Poetry has never been a strength of mine, poetry tends to be very confusing. While I understand poetry is meant to be read more than once I find it discouraging; going over the poems in class made me feel better about taking my time and processing. When reading My Last Duchess I noticed the line:
How such a glance came there; so, not the first
Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, ’twas not
Her husband’s presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek
Breaking this section down was challenging, but I realized the poet is really foreshadowing by showing us the jealousy and possessiveness of the Duke. With the exercise of reading poems, I feel confident that I will be able to understand and process Oedipus the King. This reminds me of the process I had to take to understand Othello, my old English teacher helped me learn how to read it and it ended up being one of my favorite stories of all time.
5 thoughts on “Nada (Nan) Abushami Discussion Week 7”
Poetry isn’t a strength of mine either. I agree that it can be confusing if not read correctly or if unsure of definitions of some words. I enjoyed reading Othello as well. It is a good story.
Nan thank you for expressing your opinion about poetry. There are three challenges we attempt to discover: 1) the first is knowing the discovery when we were taught as children and teens, 2) the second is creating new ideas out of what we discovered, 3) and the last is challenging the myths and conceptions from the new ideas that we’ve known the discovery’s about.
I think this comes without a pinch of salt in English language. When learning history lessons in my teen life, some history teacher asks us what does this quote meant from Isaac Newton, and that we use our brains to process so much off of it due to the way we use English differently. That’s basically what happens in our minds; we always seem to find better ways to prioritize these discoveries where we left off.
It’s great that you are taking your time with poetry and connecting it to what you have read before, like “Othello”. Breaking down tough lines can be hard, but you did a great job noticing the Duke’s jealousy in ” My Duchess”. Keep going, and You will feel more comfortable and confident with reading ” Oedipus the King’ and other poem that are to come in front of you.
Nan, that quote from “My Last Duchess” is a good one. Once you realize what’s happening in the poem, it seems very clear, doesn’t it? You’re right that you have to take the time. I’d like to hear more about how/if reading poetry affected your confidence in reading Oedipus.
Good afternoon, Nadia, I’m in the same boat as you when it comes to poetry not being a strength of yours. Even after reading poems a few times, sometimes I still don’t understand the actual meaning of the poem. That quote that you chose for example, was so confusing to me but you explained it perfectly. For me it’s their word choices that mess me up. Overall, you did a great job with this assignment, I hope you have a great day!