Blog Entry #1

This week, the first week, we were assigned to read Chapter 1 of Making Your Own Days. In this chapter, it talks about how poetry is like a "language within a language." In class, we were assigned to read a poem for MYOD, of our choice, to find a word and write a denotation and connotation as well as how was the word used in the poem. This was just breaking down the word. On the first day of class, after watching a small video and talking about it made me realize how powerful words are. On the second day, we were assigned to read a poem and write the denotation and connotation for a word and explain how it fits into the poem; I never realize how much more definition and impact the choice of words has on the poem. An obstacle for me is being able to understand poems with great details and also composing one as well. Right now, I am working on keeping a seperate mentality for both English classes that I am taking. In my other class, we are more bound to the rules of formality and focus on being objective writers. On top of all that, I am more used to being a formal writer and tend to lack a bit of creativity. So far what I have enjoyed from the class is the impact of words have and knowing how to select the perfect combination to have a greater affect. I also enjoyed an in class activity that took place sometime after the denotation and connotation, when we had to make sentences using the words on the board. I felt that helped me work on my creativity since the sentences did not have to make sense. I have learned that inspiration can be obtained from almost everything around us; the actions of others, literature, problems, the sunsetting, and the list continues.