Wordy Wednesday: "This is Just to Say"

Today we celebrate Wordy Wednesday with a poem by
William Carlos Williams (1883-1963):

"This is Just to Say"

 I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

This is one of my favorite poems to read in class. Students in Introduction to Poetry have usually been treated to a fair amount of Shakespeare and Wordsworth and Keats and Tennyson before we get here. And then they read the poem and wonder if they read it right.

As with all poems, and texts really, we begin with the story. Who are the characters? What has happened? And then we break it down from there. There is a Speaker, an "I." And there is an Audience to whom the Speaker of the poem is speaking, the "you." The Speaker has eaten plums out of the icebox. The Audience was probably saving them breakfast.

What's fun about this poem is the "Sorry, but not sorry" aspect that is communicated in such a short amount of space. We know this Speaker. We may live with this Speaker. We may even sometimes be this Speaker. This Speaker is not a nice person. Or maybe we are the Audience. Maybe we have been on the receiving end of the Speaker's not-so-sincere apology that is really just an opportunity to rub it in our faces. In all likelihood, we can relate to both. And those plums, those plums we were saving for breakfast? Those plums are nothing less than the hopes and dreams that have been mercilessly and humorously snatched away from us by the Plum Thief.

For today's exercise, I invite you to play a game of Mad Libs. I just love Mad Libs and use it a lot in my teaching exercises. What I would like you to do is to simply start replacing words in the poem with your own. Try to keep the form and tone of the poem as close to the original as possible, but be creative and have fun. You can Google "This is Just to Say Parody" to find more examples online. And please feel free to post your attempts on the Getting Literature FB Group Page.

Here is my attempt to get you started. Enjoy!

"This is Just to Recycle"

I have recycled
the papers
that were in the boxes

and which
I will probably
need
for something or other.

Forgive me
they were depressing
so dusty
and so useless.

PS Thanks to Tiffany Sigler Rumbalski's "Poem a Day" FB Group for the inspiration for today's post. 

Meaningful Monday: The Meaning of Punctuation

http://writerspayitforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/to-comma-or-not-to-comma.jpg

Today's Meaningful Monday post is about the meaning of punctuation. I know that many writers freak out about correctness and then stress out over the thought of red ink covering their writing, but I've always maintained that punctuation is a tool to aid understanding and not intended to invoke a panic attack. The goal is to avoid distracting errors that make writing hard to understand. If you write, you are going to make mistakes. Writers are human. Errors are gonna happen. You just want to make sure that you are familiar with the rules that govern meaning. Misplacing a comma can change the meaning of a sentence. You want to make sure that your writing means what you want it to mean. It's not about perfection; it's about meaning what you write.

English is a difficult language and many of its grammar rules don't make sense. There. I wrote it. Deal with it. I still remember studying Japanese in high school and feeling suspicious that there weren't irregular verbs lurking all over the place and that it was that easy to change a verb into past tense. It made sense. It was logical. It was everything English is not.

That being said, English grammar doesn't have to be so awful and painful. There are fantastic resources available to help you figure things out when you have questions. And the more you learn about grammar and style, the easier it becomes to learn more about proper writing. One of my favorite resources that everyone should definitely check out is Grammar Girl. The Grammar Girl podcast, created by Mignon, includes short episodes that are usually under 10 minutes and focus on one tip at a time for easy digestion. I love that she also includes the transcript of the podcast on her website so you can see the examples she is referencing. She also has a few books out for those of us who prefer flipping through pages instead of scrolling through screens to find the answer.

Got a question about a comma? Not sure about that possessive? Should you write "affect" or "effect"? Check out Grammar Girl. She's got the answers you're looking for. Enjoy!

Wordy Wednesday: Brrrrr

As the weather starts to turn cold, a two letter combination keeps coming to mind: BR! As it so happens, the second grade classes at our local elementary school are capitalizing on this turn in the weather and studying words with the "BR" combination. They are also looking at a whole list of other letter combinations, but last night my daughter and I couldn't stop thinking of words that began with the letters BR. Here is what we came up with:

 

We got up to 43 words in about an hour and then it was way past time for bed. And then this morning we thought of three more. I was going to save the game for Wordy Wednesday, but when I posted about it on Facebook people seemed eager to start playing. So this week we celebrate Wordy Wednesday a day early! Enjoy!

Friday Film Post: The Big Short

Looking for a film to watch this weekend? The Big Short, based on the New York Times bestselling non-fiction book by Michael Lewis, is now available on Netflix. While watching a movie about the housing bubble collapse of the 2007-2008 might not seem like a good way to spend your weekend, the film is entertaining and enlightening. Directed and co-written by Adam McKay of Anchorman and Talladega Nights fame, this drama maintains a dark humor throughout and provides readers with a modern day morality play. 

Micheal Lewis writes non-fiction, but his masterful story-telling coupled with his strong character development lend his writing a literary quality that is at once accessible and elevated. His descriptions of people are so vivid and specific that they seem to leap off the page. After a few short lines reading about someone, you have a sense that you would probably recognize this person if you were behind them in line at the grocery store one day. This writing provides the basis for McKay's script and allows for amazing performances by Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, and Brad Pitt.


The mechanics of the financial collapse at the center of the plot are complicated and, admittedly, not entirely interesting. To combat this, the film incorporates and spoofs documentary cut-aways and narration techniques. McKay keeps the audience engaged by using cameo appearances from celebrities like Anthony Bourdain and Selena Gomez to explain these dizzying financial concepts. The most famous cameo in the film is when Margot Robbie explains "sub-prime mortgages" while drinking champagne in a bubble bath. Before you click on the hyperlink to watch the scene, be aware that the film is rated R and this scene contains profanity. It's a decidedly sharp departure from elevated prose of Lewis's book, but the film is aiming for a broader audience.

 

This tension between the seriousness of the fraudulent financial practices being described and the light-hearted style in which those practices are described by celebrities might leave some with a bad taste in their mouths. For other viewers, that McKay's silly style serves as the honey that helps the medicine go down. If the film doesn't float your boat, you can always check the book out by Michael Lewis. Happy viewing! Happy reading! 

Friday Film Post: Spotlight

If you're looking for a movie to watch this weekend, I am recommending Spotlight, which has just been added to Netflix instant streaming. Spotlight focuses on the investigative journalistic team of The Boston Globe that researched and published a series of articles about the Boston Archdiocese's cover-up of the sex-abuse scandal. While the film isn't technically based on literature, it is based on the true story of a group of writers searching for the truth and debating the issues surrounding the publication of that truth. The central narrative is all about the writing process and the power of the stories. 

Instead of sensationalizing the story of the abuse, the plot of the film emphasizes the extent of the cover-up, the players involved in the cover-up, and the methodical and tedious research the journalists perform to uncover the pattern of scandal. This is where the film shines. The script and the performances of the actors do a great job communicating the writers' passion for the story and making the research and writing process seem fascinating and filled with adventure. There is a surprising amount of tension and action throughout the film, especially the enjoyable scene where Mark Ruffalo's character runs around town trying to copy documents in time to file the story before other paper's catch wind of it.

Writing matters. Spotlight is a film that reminds us just how much it matters.

Have a great weekend!

Wordy Wednesday: Fun with Suffixes

Word Play
 
The English language can be complicated and frustrating and even downright maddening at times, but it can also be a lot of fun to play around with if you don't take it so seriously.

One night at dinner I decided our family should take turns naming all the words we could think of that ended with -tion. I can't remember what inspired it. I had no idea that the game would take on epic proportions and become so additive. PROPORTION. ADDICTION. Oh, no. It's starting again.

I mentioned (MENTION) the game to a group of students in one of my sections (SECTION). For the next week they were all using as many -tion words as they could. English majors can be quite competitive (COMPETITION) when it comes to language. And then I wrote about it in a Facebook group of professors  and watched as the thread exploded (EXPLOSION) into a list of every -tion word from every discipline taught at the university level today. EDUCATION. Turns out what I thought would be a fun little game to play at dinner with my children became an OBSESSION for the group of PROFESSIONals in the Facebook group. And what about EXPLOSION and OBSESSION and PROFESSION? Technically they are lacking the T, but -ion is part of the same suffix family at -tion and shares the same meaning of act or process. So do they count? You get to decide. Do you want the game to be about the letters or the meaning of the suffix? Either way is fine. The point is to have fun while you exercise all those language muscles in your brain. What matters most is the mental EXERTION, not the REGULATIONs.

So how does playing these games help improve your reading level?

Playing with words is one of the best ways to increase your vocabulary and boost your reading level. The more familiar you become with the meanings of various prefixes and suffixes the better you get at ascertaining and deducing (DEDUCTION) the meaning of unfamiliar words you encounter in your reading. Most people tend to just skip over words they don't know when they are reading. Playing these games motivates (MOTIVATION) you to seek out new words, new prefixes, new suffixes. The games boost your confidence when you encounter new vocabulary words because you already have some idea what the word means. Something that is un- or non- is not whatever the root is. You might not recognize the root, but you know it's a negative (NEGATION) of whatever it is. The more you play, the better you get at determining (DETERMINATION) the meaning of words. And the better you get, the more your vocabulary grows and grows.

You can Google to find a list of more suffixes and their meanings for more OPTIONS. You can also play with prefixes, but I can tell you from experience that suffixes tend to be far more interesting and challenging. I play word games with my kids all the time, especially when we're in the car and everyone is a little cranky. It's a great DISTRACTION when you are stuck in line or waiting around for someone. Word games are great because they don't require any special equipment. You can play them on any mode of TRANSPORTATION and in any LOCATION.

The book has launched! My first ebook, Getting Shakespeare: Strategies for Understanding the Bard is now available for download on Amazon.com. Here is a list of a few lessons you will learn when you read the book:

Word order confusing sometimes is
Sometimes a line doesn't make sense because it really doesn't make sense. I walk you through some strategies and provide some practice exercises to help you untangle the twisty syntax (word order) Shakespeare uses in his plays.

He's quite the character
Characters usually fall into certain roles in literature, and Shakespeare is no exception here. I have a section about how to identify different characters and keep track of all of their relationships.

Persistent Confusion
I write about how it is perfectly normal to be confused when reading Shakespeare. Sometimes he's trying to confuse his audience in order to build suspense or for some trick the characters are playing on stage. I offer some suggestions and exercises to help you push through in your reading.

Life and Times
You don't need to be an expert in Early Modern England to appreciate Shakespeare's work, but it does help to know a few things about the Bard and his world.

Immerse Yourself!
This is my favorite section! I've provided a list of some of my favorite books, films, and websites for you to explore. I discuss the importance of getting to a live performance of Shakespeare, as well as Shakespeare influence on some popular television series. I had to reign myself in and not go crazy in this section. As I discover and think of more adaptations and inspirations, I will blog about them here. Feel free to post suggestions for me to investigate on my GETTING LITERATURE Facebook Page.

Happy Reading!

Workshoping Hamlet

In my fantasy life, which is rich and full, I imagine myself in a writing workshop with Shakespeare discussing Hamlet. "Pirates? Really? Why don't you just have him abducted by aliens?" And then someone else chimes in, "I'm OK with the initial pirate attack, but then they give him a lift back to Denmark? That's where you lost me." And then someone else, "I'm OK with the whole pirate thing, I mean whatever. But does Laetes really need to jump into the grave at Ophelia's funeral?" And then someone else, "And why doesn't Gertrude do more to save Ophelia? She provides such a detailed description of her drowning, but she can't be bothered to send someone to save her? I mean, how far away can she be?" In the end, everyone agrees that they really love Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and maybe he could do a bit more with them.

This article from Tor.com discusses how some people on Tumblr imagine Hamlet as RPG. That makes sense to me, too.





 

Welcome to Getting Literature!

Welcome to Getting Literature! I'm so happy to have you here. This blog is designed for people who love to read and for those who have an interest in literature but never quite "got" what their teachers were talking about in school. I spent over a decade teaching literature to college students and I'm mother to three great kids, so I get how challenging some of this stuff can seem to newcomers and even some old-timers. But it doesn't have to be. I've seen students have an absolute blast discussing Milton's Paradise Lost and students fighting passionately about whether or not Beowulf is worthy of hero status. These students were not English majors and many of them swore to me that they didn't want to be there, this was the only elective that fit their schedule, and that they just weren't readers. They read all this stuff in high school and they didn't get it. Little did they know what I had in store for them!

This blog is my way of sharing all that joy and fun with a broader audience. It's my way of keeping the party going beyond the walls of the classroom. In addition to the blog, I have a Facebook Page (Getting Literature) where I will be posting all sorts of fun internet links and resources. Make sure you "Like" Getting Literature on Facebook to stay current on my book releases, workshops, and online classes. There is also a podcast in the works. You'll find out about everything through the Facebook page. And if you ever have any comments, questions, or suggestions, feel free to contact me at gettingliterature@gmail.com.

Thanks for reading! More to come!

Dawn