Final Paper!!!

When I think of the word “retelling” many things come to mind. Taking this course has made a difference on what I think of retelling and of literature in general. I have to admit that I was not crazy about this class, in fact I was really nervous when I saw how much poetry was involved in this class. I think that high school makes many people scared of literature. We are told that our interpretations of literature are wrong and that some of us will just never get it. This is the main reason that I was so apprehensive of taking this course, because of all the doubts I have when it comes to poetry and my ability to decipher it.

When I was younger I loved poetry. I would spend hours up in my room pouring my heart out of a page, usually having to do with the every day stresses of a middle school girl. I would never show my poetry to anyone, until the day that I finally had the opportunity to turn in one of my poems for my English class in seventh grade. I was so excited, and nervous at the same time, it took every ounce of will power that I had to hand in that paper with my innermost thoughts on it, but it was something I was proud of, and wanted to be rewarded for. I will never forget the moment when our teacher, Mrs. Dart, handed back out papers. I couldn’t even look at her comments until I got home, though I was sure she loved my poem, even if it were only a fraction as much as I did. I remember seeing red pen covering my paper, and almost every word had one of her comments attached to it. She told me that my rhyme scheme did not make sense, that I contradicted myself, and that the poem in general, was not good. I was so insecure to begin with, as is any other middle school girl, and this just pushed me over the edge.
I managed to get through my high school English classes decoding poetry as I was taught to, simply writing what I thought the teachers wanted to hear. I went over every word and tried to make sense of what I was reading, but really never having any real connection with the words on the page. I have not wrote any more poetry since my seventh grade English class, except for the little bit of poetry that was required of us through our high school years. I feel like high school English teachers are just as scared of poetry as their students, and I apply this back to my idea of people reacting to the unknown. I have found that people are scared of that which they do not know. An instance that I know everyone has had to face would be death. We have all faced it, and still, we do not like to talk about it, mostly because we don’t know much about it. I have yet to find someone who is as comfortable talking about death, but then again, I am one of them.

My idea of retelling is taking something that is new to you, and interpreting it in your own way, then sharing your ideas with someone else. This concept can in fact be related to all forms of literature. This class has been very helpful in the sense that it makes you get your ideas out there. It doesn’t matter how nervous I was to post my inner most feelings on the web, I knew that in order to pass the class I had to do it. At first I saw myself holding back what I was really feeling, of simply reading a story just because it was assigned to us. Then something snapped in me, I realized that the only people that would be reading my blogs would be our class (most of whom probably did not even read all of them) and Dr. Sexson. I think this moment came when I was reading the short story, Cathedral, by Raymond Carver. Dr. Sexson told us specifically NOT to read this story. It was not required for the class, and he simply did not want us to read this. Although his tone of voice and the fact that he said this was one of his favorite stories made me think he was trying to pull some reverse psychology on us, which was pretty easy to see through (sorry Dr. Sexson, but it’s true). This story really made me think about how we see things in our life, and what retellings really means.

Cathedral, which I know is just a retelling of another story, for every story is a retelling of one that is already out there, took me out of my “comfort” zone and helped me see the big picture. This story, although titled Cathedral, doesn’t have much to do with cathedrals at all. In the same sense, retellings do not always have to follow such strict guidelines. There is no right way to retell a story; therefore, one has the opportunity to really make their interpretations known about any piece of literature out there. When the blind man asked how it looked (referring to the picture they had drawn of the cathedral) the man answered him “It’s really something.” The blind man was not referring to the picture itself, nor was the other man answering in such a sense. I think that he was asking about life in general, and showing this man, who was so uncomfortable with a blind man in his house, that they are not very different.
This idea of reading all forms of literature makes me think about the discussion we had in class about what literature was asking of us. Literature is not asking us to believe, it is simply asking us to suspend our disbelief. I know that I have had a problem with this concept, as Dr. Sexson has pointed out to me, in stories such as Metamorphoses, or Oedipus. These stories are something that would never happen, and I have a really hard time suspending my ideas of reality in order to truly enjoy these novels. I think this is why I never got into the Harry Potter novels. I know that I am a realistic person, and in most cases in life this is an important characteristic to poses, but literature may be the biggest exception to this rule. When it comes to retelling, one has to be able to retell a variety of stories, which puts me at a huge disadvantage in this situation. I am planning on making myself read more stories that are outside of my comfort zone, starting with Metamorphoses. I think that this will be a difficult task for me, but then again, so was decoding the poem Shall I compare thee to a summers day.

Even more of a challenge than posting my thoughts on my blog for all to see, decoding this poem was my greatest challenge in this class, and not surprisingly, the biggest thing that I will take out of English 123. I was so nervous to decode this poem, when I looked at it to begin with, it may have well been in another language the first couple times I read it. I looked up almost every word in the poem, as I had always done in high school, and tried to make sense of what was in front of me. I knew that my retelling of this poem to the class was going to be a challenge for me, but I was determined to make it work. Shakespeare was a very talented individual, and he managed to make an impression on people almost 400 years after his death. His language is hard to interpret right away, but once you have it down, it is easy to see that these words are part of what makes his writing so special. He doesn’t try to simplify the things he is trying to say, for that would mead holding back these feelings that he is expressing.

I think that Shakespeare may be one of the best authors to retell stories, mostly because of the passion that he brings to his work. He truly defines the term “retelling” and makes it easy to see why he is still such a huge figure in the literature field today. I have really enjoyed what I have taken from this class, and feel that I am once again ready to bring literature, and most importantly, poetry, back into my life.