Reading Reflection Essay

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Reading Reflection After reading the literary works available in this weeks reading, I decided the one literary work that captured my interest the most was in the genre of poetry. Genre is a category or type of literature, both the broadest categories of literature–prose, poetry, and drama–and specific types of literature within these categories (Clugston, 2010). Through the use of style and rhythm, poetry expresses feelings and ideas. Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s “Constantly Risking Absurdity” is a poem that engages the reader visually by imagining the artist as a performer. Through the use of the reader-response approach, I will evaluate the meaning of the literary work. The poem I have chosen examines the role of a poet living in society. It expresses the risks the poet must take and the qualities of perception he possesses. Ferlinghetti compares the poet to an acrobat using an extended metaphor. Throughout the poem, the initial comparison is continuously pursued. A metaphor is an image, which imaginatively compares one thing with another, showing how each has qualities that resemble the other (Clugston, 2010). This is contrary to what one usually thinks of when thinking of a poet. It is common to picture a poet sitting at a desk, writing with a quill pen while drinking from his goblet. However, through the use of an active, dangerous venture, Ferlinghetti is able to express the risks of the poet. He wants to convey that truth and beauty are out there, but seemingly always out of reach. One wrong move by the poet trying to capture them could be fatal. A reader-response approach has been defined as an approach, which encourages, through the use of specific prompts, reader’s personal interactions with text, including interpretation and evaluation, and is governed by readers interpretations of the text, their personal experience and prior knowledge
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