Class Lectures

Lecture 1: “Literature is a product of it’s time period” -J Mignano- Brady

Through this lesson we discovered the various literary eras which have taken place from the early 1800’s to present day.  A literary timeline was developed to show the separate eras and explain their values and significance in history.  This lesson was essential because it allowed me to look back when reading a specific piece of literature and see how it was truly a reflection of the time period in which it was written.  In class we discussed works from each of the time periods Romanticism, Transcendentalism, Realism, Modernists and Post-Modern and the timeline helped to differentiate between each.  It really helped to give an perspective to what was going on in the world at the different times as well as showing the changes from one era to the next.  

Lecture 2: “Hills like White Elephants” E. Hemingway

This lesson brought upon a very touchy subject in present day society, the topic of abortion.  This was the underlying theme in the short story Hills like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway.  As a writing prompt we were asked to discuss our opinion on the matter and why we felt such a way.  This writing prompt really got me thinking and I did a lot of research on the topic and still I find myself uncertain with where I stand.  Sitting in a fishbowl each student had different ideas of the topic weather they were Pro-Choice or Pro-Life everyone had their own reasoning.  This lesson really highlighted the strong opinions people hold on such topics and how literature relates to important topics in everyday society.

Lecture 3: Lose Yourself- Eminem

This lecture was one of my personal favorites of the semester.  Professor Brady instructed us to close our eyes as she began to read some poetry.  After she read two lines I started to laugh because I realized what she was reading it was Eminem’s song “Lose-Yourself.”  Through this lesson we discovered how very similar and intertwined both music and poetry were.  We sit in our cars listening to music everyday but are we truly hearing the words being spoken?  We are listening to poetry conveyed through a different medium.  Both poetry and music convey a specific theme through the use of rhyming and tone.  When I heard this song being read this was the first time I truly listened to the song and understood every word the musician was conveying.  This was an extremely eye opening experience.