Poem Analysis -Week 1

"To Myself" by W.S. Merwin definitely caught my attention out of all the poems I skimmed through in the packet. This poem reminded me so much of myself and how I am often searching for who I truly am, who I have become, and who I used to be. I believe introspection is a very important aspect of one's self-discovery, and I love that this poem addresses it. I found the punctuation in this poem (or lack there of) very strange. It made the sentences hard to read because often I didn't know where one sentence ended and the next began. It was too easy to sprint right through it, just to realize that none of it made any sense. By the second or third time through it however, I was able to find the natural places to start and end thoughts and where to put pauses to help clarify the sentences. I particularly enjoyed the part of the poem which said, "... and I/ think then I can recognize/ you who are always the same/ who pretend to be time but/ you are not time and who speak/ in the words but you are not/ what they say you who are not/ lost when I do not find you" This was one of the more difficult sections to read for the first time because of the lack of punctuation, however, I found I enjoyed it the most. The author compares himself to time by saying "you...who pretend to be time but/ you are not time..." I believe he says this because time is known for passing quickly and not being cherished for its worth. Here, he is telling himself that he tries to pretend that he can sneak by, unnoticed and unappreciated but that is not so. Even when he can not find himself, he knows he is there.

The Kite Runner

This was definitely my favorite book out of the three. It was much more captivating then the other two, and I found myself reading 100 pages at a time! (which was good, considering I got a late start on it… haha) The main character was such a coward in the beginning and I did not like him at all; however, towards the end, I just wanted things to work out for him. It was a very emotional read and actually brought tears to my eyes at the end of chapter 24 when I thought Sohrab was gone… I enjoyed this book because it was so incredibly impactful and very well written. I chose to have a conversation with the story for the annotation method of this book. I drew smiley faces for things I liked and different events that brought a smile to my face, and I drew sad or crying faces for the majority of the rest of the events. This was a very sad book… In parts of the book that I agreed with, I would draw exclamation points, and when I wanted to challenge the author about something I disagreed with, I would draw question marks or angry faces. Here and there, I also wrote some random comments about the events and how I felt about them or what I thought about them. In general, this was my favorite annotation method because it connected me to the book more and made it more of a conversation instead of a lecture.

The Great Gatsby

Although I was told by many other students that The Great Gatsby was a pointless, silly book, I actually enjoyed the majority of it! I found it very interesting and captivating once I had given myself the chance to completely submerge myself in the plot of the story. However, I feel as if there is a great deal more to this book then I took away from it. There is a reason why this book is so legendary, and I’m still not quite sure what that reason is. I’m sure discussions in class will help me along these lines. =) For this book, I chose to use the annotation method which focuses on the author’s style. The very first page of the book was very hard for me to understand. I hated the style of the author’s writing in this section because it seemed so incredibly complicated and wordy. Very quickly, however, his style changed and became more “real” (for lack of a better word.) I felt as if he was talking to me face to face with complete honesty. Shortly after this Fitzgerald began narrating, and I was very glad for this transition. I liked it much better. One thing I also noticed that was a very common occurrence in Fitzgerald’s writing was the dash. He used them constantly! When I first began the book, I was highlighting each dash I found in blue. After about 5 pages, I gave up because it was soooo time consuming and tedious! Throughout the book, I continued highlighting phrases that really struck me or had a particular impact on me. Each one of these phrases represented the author’s style and how it was effective for his purpose.

The Heart of Darkness

For the majority of this book, I was wondering what the heck the point of it was. It just seemed like a random, pointless read. I did, however, really enjoy the style with which the author described things. Although the sentences got a little long and complicated at times, I always found that the faster I read, the easier it was to comprehend and the more I appreciated his thoroughness. For this book, I used the annotation method that focused on finding the meaning within the book and what it was trying to teach. I did a lot of highlighting key words and phrases, and whenever I found repeated references in the book, I would write the page number of the other references in the margin. I also did some short summarizing in the margins, and I underlined any phrases I found particularly important or interesting. Overall, I did not really enjoy this book; however, I believe that is only because I don’t understand the meaning and symbolism within it. Consequently, I am really looking forward to class discussions regarding this book! =)