My Featured Novel

 A Christmas Carol

I. About the Novel : A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol (1843)

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

The first of five Christmas books written by Dickens in the 1840s, this is one of the best known and best loved of all his works. It tells of the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge from a tight-fisted curmudgeon to a generous and genial man. This is brought about by a haunting and visions at Christmas that remind him of happier days, demonstrate the generous spirit of others in adversity, and terrify him with dire prospects should he not change his ways.

  A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas,^[1] commonly known as A Christmas Carol, is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall on 19 December 1843.^[2] The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim. A Christmas Carol tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation into a gentler, kindlier man after visitations by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come.

The book was written at a time when the British were examining and exploring Christmas traditions from the past as well as new customs such as Christmas cards and Christmas trees. Carol singing took a new lease on life during this time.^[3] Dickens's sources for the tale appear to be many and varied, but are, principally, the humiliating experiences of his childhood, his sympathy for the poor, and various Christmas stories and fairy tales.^[4][5][6]

A Christmas Carol remains popular—having never been out of print^[6]—and has been adapted many times to film, stage, opera, and other media.

Works Cited （参考文献）

"Dickens as a Fiction Writer." The Dickens Fellowship. Dickens Fellowship, n.d. Web. 1 June 2016. <http://www.dickensfellowship.org/dickens-fiction-writer>.

"A Christmas Carol." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 1 June 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol>.

II. Versions of the Novel in the Mass Media

Disney's movie ’A Christmas　Carol’　by 2009

’A　Christmas Carol ' is movie  by 2015

Works Cited （参考文献）

Music893. "Disney's クリスマス・キャロル." YouTube. YouTube, 17 Oct. 2009. Web. 07 June 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbnu28_d7QI>.


FoxInternationalHEJP. "クリスマス・キャロル （字幕版）." YouTube. YouTube, 31 Jan. 2015. Web. 07 June 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53_d9-ToW-k>.

III. About the Author： Charles Dickens (1812～1870）
　Infancy in Portsmouth and London (1812-17)　

　　
　　　　　　　　

Born on 7th February 1812 at a house in Mile End Terrace, Portsmouth, Hampshire. His father, John Dickens, worked as a clerk in the pay office of the Royal Dockyard. Family moved to London in 1815 when John was posted there.

Happy boyhood in Kent (1817-22)

Father posted first to Sheerness, then to Chatham Royal Dockyard, Kent. Pleasant, formative boyhood years for Charles. His experiences in Chatham and neighbouring Rochester inspired much of his adult work.

London, Prison and the Blacking Factory (1822-27)

His schooling interrupted when he followed the family to London, his father having been recalled there. Put to work in late 1823 at a blacking factory, and his father imprisoned for debt in early 1824: these humiliations provided a mainspring for his subsequent ambition.. Left factory in 1823/4, for his final two years of schooling.

Making the most of a modest beginning (1827-29)

His education over at the age of 15. Employed by a firm of solicitors. Made a great impression as a lively character, a skilled mimic, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of London. Studied shorthand and was later to achieve an exceedingly high standard.

Established in journalism (1829-33)

Started as a freelance reporter of law cases. Admitted as reader at the British Museum Library in 1830. Became a parliamentary reporter in 1831.

Success as a short story writer (1833-36)

First short story published in 1833. Continued his success as a reporter, joining the The Morning Chronicle in 1834. Married in 1836.

Fame and dynamic progress as an author (1836-40)

Became household name through the publication in instalments of Pickwick Papers, 1836-37. Left The Morning Chronicle in 1836. Editor of new magazine, Bentley's Miscellany, from 1837 to 1839. Wrote Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby and shorter pieces.

Loss of touch and spectacular recovery (1840-43)

After completing The Old Curiosity Shop and the much less popular Barnaby Rudge in 1841, set off to visit the United States during the first half of 1842. On his return, wrote American Notes for General Circulation, which was received badly in the USA and lukewarmly in the UK. Martin Chuzzlewit, begun at the end of 1842, was not immediately popular. Reputation re-established with publication of first Christmas story, A Christmas Carol.

Maturing as a successful author (1843-50)

Christmas stories, minor works, visits to France and Italy, amateur dramatics and other activities assumed greater importance, but two major works completed. Dombey and Son, begun in 1846, and David Copperfield, begun in 1849, were more serious and more carefully thought out than previous novels.

Established as publisher/editor/author (1850-58)

Became joint owner and editor of a new weekly journal, Household Words, in 1850. Contributed three major works during this period: Bleak House, Hard Times and Little Dorrit. Purchased Gad's Hill Place in 1856. Separated from his wife in 1858.

A new role and a new journal (1858-67)

Gave first public readings of his works in 1858. Established in 1859 a new weekly journal, All The Year Round, which replaced Household Words. Serialisation of A Tale of Two Cities began with first number. Contributed two other major works during this period: Great Expectations and Our Mutual Friend. Readings assumed greater importance. Involved in major rail accident, 1865. Last Christmas story published in 1867.

Final bursts of energy (1867-70)

With failing health, devoted much of his energy to exhausting reading tours, visiting the USA for a second time in 1867/68. Completed nearly half of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Died at Gad's Hill on 9 June 1870. Buried in Westminster Abbey, London.

Works Cited(参考文献）

"Message from the President." Dickens Fellowship. Dickensfellowship.org, n.d. Web. 1 June 2016. <www.dickensfellowship.org>.  

IV. My Reaction

A. Reaction Point - theme(物語の主旨、主題）

• Theme is story's point .
• A Christmas Carol theme is on the basis of the main character Scrooge, past, present, and future of the three ghosts come to visit. Scrooge is have been deceiving the people until now, and people is lie, is the future of Christmas know that he is not. Dawn with the start of the Christmas, Scrooge who know that you can change your future is determined to try change yourself.

　 ・This work is human, someday if bad things are told to come back on their own.

B. Reaction Point - Character(登場人物）

• Character is human nature and personality.
• A Christmas Carol is main character, Scrooge and ghost, Murray.
• Scrooge is selfish and stingy person.

C. Reaction Point - appeal(～を引きつける、魅力）

• Appeal is entreaty,ask, protest, favorite to people.
• A Christmas Carol's appeal is Scrooge is change. And he is surrounded by a lot of people. Scrooge is become to be known as the person who knows the most Christmas to enjoy in London.
• Also the story of the last is not to get used to the happiness of feeling.

D. My General Opinion

I read 'Christmas Carol' is very interesting and fun. The book is life's lesson. And human live is necessary . Other Charles Dickens's work is read too. This book is everyone read, and anybody to understand.

My Featured Poem

My　Poetry　Page

　To Be Or Not To Be

- A soliloquy from William Shakespeare's play 'Hamlet'

To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them?

To die: to sleep;

No more; and, by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to, tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wished.

To die, to sleep;

To sleep perchance to dream, ay, there's the rub;

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause.

There's the respect

That makes calamity of so long life;

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

The pangs of disprized love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office, and the spurns

That patient merit of the unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin?

Who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscovered country from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will,

And make us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;

And Is sicklied o'er

With the pale cast of thought

And enterprises of great pith and moment

With this regard their currents turn away,

And lose the name of action.

  

I. About the Poem

To Be Or Not To Be

- A soliloquy from William Shakespeare's play 'Hamlet'

Works Cited （参考文献）

http://marieantoinette.himegimi.jp/ophelia_index.htm　Wed.27 Apr.2016

II. About the Poet

William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564, in Stratford-on-Avon. The son of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden, he was probably educated at the King Edward IV Grammar School in Stratford, where he learned Latin and a little Greek and read the Roman dramatists. At eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, a woman seven or eight years his senior. Together they raised two daughters: Susanna, who was born in 1583, and Judith (whose twin brother died in boyhood), born in 1585.

Works Cited （参考文献）

・ http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/122#sthash.D1QvnjrB.dpuf　　Wed.18 May.2016

・http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15557#sthash.8dMnZu2u.dpuf Wed.18 May.2016

III. My Reaction

A. Reaction Point - theme (テーマ）
・The theme of this poem is "To Be or Not To Be". Theme is the main idea of a poem, story or song. This word is very famous and well known. First of all, it's very catchy as a phrase, so people remember it quickly and easily. However, all people consider this question sometimes when they think about their own life.

B. Reaction Point - structure (詩の組織のパターン）

・We are making poetry of rhythm by the & and To bring at the beginning of a sentence.
Structure is poem making. Reader's reading to understanding.

C. Reaction Point - rhythm (リズム）

• It has created a poetry of rhythm by repeating the ’To Be or Not To Be'.

Rhythm is understanding to readers.  And to read fun.
D. My General Opinion

I read Shakespeare's　poem this time. Shakespeare's poem feature is many rhyme. I interested in Shakespeare's poem. I interested in and in are connected. I want to read a lot of Shakespeare's works.

Self-introduction

 Hello classmates,

 I'm Yuki Nakamura. I study in the Department of  Arts and Letters at Kyoritsu Women's University.  My course is English British and American Literature.

 I 'm interested in American Literature.  My favorite writer is Ernest Hemingway. 

Especially, Hemingway writes "A Farewell to Arms"is like.  I am 3rd grade English British and American Literature's pre-seminar is American Literature. 

I like American Literature is set off  university's class. The class is introduce many  American Literature.  Of course,  Ernest Hemingway  was  introduced.  In the class, the introduction of the work of course the background and origins as well such as history and culture description. America is a country of independent immigrants from the United Kingdom. Literature was also raised to create on their own. The American Literature there is a work that is full of dreams and hope. 

Now also want to learn American Literature.     

Hello!

Good morning. I'm hungry!