The World's Biggest Membrane

Here's a link to the text: https://www.dropbox.com/s/sht0btj37swxmfq/The%20World.pdf?dl=0

The World’s Biggest Membrane

1)      This text is somewhat dense.  Look at the author’s use of organization.  Which combination best reflects the author’s use of organization?

a)      Description, cause /effect, sequence                 

b) Analogy, description, problem/solution

c)      Example, description, problem/solution        

 d) Description, sequence, cause/ effect

Support your answer.

2)      In paragraphs 9-12, the author’s tone shifts.  Use one of the tone words from the blog.  What makes you choose that word?  Support it with your statements from the text (4).

3)      In your own word(s), what is the world’s biggest membrane?

4)      The author likes (compares) the cell to the world’s biggest membrane.  List several ways (4) in which they are similar. 

5)      Describe the author’s diction, or word choice.  Is it more colloquial or technical? Is it solemn?

6)      Once again, we have a text that does not have a lot of visual appeal.  What would you add, and where? Finally, why?  Choose 3 text features.

 

High Flight
   -by P/O John Gillespie Magee RCAF

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air....

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, nor even eagle flew -
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

 

1)      This poem, while a completely different text from the article, is similar to the tone seen in paragraphs 9-12.  Describe that similarity.  What phrases from the poem are most indicative of tone?

2)      Besides tone, how is the poem similar in the ideas explored?

3)      Does the poem qualify as a sonnet?  What are the requirements of a sonnet?  Analyze the poem for iambic pentameter and rhyme scheme.

4)      Describe the word choice in this poem.  How is it different from the article? As you think about this, consider the difference between sensory language and technical language.