An Anecdote
11-22-19
I decided to write my reader response essay about William Carlos Williams because I remembered reading his poems in my sophomore year of high school for English class. We read “The Red Wheelbarrow” and “This is Just to Say”, and I remembered how hectic our class was when we tried to analyze the two. The red wheelbarrow somehow absolutely HAD to represent communism, and the grapes stolen from this icebox were definitely a euphemism for a woman’s virginity. No other options. Our teacher let us loose with our analyses, and we all decided that we as a class had to all unanimously agree on an interpretation in order for it to be correct.
I think that mindset and the catastrophe of those following class days showed the importance of the reader response theories. An interpretation doesn’t have to be unanimous in order for it to be valid. You can get whatever you want out of a poem, you just have to be able to support your argument and know the poem’s context. I think this will be a very fun paper to write, because I have a good amount of content to work with.
This is Just to Say
11-24-19
…That I am getting SO CLOSE to finishing up my essays for this portfolio. My reader response paper seems to be going a lot smoother than my other papers have gone, simply because I feel more confident in what I am arguing. It’s easier to work with something you absolutely believe in, while my other papers required me to put myself into the head of another person’s perspective in order to argue my theses.
My reader response paper has been a fun sequence of events to write, too. I sent out an email to a few close friends as a method of research, asking them to read the poem and then send me their own individual analyses. It was really fun hearing what they had to say. The wheelbarrow represented industry, rural living, capitalism, and even sin. It was a lot of fun to hear what my friends had to think, and it’ll be even more fun to incorporate into this paper.
The Finish Line
11-29-19
I’ve done it! English 305 has finally used up its allotted time with me for the semester! I submitted my draft for peer review, showed Dr. Pennington what I was writing, and finished my paper on Thanksgiving day. So I guess this year I am thankful for the work ethic that I have set for myself in working through these papers. Along with the mashed potatoes and turkey, of course.
This class was a whirlwind of revisions, Google Doc comments, PDF files, and the Track Changes button on Microsoft Word. I can’t begin to explain how much I have learned through this class. The revising and editing process is a new skill I feel like I am close to perfecting, and it’s been great to learn all of these new literary theories as well. As much as this class has punched me to the ground a few times, I’ve got some wicked stories to tell and lessons that I’ve learned. Here’s to the next step in my path of being an English major.
