The second part of the AP Literature and Composition course was the application of basic literary terms and awareness of the Biblical and Greek allusions in the form of poetry. Starting by reading multiple different pieces of work in our textbooks helped us become acquainted with the various different writing styles of the poets. The broad range of works that we read truly helped me take advantage of the experience by absorbing the different tones and styles of the poets in various different scenarios set up by the poem. Starting with the title of the poem and ending at the last period, I was able to apply the literary terms and allusions utilized by the author to portray his meaning and motive to his intended audience.
The form in which we approached the poem was very unique and appealing to me. By first having a chance to read it individually, I was able to develop my own ideas and perception about the poem without any external influences on my analysis. Then, by discussing the various aspects of the poem from diction, imagery, details, language, and syntax to the meaning that the author was trying to convey in a group of about 4 people, I was able to gain their individual ideas and debate about which idea was the best and specifically why. Finally, coming together as a whole class culminated my understanding of the poem by having an opportunity to put forth my opinion and refining it based on the arguments of others to make it stronger and justified.
Starting with individual analyses and ending with the broad opinion-base of the whole class provided me with a chance to receive various different perspectives on the piece and respectfully consider as well as contradict ideas in order to best develop an argument for addressing the meaning of the poem. By repeating this process for every poem that we read, minutely analyzing every detail for clever references and literary techniques, helped me refine my approach towards a poem and develop a liking for poetry’s various complexities as well as simplicity, based on how you look at it.
I loved reading the poems individually as well, it really helped me think for myself about the poem before openly discussing it in class. I thought the small groups, and then coming back together as a class really helped with understanding the poems as well.
ReplyDeleteAnalyzing the poems in terms of DIDLS I thought was especially useful, because it really helped me to find the deeper meaning in them. I also agree that the way we went about discussing the poems was interesting, because it gave us the chance to hear other opinions.
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