We start with this blog and a set of opening-day materials. In class, we will move through diagnostic exercises of different kinds, as you offer up the first glimpses of yourself as a student; here, you will find copies of the notes and documents that were distributed, plus a chance to learn the layout of this blog, which will be your most important resource. You should register to receive blog updates before you do anything else. The registration form is at the bottom of the column on the right side of your screen, which will contain updated information throughout the year: upcoming due dates (such as reading this first post and registering for the blog by 9/10); a list of recent posts; glossolalia, which will show the ten most recent comments in the most recent online discussion; and phantasmagoria, which will show random images from our course Flickr account.

Before taking a look at our opening day materials, your second task is to learn how to read this site. First note: Longer posts will be broken up into two sections; you can see the rest of an entry by clicking its title or the link that indicates there is more:

Second note: All posts are organized by category and tags; categories are broader (e.g., Assignment or Notes), whereas tags are more specific and often reference details or patterns within the post (e.g., Mayan calendars or cultural apocalypses). Categories are much more useful, organizationally speaking. You can also find specific posts by searching for terms within them through the search bar at the top of the page.

That search  bar is in the same row as the third item on our list: the tabs that lead to the Pages for this site. Right now, the only Page (other than Home, which returns you to the parent URL) is labeled Calendar; it contains truncated descriptions of our daily lessons, with future lessons similarly outlined. Pages for critical documents and major assignments will be added as we go.

Finally, there is the actual act of reading a post. Almost all of you are adept at navigating websites, so you’ve already noticed the hyperlinks embedded throughout this writing. Clicking on any of them takes you to relevant information; for instance, clicking on hyperlinks will open a new window that contains the definition. Many of the more advanced terms in this post are defined through hyperlink, including the abbreviation e.g. (not to be confused, as that link explains, with i.e.) and the word glossolalia. The latter is an example of diction that creates the tone of this entry; your comments aren’t likely to be incomprehensible words in an imaginary language, so I am being ironic.

The point is this: You must read these entries very, very carefully, clicking on every link and processing the information through that link just as carefully. Part of our metacognitive focus will fall on the technology available to you, especially as it relates to accessing information, and this WordPress blog will help focus your natural fluency with hypertext and Internet media. You’ll also learn (hopefully) a thing or two. You could spend quite a while reading about the science behind certain doomsday predictions by clicking on the first link in this post, and you might notice in some Internet browsers that every word in a dictionary.com definition can be clicked on.

As for the carrot on a stick, you should trust that learning key terms (like nascent in paragraph one) will reward you later, most likely in the form of enrichment credit on quizzes, tests, or discussions. Over the next week, for example, you may be given a pop quiz on this post that awards bonus points in the gradebook. Building your curiosity will be the real reward, however, no matter how hokey that sounds.

Now for the opening day materials. Click below to download a copy in Microsoft Word:

1. Regents English 10 – Course Syllabus
2. English Department Policies
3. Student Information Sheet

Note that this version of the syllabus is an expanded version of what you were given today in class. Read the syllabus and policies carefully, and take your time with the information sheet, which must be signed by you and your parents and submitted on Monday, September 10. Examples of the “empty box” responses can be seen through the Flickr account in the right column.

We start with this blog and a set of opening-day materials. In class, we will move through diagnostic exercises of different kinds, as you offer up the first glimpses of yourself as a student; here, you will find copies of the notes and documents that were distributed, plus a chance to learn the layout of this blog, which will be your most important resource. You should register to receive blog updates before you do anything else. The registration form is at the bottom of the column on the right side of your screen, which will contain updated information throughout the year: homework, for assignments that are smaller and due sooner (such as registering for this blog, which is due on 9/8); long-term assignment, for writing responses or projects; categories, for ease of navigating older posts; glossolalia, which will show the ten most recent comments in the most recent online discussion; and phantasmagoria, which will show random images from our course Flickr account.

Before taking a look at our opening day materials, your second task is to learn how to read this blog. First note: Longer posts will be broken up into two sections; you can see the rest of an entry by clicking its title or the link that indicates there is more:

Second note: All posts are organized by category and tags; categories are broader (e.g., Assignment or Notes), whereas tags are more specific and often reference details or patterns within the post (e.g., Mayan calendars or cultural apocalypses). Categories are much more useful, organizationally speaking. You can also find specific posts by searching for terms within them through the search bar at the top of the page.

That search  bar is in the same row as the third item on our list: the tabs that lead to the Pages for this site. Right now, the only Page (other than Home, which returns you to the parent URL) is labeled Calendar; it contains truncated descriptions of our daily lessons, with future lessons similarly outlined. Pages for critical documents and major assignments will be added as we go.

Finally, there is the actual act of reading a post. Almost all of you are adept at navigating websites, so you’ve already noticed the hyperlinks embedded throughout this writing. Clicking on any of them takes you to relevant information; for instance, clicking on hyperlinks will open a new window that contains the definition. Many of the more advanced terms in this post are defined through hyperlink, including the abbreviation e.g. (not to be confused, as that link explains, with i.e.) and the word glossolalia. The latter is an example of diction that creates the tone of this entry; your comments aren’t likely to be incomprehensible words in an imaginary language, so I am being ironic.

The point is this: You must read these entries very, very carefully, clicking on every link and processing the information through that link just as carefully. Part of our metacognitive focus will fall on the technology available to you, especially as it relates to accessing information, and this WordPress blog will help focus your natural fluency with hypertext and Internet media. You’ll also learn (hopefully) a thing or two. You could spend quite a while reading about the science behind certain doomsday predictions by clicking on the first link in this post, and you might notice in some Internet browsers that every word in a dictionary.com definition can be clicked on.

As for the carrot on a stick, you should trust that learning key terms (like nascent in paragraph one) will reward you later, most likely in the form of enrichment credit on quizzes, tests, or discussions. While taking your reading diagnostic on Friday, for example, you may be given a bonus 100% score in the gradebook for having read this entry carefully. Building your curiosity will be the real reward, however, no matter how hokey that sounds.

Now for the opening day materials:

1. Regents English 10 – Course Syllabus
2. Regents English 10 – Course Syllabus (Period 7)
3. English Department Policies
4. Regents English 10 – Information Sheet

Read the syllabus and policies carefully, and take your time with the information sheet, which is due on Friday the 9th. Examples of the “empty box” responses can be seen through the Flickr account in the right column.

1. articulate Swift’s main argument;
2. identify his appeals to emotion, logic, and character;
3. explain his ironic statements and ideas;
4. identify his use of parody;
5. and analyze the essay as a satire.

It’s much easier than it seems, once we get past some of the language barriers, because Swift is essentially the Enlightenment’s version of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park.  ”Cartoon Wars,” a two-part episode that ran in 2006, would be an excellent companion piece to “A Modest Proposal”—so much so that you may be asked to study the show as an enrichment assignment.

What follows is a copy of the background handout you have been given.  You might read this online copy first, because you will have easier access to the examples.  If a link is blocked in school, set it aside for later; you will need far more than 39 minutes to read and consider all of this background, so plan on it.

I. Irony

There are three types:

1. Verbal irony is an intentional incongruity, or lack of harmony, between what is expressed or stated and what is intended.  In other words, what is stated on the surface is not what is understood by the audience, such as saying, when one intends to convey that a situation is not funny, “That’s as funny as a heart attack.”  Note that sarcasm, a kind of verbal irony, is overused when identifying verbal irony of any kind.

As an example, imagine a man with a broken leg.  He decides that, rather than go to a medical doctor to treat the injury, he would like to see a spiritual healer[1].  If a friend says, “Oh, that’ll work,” intending to convey the idea that a spiritual healer won’t help, that is verbal irony.  If the friend says, “Wow, that’s a great idea.  I’m sure the spiritual healer can magic you up a splint in no time,” then that is sarcasm, which is an ironic statement of criticism or ridicule aimed at a person or group.  Sarcasm is meant to hurt.

Stay with the spiritual healer.  The following rhetorical devices are further examples of verbal irony:

• Hyperbole: “That’s the best idea I have ever heard or will ever hear again.”
• Understatement: “Well, a broken leg is just a minor inconvenience, anyway.”
• Rhetorical questioning: “Couldn’t you just order a healing ghost from the Internet?”

2. Dramatic irony is achieved when the audience understands a significance in words or actions that the speaker or characters do not.  The most English-y examples are found in Oedipus the King and Romeo and Juliet; in the former, the audience knows Oedipus has married his mother long before he learns he has, and in the latter, the tragedy of the ending (where Romeo mistakes Juliet’s sleep for death) lies entirely in dramatic irony.  But you can find dramatic irony in any horror movie or thriller, too; when we know the slasher is behind the door, part of the suspense comes from dramatic irony.

Two other examples: Star Wars (the newer, awful-er trilogy), where we watch Anakin Skywalker knowing he will become Darth Vader (while the other characters do not) and the manga/anime Death Note, where we know all of the secret identities in play, even as the characters do not.

3. Situational irony is the final kind of irony we’ll study, and it is achieved when the consequence of an action is contrary to the intended or expected result.  For example, let’s say a student exclaims, “I am definitely going to pass this test; I studied all week.”  If the student intends the opposite meaning—that he is going to fail—then this is verbal irony.  If he truly means what he says, but then the test is utterly different from his expectations, which causes him to fail, then this is situational irony—he is trying for one result, but the consequences are unexpectedly contrary to that.

Other examples:

• In The Wizard of Oz, all of the main characters embark on a quest to find something (a way home, a brain, a heart, and so on), only to discover in the end that each of them had the object of their quest all along.
• In the BBC comedy Extras, the main character’s final speech ranting against the evils of celebrity culture (while a contestant on Big Brother), given when he has finally given up on his pursuit of fame, ironically catapults him to more fame than he ever had before.

Note: Irony is misused constantly to mean coincidental or to refer to unfortunate and surprising events.  For example, the song “Ironic” by Alanis Morissette, which came out way back in 1995, has almost no examples of irony, just a list of upsetting coincidences (e.g., rain on a wedding day).  The only way her song would contain irony is if she intentionally used “ironic” to refer to examples that are not ironic; this would then be an example of complex verbal irony[2].

II. Parody

The main purpose of a parody is humor, and it achieves this by mocking, exaggerating, or otherwise imitating the characteristics of another person, work of art, piece of literature, etc.  For example, The Colbert Report is a parody of Bill O’Reilly’s news show, The O’Reilly Factor, because it mimics the style and content of O’Reilly’s show in order to make fun of him.  On The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, parody is often mixed into segments for humorous effect.  South Park and Robot Chicken parody pop culture constantly, as does SNL (in its better moments).  Weird Al Yankovic has made a career out of parodying pop music.  And so on.

This next example will help to redeem Alanis Morissette for her complete butchery of the term ironic; it also underscores the importance of knowing the source of the parody.  (For instance, if you watch the movie Spaceballs without having seen Star Wars, most of the humor will be lost on you; similarly, if you aren’t familiar with how real singers tend to perform the national anthem, this parody on SNL is less funny.)

Here is the Black Eye Peas’ My Humps (a video we will watch in part in class):

Stacey Ferguson sets back women’s rights by several decades[3].

And here is the parody by Alanis Morissette:

A nuanced response[4].

How this works as a parody:

The original song and video have basically one message: Women want material goods, and they should use their bodies to get it from men, who only care about those bodies.  Since that is demeaning and misogynistic, Alanis Morissette—most famous for Jagged Little Pill, often called a feminist album—took the lyrics and style of the video and set it to a slow, piano-based ballad.  She even parodies the dancing, turning the men into buffoons.  This mocks the original, which is, just possibly, the worst song ever written[5].

III. Satire

The key difference between parody and satire is the ultimate purpose of each.  In parody, the first goal is humor; in satire, it is to reveal some flaw in society, government, human nature, and so on, in order to change it.  To use the “My Humps” parody again, it’s possible to classify it as a satire; after all, by mocking the way women are presented in popular culture, Alanis Morissette is attacking an element of society that she reviles and wishes to change.

Usually, it’s easy to identify a satire.  The difficult part is to understand what is being attacked and what the authors of the satires want to do to change it.  For example, South Park uses satire constantly, especially in the two-part episode called “Cartoon Wars” that was brought up earlier.  Like most satires, these episodes use parody, focusing on Family Guy, which is mocked for having disconnected, nonsensical jokes, for being poorly drawn, and for having no character development.  The voices and art are exaggerated, as is the use of non sequiturs, or statements that don’t follow what came before.   The plot of “Cartoon Wars” seems to be an attack on comparisons between South Park and Family Guy.  But these episodes are really about censorship: what happens when a network starts to take down episodes because of public outcry.  To understand what South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker were doing, we need to know about Comedy Central’s decision to remove several episodes of South Park that aired before “Cartoon Wars” after outcries from the Church of Scientology and the Catholic Church.  That background makes the two-part story exemplary satire; at the same that the creators are mocking other shows and getting us to laugh at that parody, they are really directing us toward an understanding of how dangerous censorship can be.

For A Modest Proposal, you need only the following background[6] to begin to understand it as a Neoclassical satire that attacks the debilitating effects of English rule on the Irish population:

Swift’s Ireland was a country that had been effectively controlled by England for nearly 500 years. The Stuarts had established a Protestant governing aristocracy amid the country’s relatively poor Catholic population. Denied union with England in 1707 (when Scotland was granted it), Ireland continued to suffer under English trade restrictions and found the authority of its own Parliament in Dublin severely limited. Swift, though born a member of Ireland’s colonial ruling class, came to be known as one of the greatest of Irish patriots. He, however, considered himself more English than Irish, and his loyalty to Ireland was often ambivalent in spite of his staunch support for certain Irish causes. The complicated nature of his own relationship with England may have left him particularly sympathetic to the injustices and exploitation Ireland suffered at the hand of its more powerful neighbor.

Particularly in the 1720s, Swift became vehemently engaged in Irish politics. He reacted to the debilitating effects of English commercial and political injustices in a large body of pamphlets, essays, and satirical works, including the perennially popular Gulliver’s Travels. A Modest Proposal, published in 1729 in response to worsening conditions in Ireland, is perhaps the severest and most scathing of all Swift’s pamphlets. The tract did not shock or outrage contemporary readers as Swift must have intended; its economics was taken as a great joke, its more incisive critiques ignored.