Hi everybody:

This week I’m one of the class blogger, thus it is my honor to read and reflect on my classmates’ blog entries. With the beginning of the poetry section of course, the genre of poetry became what most focused on, with some exceptions commentating on current events or relating personal experiences with course materials.

It seems apparent that, almost as an consensus, everyone in class now have a renewed understanding to the poetic format. Most of my peers mentioned that before their recent re-introduction to poetry, the genre was seen as boring, dry, and was understood as almost a robotic format focusing on structure. As Evan mentioned in his blog “The Art of Poetry”. During his experience learning about poetry prior to the ASTU class, the poems were taught in an almost mathematical fashion. The emphasis on the structure of the poems was an obstacle for his enjoyment of poetry, but the more recent focus on the content with the structure put in context was extremely helpful in allowing Even to enjoy the poems more. Despite the majority of the class’s somewhat unsatisfactory experiences with poetry in high school, Jordan was an exception. In her blog, she was able to decode a poem with her skill from composing poems, every stanza was carefully analyzed line by line, demonstrating a passion for poetry. She also mentioned in her blog that she is current writing poems during her free time.

With the renewed understanding on poetry, poetry is seem by many of the class as an highly effective and powerful media in rising social awareness, and in preserving memory and history. As many of my classmates mentioned, poetry is a powerful tool in conveying sentiments and emotions. Irene examined what such power of poetry did in a poem, and found it highly effective in communicating to the masses and reinforcing the sense of common precarity. Oliver on the other hand found such powerfulness in conveying emotion can be damaging to morale during wartime, reaching the conclusion that, it is sensible and excusable to censor some poems during times of war. Some other like Eun Ho and Kasper focused on the poem’s ability to enable learning and preserving of history, with Eun Ho focusing on the immortalization of events from history in poems and Kasper focusing the connection provided by poems between the personal and the collective.

Other then poetry, some other topics was written on as well this week. Devon discussed the Ed Sheeran shown to the class by Professor Luger, his tended to find the western portrayal of poverty in developing countries problematic, although he also admitted that videos such as Ed Sheeran’s success in providing immediate material support. Beril connected our classroom learning to current real world events, she reflected on a recent conversation between she and her boyfriend regarding the war in Syria, and was able to ask the question of “Who do we grief”, and criticize the sport game like perception of war. Ayse connected one of her personal experiences in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2009 and in 2016, she particularly mentioned the intentionally unfixed war torn buildings and their purpose of remembrance.

In general, most of my classmates focused on the recently renewed experience on poetry, and analyzed its function and ability. Some other was able to connect our classroom learning to real world problem or personal experience, helping themselves and I see the topics from a different lens and perspective.