KIM WOODS

Samantha Salomon

Open-ended question:
What would you consider the most difficult part of understanding Literature? and Why?

Everything that I have learned up until now about literature has made me view things a lot more differently now. I can't just look at a book or a shorty story with already thinking of what its about i have to read it to be able to understand what i am reading.Literature is something that helps you expand your mind more and i have been able to do that while taking this course. These changes have impacted me in many ways that has helped me get through book, short story, or a poem with the knowledge of how to analyze it as well as give meaning to it.

Everyone student including myself we all learn in different ways and we understand material differently and to see what others thought of what I said according to all the discussions that were held throughout this course opens my eyes even more because it gives so much more meaning to what I wrote.

Christina Ham

Question: How do short verses vs long verses within poems affect the poem's tone and intended meaning?

From reading through discussion posts, I've learned that everyone sees a text differently. I was used to that with long works but was surprised by how different our point of views could be even with shorter texts or even the poems. For instance, I didn't consider 'abuse' as a theme in "My Papa's Waltz" until somebody else mentioned it. The actions between the father and son meant something rough but positive to me. This actually circles back to my post in Week 1. Word choice and rhythm within a text connects with people emotionally. I still believe that. I've learned more about how that emotional connection is affected by the reader than author choices.

Another thing I've learned is more objective ways to view a text. Sometimes, I get too personal and involved with a text. It's important to be able to look at things formally too, examine the mechanics of what's in the text. Being able to look at it formally and see those methods is what makes you better able to support your point of view. So, I will keep in mind the reader point of view in the future but also try to step back and look at it objectively. That knowledge of the mechanics of a text will help me support my point of view with evidence so that others can see what I see even if that's not their first impression.

Clugston, R. W. (2014). Journey into literature (2nd ed.) [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/

Roethke, T. (1942). My Papa's Waltz. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.