Response to Course Material, 9/25

As of late, we have been learning a system to help us close read.  This system is DIDLS, or Diction, Imagery, Details, Language, and Syntax.  We learned that diction is the author’s use of specific words, whereas language is the use of figurative language.  Details are the tidbits the author puts in to help describe things, imagery is sensory description, and syntax is how a sentence is constructed.  I must confess I am still not sure as to why we are analyzing all of these things separately when, except for syntax, they all rely back on one another.   You can’t create imagery without diction and details, and both language and details rely on diction. I simply don’t understand why we are pulling apart this unity.

We have also been talking about poetry.  We learned that poetry is language that has been condensed for artistic effect.  I also learned that I’ve been lied to all of my life, for Dr. Seuss writes doggerel, not poetry. But back on track, that was interesting for me, because I’d always heard a wider definition of poetry (it let Dr. Seuss be considered poetry). Since we learned what poetry is we’ve started analyzing it with DIDLS.   I found that DIDLS really did help me see more in the poetry and made the analysis easier for me. That was particularly helpful when we wrote the in class essay on Friday.

We’ve also been working on our introductions to essays, which was also very helpful on that essay.  In my previous English class experience, introductions were a very different thing than they are for these essays.  Though I still stand behind the other method, it made a lot of sense and was slightly less formulaic, I am glad we worked on this type of introduction, because they are helpful for the type of essays we are being expected to write for the exam.  All in all I’ve found these last few weeks extremely beneficial in terms of how we will be expected to analyze and write on the AP English exam.

Open Prompt Response, September 18

1984. Select a line or so of poetry, or a moment or scene in a novel, epic poem, or play that you find especially memorable. Write an essay in which you identify the line or the passage, explain its relationship to the work in which it is found, and analyze the reasons for its effectiveness.

            “A violet by a mossy stone/ half hidden from the eye!/ Fair as a star, when only one/ is shining in the sky.” This is a quote from the scene just after Lucy's death in Wordsworth’s poem entitled “Lucy”, a beautiful and moving poem, full of brilliant imagery.  The words he uses to paint this picture are sure to stick in your mind, and dance there for a while.

            "Lucy" is the story of two people in love, and of how distance strengthens their love.  Unfortunately, the man in the relationship eventually comes back from his travels to find his love dead. The second verse of the poem speaks of how Lucy didn't have a large number of suitors, and her hand had not been sought by many.  It also tells of the pain the man feels, for though she wasn't a widely sought after maiden, she was his world.

            The above quoted line is one that has always stuck in my head from this poem, because of Wordsworth's effective imagery.  "A violet by a mossy stone" conjures the image of one bright spot of color in an otherwise bland world, which is how the narrator sees Lucy, she is the bright spot in his world.  The same line also manages to conjure a much darker image, of an older gravestone slightly off the beaten path, a place where none but a heartbroken lover would go.

            The lines, "Fair as a star, when only one/ is shining in the sky." are a hopeful image, for stars in our culture have a connotation of wishes, freedom, and direction. Here in our culture, when you see a shooting star the first thing someone will say is "Make a wish!", there's even a song entitled "When You Wish Upon a Star".  The slaves used stars to get to freedom, they were told to follow them and be free.  Sailors have been using stars to navigate for centuries.  So when we read these lines we don't just get the idea that she's a pretty girl, which is the more obvious meaning of "fair as a star", we see that to the narrator she was his wish come true, his freedom, and the sole being that directed him to safety.

            This verse, commonly referred to as "She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways", is often separated from the rest of the poem.  But this verse is the turning point of the poem, and as such is a very necessary aspect of the whole picture.  Many anthologies and literature text books will only have this verse in them.  This is because the reader is struck by imagery in this section.  If Wordsworth had said "a flower by a rock/ partially hidden from view" no one would care, no one would read this verse on its own, if at all.  If Wordsworth hadn't used such beautiful imagery in this verse, the entire poem would have fallen apart.  That is why imagery is so important to poems, for it isn't just this poem that would fall apart without it.

Close Reading Assignment for September 9

An article in the Arizona Republic entitled "Don't undermine endangered species" (http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2010/12/10/20101210fri2-10.html), is very informative.  It's about Congress trying to exclude gray wolves from the Endangered Species Act and what would happen if they should succeed.  The author writes in a passionate way, truly telling us what they think about the whole idea.

            The author uses very interesting word choice.  Their use of diction casts the article in scientific yet frustrated light.  The author uses more advanced language which gives the article a more serious feel.  Words such as "robust", "arbitrarily", "omnibus", and "undermine" are not often used in everyday conversation, but the author uses them repeatedly, which suggests that they want the reader to take it seriously.  They want it to be known that it is no laughing matter.

            Though wolves being excluded from the endangered species list truly is no laughing matter, the author uses imagery that lightens the mood a little.  The first sentence, "Congress may fire a shot in the dark that hits endangered gray wolves." sets a lighter tone we get images of a man in his best suit and tie clumsily handling a gun.  The image, besides lightening the mood, is the author's way of telling us that Congress has no idea what they're doing.  It shows us that the author believes that Congress should get some lessons about wolves before deciding what to do.  Later the author says, "President Obama wants to throw wolves under the bus.", now obviously that isn't meant to be taken literally, but it still conjures up an image of the President in his typical suit throwing a wolf in front of a bus as it come charging down a road. The image suggests that the President isn't taking time to think about what he's doing, he's just taking the shortest path.

            All in all, the author uses language that begs for an educated audience, so that hopefully someone will take action.  If the author had written in a less educated way, fewer people would have paid attention to what they had written, and fewer people would take action.  The author could have used words such as "large" instead of "robust" and played to a greater audience, but instead showed that they were aiming for both quality and quantity.

            The author uses diction, imagery, and language to show their point, and try to influence others to help their cause.  I think it works extraordinarily well, in terms of showing their point, for it came through crystal clear. I only hope that it influenced enough people to help stand up for the wolves.