I never imagined that so much effort, time and analytical thought went into understanding the purpose of text.\u00a0\u00a0In not being familiar with the academic approach, I found the two\u00a0entries\u00a0from John Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism rather tough to chew, swallow and absorb.\u00a0 What did make sense was Richard’s experiment in giving students poems to summarize, for it is the students who are learning, not the critics, and\u00a0without knowing the direction the students take, how can\u00a0reading of literature be effectively taught.\u00a0 Unless the author writes the true intent, interpretation would be influenced by the reader.\u00a0 So in that regard, I would have to agree with Robert Crosman in that reading is translation and since translation is personal, there is no “one” or “the” meaning.\u00a0 Needless to say, I did find the Crosman article an easier read.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This doesn’t mean though that I\u00a0 disagree with Hirsh. If he believes that meaning exists in printed words only, thus eliminating intention, well that could apply to some poems and literature based upon the author’s \u00a0word selection.\u00a0 But then if literature is viewed as “equipment for living” than this reverts back to reader interpretation and the emotion and\u00a0meaning that the words\u00a0evoke.\u00a0 So then Hirsh\u00a0chooses verbal meaning over textual meaning? But then even printed words can have many meaning just like the word meaning has, which started off the Crosman article.\u00a0 So where does this leave a teacher and (forgive me) but how important are these theories outside of a university setting?\u00a0\u00a0As an undergrad, I don’t recall hearing about these\u00a0assorted criticisms.\u00a0 So again I would agree with Crosman that critics\u00a0should lend usefulness, not authority.<\/p>\n
Sure, some\u00a0poets do use language to sway social values, explore religion, and spout politics, but then we as readers have\u00a0free will. (I’m not sure about teachers.Who decides what poems\/literature are taught?)\u00a0 Ransom\u00a0discussed “logical structure” and “local texture.”\u00a0 But isn’t that subjective too?\u00a0 I feel\u00a0like I’m asking more questions rather\u00a0than solving the truth. It’s so variable.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0On another note, I used annotation with this week’s assignment of\u00a0poems.\u00a0 I found it helpful in getting off the literal track I tend to stay on.\u00a0 And since I had read the sketches on tone, etc., I looked for that as well, and found that I enjoyed dong these “exercises” as a reader.\u00a0 Actually, as a more in-depth reader.<\/p>\n
Susan\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I never imagined that so much effort, time and analytical thought went into understanding the purpose of text.\u00a0\u00a0In not being familiar with the academic approach, I found the two\u00a0entries\u00a0from John Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism rather tough to chew, swallow and absorb.\u00a0 What did make sense was Richard’s experiment in giving students poems […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}