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This week, we did a lot of different things in class, from analyzing poems to working on our new Theory project and to reading. I personally have enjoyed this week, but it's a different story when it comes to the Theory project. It's kind of an overload of information and for me it's really hard to take in and remember it all. Especially because a lot of the things that I have read for the project contain information totally new to me. Trying to sift through the four links given to us was, and don't hold anything against me for saying this, was daunting. Trying to find information specific to our chosen topic out of the rest of the articles was hard, and when I did come across what I was looking for, it was difficult determining whether or not it was useful information that pertained to the question I was trying to answer. But having teammates help immensely. I know I could have done this portion of the project alone, but not nearly as well, and I'm so grateful that we had groups to work with! http://www.studygs.net/groupprojects.htm This website talks about working in group projects, and how to successfully work with others. I don't think our group will be needing this, but it's a great reference site for future projects. To end, I have really enjoyed this week, just like the others and I'm glad I get to work with the group I have.
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This week we did not learn much of anything in class, but with ourselves. We took a practice AP test of the multiple choice portion, and let's just say I need to study. I learned that I need to expand my vocabulary or I'm going to miss more questions in the future. Coming across words in the test that I don't know not only holds me up and wastes my time, but it usually affects how I answer the question, whether it be wrong or right. I also need to look up more of the literary terms listed in the test, as I also didn't know what some of them were. I feel like my biggest problem with the test though was the reading comprehension. Most of the stories I understood well, but my interpretations of them were wrong, and it showed when we corrected the tests. I'm not really sure if it was a lack of understanding of the question, the text or I was just plain wrong though. There was a story or two though where I had to go back and re-read it a time or two, because I have a hard time understanding old english. This AP test taught me that I am not at all ready for the AP test, and if I decided to take it now I probably would not pass. But on the other hand, I do feel very confident on the other portions of the test, such as the writing. I feel that my few weeks in this class has improved my writing skills, and to the point that I feeli I'd do just fine in the writing potion of the test. Maybe not "A" worthy, but enought to get a passing month. This site, https://www.albert.io/blog/ap-english-literature-tips/ has tips on how to get through the AP test, and I know I will be looking at it more in the future when the time comes for the test. I difinitely know I'll have to do a lot of preparation for this test. Last week we learned all about tragedy and the different types. This week we looked at actual examples of tragedy, but not until later in the week. We started the week out with a Ted talk, and the video was more along the lines of defining success and failure. Then, we read the story of Oedipus. It is a Greek tragedy by Sophocles, written around 429 B.C. It is a tragic story that involves a very peculiar prophecy that goes like so; a baby born by Laius and Jocasta will grow up to kill his father and bring tragedy to the city and the family. It seems like a pretty avoidable tragedy to most. But Jocasta give the three day old child to a servant and asks the servant to, "do away" with the child. Now, the readers don't know at this point in the book, but the servant actually takes the child to a far away city, where he thinks the child will never come to light. Years later, Oedipus is an adult, and has saved the city of Thebes. He is now hailed as a hero and the greatest of the great. He also just so happens to be married to Jocasta with multiple children. To keep this short and sweet, multiple men come and start to reveal the truth to Oedipus that he is Jocasta's son, and that they have committed every single sin in the book. At first he does not believe this, but soon starts to hunt for the truth, and eventually ends up finding it. When Jocasta has realized what has happened, she kills herself before Oedipus can in a blinding rage. When Oedipus finds his mother/wife dead, he takes the broaches from Jocasta's clothing and gauges out his eyes. He does this so that he no longer has to look at the evil he has committed, and can see nothing but the truth. This is a great example of tragedy. Oedipus was on top of the world, but when the prophecy came true he became the lowest man in the city. The people who once looked up to him now looked at him with disgust and no longer want anything to do with him. He is banished from the land and can no longer see his children. He went from having everything to nothing, creating the perfect tragedy, for a writer at least. This website,http://www.bachelorandmaster.com/globaldrama/oedipus-rex-as-a-classical tragedy.html#.WCXfj9UrLnA goes more into depth on what elements of the story classifies it as a tragedy. I really loved reading the story of Oedipus this week, not only for the fascinating story but how it also taught me more about what a tragedy in writing is, and I feel like that was the point of this week's lesson. This was a very difficult week for me. In all my time in this class, I think the AIE format was a hard concept to grasp. It made sense when described to me, but actually writing in the format myself was very challenging. But on top of that, we learned about tragedy. The three wiki pages that we were given to read up on the topic of tragedy was a little confusing to me, because the idea of tragedy that I had in my head was a little different from the wiki pages. They talked about the art of tragedy and how they were written into plays a long time ago. I looked more into tragedy of the commons, and in my mind I thought of national tragedies such as terrorism, but the wiki page described it more along the lines of a shared resource being drained. We were then asked to write a blog on the matters, which I thought was the most difficult part of the week. I sat at home for a good 45 minutes trying to write the blog, and I didn't really know what to base it on, even though we had to examples to look at. Not only did I have to relearn the meaning of tragedy, I had to write about it and on top of that put it into an AIE format. The end result was a very poor blog post but none the less I finished. I'm not trying to say I didn't learn anything this week because that wouldn't be true, but I don't necessarily agree or understand what I learned this week, at least for the tragedy part. The AIE format is more clear than it was, but I'm still probably going to do it wrong in the end. When I say I don't agree with the tragedy portion of the week, I just think it's strange the way the wiki pages showed it. The idea of tragedy that I have set up in my head was very different, and I had to look up some different pages that went more into depth on those ideas, just like this page. http://tragedy.sdsu.edu/tragedy.sdsu.edu/. I took tragedy of the commons to mean more along the lines of death and destruction, as opposed to a shared resource or an environmental issue, but this page really helped me understand that. This week we finished up our presentations on the topics we chose for our literature project. I felt that throughout this project I've learned so much, especially with the limited resources we were given to write our projects on. We haven't had one lesson in I'd say almost two weeks, and I still learned so much, while reading some great literature. But I think one of the best things I learned about were the elements of fiction, Characterization, Humor, Fantasy, Symbolism, Point of View, Structure and Theme. They are very important to writing, therefore earning the title of elements. They are fundamental to great work of literature, and you just cannot make a good story or work of art without all these elements. And when you get a special writer, who can combine these elements beautifully you get great works of literature. I know that when I write books of do my creative writing in the future I will always keep these in mind, and take what I learned from my classmates presentations to create my own works of art. For the most part, everyone had their own separate elements, but almost every element had been presented at least twice, and it was interesting to see how each group interpreted the elements and the stories that came with them. Not only did I learn about the elements, but I also got to learn about the different perspectives that came along with each element, and I know that when I read a book I will keep all these things in mind when I am reading. This website, http://cstl-cla.semo.edu/hhecht/The%20Elements%20of%20Fiction.htm give another perspective that I think is worth a read as well, and I am glad that we got to do this project.
This week we did not learn much, but we did do a lot of work. Most of the work we did pertained to the literature project. The things I did learn about though, were Plot and Structure, and Symbolism. Those were the two subjects my partner and I decided on for the project. One of the biggest things I learned about though between the two was commercial fiction and literary fiction. Before this project I never really knew that those existed, or let alone that there was a difference. Commercial fiction is something along the lines of exciting to the reader, with dramatic and epic plots. Those types of books don't serve much in the purpose of literary merit or underlying meanings. Books like these include, Twilight, The Hunger Games and Harry Potter. They are fun, appealing books to read. On the other hand, literary fiction is for the most part not as compelling and exciting, but the book has more to offer with each read. There is more thought and meaning behind the text and in the end actually makes you think about the book and what it was actually trying to say. They contain more literary merit than commercial fiction books. This website, http://annieneugebauer.com/2014/01/27/the-differences-between-commercial-and-literary-fiction/ the author of this article goes into depth on what the differences are and gives examples of what is considered literary and commercial fiction, as well as describes what classifies a book to either catigory. I believe this class teaches me something new every week, even when we do not have lessons. and I think that's what I enjoy the most about this class.
This week we read "Bright Start" by Keats. The first day we read the poem and analyzed it, but not too much into depth. The next day we were asked the question, what if the star were not talked about as an apostrophe? Would the poem still be the same? Why and why not? And I answered no, it would not be the same. The speaker couldn't possibly show the same feelings for the star if it were not talked about as an apostrophe. Not only did I learn that there was another meaning for apostrophe, but I learned how the use of apostrophe effects the literature it is being applied to, whether intentionally or unintentionally. The basic definition of apostrophe is talking of someone or something in first person instead of third, whether or not the person or thing is present, or not present. This website, http://www.literarydevices.com/apostrophe/ goes on to tell in depth on what an apostrophe is, how it is used, and examples on how to use it. I found the article to be very informative, and that it went more in depth than what we did go over in class. The last question we were asked about the poem on, was what we identified with the most; the speaker, the speaker's love or the star. I answered that I identified the most with the speaker's love, due to the fact that I have someone like that in my life, although my feelings may not be as strong as the speakers. We were then told that the speaker's love was equivalent to receiving love, the speaker to giving love and the star to observing love. It was strange to me because I had never though of it like that before. This poem of the week has definitely helped me learn a lot!
This week we played around with the idea of being selective. From choosing perspectives to taking what you think an author may and or may not be saying, it's all up to you. By being selective, you can't just take every thought or idea on a work of literature, and call it good. Some of the ideas clash, and don't make sense with each other. There is also the fact that some of the ideas that come into people's mind can be arguably wrong, or less accepting than that of other ideas. This method does not specifically apply to just literature. It can apply to art, music and dancing. Basically whatever you like. That idea of perspective wasn't necessarily new to me, because I don't usually take many stances on art. Once I make up a perspective for myself that is usually what I tend to stick to. We then looked at a few works of art this week, and we got to share our ideas with the groups we sat at. Now, instead of applying that idea to ourselves, we had to work with our group to agree on one set perspective. We all had slightly different ideas on the art we were shown, but we worked through our ideas together and produced the most plausible, or likely meaning. It was a lot harder to keep that same "selective" ideal once it was not just ourselves anymore, and not one other person, but three people. https://www.quora.com/What-is-art-to-you-What-does-it-mean-and-why-do-we-need-itwww.quora.com/What-is-art-to-you-What-does-it-mean-and-why-do-we-need-it. This article is a good read on what an author or artist is trying to communicate when they make one of their works, and I feel it is a great way to wrap up what we learned this week.
This week we did not learn much in the way of lectures or lessons, but through working with each other. We really got into our summer reading groups this week, and starting our essays. The main focus of the essay was to pick three chapters from How To Read Literature Like A Professor, and use the books we read over the summer, (I read Beowulf and Going After Cacciato) and connect the chapters we used to ideas or events that happened in the books. Our groups were formed by what books we read. Only I and another read Beowulf and Going After Cacciato, so naturally we were put into a group. As we started the essay, we easily agreed on which chapters to use. It was only when we had to interpret those chapters that the differences started to show. It was not views that caused conflict in our group, and we easily agreed to each others opinions, but some of the things we put into the essay I do not agree with. The ideas still serve the purpose and requirements of the essays, but it was like a breath of fresh air talking about these ideas. Some of the things my partner saw I would never have seen by myself. http://chasingfaerytales.blogspot.com/2015/12/can-readers-interpret-literature.html This website I have liked is a student blogger that talks about the same idea, of what view is correct? And if there is no correct one why was she wrong? In the comments were excellent responses to this post. I believe this week was a quiet nice week that let us get more acquainted with each other and our ideas, and I appreciate that.
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