How
have we treated some of the major figures of the Irish literary canon and what
sort of questions did we explore in our discussion of them? How have you come to understand the fairy,
ghost, and vampire as “signifiers to larger historical, cultural, and social
issues” and what has that come to mean to you?
How have various aspects of literary theory become useful lenses through
which to view literature (and perhaps other “texts,” i.e. film, TV shows,
etc.), and how has the work of close-reading within class discussion, blogs,
and your own papers changed the way you might approach literature in the
future? Finally, what has been your
experience with the production of
literary analysis such as discussions, blogging, and presentations? How have you worked to revise your original
essay and what has that process been like for you? Finally, what has been the most meaningful
literary text, film, or concept that you will take away from this course and
why?
June 13th Discussion Questions
For this "free" blog, use this space as an opportunity to begin a "zero draft" or "discovery draft" for your final reflective essay. A zero draft is your "first attempt" at a piece of writing and should be a place where you discover what it is you want to say. In other words, rather than having an already formed thought or focus, use your writing here as a means of discovery. You should not be concerned about formulating ideas, grammar, spelling, or punctuation. This is free-writing at its most "free." I'll provide the prompt of the Reflective Essay below, but feel free to free-write on any subject related to the course. You may also just want to choose one or two questions and free-write on those.
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By: Lukas Wagner
ReplyDeleteIrish Literature 281 has taught me a lot about Ireland that I never knew anything about. Some of the most important topics I found in Irish literature was the potato famine and the war they fought against the British to become their own country. In each of the stories that we have read they talk about someone of a greater being rather it be a vampire, fairy or a ghost. These figures always represent something to the people that see them in some way. Most of our stories of these greater beings were there to either tell the person something, warn them of something or remind them of the old times and loved ones lost. Ireland has gone through so many hard times and it is now a way of life for many of them. Many of the people in the stories we here of still live in the past and are not use to the ways Ireland is changing with all the new technology’s, so to them these stories are a way of life. Over all of the stories and movies that we have read and watched on Ireland I would say the thing I enjoyed most was the movie on the group of guys trying to fight against the British army and free their country. I really enjoyed this movie because it was very interesting and I did not know much about Ireland and what it took for them to become a free country.
By: Ashley Kreul
ReplyDeleteTaking Irish Literature 281 has taught me so much of Ireland that I never knew before. The idea of how the stories basically symbolize what people believe or have gone through and that the signifiers are the ghost, the vampire and the fairy. These three things are the idea of the past and magical mystical Ireland. I like how these figures are bigger/powerful than a human being and it really shows the impact that they have and display in the stories, whether it be good or bad. It could mean a warning or a reminisce of a past event that they want to either remember or not. The people bring back the idea of stories to reflect the idea of a love and loss relationship because they dont want to believe Ireland is changing, they want it the way it's "supposed" to be, which is mystical and magical, not changing and transforming. The real main concept I got was what Ireland went through as a country, the war, the Magdeline laundries and men and women were effected and just to show the impact I thought was really something I never would have imagined.