How Can I Get More Out of What I Read?

"We can only possess what we experience. Truth, to be understood, must be lived."
-- Singer Charlie Peacock

I think studying literature is like anything else we do that is worthwhile -- we must practice the process. The problem with education (as well as with business) is that we justify shortcuts in order to get to the goal quicker, especially when the task is hard for us. Many students have trouble with literary analysis or commentaries because they believe that they cannot see what others see in a passage. What we fail to realize is that the actual process of getting the answer makes us a better scholar than actually being given the answer. With the internet, we can so easily find an interpretation of a poem or even go to "Shakespeare Made Easy" to help us get the commentary or reading response done, but it keeps us from actually learning how to figure it out for ourselves.

We may know the answer, but we don't possess it because we never worked for it. And when it comes time to show how well we can analyze literature, we feel stumped because we never made ourselves experience the intellectual tension of not understanding and then figuring it out on our own. That feels so successful unless you give up and let someone or something tell you the answer.

Bottom line: If IOPs and IOCs scare you because you are afraid you won't be able to do it, come in and just talk through the Akhmatova poetry or the Shakespeare passages with me so you can gain practice figuring it out. I'll ask you the questions, but I won't give you answers, or use the internet. I'll help you practice thinking for yourself.

And that's the Truth, but it can only be understood if you experience it.