Midterm #1 Here it goes!!

 1. Know basic literary terms and methods for analyzing and writing about fiction, poetry, drama, and creative nonfiction. In my post Henri 2, Paw de Deux, in the discussion below, I identified parody as the main literary device in the movie clip, which pokes a little fun at French existentialism/culture, but is not scathing enough to be called satire. I also look at the rhythm and repetition in my The Poetry Found in "Beloved" and analyzed Fahrenheit 451 in Does anyone feel like they're a Robot? post. I also analyzed Whitman’s poem “When I hear the learn’d astronomer” in regards to my personal reading response: Standing "rapt in awe" at Literature. In addition, I did a formalist analysis of “The love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock” in "Do I dare disturb the universe" with this post? .

2. Know basic literary genres and representative texts in fiction, poetry, drama, and creative nonfiction. In my posts The Poetry Found in "Beloved"and Does anyone feel like they're a Robot?, I wrote about two very prominent works of fiction, Fahrenheit 452 and Beloved. In my other posts Standing "rapt in awe" at Literature, "Do I dare disturb the universe" with this post? and The Magic of Performed Poetry, I discussed various styles of poetry. Haven’t gotten to the other two genres yet.

3. Write literary arguments. In all of my posts, I come to some sort of conclusion, which I back up by citing certain aspects of the text. For example, in my post The Poetry Found in "Beloved", I said that the language found in the book is very rhythmic and this is partially because of repetition. A couple times I use reader's response to provide reasons for my arguments.

4. Engage literature creatively and socially. I am still pretty traditional in my posts, traditional meaning that I haven’t gotten too crazy with the format yet. However, I always include a visual with my posts, whether it is a picture or video clip. I have experimented with different ways of engaging literature critically, like when I did a formalist analysis of  Eliot’s poem "The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock" in my blog post "Do I dare disturb the universe" with this post?  and have used  my own reader’s response reactions in a couple instances, as in my post Does anyone feel like they're a Robot? I want to experiment more with my posts in this second half. As for engaging literature socially, I always try and comment on other’s posts (at least 2 per every 1 of my posts) and answer if people ask questions.  Look at Henri 2, Paw de Deux and Starstruck among others for conversations I've chimed in on. I appreciated Kirsten's reply to my question because I am interested in how authors work! I also appreciated everyone's comments on my post The ever fixed mark of sonnet 116 (which was my personal literary narrative). Kimara's comment inspired me to keep my vision of love, Leah's was beautiful and insightful, Briggs' was spiritual, and I liked how Charly agreed with me! :)

5. Use emerging communication tools and pedagogical methods. In my post Henri 2, Paw de Deux and The Magic of Performed Poetry (which was my poetry adaption analysis) I inserted you tube videos to enhance the message of my post. I would like to add that the comments on this post meant a lot to me because I was excited for people to experience slam poetry. Olivia, Andrew, Danielle and Lindsey all thought slam poetry was cool and affirmed my love for it! Danielle's link to the Harriet Poem was a nice addition. I spend a lot of time (~1.5 hours a week) on you tube looking up readings of texts as well as exploring the exciting new forms of literature that are emerging. I am really into performance poetry at the moment.  

With regards to my personal goals, I am doing pretty well! I have usually done #1, but procrastination is the hardest, so I'm getting there on that one. #2 I have already read a book I've never read before, which was Damballah by John Edgar Wideman and am starting The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger as well. I read more than 6 hours a week for this class. I am working on memorizing a poem right now and am learning a lot. For the last one, I have found that I am taking interest in things that aren't assigned as homework and will spend extra time looking at things that interest me, such as slam poetry. I take that as a fulfilling of #6! I would also like to add the goal of being more creative with my posts and with the technology that is available to me as well as getting in on more blog conversations. I've got to confess that I often don't know when people have commented on my posts or comments--I wonder if there is a way to get notifications on Blogger like you do on Facebook? Let me know! Goodreads also seems fun, but haven't really gotten in on it yet, however I do have a Goodreads profile, so I'll get into it soon--yay!