Quick essay advice - Writers Forum

PrettyPistol · 11-28-2007, 08:07 PM

So, I have this essay on The Waste Land, and the goals of the paper are:

What does it mean to say that understanding or knowing about one text is crucial to a more correct reading of another?
What is the impact of an intertext on your reading of a given literary work?

Overall I have a decent essay...Not an A paper I'm sure, but I'm so swamped it's all I can do.. Anyway I'm not sure how this paragraph is...I'm afraid it isn't really specific, but I can't make it specific without reading Weston's book, and I certaintly don't have time for that. Just let me know what you think I should do with this paragraph... At the moment I'm going to find some examples from Brooks' essay that show reference to Weston's book.

One of the many allusions in The Waste Land is of Jessie Weston's book From Ritual to Romance. Cleanth Brooks Jr. believes that an understanding of Jessie Weston's From Ritual to Romance is essential to understanding The Waste Land. An understanding of that book seems necessary to gain a better understanding of The Waste Land because the book deals with wasteland myths involving the Fisher King which The Waste Land relates to. Understanding the relationship between Weston's book and Eliot's poem would help to guide a reader to a reading that Eliot would approve of. Nealon and Giroux note "This insistence on contexts also suggests ways in which 'reading' can be an open-ended process of interpretation, without necessarily being an 'anything-goes' war of uniformed opinions... (27)." The context of Weston's book guides the reader's process of interpretation, so that many informed readers could interpret the poem in a similar way, and not just project their own meaning onto the poem. The other allusions in the poem work in this way, so that it seems the more informed a reader becomes, the more accurate their interpretation may become. This, however, isn't reality because the texts Eliot refers to all can be interpreted differently, and therefore could alter meaning in The Waste Land depending on how the reader interprets them.

Erik Buchanan · 11-28-2007, 09:44 PM

First sentence: "is of Jessie..." I think should be "is to Jessie..." Otherwise, good.

Second sentence: Who is Cleanth Brooks Jr. and why should I care what he thinks? Have you mentioned him before in this essay?

Third sentence: First half of it is a repeat of the previous sentence. Is this Cleanth's opinion or your opinion? If Cleanth, find a better way to put the sentences together. Also, "seems" is a weasel word. Does it or doesn't it, and according to who?

Fourth sentence: Never end with a preposition. "Of which Eliot would approve." And who says Eliot would approve of the interpretation? Cleanth again? And how do they know?

Fifth sentence: What insistence on context? you've mentioned it, not insisted on it. Are you saying that the belief is that this poem can only be interpreted in context?

Sixth sentence: might be better before sentence 5.

Seventh sentence: "The other allusions in the poem work in this way..." In what way? Do they all allude to the same thing? Or are you saying that the need for context is also important to understanding the other allusions? Also, you're using "seems" again.

Eighth sentence: Hmmm. Bit of a weak conclusion. Not having read the text in question, are you sure it can be interpreted differently? Do you have someone in authority you can reference who says so? Also, "This, however, isn't reality..." doesn't work. It's someone's reality, and accepted enough to get critical mention by whoever is noted in (27). If you are saying that thier interpretation is not necessarily accurate, that's a different point and one which, in this context, is worth making, but it doesn't mean that the other reality is wrong.

Hope that's helpful and not just pedantic.

Mr Sci Fi · 11-28-2007, 10:58 PM

I just wanted to thank you for helping me make sense out of "The Wasteland." Now at least I know Eliot was from planet Earth.

Eli Cash · 11-29-2007, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PrettyPistol

One of the many allusions in The Waste Land is to Jessie Weston's book From Ritual to Romance. Cleanth Brooks Jr. believes that an understanding of Jessie Weston's From Ritual to Romance is essential to understanding The Waste Land, because the book deals with wasteland myths involving the Fisher King, which The Waste Land also relates to. Understanding the relationship between Weston's book and Eliot's poem would help guide readers to a fuller understanding of the text. Nealon and Giroux note "This insistence on contexts also suggests ways in which 'reading' can be an open-ended process of interpretation, without necessarily being an 'anything-goes' war of uniformed opinions... (27)." The context of Weston's book guides readers' process of interpretation, so that many informed readers could interpret the poem in a similar way, and not just project their own meaning onto the poem. The other allusions in the poem also work in this way, so that it seems the more informed a reader becomes, the more accurate their interpretation may become. This, however, isn't really the case, because the texts Eliot refers to can all be interpreted differently, and therefore can alter meaning in The Waste Land, depending on how readers interpret them.

safara duff · 05-05-2008, 10:06 PM

I tried to correct your essay and all words marked in red are those correction that I made.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PrettyPistol

One of the many allusions in The Waste Land is of Jessie Weston's book, "From Ritual to Romance". Cleanth Brooks Jr. believes that an understanding of Jessie Weston's book is essential to fully comprehend "The Waste Land".

Weston’s book deals with wasteland myths involving the Fisher King which also relates to our featured book.

Understanding the relationship between Weston's book and
Eliot's poem would help guide the reader to a reading that Eliot would
approve of. Nealon and Giroux note "This insistence on contexts also suggests ways in which 'reading' can be an open-ended process of interpretation, without necessarily being an 'anything-goes' war of uniformed opinions... (27)." The context of Weston's book guides the reader's process of interpretation, so that many informed readers could interpret the poem in a similar way, and not just project their own meaning onto the poem. The other allusions in the poem work in this way, so that it seems the more informed a reader becomes, the more accurate their interpretation may become. This, however, isn't reality because the texts Eliot refers to all can be interpreted differently, and therefore could alter meaning in The Waste Land depending on how the reader interprets them.