Why Grammar Matters

A personal essay by Sophie Plantamura

How I learned that even the most seemingly inconsequential grammatical choices can change everything. 

Junior year Sophie geeking out over Steinbeck's beautiful language. 

"I would like to share a student's paper as an example of what I was looking for in this assignment" said my AP Literature teacher, a casual remark that increased my heart rate, alertness, and hope for recognition. I had worked tirelessly on this paper, mirroring the stylistic methods utilized by some of my favorite authors in order to demonstrate my
proficiency in the English language. After a dramatic pause rivaling those of award show announcers, my teacher finally stated, "Sophie's paper was the perfect example of being creative and concise," proceeding to point out certain sentences where I had done particularly well. At last! I had finally been recognized for my hard work. Maybe I could pursue this English thing in college...

Rowen's Literary Moments

Reverence [reading literature privately]

I read Ender's Game fairly late in comparison to many of my peers. Typically, I would bounce thoughts and ideas about whatever I happened to be reading at the time off of my mother, since she was the only other person in the house, , but not so with Ender's Game - my mother never liked the story, so I never really got to talk about it. The further I got, the less people who had recommended it to me were interested in what I had to say about it, and so the less I talked about it. I read the final chapters alone in my bedroom . . . I don't cry at books, I never have. But the final pages of Ender's Game made me glad that I could experience in the privacy of my own mind. I closed the book, and reverently placed it back on the shelf.

A Very Different Christmas Story[Cinematic Literary Experience]
I can't remember if I saw Hogfather or read it first, but either way the visuals and narration I associate with the story thanks to it's cinematic adaptation stick with me every time I read or watch it. I cannot unhear the voice of Death teaching a human about why belief matters.

This Story is Nothing Special [Literary Coping]
Somewhere in the internet, there is a blog which contains all of my most embarrassing angsty teenage poetry. I had a lot of angst, a lot of teenage, and a lot less poetry.

Words I Did Not Understand [Literature Performed/Theatrical Experience/ Foreign Literary Experience/ Sublime Literary Experience]
I know there's an entirely different subset for music-as-literature, but this actually falls in multiple categories. I recently had the opportunity to attend a concert by The Hu, a Mongolian Rock band which uses traditional throat singing and electric guitars to revitalize Mongolian culture. I can't put into words how I feel about their music, and I'm not really sure which category this story goes into, but it belongs somewhere.

Nothing I Write Makes Sense [Creatively Composing]

I've written very few songs that I'm actually proud of. Two specifically come to mind- one I wrote on my mission after I had vowed not to write sad music whilst serving the Lord (a choice with debatable legitimacy) The second I composed while I was a confused mess about romance. Turns out that was the only good love song I've ever written.

Going to Open Mics is Fun :/ [Literary Envy]

I'm sorry that so few of my stories have to do with traditional literature. Until I became too busy with school to manage, I attended the open mic at Velour for about a month. I really admire the musicians there, both for their content and compositional skill, but I cannot help but feel raw whenever I go. Its also spurred me to attempt to be more creative than I have been recently, so that's good. 

Literary Moments: A Personal Inventory (Assignment)

We write better about literature when we tap into the wellsprings of literary experiences that have engaged us personally. Before my students commit to subjects of literary analysis or expression, I want them to go through a reflective process in which they curate a set of literary moments that have stuck with them, for whatever reason.

Select from among the following prompts to produce an annotated list of about six items, each of which should have an annotation of about 25-75 words relating that experience in brief. If possible, use a quotation from that literary work in question. Title each entry and put in brackets, following the title, the type of literary moment (that is, which of the following prompts you used). See the examples at the bottom.

You are only half done once you've posted. Be sure that you read and respond to at least three of your peers' posts. Tell them which of their moments you'd like to hear more about, or the ones that relate to your own. Help each other get excited about possibilities for writing more.

Rowen's Academic Writing Self-Assessment

In my English 251 class last semester, we were assigned a reaction paper in which we discussed one of the readings for the section. I chose Stanley Fish's "How to Recognize a Poem When You See One." I feel this assignment was well-organized. After discussing Fish's conclusions within the context of the paper itself, I expanded those conclusions to include moments in recent cultural history when individuals saw "poetry" (or, in the case of the evidence, visual art) where poetry did not initially exist. I further demonstrated Fish's beliefs in the opposite direction, demonstrating that pieces meant as art by one person could be quite literally perceived as trash by anyone other than the intended audience.
While I am confident in my ability to arrange ideas on a macro level, so that each piece of an argument works well with the other pieces, I am less confident in my capacity to arrange an organize those individual pieces. Many have said that my work is "too wordy" and that is something I struggle with constantly.

Dylan's Shelfies

My dorm room bookshelf

Here's the way I tried to upload my favorite books. I couldn't figure out how to format it like Professor Burton.

Overview of Assigned Writing

In this course students will be practicing literary criticism from a variety of angles. One way is via blogging, here. And on this blog they will develop and post -- before moving into writing proper literary criticism -- a personal literary essay. After all, we need to find some interest and energy from within our personal experiences with the literary. The, about every other week, students will write literary criticism at increasing length and sophistication, starting with Literary Analysis I (a close reading); then Literary Analysis II (requiring a critical approach beyond formalism; then Literary Analysis III (requiring scholarly sources pertaining to the literary work(s) in question. All of that will lead up to the big one, their culmination assignment for the semester, an 8-10 page Research Paper worthy of presenting at an academic conference.