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Directions for Paired Poem Response Homework: 

1. Please read through the sample responses to the 2005 Poetry prompt, available here: 
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/05_ap_englishlit_46922.pd

2. Please type up the introduction and thesis that you came up with in class on Friday, for the same  prompt and post it in the comments. (Only one paragraph per pair/trio is necessary).


 3.  As an individual, please post a response to the AP sample responses AND your own. You can  

       write about whatever you notice--for example, were your ideas similar to the samples? If not, 
       do you think they are just as strong? What, if anything, would you revise about your original 
       argument after seeing the sample essays? Etc. 

Due: by midnight on Sunday. This assignment is worth 20 points. 



 
The Great Gatsby Essay
Product Descriptor
Ms. Draper

1. Using the thesis statements and outlines you began in class today, please finish a rough draft of your essay for Monday.

2. If you were absent in class on Thursday, here are the essay guidelines...
         
                 -Form a meaningful and specific thesis statement about your envelope topic (think 
                  back to our discussions and the points you brought up--you all have specific 
                  opinions about your topics at this point). 
                 -Write a 750 word essay that develops and supports your thesis statement.
                 -MLA  format please.

3. Next week we are going to do a lot of work on writing and revising, so be sure to bring 2 copies of your rough draft for peer review...
 
This poem is killing me. Killing. Me. Thank you, Jenny! I think you really gave "Gary" a run for his money here. (P.S. This ink is the same color as Gatsby's suit).

Nick Carraway’s confessions
 
I’m inclined to reserve all judgements.

I was going to bring back all such things into my life and become again that
most limited of all specialists, the “well-rounded” man.

I felt the basic insincerity of what she had said.

I was on my way to get roaring drunk from sheer embarrassment.

I was casually sorry, and then I forgot.

I thought I loved her.

I am slow thinking and full of interior rules that act as brakes on my
desires.

I realize now that under different circumstances that conversation might have
been one of the crises of my life.

I had no girl whose disembodied face floated along the dark cornices and
blinding signs.

I had merely grown used to it, grown to accept West Egg as a world complete
in itself.

 I’d never understood before.

I disliked him so much by this time that I didn’t find it necessary to tell
him he was wrong.

I disapproved of him from beginning to end.

I found myself on Gatsby’s side, and alone.

I felt a certain shame for Gatsby.

I could only remember, without resentment, that Daisy hadn’t sent a message
or a flower.

I see now that this has been the story of the West.

I couldn’t forgive him or like him but I saw that what he had done was, to
him, entirely justified.

I didn’t investigate.

Contributor's Note

 
(In this morning’s Lit class, I wrote a found poem after reading one that
I felt did not do Nick justice. Its author took some Nick quotes from The Great
Gatsby in chronological order, so I did the same with a completely different
message. Then I made myself sad.)