Response to Poems

Let me start by saying that these poems that were to be read this week were a little difficult for me to read and interpret my own opinion on them. But, I toughened up, opened my mind a little and found ways to comprehend with them.

The first poem that caught my eye was, Immigrants in Our Own Land. This poem was a story of an individual (the immigrant) going from his "old world" to the "new world". When he previously though that the old world had no use for him and going to the new one would be full of opportunity. But, when he arrived to the new world he was in for a surprise, of disappointment. Finding out that his life was lost in the new world and his old world was everything. For once, it showed the audience a perspective from the "immigrants" side and showed that maybe what is thought to be can be the biggest disappointment in someone's life. I really enjoyed this poem because, I, being a Hispanic, I am really interested in the immigration laws and to see a poem that shows the actual feeling of coming to America was interesting to me.

The second poem that interested me was, Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting. This poem was very short and right to the point. It is repetitive throughout the entire poem starting each stanza with "I tell her...". From my perspective, I imagined a man telling a woman/something his experience during a war.  Even though this poem is only three stanzas, it still shows a lot of detail and gives the reader an imagination to really feel what the writer is feeling. Sometimes poem don't have to be five pages to get a point across.

http://s195.photobucket.com/albums/z145/PrincessPooky78/Books%20and%20Poetry/?action=view&current=Poetry-5.jpg&sort=ascending

Summary vs. Analysis

Describing the difference between summary and analysis is a little easier to explain than to actually do when writing for an argumentative essay. it's easy to get them mixed up with each other and it's very difficult to write one type without using the other. There are reasons they're very distinct from each other; for example, the key points they make and what they present.

A summary is describing a topic with major details. I like to think of summary as RE-describing what the reader already knows, and highlighting main points for the subject. A summary is usually used for projects that points out information that the audience is unaware of. A summary usually consists of the five W’s; who, what, where, when, and why. Answering all of the W’s in a quick presentation will give you a complete summary of a topic.

On the other hand, an analysis essay is a sort of examination of a topic. Background information or a summary of the subject in order to analyze the subject into greater detail. After gathering information about the subject, the next step is to find the main points that make up the topic and come up with an argument. An example of this; The Cat in the Hat, is about two children that are in charge of keeping their home clean while their mother is away at work. The cat comes along and begins to ruin everything in the house, and it’s the children’s responsibility to get the house clean in time. An analysis of this story could be, young children are not responsible enough to be in charge of themselves without adult supervision.

It is very easy to get summary and analysis mixed up between each other; such as writing an analysis is hard to do without giving a summary about a subject. But once you figure out the difference between the two, they are very distinct from each other.

http://sixthings.net/2010/10/07/six-writing-analysis-tools/

Introduction Video

Good Readers and Good Writers

 Nabokov believe that a good reader is "someone that has imagination, memory, a dictionary and some artistic sense." (Good readers and Good writers, Vladimir Nabokov pg.  615) I would have to agree with Nabokov on this. Someone with all these characteristics, is able to fully understand readings. Being able to use your imagination with definitions of words and adding some personal artistic sense into the reading will broaden your knowledge and understanding of what the writer is trying to present. Another key point Nabokov made was that a good reader, is a re-reader. Rereading is a chance to really open the readers eyes and take out more information then they did reading it the first time. I can relate to this rereading idea, because there has been numerous times when i found more detailed answers to my questions in the text and even times when i found errors in my own writing. 
I believe for someone to be a good reader, they must really get into the text and visualize every line. Having some type of background information on what you are reading helps better prepare your mind, of what it's about to read. Reading aloud is something i like to use when I'm reading more difficult text. i do believe i am a good reader, but they're times when i can get lost in my own imagination. 

Vladimir Nabokov http://www.celsius1414.com/tag/vladimir-nabokov/