Write about one of the most difficult decisions you’ve made in your life. How did you make your decision? What were the ramifications? (Look it up!) What were the other options? Would you make the same decision again? Why or why not? Who influenced your decision?
This should be a WELL DEVELOPED RESPONSE.
Post your five (5) completed epitaphs to this blog. Each epitaph should be 15-20 lines. Remember to demonstrate strong personal relationships between characters. Also, be sure to include poetic devices we studied in this unit. You must label which poetic device you used at the end of the line. Use at least two poetic devices in each epitaph. Click on the word for a definition.
- alliteration or assonance
- simile or metaphor
- rhyme or repetition
- irony or allusion
Tips for Getting Started
- Fill out the plan sheet for each character.
- Write the name of your character at the top of the page.
- Pretend that you are that character and are in essence speaking from the great beyond. This is writing in first person. You will use the pronoun I.
- Choose one of the details from your plan sheet that you (as the character) feel strongly about, and write a sentence about it. You might choose some feeling about someone with whom you had a relationship. Or you might write a sentence about how you died. You could also choose an event that was important as the subject of your first line of the epitaph.
- Once you have begun, continue letting the thoughts and strong emotions of the character come out. Remember in this type of epitaph you are telling only those thoughts and feelings that are so strong as to have you “speaking from your grave.”
- Once you believe you are finished, read your epitaph aloud. Make changes where necessary.
- Now go back and look for poetic devices that you were required to include. If they are there, great! Identify them by labeling them at the end of the line. If not, discover what you need to add and look where you can fit these elements in or change your words to meet the requirements. Do a double check and ask a peer for help at this stage.
- Now make decisions about the physical arrangement of the words in lines. Do you want each sentence to be on one line? Do you want some words to be on a line by themselves for emphasis? As long as you are making conscience choices about where line breaks occur, you should be fine.
- Now create a final copy and post it to the blog.
Objective: To create five (5) epitaphs that demonstrate a strong personal relationship between the characters mentioned.
Use this plan sheet to help fully create the characters for whom you will write epitaphs. It is quite likely that all of this information will not be used in the epitaph itself. The plan sheet is a guide to have you think about the many many details of this imaginary person that may have had an impact on his or her life.
You should complete a plan sheet for each character and post them to this blog.
- 1. Name of the deceased
- 2. Occupation or how majority of time was spent
- 3. Details about the character’s death
- 4. How did the character feel about his/her death?
- 5. Describe what type of relationship this person had with others
- 6. Significant life events
- 7. Character’s outlook on life or his/her advice to those still living
- 8. Hobbies and spare time activities
- 9. Emotions and feelings about the character in the other epitaphs
- 10. Other details, physical characteristics, ideas, etc.
About This Game
This interactive fiction game is based on Edgar Lee Master’s collection of poems, The Spoon River Anthology. Each poem is an epitaph of someone from the fictional town of Spoon River. There are many connections and stories that can be discovered from a careful reading of the individual poems. This is a game about resolving conflicts and uncovering mysteries relating to these epitaphs. Solving these conflicts requires good reading and problem solving skills.
What is interactive fiction?
Interactive Fiction (or IF for short) is both a computer game and a book, or rather something in between. You usually take on the role of the main character in a story. The game tells you what happens to the character, and you tell the game how the character should act. This is not always simple, but can make for a very rewarding experience. The game’s output is usually text based, and by typing text into the computer, allows you to communicate with the game.
Where does the game take place?
The game takes place in the Spoon River Cemetery and the town of Spoon River. Players will encounter ghosts and be able to read epitaphs throughout the game.
What can I as a player control?
You will be able to manipulate the game’s environment in numerous ways by typing commands into the computer.
What is the main focus of this game?
The main goal of the game is to help the ghostly citizens of Spoon River find resolutions to issues that plagued their lives and left them in a restless state.
Getting Started: Instructions for Beginners
This readme file is packaged with free Z-code interpreters for both PC and Mac. An interpreter is a program that lets you open and run interactive fiction games. Once you have downloaded and unzipped the VOSR_IF_game.zip package you should click on an interpreter (Frotz for PC or Zoom for Mac). To start a game using the interpreter, click on File –> Open, then select the appropriate game file, in this case VOSR_v2_14_06.z5.
Game Introduction
It has been years since anyone walked down Spoon River’s dusty Main Street. Only the sound of the wind and the timeless trickle of the fountain in the cemetery make any noise at all. The town of Spoon River sleeps. But not all are at peace. Some say the town slowly faded away as the old people died and the young ones moved away. Others say it happened suddenly when the wells dried up. Somehow, Spoon River became a ghost town. And all the secrets would have faded, too, if it wasn’t for the epitaphs. You must examine the past, collect clues, and help find and resolve the issues of those who are not at rest.
How do I play?
Movement
To move to a new location simply type the direction you want to move. You can type GO SOUTH, but just SOUTH will also do the trick, as will S (which is the commonly accepted abbreviation for SOUTH). Other directions and their abbreviations are NORTH (N), EAST (E), WEST (W), NORTHEAST (NE), SOUTHEAST (SE), NORTHWEST (NW), SOUTHWEST (SW), UP (U), DOWN (D), IN and OUT.
Common verbs
Here are some of the most important verbs, with examples:
LOOK or L (L or LOOK AROUND or LOOK IN JAR or LOOK UNDER BED)
TAKE (TAKE BOOK or TAKE ALL)
DROP (DROP BOOK or DROP ALL)
EXAMINE or X (EXAMINE DESK or X DESK)
SEARCH (SEARCH DESK)
INVENTORY or I (This will show what you are carrying with you.)
OPEN (OPEN DOOR)
CLOSE (CLOSE DOOR)
LOCK (LOCK DOOR WITH RUSTY KEY)
UNLOCK (UNLOCK DOOR WITH RUSTY KEY)
TALK (TALK TO BOB)
Other verbs you will need from time to time include ATTACK, DRINK, EAT, LISTEN, MOVE, PULL, PUSH, REMOVE, READ, SHOOT, SIT, STRIKE, THROW, TURN. There are lots more. Hopefully they will seem natural to you when you need them.
Special verbs
UNDO Takes back the last move you made. You can do this multiple times.
QUIT or Q Ends the current game.
RESTART Starts the game over from the beginning.
SAVE Saves your current position to a file on disk.
RESTORE Loads a previously saved game position.
HELP Information about the game and its author and hints to some of the puzzles.
Getting stuck and unstuck
While playing IF, you will get stuck. If you feel that you can not get unstuck from the same spot, you can type HELP to see if there are any hints available. One more thing about playing interactive fiction: Make a map as you play. You are very likely to need it.
First, download your Spoon River Anthology Assignment. You may print this and give me the hard copy, or you may download the Word file, edit it with your answers, and e-mail it to me (nscofield@district70.org). <Guess which one I would prefer?> Don’t forget to put your name on your paper!
Check out the cemetery that was inspiration for Edgar Lee Masters. You will find the answers to questions 1-7 from your assignment here.
Use this dictionary of poetic terms to answer questions 8-15.
Please post the final draft of your personal essay here. Remember the 350 word minimum and 500 word maximum limits. We’ll begin recording the podcasts on Tuesday.
Thanks in advance for doing a great job with these. Write something that you are very proud of.
Post the rough draft of your personal essay here. Remember–at least 350 words.
Choose 2 of the following prompts and write your (well-developed) responses. Explore your ideas–they may be the beginnings for your final essay.
1. Most of us have been in a situation where we made a promise that for one reason or another we were unable to keep. When were you disappointed because someone made you a promise that they failed to keep? Or when did you break a promise that you made to someone else?
2. All of us are works in progress with a long way to go before we reach our full potential. In what skill or area are you still working to make progress?
3. Our society uses the word hero in manyh different ways? How do you define hero, and who is a hero in your life?
4. We all tend to judge people by their appearances, even though looks can be deceiving. Have you ever prejudged someone incorrectly based on their appearance or has someone ever prejudged you unfairly based on how you look?
5. Everyone has problems or challenges to overcome. What obstacles are you proud to have faced and conquered?
6. There is a famous adage: “To err is human, to fogive divine.” When did you feel divine because you were able to forgive someone for their mistake? When did someone act divine by forgiving you when you were wrong?
Fairy tales have happy endings. All of us know what happened in that mushy fairy tale, Cinderella. Yeah, it’s romantic, the prince actually finding Cinderella. They lived happily ever after. But happy endings can sometimes be, well… boring. No zing. So predictable. So…happy.
What if the shoe fit one of the ugly step-sisters instead? What happens then? Play with your imagination here. Be funny if you like. Or serious if you feel like it. Or be an Alfred Hitchcock. Whatever mood you are in…write your own ending to the Cinderella story, but this time make it so that the shoe fits one of the icky sisters. What does Prince Charming do? How does Cinderella cope with it? And what about the Fairy Godmother?
Start your story here. Write a complete story, dialogs, all that good stuff.
Another time, another place
If you could travel through time to any other time or place (past or future),
- When and where would you go?
- Why?
- Who would you like to meet?
- What would you like to see?
- What would the world be like (be very specific and creative in your details here…)
- Would you stay for an extended time or just a quick visit?
