It takes a lot of paragraphs to make a book... Roberts, CH 2
If you can read and assimilate a single paragraph, you have then developed your power to read and assimilate an entire book. And if you can follow and appreciate a single poem, you will have acquired the skill to comprehend other poems. In addition, if you can understand a single speech by a dramatic character--any speech--you can go on to do the same for the entire play.
--Writing About Literature, Roberts pg. 53
Roberts makes some pretty high claims in this introduction to chapter 2. I'm not saying that I don't believe him--I'm just saying that I think he should have mentioned just how much work is required to master these skills. And anyway, I'm not sure that I entirely agree with his statement. I've done my fair share of analyzing poetry, and I can honestly say from experience that it never gets any easier for me. And, sometimes, the point of a specific poem completely escapes me. The problem is this: every writer is different. Some metaphors are more obvious than others, and in some cases, you will get stumped.
Having said that, I think that this chapter will be very helpful in trying to get "unstumped," so to speak. The "Raise Questions to Discover Ideas" sections of this chapter were probably my favorite part, because sometimes when I'm reading, I do get stuck--to the point where I can't even think of new questions to raise. Or, I'll just ask the really basic ones, too lazy to dig deeper. I'm not saying that I don't go in depth in my essays, but sometimes you just get tired of analyzing the same piece of literature for an extended period of time.
Anyway, apart from these questions, the sample essays will be very useful in the upcoming months as we begin to write our own research-fueled literary response essays. I just hope (against hope and my own better judgement) that Roberts ends up being right about everything he said in his introduction, because I sadly doubt that analyzing a paragraph is the same as analyzing an entire book...but maybe that's just me. Maybe my peers think otherwise.
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Dave on It takes a lot of paragraphs to make a book... Roberts, CH 2: That's exactly what I was thin
Josie Rush on It takes a lot of paragraphs to make a book... Roberts, CH 2: Definitely. Sometimes, sadly,
Jessie on It takes a lot of paragraphs to make a book... Roberts, CH 2: I know...I'm not saying that w
Jessica Orlowski on It takes a lot of paragraphs to make a book... Roberts, CH 2: Oh my goodness!! I thought the
Josie Rush on It takes a lot of paragraphs to make a book... Roberts, CH 2: Definitely. Sometimes, sadly,
Jessie on It takes a lot of paragraphs to make a book... Roberts, CH 2: I know...I'm not saying that w
Jessica Orlowski on It takes a lot of paragraphs to make a book... Roberts, CH 2: Oh my goodness!! I thought the
Oh my goodness!! I thought the exact same thing when I read this chapter. While it never gets easier, Roberts certainly offers methods for laying a firm foundation. I agree though... those are some pretty wild claims. Just because I understand a part of ONE poem (Walt Whitman, for example) does NOT mean I will completely understand another (*cough* E.E. Cummings *cough*).
I know...I'm not saying that what he's saying is impossible...I just think he's being extremely nonchalant about the whole thing. I don't care who you are, every piece of literature is going to be different so how can you possibly expect to be able to explicate an entire book after just analyzing one paragraph? And don't even get me started on poetry...half the time it's like a foreign language!
Definitely. Sometimes, sadly, the more you analyze, the harder it gets, because you start to overthink. I defintely read that quote and thought, "Liar," because I've had Dr. Seuss down for sometime now, and still get stumped by Keats.
That's exactly what I was thinking, Josie, except Gertrude Stein came to mind. I don't really think I will ever know what any of her poems mean...fortunately I doubt anyone who hasn't asked her ever will either. But, yeah, I'm not entirely sure that Roberts really considered the vast difference between "A bag which was left and not only taken but turned away was not found." and "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish" seems rather significant....then again, perhaps if Stein had made use of illustrations it might have clarified a bit.