Friday, March 27, 2009

Class Notes: 3/27/09

Our group examined the last stanza of the poem, "The Child and Flowers". We agreed unanimously that the scanned version has the greatest impact on us. Between the grammar and word placement on the page, the poem carries more meaning. Overall we agree that the format affects the meaning but more or less from the perspective of the individual reader. I think that digitizing could make understanding literature more difficult. It is definitely more difficult for words on a screen to capture ones attention. The TEI version of the poem does not show the original format of the poem - it is difficult to tell what shape it originally came in.

Who is the audience? The author could be trying to speak to the inner child of the reader. An actual child would most likely not be able to read and comprehend the poem. The plot of the poem is basically a child returning from a forest, bringing flowers back with her. To me this is somewhat vague which to me means that it leaves plenty of room for the reader's interpretation. In a way, the vagueness of the poem opens it up to wider audiences; more people can relate to things less defined.

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