Response to a Poem

     As I was scrolling through the list of poems, the title of a specific one caught my eye. It was “Fairy-Tale Logic” by A.E. Stallings. I have never been very enthusiastic about reading fairy tales but to me the title meant that I would never have to read another fairy tale again. As I began to read the poem I was drawn into the tone of the poem and how it changes.

     The poet sums up all the meanings of fairy tales and translates it into real life. The meaning of all these fairy tales is that people often ask us to do tasks we believe are impossible to accomplish but we already have the ability to complete them, we just have to be willing to complete the task. The poet sums this up best in the second paragraph were she explains that, “You have to believe That you have something impossible up your sleeve” (A.E. Stallings lines 9-10). This means that we have the tools and the abilities to deal with difficult problems already. We can also see his meaning at the end of the second paragraph when she states, “The will to do whatever must be done: Mary a monster. Hand over your first born son” (A.E Stallings lines 13-14). In these two lines she explains that now we know we have the ability to complete an impossible task we just have to have the will to do what ever it takes to get the job done.

     The tone in the first half of the poem is pessimistic. She doesn't believe any of these fairy tale missions are at all possible. In the second half of the poem he changes his tone from pessimistic to optimistic. She now believes that the task are indeed possible and that everyone has the ability to complete them hiding up there sleeve.

Here is the link to the poem

Summary and Analysis

When an instructor assigns us to read an essay, poem or a

chapter from a book

they want to make sure we read and understand the

passage. To make sure that we did

read what we were assigned they either make us write a summary or an analysis of

what we read. Although a summary and an analysis are similar, they are actually

quite different. A summary is a short recap of the text while an analysis is our

own observations, thoughts and personal views about the text.

     In a summary we restate the text from a book or an essay in our own words. We

do this so that others can read our summary instead of the passage or they can read

our summary and make a decision on whether or not they want to read the full

passage.

     In an analysis we state our own thoughts on what we believe the author is

trying to tell us or our own personal views about the passage. An analysis can

include short summaries so the reader can understand how we came to a certain

conclusion, but a summary cannot include an analysis.

Here is a link to how to write a good summary.

Welcome video

Good Readers and Good Writers

     Nabokov thinks that good readers should separate themselves from the story and focus on picture the author is trying to portray. Good readers should also not open the book with any preconceived notions about the book. Nabokov also believes good readers should have four basic tools: an imagination, a good memory, a dictionary and a little artistic sense. He also thinks that readers need to go back and reread to fully appreciate the book. I do agree with Nabokov. I agree with him because when we start comparing ourselves to characters in the book or comparing our lives to the book we really don’t see the visuals the author is painting for us.

Source: http://rt.com/usa/news/nabokov-laura-lolita-bilingual/

     I believe having an imagination is a good characteristic of reading. This is a good characteristic because if we can’t put the designs, colors or any other physical thing the author is trying to describe to us with words together in our heads then we can understand the book. I don’t consider myself a great reader but I do have a little imagination left.

Here is a link to a site that helps us use our imagination while reading

http://www.weac.org/news_and_publications/education_news/2007-2008/readinginroom_imagination.aspx