Math Tests and Shakespearean Sonnets

Just to warn the parents of the blogger, the first paragraph is going to hit a bit hard. Know that I'm going to start devising some uber-review method for the Calculus and Physics finals sometiem this week(end). Why? Because I got a math test back today. It wasn't a good Calc class, if for no other reason than that I got that test back. I got a 76%. At least it's no lower than the last grade. You're wondering what could hit harder than that? Err, well, this doesn't hit harder, but it's still kinda sad: The Class Average was a 70%. Which means even with a C, I'm above the average. :\ Remind me not to complain about that solid B I'm getting in Orr's English class, and how I haven't yet gotten higher on one of his (graded-beyond-participation) assignments. The worst thing is how much of this 76% wasn't not-studying even but was stupid mistakes. Like forgetting that I have a term with a coefficient of 5, and leaving the 5 out of the answer. I still need to study more, but part of it's that bad habit of not checking for stupid mistakes. Both things to do on the final.

I'm going to answer a comment from k-po now, because it'll make me feel smarter.

k-po said: Tell me what [terza rima] means

I'm really psyched to answer this because it proves Terza rima is a poem with an interlocking rhyme scheme, known as the rhyme scheme employed in Dante's The Divine Comedy. It goes as follows:

a
b
a

b
c
b

c
d
c

And so on. I'm not sure quite how it's supposed to end, though. Perhaps with a heroic couplet. As for the other form it gave you--the sonnet--there's the English / Shakespearean Sonnet and the Italian Sonnet. An English Sonnet is 14 lines with the rhyme scheme:

a
b
a
b
c
d
c
d
e
f
e
f
g
g

The rhyme schemes vary except for the couplet at the end. I believe it's also written in iambic pentameter. While there's no set way that the poem presents its problem or its solution, often the entire poem presents some problem which the heroic couplet at the end resolves. Shakespeare's "My mistress's eyes..." is an example of a Shakespearean Sonnet.

In an Italian Sonnet, also in iambic pentameter, the form is as such:

a
b
b
a
a
b
b
a
c
d
c
d
c
d

In an Italian Sonnet, the problem is traditionally presented in the first eight lines and solved in the last six. Mark Jarman's "Unholy Sonnet" is an example of an Italian Sonnet. The rhyme scheme does not vary. (I did have to look up the sonnets section to remember some of the rhyme scheme things.)

Hope that helps. Good day and God bless.