Saturday, September 24, 2011
Response to Course Material
The ideas of the AP Lit essay are something that I'm not entirely foreign to after taking APUSH and AP World. However the specifics of the essay are very new to me. My biggest habit that I have to break for writing the new essays is the thesis and intro. I'm very used to setting up an elaborate intro (in order to show historical context) and then writing a concise relating to history. Whats hard for me is cutting that intro down into the three vital parts, intro, background and thesis. It is something will just need to work on to break my old habit. Additionally I'm used to writing theses with less stuff in them. The AP lit questions consider multiple parts, each with a certain requirement like show this with the author's effects or interpret the meaning on account of these things. It is hard right away to write a thesis that encompasses all of the necessary aspects. I see a two part thesis to be a helpful way to assist in solving this problem. As for my understanding of Poetry, this week has been very beneficial. Prior to this class I feel that what I was looking for in poetry was extremely limited in order to interpret it. After reading the chapter on poetry however, and diving into the specifics of DIDLS, I feel that I have many more tools to interpret and understand poetry on a level that is much less superficial. I'm also gaining a better understanding of how DIDLS creates meaning, after the Lazarus and Hughes poems, because that was something I was still not really seeing until I saw an example.
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I agree with you about the challenge of transitioning from APUSH essays to AP Literature essays. With APUSH and AP World, there is strict format to follow in order to ensure that you always get an 'A' and definitely a lot of pressure to cram in as many details as possible. However, with AP English essays, there is much more emphasis on the quality of writing rather than the quantity of details although I still feel that there are some formulaic aspects involved with both.
ReplyDeleteTo me, poetry is one of the most difficult things to analyze. Focusing on the poet's use of techniques however, also proves useful for me. Examples have definitely been beneficial for me as well as far as understand DIDL's goes as well. By analyzing the poem "By the Red Wheelbarrow", I began to see more clearly how diction adds to the meaning of the piece although it was only through our discussion that I understood the meaning. Hopefully, though this will seem more clear as the year progresses.
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ReplyDeleteI agree completely about the differences between APUSH and AP Lit essays. I have to stop myself every time from just including as many details as possible, dates and names and all that. I think writing a thesis has been the hardest part of writing an essay for me this year. I'm getting there but it is hard to be concise and cover all the goals of the prompt. Breaking up the prompt to identify certain goals has definitely helped though, as well as the idea that techniques create effects which create meaning. As for poetry, I've only just begun enjoying poetry and I'm still trying to understand it. I find that reading by sentences and NOT lines makes some poems easier to understand. Others, the crazier ones, take more work and, like Jessi said, looking at DIDLS can help.
ReplyDeleteSorry about that deleted one up there, it only posted my first few words so I had to re-do it.
I completely agree with you that these past few weeks have been extremely beneficial for my poetry-analysis skills. Up until now, like you, I always felt very limited in my ability to look at poetry in a critical and analytical way; I just was never sure what exactly I should be looking for. I agree with you too that it was helpful to actually get to see examples of using DIDLS with different works of poetry; I thought our textbook did a really good job breaking down all the poems and making it much easier to understand what's really going on in great pieces of literature.
ReplyDeleteAs for writing introductions, I've found that thinking of the three sentences as completely separate from one another really helps with getting my thoughts straight. Although I'm pretty sure this isn't the best idea for my writing down the road, I think it helps a lot right know with staying organized and sticking to the recommended format. Soon enough I think I'll get much more comfortable and can make the opener, background and thesis work together a bit more. Have a fun year?