Entry 2-Poetry Study Goals

My five goals while studying poetry this year are:
-Focus on reading by sentences, rather than by stanzas/lines.
-Interpret messages and themes better.
-Learn to identify meter better.
-Learn to identify literary devices better.
-Learn to identify type of poem (i.e. sonnet, ballad, etc.).

Whenever I read poetry, I tend to focus on the musical or rhythmic aspect of the writing, rather than the actual content. By focusing on rhythm and rhyme, I look at words almost one at a time, and think about the meaning of each and how it fits into the rhyme scheme and the meter; however this usually causes me to lose track of the bigger picture in the poem. I need to practice reading poetry more like prose--focusing on the sentences as the main units, rather than the stanzas. Doing this will help me with my second goal of understanding the main messages and themes better. I have had a lot of experience with meter and literary devices in AP Latin while studying the Aeneid. The majority of the literary devices are the same, but I've noticed they tend to be subtler in english poetry. Scansion seems to work the same way in english as in latin poetry, but I think I could still benefit from studying these two things with more detail and specifically in english poetry. The last goal is simply a question of memorizing the definition of each type of poem and how to identify it. Practicing these a bit will make those questions about the type of poem "freebies" on the exam.

Entry 1-Reactions to the Diagnostics Test

The diagnostics test was a good indication of what we will be learning about in the course. It seems for questions like these, a certain type of thinking is required, which we will learn in class. For a lot of the questions, simply memorizing terms and being exposed to many examples of them will make the answer instantly recognizable. I found that with questions like these, it is often best to trust one's intuition. The answer that pops out the first time is most likely the correct one, and by trying to analyze all the options extensively, one tends to get confused and make absurd answers seem plausible with long trains of thought. It might also be better to read the questions before the passage, so one can focus on the aspects the questions ask about. While the passages are in themselves interesting, and often worthwhile to read, within the time restrictions of the test it is better to focus only on the aspects needed to answer the questions.