Sample Dialectical Notebook

1. Sample Dialectical Notebook English 11 Honors

2. What is a Dialectical Notebook? A dialectical notebook is a double-entry journal with two columns on one page. On one side are important/significant lines or passages from the text. On the other side is a commentary or reaction to the text that identifies specific devices, author’s purpose and effectiveness. The purpose of a dialectical notebook is to utilize close reading strategies in order to extract meaning from the text.

3. What is a Close Reading? • Reading with a pencil hand and annotating the text; thinking about your own thinking (meta-cognition). • Annotating is underlining or highlighting key words and phrases, as well as making notes in the margins. • Also look for patterns in things you’ve noticed about the text- repetitions, contradictions, similarities, and literary devices. • Ask questions about the patterns like why does the author repeat that word in every paragraph? • You should also explore the author’s syntax (arrangement of sentences) and diction (word choices)

4. “I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud” I wandered lonely as a cloudThat floats on high o’er vales and hills,When all at once I saw a crowd,A host, of golden daffodils;Beside the lake, beneath the trees,Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.Continuous as the stars that shineAnd twinkle on the milky way,They stretched in never-ending lineAlong the margin of a bay:Ten thousand saw I at a glance,Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

5. “I Wandered…” The waves beside them danced; but theyOut-did the sparkling waves in glee:A poet could not but be gay,In such a jocund company:I gazed--and gazed--but little thoughtWhat wealth the show to me had brought:For oft, when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude;And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dances with the daffodils.

6. “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”by William Wordsworth • “I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills” (lines 1-2) • “A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze” (lines 4-6) • Here, Wordsworth uses a simile to compare how lonely he appears to be wandering. This simile is effective because at times clouds may appear lonely in the skies, just as the speaker in the poem appears to be. When the speaker says that he is floating, I got the image that the loneliness wasn’t a bad thing, but just a period of meditation in general. • I found it interesting that he referred to the daffodils as “hosts”. I think he does this to show that they made him feel comfortable. Why does Wordsworth personify the daffodils in these lines? I think he was giving them humanlike characteristics to show how they kept him company on that lonely day that he describes in the previous lines.

7. “I Wandered Lonely as a CloudWilliam Wordsworth • “Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.” (lines 11-12) • This is an example of inverted word order. Usually, the sentence would read: “I saw ten thousand at a glance.” I think Wordsworth does this to uphold a steady rhyme scheme and rhythm. Also, he is probably trying to emphasize the word “glance” here by placing it at the end of the sentence. I think he is being somewhat ironic because one would not happen to notice ten thousand daffodils at a simple glance. This is surely an understatement. At the same time, he employs hyperbole when he says he saw ten thousand daffodils. He probably just means that there were many.

8. “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”William Wordsworth • “I gazed –and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought” (lines 17-18) • “For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye” (lines 19-21) • Why does the author use the word “wealth” in this line? I believe that he uses this word to show just how fortunate he felt to have this experience. This is certainly characteristic of the Romantic poets, since they were all about connecting with and appreciating nature. This choice of word provides a comfortable and appreciative tone. • The words vacant and pensive refer to the speaker’s loneliness that he describes in the first stanza of the poem. This is interesting since he says that whenever he feels this way again, he will think of his prior experience and be comforted. What does the speaker mean when he says “inward eye”? I think this refers to his heart and soul, and how the experience with the daffodils warmed him. He will never forget this experience.