Honors Humanities Summer Assignment 2014-2015
Thank you for joining us in Honors Humanities. In this course you will have the
opportunity to study about the history, literature, art, music, and philosophy of western
civilization with the overall goal of explaining the human experience. How cool is
that?
We would like to get you started in the course by having you prepare for our first units
in the class. You will not be tested on this material, but these activities will help to
prepare you for early discussions and writings in the course. Furthermore, students who
show commitment enough to complete the summer assignment tend to do well in the
class.
1. Know the definition of the following literary devices in order to identify and analyze
them in the sonnets: Personification, Metaphor, Simile, Irony, Symbolism, Allusion,
Synecdoche, Enjambment, Diction, and Hyperbole. This will be helpful for the first
writing assignment.
2. Read Sonnets 73 and 29 and their respective essays analyzing the Shakespearean
Sonnets. These essays are from Camille Paglia’s book, Break Blow Burn. Again, this
will be helpful for the first writing assignment. The links are printed below, but this
summer assignment will be posted on our Westview website soon, so you will be
able to just click on the link:
http://books.google.com/books?id=uW1j8ZCEpRQC&pg=PT13&lpg=PT13&dq
=break,+blow,+burn+sonnet+73&source=bl&ots=l0B2PSLJr_&sig=TAr6MxwC
V8Xrhxx9xZ4NXOj5iH4&hl=en&ei=nLDZTeiPGcGUtwfs6dzoDg&sa=X&oi=
book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=fa
lse
http://www.randomhouse.com/book/126095/break-blow-burn-by-camillepaglia/9780307425096/#excerpt
3. Pick one (only one) of the following examples of artistic creation on the back of this
page. Research and analyze the piece as it pertains to the prompt at the top of the page,
which we will discuss on the second day of class. Please remember that you do not
know if you will have the class first or second term, so some of you will have to review
all of this again in January.
Discussion prompt: How does art impact us as humans? How does your particular piece of chosen
art add to this universal impact? What can we learn about life from art? Keep in mind that “art”
means more than just paintings and sculptures; it is anything created for an audience. Be ready to
discuss your findings on day two of class.
Pick one (and only one) of the following topics:
A.E. Housman--To an Athlete Dying Young
Aaron Copland--Fanfare for the Common Man
Auguste Rodin – Gates of Hell
Basho--Selected poems
Bob Dylan--Blowing in the Wind
Bruegel the Elder – The Triumph of Death
Caspar David Friedrich – Cloister Graveyard in the Snow
Don McLean--American Pie
Edward Hopper – Nighthawks
Eric Whitacre--Sleep
Francisco Goya—The Third of May 1808
Franz Marc – Fate of the Animals
Geoffrey Chaucer--Prologue to Canterbury Tales
Grandmaster Flash--The Message
Hector Berlioz--Symphonie fantastique
Henry David Thoreau--Conscience
Ipod print ads
Jack Kirby--Captain America #1 (1941)
Jimmy Santiago Baca--El Gato
John Keats--Ode on a Grecian Urn
John Newton--Amazing Grace
Jorn Utzon -- Sydney Opera House
Kathe Kollwitz – Woman with Dead Child 1903
Langston Hughes--I, too, sing America
Ludwig von Beethoven--Symphony 5
Magdalena Abakanowicz – Backs
Maya Lin --Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Nirvana--Smells Like Teen Spirit
Opening ceremonies 2008 Olympics
Pablo Picasso -- Guernica
Pyotr Tchaikovsky--1812 Overture
Radio Broadcast (Welles)--War of the Worlds
Rene Magritte – La Condition Humaine (The Human Condition)
Samuel Taylor Coleridge--Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Sandro Boticelli – La Primavera
Sergei Eisenstein--Battleship Potemkin (Film)
Shane Koyczan--To This Day
Wassily Kandinsky – Improvisation 28
When the Saints Go Marching In—traditional
Wilfred Owen--Dulce et decorum est
William Blake--The Chimney Sweeper (both)
*Please note: some of these pieces deal with mature themes or language.