Reflection on the Course

My writing abilities have definitely increased during this course.  I've learned how to site my sources better and hopefully how to stay on point with my thesis.  I learned the difference between summary and analysis and when to use each of them which will help me in all of my future courses that will require literary analysis.  The readings in this courses have opened my view of different kinds of readings.  I usually choose the same type of authors and books to read.  By being forced to read things I wouldn't normally read, I've realized that these other kinds of things are also pretty good to read.  My writing process has changed a little because of this course.  I learned to write multiple drafts and re-edit the papers I'm writing to make them better.  This course was definitely a challenge.  One of the main reasons because it was online.  I find online classes much more difficult because I tend to procrastinate.  I made sure to turn in most of the assignments in on time.  I could've still done a little better with this, as I missed a couple assignments.  

Annotated Bibliography

Whitman, W. Leaves of Grass. Penguin Books, 1986.

               “Leaves Of Grass” is Walt Whitman’s only book.  It was originally published in 1855 with twelve poems.  "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd"(an eulogy for President Lincoln’s death) and "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" are two of his most popular poems which are in this book.  He is regarded as a true “American Poet”.  He is described as expressing the real spirit of America and free men.  This is why I like his poems so much.  He has a way of making the reader experience strong feelings of determination and opportunity.  I will be quoting these poems a number of times in my final paper.

Kerley, B. Walt Whitman: Words For America.  Scholastic, 2004.

               Although this book has a lower reading level and pictures in it, it includes a lot of important information about walt whitman.  It is in biography form, and tells of his birth in 1819, his death in 1892, as well as how he grew up in long island and brooklyn, New York.  As a child He was a printers apprentice and was writing and printing his own newspaper by the age of 19.  The author of this biography describes his poems as a “celebration of the common man”.  It also tells how he became of voice of his nation through his poetry in the opinion of the author.

Genoways, T.  Walt Whitman and the Civil War.  Fletcher Jones Foundation Humanities.

               Hopefully I will be picking up my copy of this book tomorrow.  It’s author writes about Walt Whitman and his actions during what is called his lost years (1860-1862).  Walt Whitman was always writing in newspapers, magazines and some of these type of publications which he personally operated.  He was a very public writer, his work was often immediately published to be seen by and to inspire the population.  I intend on including all of these important facts in my final paper and this book contains a lot of this important information.

Here is a link to some great information about this wonderful poet.

final project

I will be doing project option #1.  I have chosen Walt Whitman as my author.  I enjoy the general topics he writes about.  I find his poems to be very meaningful and he uses an outspoken voice.  I have a book that contains a collection of his poems.  I look forward to finding some more of his work to complete this assignment.  This assignment will be one that I'll really enjoy, I suspect.  I would like to understand more about him as a person as well as learn from his writing techniques in order to enhance my own writing ability.  I will probably use some of the Yavapai library website search results as well as any other web databases I can find.  I will be looking for any writings on Walt Whitman at the local bookstores and libraries.

Oh' Pioneers, by Walt Whitman in a Levis' advertisement.  A good friend of mine, Chase, is in it.

blog post #9

Stephen Cook
ENG 102
Cline
October 23, 2011

Mid-Term Check In

          After not completing the course during summer school, I’ve been able to understand the expectations of this class a little better. English has always been one of the harder for me. I’ve never really tried or was forced to be a good writer. I now understand the importance of being able to write well written essays and analyze documents. These early english courses will influence my success in the classes I take while pursuing the rest of my education.
           It’s been hard for me to focus on reading for long periods of time. I’m not the fastest reader, so this has been somewhat of a challenge. It’s not that there is a ton of reading, it’s just that I’m at a point in my life where I’m juggling a number of projects and obligations. This makes it hard for me to sit still and focus on what I’m reading.
          I found a couple of the poems from the second essay to be thought provoking. I guess that’s most likely why they were chosen. Frankenstein was a little tough for me to get into because the story is one that’s frequently referenced in society. I caught myself looking for differences between how I thought the story was going to go and how it actually went. I wish I could’ve read the story without having any prior knowledge of the story.
          Literary analysis is much different than the former english classes I’ve taken. It requires focus which is different than the other classes where the instructor just wanted my thoughts or research papers. My overall goal is to finish the class with an “A”. I usually get good grades but english is one of my tougher subjects. Another goal is to not miss any assignments. I’ve missed only one and plan to use the “no questions asked” for it. This is strictly self discipline. Something I need to be a little better at. I’m feeling pretty good about the course at this time.

Essay #3 rough draft

Stephen Cook

Cline

ENG 102

13 October 2011

Essay #3 - Frankenstein rough draft

The story of Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelly is one that has stood out very strongly as being a very unique and original tale.  Even close to 200 years after it was written it is being used as means for education.  This tells me that it is viewed as being a very important piece in literary history.  I personally didn’t enjoy the story that much.  This could have been because I was slightly familiar with the story of Frankenstein before reading the actual book.  I generally enjoy stories much more the first time I experience them.   I can imagine though, that if reading this book was the first time I’d heard of Frankenstein and the story of his creature, it would have been one that drew the reader in with suspense and somewhat of a psychological thrill.  

I found the setting of the story to be peculiar.  Why would a young girl write such a story of fiction with the voice of an older, seemingly lonely man?  The use of the letters to the man’s sister in the beginning was an interesting and effective way of introducing the characters and the beginning of the plot.  The events in this story are vulgar and imaginative.  The ideas that make up this story of fiction must have originated in the mind of a truly troubled individual.  The thought of a creature being made out of old body parts is one most absurd and grotesque.  

If I was to make an assumption of the meaning of this story in relation to the author it would be that the author, Mary Shelly, viewed herself as a troubled individual.  I think Frankensteins  creature is an example of the self image of the author.  By the time Frankenstein was completed, Mary had already lost her mother (shortly after her birth), her prematurely born first child, and her sister to suicide.  ((Reference the chronology)) She had experienced so much death by such a young age.  This had to affect the way she viewed the idea of death.  She could possibly placed some of the blame for these deaths on herself, resulting in the need to express these feelings through creating a character such as Victor’s creature that doesn’t fit in its surroundings and causes the death of others.  She makes sure to show that the creature does in fact have emotions and love for his creator, even after causing his death.   

Even considering the awful events in the story created by Mary Shelly, there is a sense of amazement experienced by the reader in regards to the level of creativity and original imagination it took to write such a story.  Even though the story is a sad and somewhat depressing one, there is a subtle idea that the writer enjoyed writing the story.  It probably wasn’t even a happy sort of enjoyment, but one that helped her cope with the events that took place in her own life.  

In Percy Bysshe Shelly’s response to the novel, He claims that it is a strong source of powerful and profound emotion.  “The elementary feelings of the human mind are exposed to view: and those who are accustomed to reason deeply on their origin and tendency will, perhaps, be the only persons who can sympathize, to the full extent, in the interest of the actions which are their result.”  (pg. 185)    I strongly agree with these statements made by Percy Bysshe Shelly.  Even those emotions felt by the author become present.  In this response he also makes a claim that the moral of the story is, “Treat a person ill, and he will become wicked.”  This is a statement that I disagree with.  There are many examples of how poorly treated persons have gone on to do great things and be good people.  I do think that if a person is treated badly, they are more likely to be “wicked”, but in my opinion, this idea is present in this story so that the reader is able to sympathize with the so called evil character.  If we can partially begin to justify the actions of those evil characters and start to excuse their actions by blaming those actions on the treatment received from others, this will make us feel sorry for the character; drastically affecting the readers view of the character.  

  In the anonymous response taken from Knights Quarterly on pg. 197, there is an interesting analysis.  “Frankenstein is, I think, the best instance of natural passions applied to supernatural events that I ever met with.”  I find the idea very strange that Mary Shelly, at such a young age, would imagine the creation of such a being.  In recent film there are themes of clones and artificial beings.  I don’t know what it was like during the time it was written, but I can’t think of  any reasons for a girl to consider the strange spiritual theme involved in creating such a creature.  I found the reference to darwin stating that such an event isn’t completely impossible very interesting.  I suppose when the story was written, science could’ve suggested such possibilities.  Either way, once again I’m forced to wonder about what she was feeling and contemplating while this story was being written. ...

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Works cited (incomplete)

1) Frankenstein, Mary Shelly

2) Norton Critical Edition

3) response by percy shelly

4) anonymous response from Knights Quarterly

5)

6)

Blog post #7- Summary of a Critical Response

Percy Bysshe Shelly

On Frankenstein

According to the book, this response was written in 1817.  This person tells how they believe the story of Frankenstein to be one of the most original productions up to this point in history.  The writer of this response brings to question the mental state of Mary Shelly when Frankenstein was written.  They ask what emotions one must feel in order to create such a story, one thats unlike other stories and uses a vast imagination to create.  They also place attention on the most basic and elementary ideas and emotions that the reader is cause to better understand by reading the story of Frankenstein.  One as simple as if you treat a person badly, they are likely to become a wicked person.  Again this response brings attention to the evidence of original imagination with example that there has been no other character in a story or history written similar to the creature in Frankenstein. 

I think this is a good response to the story of frankenstein.  I’m not finished reading the story yet, will be finishing it in the next few days.  I agree with this persons ideas of the story so far.  Even before reading the story of Frankenstein, one can consider the uniqueness of the story because of its overwhelming reference in society.  Not everyone has actually read the story, but almost everyone has heard of it.  At the time it was written it must have truly been an original story with great imagination.  I too wonder of the intense feelings of emotion and imagination that Mary Shelly exhibited in writing such a story. 

here is a cool page with an analysis of the characters in the book.

Blog post #6 - Reflections on Revision

Stephen Cook

Eng 102

Cline

October 2, 2011

Blog post #6 - Reflections on Revision

When I begin revision of my own work I start by reading the paper as if It was the first time reading it.  I imagine that I wasn’t the one that wrote it.  This is because I want to view the writing as objectively as possible.  Sometimes it even helps for me to proof read and make revisions after not working on the paper for a few days.  Coming back to it with a fresh perspective usually proves to be valuable in this process for me.

       

         I think it's important to view the paper as if you were the instructor who assigned the work.  The instructor will have a thorough idea of what the assignment entails.  There will also be a clear set of expectations.  It is important to have a clear picture of what is expected in order to accomplish this.  Another thing has always done well for me is having other students give me feedback on my writing.  I'm not the best writer so it really helps me when I'm able to get advice from others.

   

          In my final draft there are a few specific changes I currently need to make.  The two most obvious ones are the need of internal citations and more clearly stated topic sentences in each paragraph.  My paper already contains references to the actual work, it just doesn’t have the proper quotations and citations.  I think that the general idea of my paper is very clear it just needs a little better organization within each paragraph.   

Here is a link to a cool website I found with a checklist of ways to look at a paper when revising.