Asked by jpaigehornback
I need help analyzing George Orwells "Politics and the English...
I need help analyzing George Orwells "Politics and the English Language.”
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Unit Activity
Unit: The Anglo Saxon and Medieval Periods
This activity will help you meet these educational goals:
Common Core State Standards—You will write arguments to support claims in an analysis of
substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence (W.1.);
gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using
advanced searches effectively; assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms
of the task, purpose, and audience; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain
the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and over reliance on any one source and following a
standard format for citation (W.8.);
cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support
analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including
determining where the text leaves matters uncertain (R.1.); draw evidence from literary or
informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research (W.9).
Introduction
In this unit activity, you will analyze aspects of the medieval English stories
The Canterbury
Tales
and
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
.
You will also read George Orwell’s essay
“Politics and the English Language,” analyze it, and express your own views on how
language usage changes over time.
________________________________________________________________________
Directions and Analysis
Task 1: Analyzing Literature
You've read excerpts from secular works written in the medieval period such as
Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight
and
The Canterbury Tales
. Both are quest narratives that reveal much
about the social life and codes of conduct followed in the medieval period. Write an essay on
one of the topics provided in part a of this task. Follow the guidelines in the table below for
writing the essay.
1

6 pages