Poetry is an important, kaleidoscopic genre of literature and worship, but some still find it to be an impenetrable artform. Many Christian students desire to faithfully engage with creative outlets, but get stuck when it comes to understanding meter or metaphor. How might these intricate texts become digestible? There are a few central ways to consider poetry we shall explore below in order to feel more confident approaching it: neighborly welcome, unhurried altruism, and sincere attention.
Tag: reading
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How to Close Read
It was the fall of my freshman year. I knew I wanted to major in English, but— apart from a few high school classes, a long list of favorite books, and an even longer list of books to be read—I had no experience with the discipline. And now, in my first ever college English class, I was required to “close read” a passage and then respond with an essay. I had no idea where to begin. Quite frankly, I panicked.
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The Value of Fiction
The value placed on fiction, and in particular fantasy, can vary in different circles within society: oftentimes Christians–particularly in an academic setting–can see fiction as inconsequential and even, at its worst, escapist. There is sometimes a desire to place fiction and fantasy in a category of frivolousness when it is not being read for class, only to be indulged in when one has the time and needs a break from the heavier, more “important” reading. As college students, we can become so besieged by the constant challenge to perform well, to write the phenomenal paper, to craft the perfect argument, that we forget that we can in fact read and write for our own enjoyment. As I have read through Alan Jacob’s book Reading for Pleasure in an Age of Distraction, I have come to believe that we can read and write for the enjoyment of it, especially when it comes to fiction, and it is intrinsically good for us to do so.
This article by guest author Phoebe Prinz ’24 won a Spring 2021 First Year Writing Award in the blog post category.
As we grow as writers, our writing process changes, too. After transitioning to college and navigating the constraints of COVID-19, you may find that your tried-and-true strategies no longer work as well as they used to—and that is okay!