I honestly enjoyed doing this close reading assignment. It definitely made me understand the poem more and the theme of the poem as well. When I was re-writing the poem in my own words, it made me realize how hard it was to actually do that. It was a struggle for me to compare the author's words in the poem to something in my head. Until the word or phrase came to my head, it was hard for me to conjure up what the author was actually saying. I couldn't just make words or phrases up in my head because then that would defeat the purpose of the assignment and change the meaning of the poem too. That was probably one of the hardest things to do for this assignment.
When it came to part b of the assignment, I chose the section "Vocabulary and Diction", particularly the question, "Which words do you notice first? Why? What is noteworthy about this diction?" I wanted to chose this question particularly because I'm not familiar with diction, so I thought I should test it out. I picked out words that I thought had meaning to the poem overall or words which confused me and I did not understand. This was an easy task but it definitely made me think more about the poem and what it represented. For example, in line 10, the author refers to a child. Picking this word out made me realize that the author's poem was referring to a child all along which I didn't know when I read the poem the first time. Re-reading the poem two times made me become aware of what and who the author was actually talking to and talking about. This exercise made it easier for me to understand the whole idea of the poem and to actually make my thoughts flow more clearly. I thought it was a good lesson overall.
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
How to Analyze Literature Packet (3, 2, 1 Homework)
Things I have learned:
1) I learned that there are two related ways to talk about diction. The first being the level of diction: high, neutral, and low. High diction occurs when the writer avoids the colloquial language of normal conversation. Neutral diction is more like normal conversation of educated people and low diction which is informal conversation often appearing in characters whom seem uneducated. The second level of diction is through the use of adjectives that communicate the attitudes of the speakers and narrator.
2) The second thing that I learned is that, "symbols do not mean, they suggest or remind or reflect" (Pg 53). In my essays, I would always say that symbols "mean" something rather than they "suggest" something. I never really thought of symbols in this way; I always just thought a symbol meant something rather than suggested something.
3) The third thing I learned was that there are four common sets of syllables: the iamb, trochee, anapest, and the dactyl. All are very confusing to understand but they all relate to the sense of rhythm a poem holds.
Skills That I Still Need to Learn:
1) Syntax and diction are two of my most confusing literary devices. I understand that syntax uses sentence arrangement and that diction uses word choice but I get confused on how to differentiate while studying the two in a passage or novel. How do I know when a passage is using syntax and how do I know when a passage is using diction?
2) Mood and tone are still confusing to me also. I often confuse mood with tone and tone with mood. Tone is the attitude toward the subject and mood is the climate of feeling/overall sense of the passage. Tone also uses syntax and mood uses diction but not knowing what syntax and diction is as well as tone and mood leaves me to not understand how this is used in the passage or novel.
Skill That I Could Teach Others:
1) One skill that I would be able to teach the class would definitely have to be how to tell whether a character is static or dynamic or in this packet's description, how to tell whether a character is complex and deep or flat, one-dimensional and unchanging. This is probably one of my easiest skills in the packet and I think I can differentiate rather well with this skill.
1) I learned that there are two related ways to talk about diction. The first being the level of diction: high, neutral, and low. High diction occurs when the writer avoids the colloquial language of normal conversation. Neutral diction is more like normal conversation of educated people and low diction which is informal conversation often appearing in characters whom seem uneducated. The second level of diction is through the use of adjectives that communicate the attitudes of the speakers and narrator.
2) The second thing that I learned is that, "symbols do not mean, they suggest or remind or reflect" (Pg 53). In my essays, I would always say that symbols "mean" something rather than they "suggest" something. I never really thought of symbols in this way; I always just thought a symbol meant something rather than suggested something.
3) The third thing I learned was that there are four common sets of syllables: the iamb, trochee, anapest, and the dactyl. All are very confusing to understand but they all relate to the sense of rhythm a poem holds.
Skills That I Still Need to Learn:
1) Syntax and diction are two of my most confusing literary devices. I understand that syntax uses sentence arrangement and that diction uses word choice but I get confused on how to differentiate while studying the two in a passage or novel. How do I know when a passage is using syntax and how do I know when a passage is using diction?
2) Mood and tone are still confusing to me also. I often confuse mood with tone and tone with mood. Tone is the attitude toward the subject and mood is the climate of feeling/overall sense of the passage. Tone also uses syntax and mood uses diction but not knowing what syntax and diction is as well as tone and mood leaves me to not understand how this is used in the passage or novel.
Skill That I Could Teach Others:
1) One skill that I would be able to teach the class would definitely have to be how to tell whether a character is static or dynamic or in this packet's description, how to tell whether a character is complex and deep or flat, one-dimensional and unchanging. This is probably one of my easiest skills in the packet and I think I can differentiate rather well with this skill.
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