Monday, September 13th
1. In the computer lab we received the assignments for the Critical Approahces Wiki assignment in which we will have to explain the different approaches to criticism that authors use. We also received the Outside Reading/Class Notes Journal assignments, in which we will update the concepts we learned in class each week, as well as comment on the strategies employed by authors in reflective essays, editorials, and book reviews.
Tuesday, September 14th
1. In Perrine, we read the introductions to chapters one and two.
2. Lecture on poetry
Notes:
Poetry: Language condensed into artistic effect.
more intense form of the experience
if it takes longer to explain it than read it, it’s poetry
if it takes longer to read it than explain it, it’s prose
However, in order to be poetry it has to fit both parts of the definition. For example, the bumper sticker “America: Love it Or Leave It” can’t be explained in less time than it takes to read it, but it is not language condensed into artistic effect, so it is not poetry.
The reason poetry takes so long to explain is because the meaning has been condensed.
Homework: respond to one aspect of “Kitchenette Building” and two of your peers’ responses by Thursday evening. Through this we are exploring the condensed meanings that we need to be able to pull apart from poetry.
Wednesday, September 15th
1. Read the poem “Hidden Meanings” by Dabney Stuart.
2. “Fishbowl” discussion to voice our observations and learn from what each other noticed in the poem.
3. The sexual innuendos that we may or may not have noticed initially were revealed to us, and in smaller groups we discussed what effects we thought these had on the poem, and what they meant. As a class we discussed the idea that is conveyed in the poem: the contrast in gender roles that fairytales present; the heroic feats that male characters perform versus the simple job of the female character to marry the prince. This exercise continues with the idea that poems are full on meaning that is condensed into a short space, and authors use the words they do to convey the meaning that isn’t always apparent from the start.
Here is a link to a small blurb from The New Yorker that continues with some aspects of our discussion on Wednesday; human psyche in conjunction with fairytales, the larger meaning of the actions of the characters and the events of the story. According to Kurt Vonnegut, we enhance the “drama” in our lives in an attempt to live up to our favorite, though unrealistic fairytales.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2009/09/get-a-grip.html
Homework: “Kitchenette Building” forum responses due Thursday evening.
Thursday, September 16th
1. We read the introductions to chapters 3 and 4, lectured on diction and imagery.
2. Lecture on diction
Notes:
Diction: the choice of a single word at a time – not phrases.
Ask yourself, “why this word?”
Connotation and Denotation:
connotation: the thoughts and images, emotions that are evoked by the word
denotation: the dictionary definition
gaunt skinny thin slender svelte
<——————————-0———————————->
The connotations of the words become more critical on the left side of the spectrum, more honorific and positive on the right.
Concreteness vs. Abstraction
concrete: specific words
clothes pants jeans Levis
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as you move up the spectrum, it becomes more concrete, more specific
As the words become more specific, it gets alarming, then absurd, which becomes funny again.
Ex: “she was jumping around like her pants were on fire.” If you get more specific and say, “she was jumping around like her jeans were on fire,” the idiom has changed, and the image is therefore distorted into an alarming prospect. However, if you take it one step more to be “she was jumping around like her Levis were on fire,” it has become so absurd that it’s funny.
Abstraction; Ex: Ernest Hemingway creates an intimacy with the reader with his more abstract choice of diction in his pieces, by trusting that you know what he means.
*Connection: these terms are used in the context of visual art as well; concrete art doesn’t distort the subject the artist is trying to convey, while abstract art is not (or is it trying to be) an accurate visual reflection of the subject. I think that in the use of abstract art as well as abstract diction, there is more room for interpretation for the consumer. In both concrete art and diction, the artist makes no mistake to convey exactly what they mean to.
Precision (vague vs. specific)
The words “Good!” “Nice!” are used to respond in a generally positive way, they are not specific. Ex: Using these words in the context of a teacher praising a student, is a socially acceptable circumstance in which to use vague diction.
Elevation vs. Colloquialism:
this organization of diction deals with the spectrum of slang language, to colloquial language (speech you would use to address your peers, ordinary speech), to elevated language (the way in which you talk to adults), to epic diction (reserved for important or historic occasions).
Homework: Respond to “Kitchenette” forum by 8 pm tonight.
Friday, September 17th:
1. Lecture on dialect.
Notes:
English is standardized by the richest people; they control the media.
dialect: a variant of a language within a large geographic area
Ex: Harper Lee in To Kill a Mockingbirdsays “scupernong” instead of “grape,” which marks her characters as southern, and shows that were characters aren’t conscious of speaking to a worldly audience—they only know what they know.
Here is a link to a map of American dialects: http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US1/REF/images/dialectsus.gif
regionalisms: particular to a small area within a dialect, not the whole region.
Ex: “pop” to denote a carbonated drink is specific to a small area in the north
jargon: specialized language of a profession, technical language
2. Diction and Imagery worksheets. With these we were able to practice our close reading skills as well as well as apply the knowledge we gathered in the areas of diction and imagery. Not only did we identify the effects of using certain types of diction, but we had to employ these methods as well in writing exercises that modeled the strategies of the reading.
Homework: respond to forum on “Widow’s Lament/Naming of Parts”
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