Rematch with some Round III Contenders

Once upon a time a lowly copywriter made an "oops."
Instead of matching Romeo and Juliet and Oedipus Rex like I was supposed to, I set Romeo and Juliet and Othello head to head. So please, accept my humble apology and cast your votes for the correct contenders for Round III, Part I:

Round II, Part III

Vote for your favorites in the comments section below...

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn	VS.	Antigone
Othello	VS.	To Kill a Mockingbird

Barcodes in Education

by Josh Pariseau

Technology like e-books and other digital media are growing rapidly, and many of us are just trying to keep up. Teachers’ time is precious, so any technology that helps to save time in the classroom and more efficiently track students and their work can quickly become an indispensable tool.

Now, with the use of barcodes in the classroom, tasks such as attendance, grading, and keeping track of student work are easier than ever. Websites such as BarcodeClass.com and blog posts like QR Barcodes in the Classroom show just how useful this new technology can be.

With the use of barcodes in the classroom, teachers can:

1) Take attendance using unique student barcodes

2) Grade multiple choice assignments with ease

3) Enhance lessons with bar-coded quizzes and materials

4) Reduce paperwork and keep track of students’ activities

Trivia Tuesday

This Week's Trivia Questions

1. What is the best-selling book of all time?
2. The average person uses a vocabulary of approximately 8,000 words. How many did Shakespeare use?
3. As far as number of lines is concerned, which is the most demanding of Shakespeare’s roles?
4. Which English author, poet, essayist, literary critic, and playwright enjoyed taking off his clothes and climbing mulberry trees?
5. All of the proceeds from which book were bequeathed to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London?

Last Week's Answers

Which was the first novel ever to be written on a typewriter?

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was the first novel ever to be written on a typewriter. Mark Twain typed it himself on a Remington in 1875.

Where did the name “Oz” come from in L. Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz?

According to L. Frank Baum, the name Oz was thought up when he looked at his filing cabinet and noticed one drawer marked A-G, a second tagged H-N, and a third labeled O-Z.

Which famous Greek poet was supposedly killed when a bird flying overhead dropped a tortoise and struck him?

It is believed that the Greek poet Aeschylus was killed when a bird flying overhead dropped a tortoise and struck him. Birds have been known to carry shellfish to great heights and drop them in order crack the shells.

Which celebrated English author and poet was fired as a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner?

Rudyard Kipling was fired as a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner. His dismissal letter was reported to have said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Kipling, but you just don't know how to use the English language. This isn't a kindergarten for amateur writers."

Which character from the works of French poet and dramatist, Edmond Rostand, was based on a real person?

There really was a Cyrano de Bergerac. He lived from about 1620 to 1655, had a big nose and dueled. He was also a science fiction writer who was the first person in history to suggest that a rocket could carry someone into space.

**Missed out on past weeks' trivia? View them all here!

National Poetry Month: Prestwick House Recommends...

Spring and Fall: To a Young Child
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS

Márgarét, are you gríeving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leáves, líke the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Ah!  ás the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you wíll weep and know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sórrow's spríngs áre the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What heart heard of, ghost guessed:
It ís the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.

This oft-anthologized poem is one of my all-time favorites in large part, I think, because it was the first poem I understood well enough to love. I was in ninth grade, in Mrs. H____’s “Circle-A” English class. First period.

As was typical instruction back in the day, we read the poem aloud—rather some volunteer or assignee read the poem aloud and the rest of us read along “silently, at [our] desks.” Then we’d “review” the poem, line by line, rhyme by rhyme.

It was a tedious enough exercise, and to give full credit to Mrs. H_____, this was “how it was done,” and she did it better than most. But what excited me was that I “got it.” Even as we were droning through:

Who [sic] is the poem addressed to?

Margaret.

What is her problem?

She is grieving.

Over what?

Goldengrove unleaving.

And what do you suppose Hopkins means by ‘Goldengrove’?

I got it. I got the sadness about the coming of autumn and the approach of winter (isn’t it wonderful that the initials for Seasonal Affective Disorder spell out SAD?). I got the allusion to the Fall of humankind. I got the speaker’s assertion that Margaret was actually saddened by a dawning awareness of her own mortality.

I didn’t get Hopkins’s “sprung rhythm,” and I still don’t. No matter though, because at the age of thirteen, I was understanding this wonderfully depressing poem about mortality with subtle spiritual undertones. Later, in college, I even got the allusion that no one seems to point out in textbooks or web sites. When the speaker tells Margaret,

Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What heart heard of, ghost guessed

and everyone criticizes Hopkins’s syntax and the interruption of his sprung rhythm (which I still don’t get), I so clearly see—more than an allusion—a direct paraphrase of a passage from 1 Corinthians in the New Testament (Chapter 2, verses 9 and 10)

⁹But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (KJV)

See how it fits? “Ghost guessed”—“revealed…by the Spirit,” and so on? (Hopkins was a Jesuit priest, so a biblical allusion would not be unexpected.)

“Spring and Fall” is a wonderful little poem, wonderful, possibly because of its simplicity that might also be complexity for those who want to keep searching. It’s a very teachable poem—which is probably why it is so frequently anthologized.

If you haven’t looked at it in a while, you should look at it again. And even if your kids tell you they’ve “already done it,” encourage them to do it again. Show them the Corinthians allusion. Even that little bit might be enough to show them that a great piece of literature is worth revisiting every couple of years.

-- Douglas Grudzina, New Product Development Specialist

Round II, Part II

Cast your votes in the comments section below!

Macbeth	VS.	The Great Gatsby
Hamlet	VS.	A Midsummer Night's Dream

Round Two — Narrowing Down The Competion

So we're back to some of those favorites you chose before. Are you up for some truly difficult choices?


Vote for your favorites in the comments section below...

Romeo and Juliet	VS.	Othello
The Scarlet Letter	VS.	Night

National Poetry Month: Prestwick House Recommends...

"Should the wide world roll away"
STEPHEN CRANE

Should the wide world roll away,
Leaving black terror,
Limitless night,
Nor God, nor man, nor place to stand
Would be to me essential,
If thou and thy white arms were there,
And the fall to doom a long way.


In one sentence, Crane reveals a romantic love greater than anything else in existence. He surprises the reader with his last few words, as his terse, negative poems usually do, but in this case, the contrasting final thought leaves the reader with a sense of contentment, rather than one of decay and death.

Crane’s typical negativity is stated in the first three lines: If nothing of existence were left, if only fears and nightmares ruled his imagination, and if he knew of no way out of this unending horror—nothing would be necessary, or even able, to sustain him.

The next two lines, placing God first, man second, and man’s accomplishments third, reiterate the blackness of his feelings, the depths of his despair. However, the juxtaposition of “white,” in striking contrast to the black picture he paints earlier, makes any reader wonder about what point Crane is going to conclude with.

The final line delineates the object of his love, one that is not superficial and ordinary, but ineffable and eternal. He would not care anything about the death of mankind or of God if he only could remain in the arms of his beloved and die with her at some time in the distant future.

The short phrases enclosed in commas add to the jarring sound of the poem, and the repeated “nor” epitomizes the strength of the destruction, but the alliterative “thou, thy, there,” soften the end of life, which would be insignificant to Crane, anyway, were his love present at that end.

-- Paul Moliken, Senior Editor

Find this poem, and others, in these great books:

Ah, April — a Fabulous Month for a Literature Death Match

The weather is getting nicer. Summer is coming. Really puts me in the mood for a Literature-related bloodbath showdown between some true classics.

Vote for your favorites in the comments section below...

Lord of the Flies	VS.	Importance of Being
1984	VS.	Frankenstein

National Poetry Month

Our favorite time of the year has come around once again: April is

National Poetry Month!
... No, that isn't an April Fools' joke.

National Poetry Month was established by the Academy of American Poets in 1996 to cultivate an interest in and an appreciation of poetry. In the month of April, people across the country celebrate the legacies and literary contributions of American poets.

In order to get involved in the celebration of great poetry--both American and international-- every Tuesday and Thursday in the month of April, the members of our Prestwick House team will be sharing their favorite poems in a series we are calling "National Poetry Month: Prestwick House Recommends."

However, we would also like you to share in our celebration. If you would like to contribute your favorite poem, email stephanie@prestwickhouse.com with the name and author of your favorite poem and a few sentences about why you feel it is meaningful and significant. You and your recommendation may be featured in the Prestwick Cafe Blog!

In addition, be sure to check out these and other great Prestwick House titles: