Self Reflection
Literature when put into a class and taught can be a little intimating when
reading the title. If your just trying to get through college and your
reading experiences have been few and far between good you may be a little
scared of what you are about to embark on when entering into a class like
this. With my fingers crossed I found my self digging into readings and
applying elements that open the readings in the class to no boundaries. I
have learned many things this quarter and gained new insight on how to look
at literature.
When I first came into the class my thoughts on literature where a little
scarce. I had generalized literature in my mind and thought that most of
the what was out on the shelf was boring. Let me tell you I was in for a
treat. To start with the class was nothing like I had imagined. I found
the class a little laid back letting me become comfortable with new
information. I had not taken the time previously to read poems or pros. I
had read a few books but generally out of because I had to. So I found
myself with little interest but an open mind starting a literature class.
First learning about poems and writing papers on what I got out of them
expanded the way I see literature. Inside these complicated poems I began
to see elements that we had talked about in class. I had never poems convey
this before. Along with understanding the poems became easier to read
making them more enjoyable. I found the reflection papers on the poem very
interesting eventually. As I wrote about the poems they became apart of me
and my experiences in life. One example of this is when I wrote a paper on
the poem “Fifth Grade Autobiography” written by Rita Dove (49). The poem is
about a boy and looking at a photograph from fifth grade. In this picture
of him at the lake with his brother and grandparents he finds many fond
memories. This paper like others linked to the memories I had grown up with
and I became caught up in thought.
This only sparked the motive to read producing more results as I read. I
began to see the figurative language used and how it could express ideas
when looked at from the right view. One of my favorite elements of
figurative language is metaphor. It can express through words or thoughts
things that cannot be expressed otherwise. Take for an example in the poem
“From the Secrets II” written by Victor Cruz (895). How can you express the
emotions of an out body experience? In this poem Cruz does this by using
metaphor. On line fifteen through eighteen he says, “this morning I move
like the river moves, in and out of rooms like the warm wind passing
though”. I can feel the warm wind passing though and feel the breeze
comfort me thus the relations in these lines make this part of the poem
really come alive to me.
Another part of this class that helped me learn more about literature was
that there were guidelines but no boundaries to what is in literature. As
we talked about poems in class, there were often different meanings of the
same poem. Each person expressed their idea often stirring new ideas that
people hadn’t thought of. I learned the more you ponder on a piece of
literature often the more alive it became. What I mean by alive is there
was often a bigger window of understanding. It was refreshing to step back
and look at the craft, distillation of the moment, or how the author shaped
chaos. Things that had never crossed my mind before this class. Literature
became to me an instrument that carried expression. Often of someone’s past
and they were communicated though the feeling of the moment. Literature to
me is a piece of writing that has expressed ideas or symbols of
communications. It is meant to give you feeling not always with
understanding, but that was the beauty of it.
I found my self reading things that I really had no idea what they tried to
communicate. I found my self hungry to learn and looking though elements of
fiction and poetry handouts I gained new insight. After going back several
times looking at some pieces I had some sort of connection or a little
clarity to what the authors intentions were when writing. A good example of
this would be the book “Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned” written by
Walter Mosley. The book is a great book about an African-American man
growing up in the hard run down part of town. The reader follows this man
named Socrates through some hardships in his life. I did a little research
on the author and found that Mosley really wanted to communicate through
this book about racism. Not that I would have missed it not knowing this
but the book became very clear after this point was discovered. Digging a
little deeper into things often benefits those who do so.
So in digging into the material I began to write poems for the full
experience of the class. I thought that not only would class become alive
though reading and studying literature but though writing. After writing
some poems I began to see the link the authors often had to their writings.
When you start writing about something that is on your mind it flows though
you with ease. You don’t have to try because it is in you. So to tell you
the truth poetry and other literature are know looked upon different from
point of view. This class was the key to the door of literature and what
type of experience there are in it.
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