Discuss the chapter from How to Read Literature Like a Professor that you feel is the most helpful or that you feel will benefit you the most in your academics (specifically, this class!). Do not just discuss the chapter that you taught:) Think about what stood out to you as significant. Explain how you will use the information in the future. Your response needs to be at least 100 words, and you only need to respond to me.
15 Comments
Gallagher Martin
9/5/2014 12:24:34 am
As far as one that is going to help me out, I might have to wait until everybody has gone to judge that. But Megan's chapter about how the heart is a symbol for more than just an organ really stood out to me. Her presentation was very well thought out and it stuck with me more than anyones. (Except for mine of course) I found it interesting when she said that when a character in a book is diagnosed with a heart condition, the author usually has more intended then just a medical disease. The Frozen reference really stood out as well. When what's her face hit her sister with the magical ice thingy and it struck her heart, it wasn't by mere chance that she hit her smack in the heart. I might not have remembered the characters from the movie, but I remembered her presentation and I won't forget what Megan taught the class.
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Alexis Young
9/5/2014 05:49:12 am
I don't really believe I've found a chapter that's really going to help me out in academics, seeing as how not everyone has presented yet. But I'm definitely leaning towards Corben's chapter about not reading with your eyes and find deeper meanings as of right now. What I do know is that Gallagher's presentation that everything is about sex really opened my eyes. I mean, I always knew there were sexual innuendos in everything you watch or read, but I had no idea it was that extreme. Two men wrestling is a way for the author to make them have physical contact without making the homosexuality obvious??? I never saw it like that, but okay... I just know the little "game" we played during Gallagher's presentation will forever be in my memory.. as well as the Taylor Swift picture at the end, unfortunately.
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Riley Burghart
9/5/2014 10:46:04 am
The most helpful chapters for me were chapter 21 and 23; relating to heart disease and physical deformities. I knew those were never a good sign in literature, but I never truly stopped to take a deeper look past the physical aspect of it all. I cannot stop thinking about all the books I read. All the hints I missed. The books would have been ten times better just knowing all of the subtle symbolic references. These chapters put some thoughts into my head about how strenuous an author's job really is. That being said it also made me appreciate the creative literary works. Like... Shakespeare's works? I mean come on! Imagine the planning of the plot line! Chapters 21 and 23 really emphasized the importance of reading between the black and white words on a page.
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Laura Peck
9/6/2014 05:28:14 am
I think the chapter that will be/has been the most helpful for me is If it’s Square, It’s a Sonnet. Honestly, before Hannah gave her presentation, the only things I knew about sonnets were that they were poetry and that Mrs. Nixon liked them. A lot. Although I haven’t 100% grasped them yet, I know that the introduction to them was very helpful. This chapter is definitely one that I will catch myself going back to for aid in understanding as we talk more about sonnets. I think it’s interesting that there is a very detailed and specific pattern which makes a poem a sonnet, and the fact that they literally just look nice makes them attractive to me and my perfectionist self. And, as with most things, I find it kind of ironic that there are often deviations to the rules.
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Josie McClendon
9/7/2014 02:09:37 am
The chapter that stood out to me and helped me the most was If It’s a Square, It’s a Sonnet. Sonnets were always really hard for me to identify but having the specific rules of a sonnet laid out for me was so helpful. I had no idea that a sonnet was literally a square. I also did not know the properties of a sonnet. I always just thought that sonnets were poems that Shakespeare wrote that stood alone. I still do not know everything there is to know about a sonnet but at least having this general idea of what a sonnet is and how to identify them will help with this literature class as well as future English classes.
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Eli Brockway
9/7/2014 05:24:03 am
Chapter 1 was easily the most useful chapter for me. I like to write quite a bit, but I was never particularly happy with my attempts at setting up the story, rather than describing the characters. I can put loads of work into making a great few characters for whatever I'm going to write, but the problem of how to set up their quest and story always left me a little annoyed, because I didn't have much experience I could draw on to do so, and I never had any sort of basic outline for it (without searching on the internet for it, but hey, I was busy writing). Now that I've got the five items that are common to every quest (with obvious addition or subtraction as proven necessary), I can build whatever sort of quest is needed for a specific character's story without too much trouble at all.
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Dakota Cavanaugh
9/7/2014 05:28:36 am
For me, the chapter that stuck out most was the chapter taught by Corben. When he presented, the main theme of his presentation was to look past the page and think deeper about what the author has written. In my mind, this encompasses most of the other chapters in some way or another. For instance, Megan's chapter on the heart talked about how heart disease is never just heart disease. That is just an example of looking deeper into what the author wrote. I believe that the overall concept of "reading between the lines" will be the most beneficial in my academic studies.
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Mallory Harger
9/7/2014 05:55:56 am
The chapter that has the most significant for me would be the one Megan Avila taught about the heart. I haven't thought about the fact that the heart is a symbol for life and isn't just heart disease. Thinking back to books I have read and movies I have seen, (almost) every time a person has a heart problem, it is because they are struggling in life. Megan's example of Frozen was really good. Anna is hurried to immediate help but the ice cannot just be pulled out because the struggle is eternal. She has to help her sister. I will definitely be looking for a heart problem in future books and movies.
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Madison Hoffman
9/7/2014 09:33:47 am
Chapter twenty-five, Don't Read with Your Eyes, seemed to be the most helpful to me. This chapter will help because it discussed how to read with perspective and sympathy for the time period a work is written in. Information that stood out as significant to me was to not look at things up close. In order to gain perspective, you have to look at the bigger picture. We have to consider the social, cultural, and historical events that were taking place when a work of literature was written.
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Stephanie Farney
9/7/2014 10:31:21 am
The chapter that I find most beneficial is chapter 25. This chapter focuses on looking beyond what is written on the page. In chapter 25, the author asserts that in order to truly understand the significance of events in literature, one must be able to read between the lines. This chapter sticks out because it teaches that there is always much more than meets the eye, and this is true in both literature and in everyday situations. It teaches you not to take everything at face value, in addition to teaching you to look deeper into situations, which is important in this day and age.
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Amanda Wilde
9/7/2014 11:18:17 am
The chapter that is going to help me in this class the most is If It's a Square, It's a Sonnet. This is the topic I knew the least about and because this class revolves around a lot of poetry, I feel this chapter will help me. I've always loved Shakespeare but I've never known how to classify any of his pieces of literature. Now knowing more about Shakespearean sonnets, I should be able to identify his work better. That type of literature really interests me and Hannah's presentation on it was well thought out and was very informative to me.
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Hannah Marshall
9/7/2014 11:40:06 am
I think Megan's chapter has taught me the most. I think she did a really good job presenting symbolism and how everything almost always pertains to the heart. It could be something so small and yet it has the symbolism of a giant. It tells you that love conquers all in small actions such as Elsa and Ana or taking a huge risk like Romeo and Juliet. I think love is all about taking a risk and hoping it all works out for the best.
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Megan Avila
9/7/2014 12:16:33 pm
I believe that the chapter I found most beneficial was Chapter 25. Text requires more vision than what can anatomically executed. Authors don't always (actually,they very rarely do) mean exactly what they write. Hints of sarcasm, dashes of humor, or even rays of snarkiness may go undetected by some readers. Basically reading and actually understanding the literature are two entirely different things. I will take this lesson through life with me and implement it not only in the English classroom, but in the "real world" as well. Simply listening to someone is entirely different than actually understanding the words that they're saying are.
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Corben Davis
9/7/2014 12:17:31 pm
I believe that chapter twelve (Is That a Symbol) and chapter 25 ( Don't read with your eyes) are the two most helpful chapters. Chapter twelve teaches to find a deeper meaning behind a phrase or object. A table could mean so much more than it is portrayed in a passage and chapter twelve teaches you how to find that deeper meaning. Chapter 25 also teaches you how to not only read a passage, but think about why it was written. What was the purpose? I believe these chapters will help me in college and especially this class due to all the poetry were going to read.
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Riley Bahre
9/7/2014 02:30:20 pm
Sorry to post my response so late. Though it is important to identify symbolic significance (Ch. 12, 21 & 23) as well as being able to understand why you should never take a literary piece at face value (Ch. 25) I believe that the basic structure of a story (Ch. 1) is infinitely more important, nay imperative, than a mess of symbols with no rhyme or reason and a hopeless interpretation of what those symbols might mean. Sure, symbolism is a powerful tool, and being able to understand that tool is just as important as using it. However, it should be noted that having the symbol actually mean something in the story is ultimately more powerful than the symbol itself. In conclusion, I believe that the first chapter will be of most use to me. In this class, at least.
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