February 2007 Archives

Portfolio 1 -- Jerz: EL150 (Intro to Literary Study)

EL 150 Portfolio 1

This is my very first blog portfolio in my career at Seton Hill University. This portfolio incorporates reading, discussion, and comments that I have made in class and online. Coming into this semester I was seriously stressed over blogging, but I think I have a handle on it now. Even though it may be difficult to keep up with all the work, I feel that it has improved my studying and reading habits. By having agenda items for each reading, it keeps my mind sharp and my eyes opened.

1. Coverage (contains all the agenda’s I have completed so far this semester):
Lemire, “I’m an English Major Now What? (Chapter One) this blog talks about how I felt Lemire makes finding a job sound too easy.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/01/not_in_a_super_major_1.html

Lemire, “I’m an English Major Now What?” (Chapter One) after a little confusion I wrote a second blog to explain myself in better detail.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/01/i_didnt_mean_to_sound_that_dep.html

Schackner, “Freedom of Speech Redefined By Blogs” I wrote about how I had never heard of blogs in my past and how it can be both a negative and positive thing.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/01/you_mean_other_people_blog.html

“Bernice Bob’s Her Hair” I blogged about girls and their relationships.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/01/think_twice_before_using_sciss.html

Foster Chapters 1-3, 5 I wrote about the quest and how familiar I am with it and questioned if authors used it on purpose.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/01/i_know_ive_heard_this_somewher.html

“Trifles” I talked about how I liked the strong female characters in the story.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/01/thats_right_women_and_their_tr.html

Foster 19-20 I blogged about the importance of geography in a story.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/01/geography_can_be_psychology.html

Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” I wrote about how I felt J. Alfred was referring to a lost love and his regret he had for the lose.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/01/afraid_of_missing_out.html

Foster 15 & Interlude I blogged about how I was unsure of my instinct in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and how this reading helped me.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/01/instincts_rule.html

O’Connor, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” I wrote about the irony of The Misfits words.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/01/ohhhh_the_irony.html

Foster 6-9 I wrote about how fairytales and Disney have a part in literature.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/01/i_love_disney.html

Essential Literary Terms 1-31 I blogged about the different types of satire.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/02/satire_and_the_animals_on_the.html

“The Machine Stops” I wrote about how scary the future world seemed.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/02/scary.html

Essential Literary Terms 112-149 I wrote about the familiar terms I understood but didn’t know the word used to define them.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/02/putting_names_on_familiar_dial.html

“Everyman” I wrote about the connection in material between Everyman and The Machine Stops.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/02/what_is_it_about_material_poss.html

Essential Literary Terms 68-97 I blogged about the different kind of vocabulary used in poetry.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/02/poetry_talk.html

Essential Literary Terms 98-111, 150-166 I wrote about the attitude and the difference it can make in a reading.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/02/attitude.html

“The River” I wrote about how I felt counting as a person mattered to Bevel.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/02/counting_is_what_counts.html

“To Build a Fire” I wrote about how annoyed I was with the repetition.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/02/repeat_and_repeat_again.html

Essential Literary Terms 32-67 I wrote about how I didn’t know the difference in personifications.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/02/pathetic_that_i_didnt_know_it.html

“Fictional Short Stories, Top 10 Tips” I wrote about how I felt developing a character was important to any story.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/02/really_get_to_know_them.html

2. Depth (the blogs I felt were my best and most interesting):
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/01/afraid_of_missing_out.html

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/01/instincts_rule.html

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/01/ohhhh_the_irony.html

3. Interaction (blogs that helped other students and discussion):
Maggie Jones (A Good Man is Hard to Find)
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MargaretJones/2007/01/how_much_worse_could_it_get.html

Maggie Jones (Everyman)
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MargaretJones/2007/02/adam_and_eve_again.html

Jenna Miller (“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock””
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JennaMiller/2007/01/bashful_prufrock.html

Corey Struss (Essential Literary Terms 32-67)
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/CoreyStruss/2007/02/blogging_is_my_favorite_pastti.html

4. Discussion (interaction with my peers that helped support and challenge my blogs):
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/01/thats_right_women_and_their_tr.html

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/01/afraid_of_missing_out.html

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/02/poetry_talk.html

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/02/attitude.html

5. Timeliness (more often my earlier blogs, but they were posted early and led to discussion):
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/01/not_in_a_super_major_1.html

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/01/think_twice_before_using_sciss.html

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/01/instincts_rule.html

6. Xenoblogging (things I did to help others while blogging):
The Comment Primo:
Maggie Jones (Schackner, “Freedom of speech redefined by blogs”)
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MargaretJones/2007/01/danger.html

Jennifer Prex (Lemire “Im an English Major Now What?” Chapter 1)
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JenniferPrex/2007/01/finally_someone_actually_ackno.html

The Comment Grande:
Maggie Jones (O’Connor “A Good Man is Hard to Find”)
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MargaretJones/2007/01/how_much_worse_could_it_get.html

Derek Tickle (“The Machine Stops”)
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/DerekTickle/2007/02/the_machine_helps_run_our_live.html

The Link Gracious:
Jara White (The Machine Stop)
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JaraWhite/2007/02/living_in_a_material_world.html

Chera Pupi (Trifles)
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/CheraPupi/2007/01/go_mrs_hale.html

7. Wildcard (the one I want you to see!)
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/BethanyMerryman/2007/01/instincts_rule.html

I picked this blog as my wildcard, because I felt that it was fun, but also got my peers involved in class and inspired them. It may not be my most in depth and detailed blog entry but I feel that it had a lot of good feed back and started good conversations.

Kennedy, ''Short Stories: 10 Tips'' -- Jerz: EL150 (Intro to Literary Study)

"In order to develop a living, breathing, multi-faceted character, it is important to know way more about the character than you will ever use in the story."

Last year I took an exploring writing course, and we had a chance to actually full on develop a character and know everything about him or her. Then we were suppose to write a monologue based on how the character would act. It was one of my favorite activities and I really think it is a good idea to go into the story knowing more about the character than is necassary for the story.

Hamilton, Essential Literary Terms (32-67) -- Jerz: EL150 (Intro to Literary Study)

"Pathetic fallacy is a special type of personification, in which inanimate aspects of nature, such as the landscape or the weather, are represented as having human qualities or feelings."

Never before did I know that there were different types of personification. I was shocked when I read this part, and kind of confused. Do you consider a pathetic fallacy personification, or are they two totally different terms?

London, ''To Build a Fire'' -- Jerz: EL150 (Intro to Literary Study)

"It certainly was cold."

I know that I am suppose to make a connection of the stories, but I just couldn't stop thinking about this quote. Throughout the entire story I was very bothered by this repetition and found it very annoying. I think after the first two paragraphs I understood that it was cold out and was extremely bothered by the continued description of, just how cold it was!

O'Connor, ''The River'' -- Jerz: EL150 (Intro to Literary Study)

" 'You count now,' the preacher said. 'You didn't even count before'."

I felt that this quote was significant because it describes how Harry/Bevel wanted to change. Through this quote we can see that before he didn't count and now that he is trying to lay his burdens down, he counts. At first when I read this quote, I was shocked, because it seemed so blunt, but after finishing the story I felt that it had a connection with the change that Harry/Bevel was searching for in his life.

Hamilton, Essential Literary Terms (98-111; 150-166) -- Jerz: EL150 (Intro to Literary Study)

"Tone designates the attitude that a liteary speaker expresses toward his or her subject matter and audience."

I have heard of tone before, but after reading this section of Essential Literary Terms, I realized how important tone can be in a story. For instance, in A Good Man is Hard to Find, the tone makes a difference to how you percieve the story. Really it is important in all plots. I found it interesting how important it actually is to know the attitude of the story!

Hamilton, Essential Literary Terms (68-97) -- Jerz: EL150 (Intro to Literary Study)

"poetic diction, which in a broad sense means phrasing and vocabulary that are characteristic of poetry, as distinguished from the informality of everyday speech."

Even when I was little and read Dr. Seuess, I wondered if people actually spoken in poems. After reading the section on poetic diction, I had to laugh to myself, because for so many years I have been curious to the reason behind the poetic diction, but didn't really know that is was a literary term. I guess I just didn't understand it at all. Words such as ne'er instead of never...did they not want to type the "v"-well now I get it!!! Of course I wouldn't change this about poetry, but I just was always curious to why they wrote this way.

Anonymous, ''Everyman'' -- Jerz: EL150 (Intro to Literary Study)

Everyman- "Alas, I have thee loved, and had great pleasure
All my life-days on good and treasure."

After reading the part on goods and how Everyman wishes to take them on his journey, I thought back to "The Machine Stops" and my response to Jara's blog. I agreed with her that it is sad how much we rely on our material possessions, when in fact we cannot take them with us in the end. Everyman figures this out and realizes that there is more to his life, and to create a moral learns from it. I just thought that this correlation was interesting between the two stories.

Hamilton, Essential Literary Terms (112-149) -- Jerz: EL150 (Intro to Literary Study)

"An aside is a speech, usually brief, that according to theatrical conventions, is heard only by the audience, or, sometimes, is addressed privately to another character on stage."

After reading through the dialogue sections, I was able to put a lot of information that I had once learned to an actual word. Throughout high school, we read several plays and of course almost all of the plays have asides in them, but I never knew they were actually called asides. These speeches that the character makes, pretty much letting out grief or joy or any information pertinent to the story that only the audience knows!!! Well, now that makes sense!!! Even though some of the information that we are reviewing is repetitive to what I already know it is good that we are refreshing our memories and learning new things still!

Forster, ''The Machine Stops'' -- Jerz: EL150 (Intro to Literary Study)

"She repeated, 'No ideas here,' and hid Greece behind a metal blind."

Throughout this short story, I am totally freaked out by the fact that everything we consider beautiful and has brought us insight is no longer important and brings no ideas. I had a hard time focusing while reading this short story because I found it so unrelateable. Although it is interesting to think about what the future will be like, I am not liking this picture and place at all. It scares me!!! I love technology, but honestly there is more out there to inspire than just new age inventions. I don't know, maybe its just me...

Hamilton, Essential Literary Terms (1-31) -- Jerz: EL150 (Intro to Literary Study)

"Other satires target a group or set of people, such as the members of the American military establishment in Joseph Heller's Catch-22, or an institution, such as totalitarianism in George Orwell's Animal Farm. "

I am sarcastic. There is no doubt about it. I have always enjoyed satires as you can imagine, but I never knew there was more than one type of satire. Throughout high school I feel that we read a lot of satires. One of them mentioned in the reading was Animal Farm. Although I didn't really enjoy the talking animals and such while reading the book, I really like the inner meaning and the satire that was connected in the story. A play that we read that was a satire was The Crucible. I found it very interesting again how the author Arthur Miller took an event in history and made it into a satire after the Cold War and the hunt for Communists in the United States. I was just surprised that there were different kinds of satire and found it very informative.