Trees of Men

I have always been fascinated with trees. Ever since I was young, I loved to climb and play in them. I would observe them and marvel at the many types I would find throughout the world. I loved how they were strong and impossible to move. I’ve noticed how trees have been symbols in stories: a tree in a courtyard in Lord of the Rings symbolized the strength of a weakened kingdom. The Giving Tree taught me my first lesson of being selfless. Trees have many characteristics that I’ve tried to have in my life.

My evolution in literary analysis

Over the course of taking this intro to English course, I have learned quite a bit about analyzing literature.  For starters, I've gained a better understanding of the different critical approaches, such as Structuralism, Feminism, Freudism, and many others.  I've also gained a better understanding of analyzing dramas, films, etc., like when we did an analysis of "The Silent Child", or looked at different plays, like "The Doll House" or "The Death of a Salesman'', and the many things that different people focused on, even from the same clip of the same play.

Examining Growth in my Analysis of Literature

My process for analyzing literature before this class was limited to some of the basics like theme and character development, with the occasional reference to an author’s diction or use of symbolism. English 251 has helped me to increase my knowledge of literature to be able to analyze literature in a more patterned, structural way than I could before. I begin with the genre, and then take a look at the plot, character, setting, the way it’s narrated, and look to see how these tools are used to advance the story or give it a deeper meaning. I look at formal analysis, and how the way the story is set up and organized contributes to its meaning or quality as a work overall. All of these things contribute to help me as a reader look and analyze the work of other authors to help me become more like a full-fledged literary critic.

In one of my first blog posts about the short film “The Silent Child,” you can see that my ability to read or watch a work and analyze it still has a lot of room to improve. In my analysis, I only focus on two main things, which were the visuals and sound effects of one of my favorite powerful scenes, and the development of the characters as their relationships with each other grew. While these two things are important, I spend way too much time with a laser focus on these two points and never mention anything like the genre, plot, setting, and how these were crucial in establishing the mood of the film that eventually won it an Oscar. After reviewing this post, I realize that if you want to successfully analyze a piece of writing or a film production like this one, you need to consider all of the possible aspects, not just the ones that were obvious or that spoke out to you.

In a more recent blog post of mine, titled, “Angels and Demons: How is our Poetry Really Written?” I think that you can begin to see how I improved on many of the things mentioned above. While this post was more of a draft of my paper to come, I already do a better job of including a greater variety of analysis, and I also include a claim, which is absolutely necessary in successfully analyzing a piece of literature. After we learned about the necessary steps of writing a successful thesis statement, I believe that helped my ability to analyze grow because I began to look for arguable claims about the author’s work in new ways. By learning about the new ways to analyze literature and breaking it down into a step-by-step process I can follow, I am able to find and make stronger claims and give more support in my literary analysis and provide stronger arguments than I could before.

Have I Grown?

Writing about literature always seemed impossible for me. It really did. I never knew where to start or where to dig for information or where to look for things. I felt like everything was simply up for the interpretation of the reader, and that could be anything. What was worse was anything that seemed too intimidating scared me off and I could never relax and enjoy those more complex readings. However, I was lucky to have two different English classes this semester that helped me see that breaking down literature isn’t super hard and it shouldn’t be scary. I’ve seen this in improvements I’ve made to my own writings, thanks to the hints and teachings from classmates and professors.

One of the first things that helped me realize that I was able to break down literature was an assignment we had in class, and that was to break down a short film called “The Silent Child.” I have always liked film and felt like I could analyze things there a little easier. Going back through my blog post, I’m actually surprised at the things I said. I see that doing this helped me see that I can do this same sort of “breakdown” through literature. I would have to work a little harder, but it was possible.

I think I made my biggest improvement by breaking down “Ars Poetica.” This assignment made me do a lot of things I would never do with reading something. It had me read and reread and reread again, sometimes out loud, sometimes highlighting pieces of alliteration or rhyme patters or off shapes of form. This exercise has honestly changed the game for me. I realized before this semester, I would never take the time to get to know a piece of literature. Understanding things takes time and effort, and it would silly to think that I could understand everything there is to know by reading it once. Doing this exercise helped me get familiar and comfortable with the poem, and when that happened, it made breaking it down that much easier.

I think that is the biggest thing I am pulling away from this semester, and how I’ve grown the most. I learned to get acquainted with pieces of literature, and to take my time with that. Rushing the reading or interpretations would make it sloppy and scary- which was usually the case for me. I learned to take my time and get to know it, and after that is done, it can be broken down a lot easier, and in that process, the piece will speak to you and mean more to you. 

Evolving Analysis Patterns

When imagining how my literature analysis skills have changed over the course of the semester, I thought it would be a slope or a curve that increased as time went by. After going back through my blog posts, however, I realized that I got worse before I got better. I started with a more formal analysis, but then went into a less formal, thematic analysis. I got caught in the things I did and did not like.

Complex Yet Simple Poetry

My thesis revolves around the idea that intimidating poetry does not need to be intimidating. I think often time, especially for someone like me who hasn't read a poem since junior year of high school, poetry can be scary to try and pick apart and understand.

I see a poem that is a simple "ABAB" format and looks like and the lines are even similar in length and I think, "Yes, this is a poem for me. No gimmicks. Nothing weird. Just a nice, simple, ham-and-cheese poem."  Seeing a poem like "Ars Poetica" can make me nervous.

A part of me doesn't even like these kinds of poem. I think to myself, "Why? Why make something that could be so simple and clean so confusing and weird?" I get turned off and don't even feel like reading it. This is unfair to these kinds of poems. When I took the time to read "Ars Poetica" and try to dissect it (which I am terrible at), I felt better about it, and was excited to try this with other poems. I'll use this poem and maybe another from the reading to show how learning to look at the form, context, and the 5 some other things we learned to do, while intimidating, is simple and makes all other poems great.

A lot of things can be taken in this kind of light. I love sports. I have played football for nearly 13 years of my life, and I would like to think I know it pretty well. When I watch a game, I see these small details on the field. I see how the offensive lineman react to the defense- blitzes, shifts, formations, etc. I see the quarterback look off the safety to free up the tight end running a quick post. These sort of details, while not needed to enjoy football, make it that much more amazing to me. I believe this same thing should be used in poetry.

A Poem's Essence

• Right now, I am looking at Archibald Macleish's poem "Ars Poetica." My current claim on this poem is that, while most poems build towards the end lines/stanzas of a poem for its climax, the most important part of Macleish's "Ars Poetica" is contained in the center of the poem.

• I am going to begin by discussing the three parts of Macleish's poem. It is built into sections: This first section talks about silence in a poem and how they should not be too wordy. The middle section talks about the timelessness of a poem; how a poem should stop time for the reader/listener, even though time continues to pass. The last section talks about how poems should be metaphorical, how they should be escapes from pain, and how they should control emotions.

• I will then push into my claim a little more and focus on the middle section. When I looked at it, I noticed that it seems to be in the form of a chiasmus. A chiasmus is a poetic form that follows ABCDCBA. The middle section is the most important. I will discuss a little more about the chiasmus and how I view that section as Macleish telling us that it is the most important part of the essence of a poem.
• The middle section of the poem also has a lot of repetition and the climax in a story is more inclined to be somewhere in the middle, rather than at the end. I am still trying to work out the rest of my argument, but I think this is a start.