Self evaluation of seminar paper

1.         What text you used and why you felt that this offered a different perspective to studying literary texts.

“The Brook” is a wonderfully lyrical poem with beautiful poetic devices such as personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia, metaphors etc. I felt this poem offered a different perspective to studying literary texts.

It is a beautiful poem to read aloud, very well flowing and musical. The poet has used beautiful words to bring the different sounds of the brook as it flows: sometimes chattering, sometimes noisy like people bickering, sometimes bubbling and babbling, and sometimes gently murmuring.

2. How well you felt your paper prepared you for delivering the content of your seminar.

 When I prepared the poem to deliver, it gave me some kind of inner excitement and aspiration. I could feel it singing. I could feel it growing. I could feel it maturing.

3. How studying this text enhanced your learning about analysis and interpretation of texts.

The poem shows the permanent nature of the brook as against mortal existence of man. The poem leaves us a message to have a strong will-power and move forward crossing all our hurdles in life to achieve our ultimate ambition. It is a personification!! A beautiful parallelism drawn between life and the brook!  It teaches me to face the highs and the lows, ups and downs with equanimity. It reminds me that there are the twists and the turns in our journey.

4.         How this seminar has aided your colleagues in the seminar group to learn about your specific text or the use of analysis and interpretation.

My colleagues got a chance to experience the poem with exquisite imagery and perfect metaphor. Through the poem, my colleague could capture the beauty of the stream passing through the countryside and the sounds that connected to landscape.

They had learnt that there are ups and downs in the life of a brook and likewise we have. The brook is sometimes sad, happy and angry but accepts its life happily. Similarity, we should also do the same thing through difficulties to achieve our destination without being afraid of hardships.

5.         Evaluate the quality of the discussion that arose from your literary text

It is important to learn something from discussions for presenters and attendees. Through the quality of the discussion, all my colleagues have developed their understanding about the beauty of the poem and literature. My literary text explained about the brook to my college. It explained about the brook comes out from the mountains, its movement is very noisy and quick and it is in full vigour. It is in a hurry to reach its destination. This is similar to human beings in early age, when man is very energetic, lively, enthusiastic and full of vigour. In this poem, the poet has used personification. The idea that stands out is the permanence of the river. The brook says “Men may come and men may go. But I go on forever”. It compared to the life of man, the brook in ageless and timeless.

6.         Which area of text or discussion did you find controversial?

After discussion, we all agree that the poem is a very good one which was concise in conveying its intent and wonderful imaginary. The only controversial we found was when the poet, Alfred Lord Tennyson exactly wrote this poem.