One sure-fire way to construct a solid argument is to use tools from classic rhetoric: ethos, logos, and pathos. Being able to combine all three appeals in one argument can help you create a solid argument. The following website explains all three appeals and gives some humorous examples of ethos, logos, and pathos at work:
http://www.rpi.edu/dept/llc/webclass/web/project1/group4/
Here's another website that explains ethos, logos, and pathos more thoroughly:
http://courses.durhamtech.edu/perkins/aris.html
And yet more examples!
http://www.public.asu.edu/~macalla/logosethospathos.html
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
How to Read a Poem
Emily Dickinson, circa 1846 or 1847, courtesy of Wikipedia
HOW TO READ A POEM
a love of learning talk by Jessica Lyn Van Slooten
March 31, 2009
7:00 p.m.
Hillside 204
UW-Manitowoc
in celebration of National Poetry Month
In order to figure out how to read a poem, we must first know why we are reading a poem. Are we reading for pleasure? For a special occasion? For class? Do we have to read the poem aloud--to an audience? to ourselves? Do we have to read it silently? Discuss it? Analyze it?
Tonight we're going to read several poems together, applying a variety of skills to the poems to read them successfully, and, more importantly, to enjoy reading.
Let's start by reading the Billy Collins poem "Introduction to Poetry." You may read the poem however you'd like--aloud, silently, etc. Then we'll discuss your reading process and what the poem itself tells us about reading poetry.
Now, here are a few misconceptions about reading poetry, taken from a useful handout on How to Read a Poem:
1. We should "get" a poem after one reading.
2. The poem has a secret, hidden meaning that we can uncover if we know the "code."
3. The poem can mean anything.
Why are these statements false? Who says if a reading is "right" or not? How can we begin to read a poem in order to both create meaning and pleasure?
Here are a few steps I like to take when reading poems:
1. Look at the poem:
What shape does it make on the page?
Is it a "skinny" poem? A long, breathless poem? A concrete poem with a definite shape?
Does it have more than one stanza?
How are the lines arranged?
How is the poem punctuated?
Do the last words in each line rhyme?
2. Listen to the poem:
Where do I naturally want to pause?
What kind of rhythm does the poem have?
What kind of sounds do the words make?
How does the poem feel as I say it aloud?
3. Consider the poem:
What does the title tell me about the poem?
What do I know about the poet?
When was the poem written? And where?
What is the cultural context of the poem?
What kind of literary devices are used in the poem?
4. Gauge my reaction to the poem:
How does the poem make me feel?
Do I like the poem? Why or why not?
5. Compare the poem to other texts:
How is the style different?
How is the subject treated?
Does the poem remind me of other works?
6. Offer up conditional meanings:
What do I think the poem is about?
How do I support these readings?
7. As the "How to Read a Poem" handout suggests, there comes a time to simply "embrace ambiguity" and enjoy the process of reading and the connection with the poem.
Robert Frost reading "The Road Not Taken"
Robert Creeley reading "Kore"
Allen Ginsberg reading Howl, part III and Footnote to Howl
The Bluest Eye
Today we start discussing Toni Morrison's novel The Bluest Eye in class.
Let's take a look at the Spark Notes guide to this novel:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/bluesteye/
It can be a good place to start if you're confused by the novel. But, it can also be limiting if you read only summaries and not the novel itself. You'll miss the artistry of the novel and the fullness of the story. And, while the analysis of the novel can be helpful, it also presents only one view of a certain passage. So use such resources thoughtfully and carefully.
Now, for some photos of Shirley Temple, that supposed icon of American girlhood, whose image entrances Pecola:
http://www.shirleytemple.com/
And a video of Shirley and Mr. Bojangles.
And some examples from the Dick and Jane readers:
http://faculty.valpo.edu/bflak/dickjane/spot.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_and_Jane
Let's take a look at the Spark Notes guide to this novel:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/bluesteye/
It can be a good place to start if you're confused by the novel. But, it can also be limiting if you read only summaries and not the novel itself. You'll miss the artistry of the novel and the fullness of the story. And, while the analysis of the novel can be helpful, it also presents only one view of a certain passage. So use such resources thoughtfully and carefully.
Now, for some photos of Shirley Temple, that supposed icon of American girlhood, whose image entrances Pecola:
http://www.shirleytemple.com/
And a video of Shirley and Mr. Bojangles.
And some examples from the Dick and Jane readers:
http://faculty.valpo.edu/bflak/dickjane/spot.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_and_Jane
Monday, March 9, 2009
Ecofeminist Approaches to Ruth Ozeki's *All Over Creation*
Lady Lilith, painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1863Ruth Ozeki’s All Over Creation and Ecofeminism
What is Ecofeminism?
Ecofeminism is the merging of ecocriticism (critical approaches that focus on environmental issues) and feminism (critical approaches that focus on women). There are many versions of ecofeminism, and each one has a slightly different twist on the subject.
Here are a few key Ecofeminist ideas:
* Much Western thought, especially Enlightenment thought, but also reaching back to Aristotle, emphasizes dualities like culture/nature, man/woman, reason/emotion, mind/body, God/man. In these dualities, the first term is privileged and then the second one is degraded. As you can see from the examples above, this leaves nature and women in a secondary position.
* The Enlightenment emphasized a Great Chain of Being, in which a hierarchy was established, with God at the top, and lesser beings falling in line afterwards.
* The Enlightenment also traded in earlier conceptions of nature as an organism to nature as a machine. This was, after all, the Age of Reason and the dawn of the Industrial Revolution when order and mechanization were revered.
* Ecofeminist scholars are reacting to the various dualities, hierarchies, and privileging of some kinds of knowing that persist long after the Enlightenment.
* Ecofeminist thought is sometimes in line with Deep Ecology, which is the belief that everything is interconnected and equal, that a change in one minute part of the ecosystem causes ripple effects elsewhere.
* Ecofeminists sometimes celebrate the identification of women with nature, and other times they distance themselves from this equation.
* Ecofeminism sees the oppression and/or degradation of nature and women to be intimately related.
Here are a few quotes from Ecofeminist scholars that illustrate these ideas:
Carol Adams: “Ecofeminism stresses relationship, not solely because it has been women’s domain, but because it is a more viable ethical framework than autonomy for transforming structures that are environmentally destructive.”
Ynestra King: “Capitalism, the preeminent culture and economics of self-interest, is homogenizing cultures and simplifying life on earth by disrupting naturally complex balances within the ecosystem...[in Western culture there is] a deep ambivalence about life itself, our own fertility and that of nonhuman nature, and a terrible confusion about our place in nature.”
Carolyn Merchant: “The image of the earth as a living organism and nurturing mother had served as a cultural constraint restricting the actions of human beings [...] As long as the earth was considered to be alive and sensitive, it could be considered a breach of human ethical behavior to carry out destructive acts against it.”
Winnie Tomm: “The view of both women and nature as raw material to be used according to the desires of others underpins exploitation of both.”
Susan Bordo: “By Descartes’s brilliant stroke, nature becamse definedby its lack of affiliation with divinity, with spirit. All that which is God-like or spiritual--freedom, will, and sentience--belong entirely and exclusively to res cognitans. All else--the earth, the heavens, animals, the human body--is merely mechanically interacting matter.”
Why use Ecofeminism to interpret literature?
Ecofeminism can help us understand how issues of nature and women are interwoven, and it can give us a new perspective on reading literature.
How does Ecofeminism apply to All Over Creation?
Ozeki’s novel is filled with symbols and images of nature and women--let’s make our own list! These symbols bring a greater depth to the novel than just an engaging plot.
Life, birth, death, passion are all prominent themes that are explored through female characters, the male characters who try to control them, and the children--both literal, figurative, and absent--that fill their lives.
Ozeki seems to be asking some big questions about these themes--what is the value of life? Who has power over life? Are some lives worth more than others? That she uses potatoes and issues of genetic modification to frame these questions places her novel squarely in the eco-lit camp. And we can make the case for this novel as a feminist statement as well--how many of the main characters are women? Who sets chains of events in motion?
Now, what particular characters, symbols, events, and/or places seem to lend themselves to an ecofeminist reading? Let’s test some Ecofeminist readings of the novel!
Here's a link to info and paintings of the Hindu Goddess Kali, who we see in Duncan's office towards the end of the reading. She's a great ecofeminist and multi-cultural symbol in the novel.
http://www.sanatansociety.org/hindu_gods_and_goddesses/kali.htm
What is Ecofeminism?
Ecofeminism is the merging of ecocriticism (critical approaches that focus on environmental issues) and feminism (critical approaches that focus on women). There are many versions of ecofeminism, and each one has a slightly different twist on the subject.
Here are a few key Ecofeminist ideas:
* Much Western thought, especially Enlightenment thought, but also reaching back to Aristotle, emphasizes dualities like culture/nature, man/woman, reason/emotion, mind/body, God/man. In these dualities, the first term is privileged and then the second one is degraded. As you can see from the examples above, this leaves nature and women in a secondary position.
* The Enlightenment emphasized a Great Chain of Being, in which a hierarchy was established, with God at the top, and lesser beings falling in line afterwards.
* The Enlightenment also traded in earlier conceptions of nature as an organism to nature as a machine. This was, after all, the Age of Reason and the dawn of the Industrial Revolution when order and mechanization were revered.
* Ecofeminist scholars are reacting to the various dualities, hierarchies, and privileging of some kinds of knowing that persist long after the Enlightenment.
* Ecofeminist thought is sometimes in line with Deep Ecology, which is the belief that everything is interconnected and equal, that a change in one minute part of the ecosystem causes ripple effects elsewhere.
* Ecofeminists sometimes celebrate the identification of women with nature, and other times they distance themselves from this equation.
* Ecofeminism sees the oppression and/or degradation of nature and women to be intimately related.
Here are a few quotes from Ecofeminist scholars that illustrate these ideas:
Carol Adams: “Ecofeminism stresses relationship, not solely because it has been women’s domain, but because it is a more viable ethical framework than autonomy for transforming structures that are environmentally destructive.”
Ynestra King: “Capitalism, the preeminent culture and economics of self-interest, is homogenizing cultures and simplifying life on earth by disrupting naturally complex balances within the ecosystem...[in Western culture there is] a deep ambivalence about life itself, our own fertility and that of nonhuman nature, and a terrible confusion about our place in nature.”
Carolyn Merchant: “The image of the earth as a living organism and nurturing mother had served as a cultural constraint restricting the actions of human beings [...] As long as the earth was considered to be alive and sensitive, it could be considered a breach of human ethical behavior to carry out destructive acts against it.”
Winnie Tomm: “The view of both women and nature as raw material to be used according to the desires of others underpins exploitation of both.”
Susan Bordo: “By Descartes’s brilliant stroke, nature becamse definedby its lack of affiliation with divinity, with spirit. All that which is God-like or spiritual--freedom, will, and sentience--belong entirely and exclusively to res cognitans. All else--the earth, the heavens, animals, the human body--is merely mechanically interacting matter.”
Why use Ecofeminism to interpret literature?
Ecofeminism can help us understand how issues of nature and women are interwoven, and it can give us a new perspective on reading literature.
How does Ecofeminism apply to All Over Creation?
Ozeki’s novel is filled with symbols and images of nature and women--let’s make our own list! These symbols bring a greater depth to the novel than just an engaging plot.
Life, birth, death, passion are all prominent themes that are explored through female characters, the male characters who try to control them, and the children--both literal, figurative, and absent--that fill their lives.
Ozeki seems to be asking some big questions about these themes--what is the value of life? Who has power over life? Are some lives worth more than others? That she uses potatoes and issues of genetic modification to frame these questions places her novel squarely in the eco-lit camp. And we can make the case for this novel as a feminist statement as well--how many of the main characters are women? Who sets chains of events in motion?
Now, what particular characters, symbols, events, and/or places seem to lend themselves to an ecofeminist reading? Let’s test some Ecofeminist readings of the novel!
Here's a link to info and paintings of the Hindu Goddess Kali, who we see in Duncan's office towards the end of the reading. She's a great ecofeminist and multi-cultural symbol in the novel.
http://www.sanatansociety.org/hindu_gods_and_goddesses/kali.htm
The painting at the top of this post is of Lilith, a powerful and mythical woman, said to be a lust-inducing demon, a chil killer, and, by some accounts, Adam's first (and rejected) wife.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
eng 278: mla citation example: article from database
Here is the template for an article found using a library database:
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Article Title." Periodical Title volume number.issue number (Publication Date): Page number-page number. Database Name. Service Name. Library Name, City, State. Date of access.
And here's an example with the information filled in:
Smith, Caroline J. "Living the Life of a Domestic Goddess: Chick Lit's Response to Domestic Advice Manuals." Women's Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 34.8 (Dec. 2005): 671-99. MLA International Database. EBSCO. University of Wisconsin-Manitowoc, Manitowoc, WI. 4 Mar. 2009.
***note: the formatting is not working. you should use reverse indentation--that is, every line after the first one should be tabbed in.***
Monday, March 2, 2009
eng 278: all over creation
Ruth Ozeki's novel All Over Creation (2003) responds to cultural concerns about agriculture and the food chain.
See Michael Pollan's article "Playing God in the Garden," which Ozeki alludes to on page 85. Pollan is regarded as the food politics journalist of our time, raising consciousness about agricultural practices.
Towards the end of today's reading, we learn of the NuLife Enhanced potatoes--genetically modified and capable of repelling pests without many inputs. The NuLife is based on the New Leaf potato, introduced by Monsanto in the 1990s. See this graphic on Monsanto's website for a visual representation of how they see the potato working. For a little history on these potatoes, see this website from Cornell University.
And, to see a real collection of seed savers, look at the Seed Savers Exchange website and catalog.
See Michael Pollan's article "Playing God in the Garden," which Ozeki alludes to on page 85. Pollan is regarded as the food politics journalist of our time, raising consciousness about agricultural practices.
Towards the end of today's reading, we learn of the NuLife Enhanced potatoes--genetically modified and capable of repelling pests without many inputs. The NuLife is based on the New Leaf potato, introduced by Monsanto in the 1990s. See this graphic on Monsanto's website for a visual representation of how they see the potato working. For a little history on these potatoes, see this website from Cornell University.
And, to see a real collection of seed savers, look at the Seed Savers Exchange website and catalog.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)