Critical+Study

This page is for the module Critical Study.


 * Gwen Harwood**

Okay so to study the best way is to write essays. That seems pretty self explanatory. You can be tested on any of the poems and it CAN specify (ie. Justify that Gwen Harwood's poetry is worth studying with reference to The Violets [in more englishy terms]) You will need to know quotes and ways of reading (like feminist)

You need at least one quote for each point you're going to make. You need to be able to prove that what your saying is true for the poem. For poems you should know at least two in depth but still you should know all of them pretty well. As for critics get a few quotes and make them general so that you can apply them wherever you need to.

Readings study first and then connect your quotes but i think you should still be able to know quotes without your readings too. If they ask for a transcript you will talk about readings but you still might like some extras.

At least THREE poems and at least TWO readings is what my teacher says but everyone else seems to say TWO poems. up to you

good luck.

Does anyone need more info on Sharpness of Death? I have done notes for Section 2 and will do rest if you want them.

· Poem takes reader through fearing death to accepting it as both mysterious and inevitable · Poem focuses on accepting time’s progress while appreciating the role that memories play in helping us retain all that’s important in life. Therefore, despite the “Sharpness of Death” and time’s progression, life is to be treasured. It’s message simply put: if you worry and spoil life by worrying about death, then you are already dead as you miss life’s opportunities. · Critical reading: Psychoanalytic- importance of memory and how it empowers the persona to resolve the fear of death. · Philosophers to Wittgenstein spent life pondering the complexity of “being” · He sort to decipher, name and capture definitive meaning, even redefining words such as “Dasein”(means life or existence), yet his convoluted “untranslatable reasonings” left the basic quandary of “Being” unresolved. · Work of Wittgenstein and Heidegger difficult to understand-this is Harwood’s point · Heidegger believed that language was the key to unlocking answers about humanity’s existence and state of being. · He needed to “say things are” or be left mute. Rilke saw song as central to existence. · Despite the works of Rilke, Heidegger and Holderlin, “the language in which Being speaks to us” remains as “untranslatable as ever”. It is complicated, overly complex and meaningless. It does not help define or explain the lack of being-death · Philosophy does not comprehend death or Being. The mystery of existence remains impossible to delineate · The speaker ponders whether Heidegger’s writings were “nonsense” or full of “deep insight”. Whilst he thought “much about dying”, the caesura(ie a pause in a line of poetry to allow its meaning to be made clear) emphasises “No one could die for him”-it is the experience that will ultimately lead to knowledge and that cannot be theorised about. · Poetry offered some medium of communication but it was only inferential, ”nothing could be proved” · Harwood quotes from his work when she states that he saw Death as being “the ultimate situation” .adding that she hoped some Elysium light was found beyond “that field of black everlasting flowers” · The implication is that pondering the nature of Death does not itself bring any assurance. · Intellectual conjecture does not satisfactorily answer the questions humanity has about death. · Language- third person- predominantly in third person-makes it more objective, extends the comments to a more general audience -past tense-used to account philosopher’s ideas -repetition of “and” conveys difficulty associated with understanding Heidegger’s philosophy -tone- tries to be detached but interjections express wonder. The persona seems doubtful of the worth of these great ideas.
 * __ The Sharpness of Death __**
 * Section 2: Heidegger **