BBL3406 LMS Wks 1-3

Analysing Poetry and Drama
Haslina Omar, PhD.

BBL3406
Weeks 1-3
Notes/Slides
Albert Einstein
[The mysterious] is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and science. He [she] who knows it
not and can no longer wonder, no longer feels amazement, is as good as dead, a snuffed out candle.

TEXT :
Schmidt, Jan Zlotnik and Lynne Crockett, eds. Portable Legacies. Boston: Cengage Learning Wadsworth, 2009.
What is critical thinking?
......is the ability to wonder, to be curious, to probe, to observe, to question, to look below the surface, to reflect, to
discover, and to create meanings (4)
What is critical reading?
Aspects of the thinking process that we use in daily life are heightened and intensified: reaction and
response, analysis, interpretation, and evaluation and judgment.
(p.4)
We read on several levels by making the following connections:
text-to-self
text-to-text
text-to-world
(p.4)
Text-to-self
We may analyze our responses .
-to setting, to character and to the plot.
-as we ask ourselves if we are involved in the world of the reading.
-as we comparing our own experiences to ideas represented in the literary work.
-as we determine if the authors vision will change our views of self and of the world.
-as we wonder if the works secret[s] will lead us to understand our own.
(p.4)
Refer to p.8 for initial responses on My Papas Waltz
Text-to-text
A process that involves asking the following questions:
1. What is stated?
2. What exists beyond the surface level? What is implied?
3. What information do we need to make inferences?
4. What are our biases? How does our perspective shape our views?
5. How does the writers perspective shape the work?
6. What conclusions do we form as to meaning?
Refer to p.9 for example.
Text-to-world
Make connections between ideas in the work and issues in our world:
-By turning to extra-textual materials
-doing biographical research
-reading criticism of the work
-looking from a sociological perspective / feminist critical perspective (p.10)

Various processes in Critical reading
-agreements/ disagreements in analyses and evaluations
-uncover multiple layers of meaning
-possibility of several points of view (tested against the words on the page / words of others in class/ critical sources)
-in reading, there is no separation of modes of feeling and thinking.
-These processes lead to a deepened appreciation of the phenomena and texts of our world. (p.11)

The reading process (Chap.2)
Reader Response
the process of critical reading that we wish to employ is one which the reader is fully involved, responding on many levels of
feeling and thinking. We do not simply scan words on a page; we form emotional reactions, gather information, construct
patterns of meaning, analyze, interpret, and evaluate a work to determine its effectiveness and its worth.
(p.12)
The reading/writing connection
Reader response strategies:
Glossing and annotating
Brainstorming and questioning
Freewriting
Journal writing
Blogs
Notetaking
think writings
Arguments about literary texts
Creative responses to literature.
Glossing and annotating
Preview the work by looking at the title and by scanning the poem to gain an overview of it.
Read the passage again to learn content and to write notes about your reactions to the text.
Make comments in the margins, underline the title and key words, and record reactions or questions.
Discover your own questions, reactions, and initial responses.
Finally, you might make end comments that include the key ideas and describe the impact of the work on you.
# When you gloss a work, you read to understand content; and you take notes, called annotations, as you read.

Brainstorming and questioning
Write down ideas and comments in any order without attention to sequence, logic or sentence structure.
Register as many of your reactions as you can as your mind storms through a work.
Jot single words or phrases without worrying about creating coherent, grammatical sentences and without worrying
about organization and development.
Sketch the range of your responses; later you can select certain ideas to compose your essay.
Generate a list of questions concerning the work.
Trigger you explorations with Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
Example:
Mark Greenbergs brainstorming exercise for horse:
Who is the great horse? Symbol?
Who is the speaker?
Who has the knives?
Why are they hidden?
Why did they do it?
The sheriff is hateful.
How can he use such lame excuses boys will be boys? Im a man, and I would never participate in such a terrible act.
Why does the father cover for the son? My dad would kill me.
The dead horse can thunder, can hurl lightning?
Is this the poets retelling of the story? Autobiographical?
Social tensions inequalities between gringos and Mexicans.
Finally something about race relations.
A true story? (p.15)

Freewriting
Freewriting is a process in which you give yourself a certain amount of time, say, 5 minutes, to compose sentences without
stopping and without censoring your thoughts.
- Write without stopping, without worrying, and without rereading just keep going. Do not worry about grammar,
spelling, punctuation, or meaning.
- Freewrite after several readings.
Focused freewriting
Compose a first sample, then isolate one idea from that work and draft another version based on that idea.
Create a series of freewriting that prompt you to discover your full reactions and develop your thoughts into an essay.
(see 2 examples of freewriting about horse? P.16)

Reader response journal
- An informal record of your thoughts and impressions.
You may focus on any one of the following subjects:
Explication, analyses (explanations of the works)
Personal response (feelings-reactions to the works)
Likes/dislikes
Associations with other characters, other works, other readings, themes, issues, current events, materials in other
classes
Associations with events in your life
Responses to characters
Responses to key events (p.17)

A journal entry
- More developed more structured than a freewrite
- May need to revise your reactions into developed paragraphs
- May become a source of ideas for essays.
- A record of your emotional and intellectual development (p.17)

Blogging (p.18)
A blog, or web log, is an online journal.
A collaborative space where people can meet to discuss ideas and issues.
Eg. http://thisisgaza.wordpress.com/
Blog Entry One: 5 WOMEN IN POETRY
Blog Entry Two:
Lets hear from you
Biography of an Armenian Schoolgirl by Naomi Shihab Nye
Who is Naomi Shihab Nye?

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Analysing Poetry and Drama

Haslina Omar, PhD.

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