Reading for Transformation through the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins by Francis X. McAloon SJ was an interesting read. As I began reading this essay I somehow was caught up in relational thoughts to the author. I completely understood where he was coming from and this is what intrigued me to read the essay, paying attention to every detail. It was very easy for me to relate to McAloon in the very beginning of the writing when he said, “Along with others in my class, I struggled to comprehend his difficult syntax and obscure vocabulary, as in the opening line of his sonnet ‘The Windhover’: ‘I caught this morning morning’s minion, king-/dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon. . . .’ Sure it sounded marvelous, but what did it mean” (McAloon 1)? McAloon begins the essay with his thoughts of Gerard Manley Hopkins poetry, when he was just an undergraduate. He was once a college student reading deep complex poetry, not understanding it as much as he could. This I can relate to completely. I feel that many college students eventually go through something similar to what McAloon went through in those four years of college. It intimidates many of us who didn’t come from deep, literary backgrounds. Most high schools don’t require their students to really dissect complex literature like college would. For many of us we’re caught off guard when we enter into college and are required to read, no, feel poetry or literary works that we’ve never encountered before. This initial reacting McAloon has to Hopkin’s writings is the reaction many student have when reading complex literature. They will read the literature, as it is required for class, not really, truly thinking about what it is they are reading. Then the students usually put it down and never again go back to really read it at all. Throughout the rest of their lives they’ll hear of certain literature by specific authors that may have turned them off during college and they immediately have a negative reaction to it. I’ve been in that position many times throughout my life. I was never as open to literature as I needed to be until I really got into reading for pleasure during high school. However, I am cured of bypassing good literature on the first read.
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ReplyDeleteI copied the wrong document.... This was my rough draft. I just realized. Oh well. Here was my real post:
ReplyDeleteReading for Transformation through the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins by Francis X. McAloon SJ was an interesting read. As I began reading this essay I somehow was caught up in relational thoughts to the author. I completely understood where he was coming from and this is what intrigued me to read the essay, paying attention to every detail. It was very easy for me to relate to McAloon in the very beginning of the writing when he said, “Along with others in my class, I struggled to comprehend his difficult syntax and obscure vocabulary, as in the opening line of his sonnet ‘The Windhover’: ‘I caught this morning morning’s minion, king-/dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon. . . .’ Sure it sounded marvelous, but what did it mean” (McAloon 1)? McAloon begins the essay with his thoughts of Gerard Manley Hopkins poetry, when he was just an undergraduate. He was once a college student reading deep complex poetry, not understanding it as much as he could. This I can relate to completely. I feel that many college students eventually go through something similar to what McAloon went through in those four years of college. It intimidates many of us who didn’t come from deep, literary backgrounds. Most high schools don’t require their students to really dissect complex literature like college would. For many of us we’re caught off guard when we enter into college and are required to read, no, feel poetry or literary works that we’ve never encountered before. This initial reacting McAloon has to Hopkin’s writings is the reaction many student have when reading complex literature. They will read the literature, as it is required for class, not really, truly thinking about what it is they are reading. Then the students usually put it down and never again go back to really read it at all. Throughout the rest of their lives they’ll hear of certain literature by specific authors that may have turned them off during college and they immediately have a negative reaction to it. I’ve been in that position many times throughout my life. I was never as open to literature as I needed to be until I really got into reading for pleasure during high school. However, I am cured of bypassing good literature on the first read.