Response to Course Material

Sorry it's a bit late, i didnt hear anything about it until today.

      After learning about the five aspects (DIDLS) that comprise tone and contribute to meaning, I like to think im better at it than when i started. Previous to the class, I had already used Imagery, Details and, to an extent, Language to analyze pieces, but i had never heard of Syntax and Diction was fairly new to me as well.  That being said, i haven't yet had a chance to apply these ways of looking at literature outside of highly structured packets where the feature in use is written in bold at the top of the page. Also im a bit worried that when shoved out into the ocean of a real work of literature, a lot of this practice will abandon me and I'll forget the difference between diction and language.
     I didn't find the reading from the textbook helpful at all. Most of it was a repetition of things we covered in class, or already learned. There were some small things, like the definitions of different types of poetry, that seemed like they could be important later, but seemed out of context to what we were doing in class at the time and thus not useful.
    The first essay we took was s startling experience, but after feeling the true panic of a sink or swim moment, I pulled through for myself. After reading the two poems and feeling no spark of understanding or comprehension or really anything, I just started to get a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as a realized i would have to some way write an entire paper about poems that i didnt understand, as precious time continued to tick away. Fortunately, after staring at them for a while, i was able to understand and analyze them, but that left little time for my essay, which turned out fairly sloppy, and was rushed. I learned my lesson though. In the future ill have to force myself into enlightenment faster.