a list of terms and a list of themes that have come up in regard to MSND, MoV, and the sonnets. Don't hesitate to email me if you have any questions about terms or themes.
   
2. Look in your notes for hints about how to read passages from these texts: in what ways, for example, has Prof. Dubrow discussed the theme of time in the sonnets?
3. Next, review the texts themselves. This doesn't have to be time-consuming if you approach the rereading process carefully:
   • Don't reread everything -- you won't pick up much that way; instead, spend your time on one or two carefully-chosen scenes for each play, and maybe on three sonnets.
     
   • Choose scenes that seem like they could be useful for answering any sort of question about the play, and, if you can, choose scenes that haven't yet been covered in class and that you think will distinguish you from your peers.
     
   • Really get to know those scenes and those sonnets inside and out: how can you use that theme to discuss substitution? protection? exchange? time? desire? the performance of gender? the problems and advantages of the theatre? of comedy? of lyric?
   • If you are the sort of person who can, memorize a line or two from each scene. There's nothing more impressive than seeing a well-used quotation in an essay exam -- as long as you're not just tossing it in there because, dammit, you've memorized the thing, but because it has some real value for your argument.
     
4. Once you've done this, get together with one or two classmates. (If you want to form a study group but don't have any likely partners on whom to call, let me know and I can send an email out to both discussions.)
   • With your study group, hash out as many thematic connections as you can between the texts.
     
   • Make up essay questions -- How does X relate to Y? is a good format, where X and Y are themes -- and trying to find the most interesting ways to answer them with reference to the details (NOT THE PLOT) of the two plays and the sonnets.
   • Talk through a list of details -- metaphors and other imagery, rhythmic styles (e.g. the chant-like meter of the fairies in MSND), symbols, famous ("If you prick us, do we not bleed?" etc.) and not-so-famous lines, etc. -- from the plays and sonnets that you might be able to use for a whole range of essay questions.
   • Then sit down and write out a whole essay. Give yourselves 40 minutes, with 5 minutes for planning an outline, and share the results with the group. What are some strong tactics that you used? How might you organize your time more effectively?
     
   
   

Free audio of Shakespeare monologues

Librivox is a project dedicated to creating and publishing online free audio versions of public domain texts. Although they don't seem to have any complete Shakespearean texts, they do have a number of monologues and a couple dozen sonnets. While not a perfect resource -- Librivox texts are read by volunteers, and hence the quality of their recordings varies -- this might be the tool you need to keep the language, themes, and emotional affect of these texts at the front of your mind as you prepare for the midterm.

Discussion questions (week 7)

In preparation for the midterm next week, our discussion on Friday will function as a sort of mini-review. To this end, I'd like you to come to class having completed three review-centric tasks:

1. Write up a list of the terms that Heather has put on the board, and their definitions. I'd like to spend the beginning of discussion reviewing terms you're unsure about.
   
   
2. Write up a list of the themes that pertain to MSND, the sonnets, MoV, and H5. These lists should include those themes Heather has put on the board or suggested in her lectures, but don't stop there -- add to these lists any themes you find striking or persuasive but which haven't come up in class.
   
   Pay particular attention to the themes that apply to multiple texts -- again, these may or may not be themes that Heather has put on the board.
   
   
3. MOST IMPORTANTLY, write an essay question in the style of Heather's examples. You can download the essay questions Heather wrote for last year's midterm here (PDF). Notice that these questions usually
   1. Require comparison either between plays or within a single play
   2. Connect to ideas Heather has raised in lecture once or twice, but not to issues central to those lectures
   3. Ask you to connect a theme (e.g. the role of power in politics and in relationships) to a technique (e.g. closure, pairing, mirroring, etc.)