Gwen Harwood readings??? (1 Viewer)

[lotsasmiles]

I recently attended an English lecture on Gwen Harwood's poetry and have come away from it rather confused. The lecturer instructed students to look at at least 2 readings of each of Harwoods poems that they refer to in their essay eg feminist readings etc. I'm hearing this from a lot of different teachers and students from various schools. My own teacher however has strongly insisted that we don't do this. She even strongly marked down students in our assessment task who choose to use such readings. The only readings she has insisted we use are our own personal readings of the poems and if we feel like we need extra to use the readings of other Australian poets or writers. She has stated that there was a directive from the Board of Studies requesting students don't use readings such as feminist, freudian etc. So basically I'm just wondering what should I do? Has anyone elses teachers said similar things to mine or has every one else stuck to the usual readings?

Thanks

 

[kristinmaree]

Our teacher said something similar, but that you use established readings to critique your own. For example you could contrast your reading with a feminist reading to highlight the multiple ways the text can be interpreted. We were given an exmample where they referred to other readings, but only in a sentence or two, saying how their reading related\contrasted to it.
Just make the other readings a minor point in your essay, your own reading should be the most prominant.

If your confused about it, then don't put any in at all. It's about how you interpret the text, not someone else.

 

[cullens-forever]

that's strange... our teachers told us that we should use the readings. they told us that you just use it to support your personal understanding of the poems, such as if you saw it froma psychoanalytical/feminist/christian perspective. it's just like how you back up your quotes with techniques, with this you're just backing up your udnerstanding by saying a critic agrees. however yes you can contrast a bit if you want. say that you thought differently. however, i suggest you consult some other english teachers at your school or maybe someone from board of studies, because that doesn't sound right to me. however, i don't think readings are a necessity, and i think you can still do very well without them. and if you do include them, yes, only a few lines. it's a small part. you should focus on the themes.

 

[annabackwards]

My teacher said to do what the other 2 have said ie say what your understanding is ie the concept portrayed in this poem is bla blah, however if a psychoanalytical reading/voice/context/perspective was applied then one would see the concept being portrayed to be blah blah blah.

And yes, your reading should make up the bulk of the essay, the readings should only be 3 sentences at the very most

 

[jackydoll]

My teacher said to write a practise essay to prepare for the HSC and he said that we should write it our own perspective as a personal response but refer to reading not from a specific person that wrote an article in his/her perspective but from, for example, a romantic or religious point of view. You would have to refer to the poetic techniques and how it shaped meaning and is interpreted to a religious or romantic person reading the poem.

 

[peachlives]

my teacher said not to worry about the various readings, but to focus on our own readings

she did say we had to know of a few different critics and their interpretation...
maybe this is what the lecturer was referring to??
but even this doesn't have to be known in detail, just know 2 or 3 people's views about Harwood's poetry, and the rest of your essay needs to focus on YOUR interpretation.

i think this all comes out of the "how Harwood's poetry has been received in different contexts" part of the rubric. i guess you need to know how it was received when it was published (ie: why would she use pseudonyms), how it was received in later years and how it's received now.

but i don't think its something we need to know in detail. i think the question will more likely revolve around textual integrity, as that's mentioned quite a lot in the rubric.

 

[ValentinesM]

My English teacher pointed out the difference between the old syllabus for Critical Study of Texts and the new one, which is in the new syllabus, the emphasis on YOUR PERSONAL interpretation (ie. what you've learnt, how you view the text) of the texts, NOT a direct copy of some other established readings. In actual fact, once you start to include feminist readings etc, then it's telling the markers that you haven't really looked at the new syllabus!