Learning Outcomes

I think the real question of this post should be, where did this spring semester go? But you know what they say…time flies when you’re having FUN!

So first things first…literary terms…I have learnt so many of them this semester, especially with this being my first English class at BYU (apart from ENGL 150). I have spent numerous hours looking over the terms list provided by Dr. Burton and this has really helped me in class and also in the midterms and final. Also all literary terms I have bolded or highlighted them in a different colour throughout all my blog posts.

I know the difference between the literary genres of fiction, poetry, drama and creative non-fiction. You can see this through the research that I have conducted for my final paper. I have also done a lot of outside reading during the semester, reading pieces of drama like ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and ‘Cat On A Hot Tin Roof’ and also I developed a new found love for non fiction, reading and analysing Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell for my final paper, also The Great Divorce by C.S Lewis and currently the Steve Jobs biography.

In terms of literary analysis, you can mainly find this in my final paper and also in my different thesis statement claims. I have also been analysing aspects of specific words using The Oxford English dictionary, analysing different peoples opinions on The Beatles such as Outliers and I have also analysed The Beatles lyrics from various perspectives put forward in the film Across The Universe.

I have engaged literature creatively and socially by getting my paper peer reviewed and posting it onto the blog and getting thesis feedback from my classmates. I have also spoken to family and friends about their opinions on certain aspects of literature I was thinking of using for my paper. I took my paper to the writing lab and also had all my room-mates peer review my paper. I have also creatively applied literature by picking apart the lyrics of The Beatles song ‘Let It Be’ and put it into a wordle. I have also creatively used social media to get feedback about my thesis.

Using emerging communications tools can mostly be found in my Instagram, Twitter and Facebook posts about my final paper feedback in which I got lots of useful feedback. I have also been keeping up and making new friends on my goodreads account and have continued to try and master the program Prezi after using it for our group presenation. I have also learnt how to blog, create a google doc and use google +. I have made all my posts look aesthetically pleasing using different fonts, colours and sizes and I have also always included either a picture or a YouTube video in all of my posts.

As for my personal learning outcomes, I have expanded my knowledge of literary terms, I have memorized a poem and read more pieces of my own literature outside of class than I ever thought I would have. I have come to class prepared having read the assigned readings and have loved participating with my group and inside of the class. This class has easily been one of the best classes I have taken at BYU with its combination of fun, hard work and a lot of newly learnt material that I will remember forever. It has reminded me of how much I LOVE literature and it might have even persuaded me enough to become an english major. Thanks for a great semester everyone...its been real, its been fun…its been real fun guys! Well what more can I say apart from over and out.

Till next time kids, stay in touch

Cheerio xoxo

Non- Fiction and Flying

Fully prepared for my flight home with some non-fiction that I have been wanting to read for sooooo long! I already started The Great Divorce and am having trouble putting it down to write this post! Here is the synopsis for any of you that are interested in reading something short over the summer by the pool :) 

"The Great Divorce is C.S. Lewis's Divine Comedy: the narrator bears strong resemblance to Lewis (by way of Dante); his Virgil is the fantasy writer George MacDonald; and upon boarding a bus in a nondescript neighborhood, the narrator is taken to Heaven and Hell. The book's primary message is presented with almost oblique tidiness--"There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.'" However, the narrator's descriptions of sin and temptation will hit quite close to home for many readers. Lewis has a genius for describing the intricacies of vanity and self-deception, and this book is tremendously persistent in forcing its reader to consider the ultimate consequences of everyday pettiness."

The Race

One of my goals for this semester was to be able to recite a poem. I decided to pick a poem called The Race by Dee Groberg because it is my favourite poem and my parents would read it to me all the time as a child. It is simple but still has a really good message today and is something that I want to be able to recite to my children and grandchildren. I pretty much have the whole thing down, give or take a word a two here and there. Hope you enjoy the poem. 

Whenever I start to hang my head in front of failure’s face,
    my downward fall is broken by the memory of a race.
A children’s race, young boys, young men; how I remember well,
    excitement sure, but also fear, it wasn’t hard to tell.
They all lined up so full of hope, each thought to win that race
    or tie for first, or if not that, at least take second place.
Their parents watched from off the side, each cheering for their son,
    and each boy hoped to show his folks that he would be the one.
The whistle blew and off they flew, like chariots of fire,
    to win, to be the hero there, was each young boy’s desire.
One boy in particular, whose dad was in the crowd,
    was running in the lead and thought “My dad will be so proud.”
But as he speeded down the field and crossed a shallow dip,
    the little boy who thought he’d win, lost his step and slipped.
Trying hard to catch himself, his arms flew everyplace,
    and midst the laughter of the crowd he fell flat on his face.
As he fell, his hope fell too; he couldn’t win it now.
    Humiliated, he just wished to disappear somehow.
But as he fell his dad stood up and showed his anxious face,
    which to the boy so clearly said, “Get up and win that race!”
He quickly rose, no damage done, behind a bit that’s all,
    and ran with all his mind and might to make up for his fall.
So anxious to restore himself, to catch up and to win,
    his mind went faster than his legs. He slipped and fell again.
He wished that he had quit before with only one disgrace.
    “I’m hopeless as a runner now, I shouldn’t try to race.”
But through the laughing crowd he searched and found his father’s face
    with a steady look that said again, “Get up and win that race!”
So he jumped up to try again, ten yards behind the last.
    “If I’m to gain those yards,” he thought, “I’ve got to run real fast!”
Exceeding everything he had, he regained eight, then ten...
    but trying hard to catch the lead, he slipped and fell again.
Defeat! He lay there silently. A tear dropped from his eye.
    “There’s no sense running anymore! Three strikes I’m out! Why try?
I’ve lost, so what’s the use?” he thought. “I’ll live with my disgrace.”
    But then he thought about his dad, who soon he’d have to face.
“Get up,” an echo sounded low, “you haven’t lost at all,
    for all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.
Get up!” the echo urged him on, “Get up and take your place!
    You were not meant for failure here! Get up and win that race!”
So, up he rose to run once more, refusing to forfeit,
    and he resolved that win or lose, at least he wouldn’t quit.
So far behind the others now, the most he’d ever been,
    still he gave it all he had and ran like he could win.
Three times he’d fallen stumbling, three times he rose again.
    Too far behind to hope to win, he still ran to the end.
They cheered another boy who crossed the line and won first place,
    head high and proud and happy -- no falling, no disgrace.
But, when the fallen youngster crossed the line, in last place,
    the crowd gave him a greater cheer for finishing the race.
And even though he came in last with head bowed low, unproud,
    you would have thought he’d won the race, to listen to the crowd.
And to his dad he sadly said, “I didn’t do so well.”
    “To me, you won,” his father said. “You rose each time you fell.”
And now when things seem dark and bleak and difficult to face,
    the memory of that little boy helps me in my own race.
For all of life is like that race, with ups and downs and all.
    And all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.
And when depression and despair shout loudly in my face,
    another voice within me says, “Get up and win that race!”

The Story Of My Paper

I started this paper by having absolutely no idea what to write about because the assignment was so open and the possibilties were endless. But then I realiszed that I don’t normally get the opportunity to write about anything I want so why not write about something that I love? Sooo I decided to write about The Beatles because they are my favourite band and being in the poetry group I thought it would be interesting to analyse their lyrics like I would analyse poetry. Once I had the idea I was set and the ball couldn’t stop rolling….

Firstly I wrote out 5 thesis statements under the different categories of claim, definition, comparison, cause and effect and evaluation. I got some great thesis feedback and decided to take parts from both my evaluation and cause and effect claim to create my final thesis.

My second phase was then research, research, research, I got different interpretations of The Beatles lyrics by watching and analysing a film called Across The Universe, I also watched a documentary on BBC called ‘How The Beatles Rocked The Kremlin.” All the above gave me a really in depth insight into how The Beatles affected Russia and the historical context at the time. This then got me onto writing my first draft.

I got feedback from my first draft from the writing lab, my room mates and family members and lets just say this lead to me re-write my essay plan as I had far too much historical facts in my paper and not another analysis at all. I decided to delve deeper into the lyrics by analysing one of their songs revolution and picking apart another one of their songs "Let It Be” word by word and presenting it in a wordle, this helped a lot and gave me a really good starting point for the analysis part of my paper.

I also used resources such as The Oxford English Dictionary when digging deeper into the lyrics and what specific words meant and what messages they were trying to convey from their word choice, this proved very interesting and will be an effective part of my paper. I also read the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell as he has some strong opinions on The Beatles and why he thinks they were so successful, it was interesting to see a different insight and I ended up reading the rest of the book and loved it.

Lastly, I posted a question…what are the first 5 things that come to your mind when someone says 'The Beatles'? on my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This really helped me get an insight into what people, especially our generation thought The Beatles were actually famous for and what they were typically known for.

After all the above and many hours sitting staring at my computer screen the final product is finally here, hope you enjoy! 

How I Met My Learning Outcomes: Summing Up a Whole Semester into a Few Words

Since the Midterm, I have continued to progress in the "reading new books" department. I was able to read a lot of Modernist literature in preparation for my final analysis paper and spend some time trying to understand their respective points of view. I read "The Great Gatsby" and "Tender is the Night" by F. Scott Fitzgerald in order to read more of the works by my favorite writer. I also had good experiences with poetry by T.S. Eliot and Ernest Hemingway. I got a little tired of Ezra Pound's Imagism and trying to decipher the various poems without the trusty aid of a Urrim or Thummim. I enjoyed reading Hemingway's short stories and experiencing the alienation and yearning of the "Lost Generation." As it stands, I still want to read more novels from different genres and periods.

There is no reason for this...I just like Monet.

Social Media

I'm not the biggest facebook or social media person as I like to remain mysterious haha! However, for this assignment I made an exception and posted my thesis on Facebook and got some great feedback, I also did the same with my Twitter.

I also Instagrammed this picture with the same question underneath. What are the first 5 things that come to you mind when someone says 'The Beatles'? I got some great feedback and it made me realise that our generation especially only knew them for a few of their famous songs and the image of them walking across Abbey Road. This inspired me even more to write my paper about how influential their lyrics actually were. 

I really like this picture that I posted to instagram because I think that it really puts across the idea that I am getting at in my paper as most people didnt even realise that this picture was of The Beatles. It makes you question, What do you know about them? And what are they really famous for? 

Essay Plan

Being the planner that I am I decided to re-do my essay plan after going to the writing lab, here is what I came up with...

Across The Universe

When looking and analysing lyrics it is easy to just pick out the points that you see from your own perspective. To help myself broaden my horizons and think outside of the box I watched a film called Across The Universe, which is Dick Clements interpretation of all The Beatles songs that he cleverly connected and interwove into a riveting story. This really made me look at the lyrics from a different angle and draw different aspects of the lyrics out that I never had noticed before. 

Thesis Feedback

After posting a variety of different thesis ideas I got some fantastic feedback and have tried to adapt my thesis in the best way possible, its still a work in progress so if anyone has more feedback then feel free to comment below!

Thesis: The Beatles can be defined as the catalyst for pop culture icons and are mainly known for the hype that surrounded them as four clean cut, good looking, talented musicians that simultaneously walked across Abbey Road. However, the real reason why The Beatles are the most critically acclaimed acts in the history of music is because during a time of war and turmoil The Beatles shared a lyrical message of hope, love, freedom and the idea that people everywhere can “come together” and live in peace and harmony.

Also what do you guys think of this for my title? How Four Lads From Liverpool Rocked The USSR With Their Lyrics Causing A Noisy But Influential Revolution.

Writing Lab and Room Mates

After asking my room mates to peer review my paper and getting only positive (polite) feedback I decided to take matters into my own hands and go to the BYU writing lab. This was quite a scary experience to start with because it is rather intimidating taking a piece of your writing to a stranger but after a minute or two my mentor made me feel really comfortable. The biggest shock to me was having to read my work aloud, the parts that didn’t work really stood out like a sore thumb which was good because I had gotten so used to skimming over it that until I read it aloud I didn’t realize how it really sounded. This made me notice what and how to reword and restructure some of my sentences. Other feedback that I got consisted of...

Make my sentences A LOT shorter.

Make some points more concise

Don’t repeat the same idea in a different way

More analysis, less history

Double and triple check my grammar 

Oxford English Dictionary

I utilized the Oxford English Dictionary when researching for my paper and it actually came in rather handy indeed. In one of The Beatles songs they use a phrase “Jai Guru Deva om” and obviously I was unsure of the meaning, so step my step I figured it out, using the Oxford English Dictionary to look up each word individually! This is what I came up with…

"Jai" means "O Hail" or "Victory to" 

"Guru" means "Teacher" 

"Deva" means "God/Lord/Demi-God" 

"om" some say is the source of all existence that comes from vibration 

So the phrase ended up meaning, I give thanks to my heavenly teacher

The 10,000 Hour Rule

When doing research about The Beatles and whether in fact it was their lyrics that made them a world wide phenomenon I read a lot of articles online that agreed with the statement I was putting forward, however I also came across many that didn’t. One of these was Malcolm Gladwell and after watching the video below called ‘Prodigies’ or not?’ I was intrigued as to what his book Outliers had to say about the subject as he delves into it more in depth in his book. In summary, Gladwell believes in something he calls “The 10,000 Hour Rule.” Gladwell quotes neurologist Daniel Levitin, who say’s “scientific studies show that 10,000 hours are required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert — in anything”.

This applies to The Beatles because many think that “the fab four burst onto the world stage in the 1960s, seemingly lifted from their hometown of Liverpool and dropped into the world's biggest venues. But theirs was not an overnight success. One of the Beatles' early gigs was performing near military bases in Hamburg, Germany; they would perform for eight hours a day, seven days a week. They did this for 270 days over the course of 18 months. By the time the Beatles enjoyed their first commercial success in 1964, they had performed 1,200 times, which is more than most bands today perform in their careers. When the Beatles first left for Germany, they weren't very good. But by the time their Hamburg stints ended, they sounded like no other band in the world. They were well on their way to getting in their 10,000 hours.”

I personally do not think that this is the sole reason why The Beatles became as successful as they were but it certainly helped. I loved this book and think that Gladwell brought many good points to my attention. Watch the video believe and let me know what your opinions on the matter are…

Pre-Final Final Post

1. Know basic literary terms and methods for analyzing and writing about fiction, poetry, drama, and creative nonfiction: Throughout the year I have been using literary terms to analyze these four major groups of literature.  My post Fast Times At Brigham Young University went through the various points of action in the play Moby Dude, OR: The Three-Minute Whale. Drama With Sasquatch and Coming around to drama also made use of terms by evaluating different types of stages and acting that I have experienced.  
Mother Knows Best, Nephi's Psalm, and Paper or Plastic both assess various genres of non-fiction work.  The numerous subgenres of non-fiction writing function as the literary terms when analyzing this type of writing.  My final literary paper required use of many of the terms used in fictional as well as poetical evaluation.  

2. Know basic literary genres and representative texts in fiction, poetry, drama, and creative nonfiction:  In my final paper I compare Ulysses to Homer's epic poem: The Odyssey.  In fact, my final essay is all about genre categorization and what classifies something as a poem rather than a novel.  My posts:Wasting Time and Parallel Lines Touching (Pt. deux) compare Modernist fiction to Modernist poetry.
Have You Ever Noticed?, in addition to the three non-fiction posts I mentioned above, discusses representative texts in the nonfiction department.  For drama I wrote about Miller's tragic Death of a Salesman in the post The Wrong Dreams.

3. Write literary arguments: Of course the big literary argument of the term has been my final paper, but since the midterm I have written a few more.  Paper or Plastic contends that the internet is eliminating the need for libraries, magazines, etc.  Drama With Sasquatch compares the theatrical elements at a concert with other dramatic settings.  Wasting time argues the benefits of reading challenging works of literature as opposed to those that bring people together and are commonly understood.  Lions, Owls, and Acronyms Oh My! points out the positive attributes of using credible online sources.

4. Engage literature creatively and socially: My post Mother Knows Best demonstrates how I have gone out of my way to talk with others about literature.  I was able to get some great insights from my mom about the personal essay Take, Eat.  Social Media vs. Socializing discusses how I received feedback for my essay ideas outside of the classroom.  In addition to these posts I have continued to have good comments from everyone in my poetry group for the majority of my posts.

5. Use emerging communication tools and pedagogical methods: Lions, Owls, and Acronyms Oh My! discusses the benefits of doing literary research on the internet and getting help writing persuasive arguments. Paper or Plastic points out many of the benefits of using the web for reading non-fiction publications.  

In addition to acheiving these outcomes I had a goal to memorize two poems How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways and Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.  Commiting these poems to memory has helped me spark conversations about literature with friends and helped me to discuss poetry in social settings.  A full report on this is outlined in the post Mesmerizing Memorizing.  

How I met the Learning Outcomes for English 251!

1. Know basic literary terms and methods for analyzing and writing about fiction, poetry, drama, and creative nonfiction. 

I know basic literary terms and methods for analyzing and writing about any type of literature because these skills are ones that I have had to understand in my other English classes for the past four years. The evidence that I can do this lies in my midterm essay, my post about "Beloved", and in my final essay, where I take slam poetry performances and analyze why they are more effective at transferring emotion than poetry written on paper.

2. Know basic literary genres and representative texts in fiction, poetry, drama, and creative nonfiction.  During the creation process of my final essay, I had to understand the difference between all of the mentioned genres in order to separate slam poetry. This process is evident in my blog post entitled what is the genre of Performance poetry anyway?! in which I defined the genre of performance poetry by partially defining what it is not. 

The Story of My Paper: It is Finished

Where, oh, where to begin? This whole paper grew out of an idea that I conjured up while speaking with Professor Burton during our midterm interviews. I was just thinking about what I could possibly write about and the idea popped into my head to start looking at the Modernists. I had always liked them, but I had never analyzed a specific work in detail apart from a few poems and movements. So, from there grew a desire to analyze a novel from, or around, the Modernist era.

I started asking a few questions about the Modernists in a post dedicated to the greatest Modernist writers. I wanted to know more about Hemingway, Eliot and Fitzgerald. I was encouraged by the feedback that I received from Professor Burton and the possibilities for my future paper. After reading various works by the aforementioned authors and studying the Modernist movement a little more in depth, I settled on five potential thesis statements.

My Paper: A Memoir

I feel like my essay really relates to Drake's rap song that repeats: "We started from the bottom now we here" a billion times. This is because at the beginning of the process I had no idea where I was going to go (like all beginnings I guess), but I knew that I wanted to do something with slam poetry because I was really intrigued by it. My first post regarding my paper entitled "Let's Rewind to My Love for Slam Poetry," announces my official decision to write on slam poetry and also talks about my first social interaction on my essay through Facebook. For my social assignment, I posted a status of my tentative thesis and asked for people's opinions. I wasn't expecting a lot, but a random acquaintance from high school commented who is studying drama and poetry (including slam poetry) at NYU and was very knowledgeable and helpful. He told me his favorite slam poets and the variety of styles within performance poetry of which slam poetry is only one of many. I became interested in performance poetry at large for awhile and in my second post, Claims about Slam Poetry, I

Final Paper

Here is my final paper! Enjoy :)

Playing the Devil's Advocate: A Defense of Holden Caulfield

The first half of the twentieth century was marred by the chaos and conflict of the World Wars that tore at the fibers of human morality. Much of the literature of the time mirrored society’s feelings of alienation and disenfranchisement. However, while the juvenile nature and colorful language of JD Salinger’s novel “The Catcher in the Rye” create a tone of alienation, they conceal an underlying theme of Holden Caulfield’s basic desire to find meaning in human connection, faith and spirituality.

This Post Is Broken: All About My Essay

I originally did not want to write an essay that had anything to do with James Joyce or his most famous work, Ulysses.  At first I wrote a brainstorm post with a bunch of random ideas that never fully developed.  I posted a question on Facebook about the internet taking the place of libraries, magazines, and books.  After seeing all the comments I decided it was not all that interesting of a topic to write about so I turned to the literary work on which I had already written numerous posts, Ulysses.  As I had read the novel I noted its flowery poetic language and remembered something professor Burton had said about Isaiah being written in a poetic format to make it more understandable.  So, I thought, if it can be done for Isaiah, why not Joyce?
So I drew up a few different ideas for thesis statements (some to do with poetry and others not so much) and posted them to get an idea of what people found most interesting.  I really already knew which one I wanted to do.

My Adventures With the Brazen Serpent

It is always nice to get a little help from literary sources while writing a term paper. I found some very helpful insight into the character from "The Catcher in the Rye" from the Cyclopedia of Literary Characters. Go figure. The brief biographies include interesting character analysis that helped me develop my claim and craft my arguments. I was pleased to find that not only the main characters had been analyzed, but also the minor characters. This allowed me to (1) review each character side by side and see how each one affected Holden Caulfield and (2) see how each character fit into my claim. I was able to get a really good analysis of Holden's sister, Phoebe. I had not realized the important role that she played and how well she helped my claim. If it wasn't for the help, I would have neglected to use her in my paper.

The other useful literary source was the Magill On Literary Plus via BYU. I came up with a few sources that eventually contributed to my paper and helped make my arguments more clear. I tried not to use too many outside sources because I wanted to focus on my own analysis, but the sources that I did use allowed me to develop my arguments more clearly and give them more validity.

My Not Quite Finalized Final Draft

 

Here's a more polished draft of my essay tentatively titled The Power of Slam Poetry (which is still in progress). I am always open to suggestions, so let me know what you think, thank you!

“The death of art” is what the literary critic Harold Bloom in The Paris Review labeled slam poetry. He saw this fledgling form as primarily “rant and nonsense.” However, if one actually takes into account the performance of slam poetry and how it connects to ancient history, it is hard to agree with Bloom’s position. The art of poetry predates literacy and documentation. Before anything was written down, stories were told and performed to preserve the history and culture of a people. The oral performance of a story is something that has always united a community and reminded them of their heritage. From Mesopotamia's Epic of Gilgamesh to Homer's Iliad in Greece to Beowulf in Anglo- Saxon England, history and folklore was stylized into stories that were always performed, and their existing text is oftentimes an inadequate representation of the performance that characterized poetry up until the middle ages. The roots of all poetry are intertwined with this ancient oral tradition, however the performance aspect  of this tradition has been lost somewhere along the way. With the emergence of slam poetry, the art of oral performance from the original poetic tradition is evoked once again. Though many view slam poetry as inferior to what they see as "traditional" poetry, the slam style is actually superior because the performance element ties slam poetry back to the poetic oral tradition and makes the medium more engaging and communally uniting.

Have You Ever Noticed?

Before I write anything else I will admit the majority of my weekend has been consumed by reading and writing about Ulysses.  I really want to finish it by the end of the term, but my doubts grow stronger as the days go swiftly by.  Still,  I have made time to devote myself to reading other materials.  These have consisted mostly of non-fiction, more specifically music journalism and religious texts.  I was really impressed with the write up done by Pitchfork for the metal group Deafheaven's new album, Sunbather.  Black metal, as a genre, has rarely complimented my musical pallet in the past, but when the author compared this album to the likes of Sigur Ros and My Bloody Valentine I knew I had to check it out.  The way the author argued so vehemently in defense of this band caused me to begin to develop arguments in my own mind as I listened to the record.  It is definitely not the best LP I have heard this year (shout out to Disclosure's Settle), but because the journalist did such a good write up I wanted to focus on the positive aspects of this record.  In general, this should be the object of all good journalism, to provoke thought in the reader.

On the other end of the literary spectrum, my Book of Mormon reading has been coming along nicely.  Since I have been writing this essay on poetry within Ulysses I am beginning to notice poetic elements in scripture, and not just Nephi's Psalm!  The scriptures employ a loftier style of language easily equatable with poetry.  I was reading Enos this morning and was struck by the way he conveys his emotions during his wrestle with God.  Phrases like "sunk deep into my heart", "my soul hungered", and many more have a distinctly poetic ring to them.  The more I study literature and poetry, the more elements of both prose and verse intertwine.  If everything is holy, then maybe everything is poetry as well if you believe Ginsberg