English 30

  Bishop and Williams: Be sure to review the  study sheet  for Bishop and Williams, posted to Blackboard, for insights into the themes/concerns of poems for both poets. The quotes on the study sheets are excerpted from articles on MAP and LRC (see course syllabus); search for the complete articles in these databases. Look over the  exercises  on Blackboard, as well, which can provide additional guidance and practice in literary analysis. Katie Ford's essay on Bishop, "Visibility Is Poor..." (Poets.org), is also insightful (esp pars. 4, beginning "According to Bishop..." through 8, beginning "Bishop's challenge...),   esp. regarding the self-questioning tendency of much of her imagery and its "challenge to... fixity" (see par 8, esp. Michael Sells distinction between "apophatic" and kataphatic" imagery); several image modulations in "The Fish" demonstrate a lack of "fixity."  To find the essay, on poest.org [o...

   In addition to this blog, be sure to read the sample of a beginning critical analysis for this story, posted to the Hemingway study sheet (item  "2" on the sheet--scroll to end of the document)    "Hills Like White Elephants": The title clues you in--you can't "get" the central conflict of this story without close consideration of the setting and dialogue--this is really all you have; almost like a poem, every word and detail count here.  Images and image contrasts tell a "story" here that can't be arrived at by simply considering plot--in fact, that nothing "happens", a least externally, is itself thematically significant.  In any case, look closely at elements of set--descriptive passages, but also where it becomes part of the dialogue.  So much to think about here--from descriptions of the landscape, to the beaded curtain and the suitcase, to the number of drinks the man has, and where and in what context--and details of a...