Post Fifteen: The Final Reflection

IT Was: draining, stressful, required.
IT Was: triumphant, incredulous, eye opening.
IT Was: IB Language and Literature.

IT Was: what caused me to stay up on a Sunday night.
IT Was: what caused me to realize that literature isn't solely for entertainment.
IT Was: for conveying a message about society.

IT Was: the first class that asked us to understand the language choices a writer made.
IT Was: the first class that made us analyze a text on such a deep level.
IT Was: the first class that asked me to understand the question-why?

IT Was: the first class in which I learned it was okay to think that the curtains are just blue.
IT Was: the class where I learned about power, race, religion, sexuality, and mass media.
IT Was: the class that integrated problems in our society and the cultures of other societies.

IT Was: my transition into a higher appreciation of literature.
IT Was: a transition from seeing the curtains as blue to seeing them as navy, light, and Carolina blue.
IT Was: a transition from having a teacher to having a teacher that was excited to teach.

IT Was: the struggle to learn how to write in the IB way.
IT Was: the struggle to analyze texts in the way IB analyzes texts.
IT Was: the struggle to limit my opinion when writing to an analysis of the text.

IT Was: tiring, hard, and ultimately could drive one insane.
IT Was: application, analysis, rewarding.
IT Was: IB Language and Literature.

it was ib language and literature

Post Fourteen: Whitman

Walt Whitman's journal reveals what Whitman thought about when writing his poetry. It can be assumed from looking at the journal that Whitman was a scatter brain as there are various types of text in the journal such as notes of appointments, written poetry with slashes through some works, and visual images of Whitman's self. There appears to be various notes of appointments that he needed to hold in the front of the journal. His slanted writing throughout the journal can represent the fact that he did not formally his education and educated himself before moving on to teach students. The text is controversial in the time it was written as it questions religion, discovery (ships), and freedom. Many times in the journal, the word "libertad" appears and represents Whitman's ideals about society of equality is stressed throughout his writing. In addition, the drawings towards the end of the journal represent what Whitman may have visualized himself as a facilitator of peace, change, and equality within the United States.

After reviewing what Whitman actually wrote in his journal. I still find him to be a scatterbrain. He writes what he thinks, but then is seemingly able to connect his ideas to each other. When not being able to clearly make out what is written in the journal, the language seems unconnected, but when looking at the analysis and receiving greater understanding of the historical context, one is able to see that Whitman's writing is truly an extended metaphor for the events that happen in life. I think that not knowing what Whitman truly intended when writing and drawing in his journal allows the audience to imagine why Whitman made these decisions.