CoreyStruss

"Although we cannot establish that Keats believed consistently in eternity, we can establish that he tentatively proposes the idea and that he undoubtedly hoped for the kind of eternity he imagines." (51)

The author of this essay brings up some very interesting points. The thing that I liked most was that Austin started the essay by touching on the 6 things that beauty and truth could mean the same thing in. Of the six, I found that beauty and truth could mean the same thing in eternity, as the author puts it. I found this to be the most valid of the arguments presented. I also liked how Austin still makes his points, yet leaves it all up for reader interpretation. I mean, the six points brought up throughout the essay could potentially be the most "logical", but he never completely throws out the idea of thinking outside the box. As a reader, I really appreciate that.

Posted by at 10:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

"...but we might remind ourselves that criticism is as inevitable as breathing, and that we should be none the worse for articulating what passes in our minds when we read a book and feel an emotion about it, for criticizing our own minds in their work of criticism."

A great analogy to start the course - criticism is as inevitable as breathing. We all do it, and most of us do it unconsciously. The more you think about it, we criticize everything, from literature, to the appearance of people, to music, etc. You name it, and humans inevitably form opinions towards it. As the author puts it, criticism is just putting what passes through our minds as we read a work onto paper. That's why all criticism is different, because we all react differently to pieces of literature. But along with this inevitable critique of the subject at hand, we must also critique ourselves for doing the critiquing. After evaluating something, we must evaluate ourselves for reaching that conclusion. I'm not sure if any of this makes sense, but then again, this is why we don't all agree with criticism of a certain thing - because we all have our different views and interpretations of it.

Posted by at 9:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"Literature is a 'special' kind of language, in contrast to the 'ordinary' language we commonly use" (Eagleton 4).

Upon the first time reading this quote, I took it for what it generally said - We use literature in addition to the common language that we use, day in and day out. But after finishing the assigned section, and going back to pick out a quote to talk about, I couldn't get this line out of my head. There has to be something more to it. And I believe I've only begun to scratch the surface.

Literature is different to everyone. I could consider a short story written by a feisty 8-year-old, to be literature, no matter how erratic or didactic it may be. Someone else might just consider it to be jibberish. But literature is always special, because the words and sentences are formed exactly how the author wants them to be, in order for them to have the most meaning when slapped on a piece of paper. When writing literature, I would have to say that we tend to choose our words more carefully than we would when spitting out everyday language.

Posted by at 9:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)